Strategy Summit Speakers
David Stroud
Managing Director, ASM
David Stroud is the Managing Director of ASM, the world’s leading route development consulting company. He has over 20 years of aviation industry experience in the fields of route development, marketing, and airport infrastructure development. Formerly of BAe Systems, Manchester Airport and London City Airport, David has been a senior manager with ASM and Routes since 1998. As part of Executive Management team of UBM Aviation and Senior Management team of UBM Live London,
David led the Routes business and integration of Airport Cities into the company, before taking up the post of Managing Director of ASM, leading the company into the new era of route development.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Mark Pilling
Executive Director, Content, Flightglobal
Participating Talks and Sessions
Michael Miller
Head of Content and Industry Relations, Routes, UBM EMEA
Michael Miller is Head of Content and Industry Relations for Routes, which is part of the Transport and Technology division of UBM; a leading global event marketing and communications services business. Mike leads the creation and development of Routes conferences at events worldwide, and is responsible for relations with aviation, travel and other industry groups.
Mike has 25 years experience in the aviation industry as both a journalist and consultant prior to joining the Routes team in 2014. He has managed nine aviation publications, mostly under the Aviation Week banner at McGraw-Hill, and has had aviation clients in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Clients have included Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, US Airways, JetBlue Airways, Bombardier, ALTA and the government of France. He oversaw the creation of the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum. Michael also was Vice President, Strategy, at the American Aviation Institute and President of Miller Air Group. He has been interviewed several hundred times on aviation issues by CNN, BBC, CNBC, NBC, Al Jazeeera and others. He is based in Orlando, Florida.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Malcolm Roughead
Chief Executive, VisitScotland
A graduate in Modern Languages from the University of Glasgow in 1981, Malcolm joined VisitScotland as Director of Visitor Engagement in 2001 from Guinness World Records where he was Global Sales and Marketing Director and held a number of senior marketing positions over a 17 year period with Guinness Brewing in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and North America. He began in marketing at Nestle, followed by Beechams.
Malcolm has been responsible for the repositioning of Scotland as a leading tourism destination and was appointed as VisitScotland’s Chief Executive in 2010.
In March 2004, Malcolm was awarded Scottish Marketer of the Year at the Scottish Marketing Awards and, in the January 2006 Honours List, he was awarded an OBE for services to Tourism.
Participating Talks and Sessions
David Sandier
Vice President, Network & Revenue Management, Transavia
Born in 1980, David Sandier is an engineering graduate of Ecole Centrale Paris, College of Engineering (2003).
After his studies at Ecole Centrale Paris, David Sandier joined Air France as Revenue Management Analyst where he dealt with the prices of the Paris-Nice route. In 2006, he joined Air France working in medium haul network development and took responsibility of Schedule Adjustment in 2010.
In 2013, he was appointed Vice President of Network Development & Revenue Management at Transavia France, an Air France – KLM subsidiary.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Ana Carolina Lago
Marketing Director, EMEA, CIS & Central Asia, Embraer
Born in 1975 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ana Carolina has a degree in Business Administration from Pontificia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro and a Master degree in Marketing from Fundação Getúlio Vargas do Rio de Janeiro.
She started her career at Embraer Brazil in 1998, where she assumed the successive positions of Planning Analyst and Airline Marketing Analyst.
She was invited to work at the Europe Sales Office in January 2006 as a Sales Engineer, Responsible for technical and marketing aspects of the sales campaigns in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
In March 2012, Ana was appointed to the position of Marketing Director for Middle East and Africa and in April 2013 she has also assumed Europe, CIS & Central Asia territories.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Jurate Baltrusaityte
Chief Commercial Officer, Enterprise Lithuanian Airports
Jurate has been with Lithuanian airports for over ten years, with her most recent promotion to CCO of the Lithuanian Airport Network.
Her current responsibilities cover managing a dedicated team, who take care of commercial development at Vilnius, Kaunas and Palanga airports.
A proud graduate of ISM International School of Management, Jurate holds an MBA diploma in International Marketing and Management, as well as various commercial and managerial qualifications obtained during her carrier course.
Her core areas of focus are network development including incremental growth of operating carrier activities, network expansion including bringing in new carriers and non-aeronautical revenue growth via the development of traditional airport and unconventional project sales. Alongside this, Jurate is also responsible for the marketing and communications functions of the network’s airports.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Jochen F. Schnadt
Principal and Managing Director, Latitude Aviation
Jochen Schnadt is a senior airline / aviation executive with extensive experience in various senior commercial, strategic, planning and operational leadership and non-exec roles in the aviation industry including Flybe, Belfast City Airport, Monarch Airlines, Aer Lingus, AWAS and SkyWest.
As an Interim Manager and Consultant, Jochen has also worked with companies such as BA, Virgin and the DAA. Jochen is a firm believer in constant evolution and is driven by a keen desire to explore new ways and challenge existing conventions in a commercially responsible manner. As a result, Jochen has been involved in or created various leading-edge projects, developments and ventures during his 20+ years career in commercial aviation. He combines the ability to be a thoughtleader with the energy and drive to develop creative and practical solutions and equally enjoys the detail of the execution of these ideas, projects and strategies.
Areas of specific expertise include revenue discovery, holistic 4d revenue management, strategic network and fleet planning, business development, corporate planning and strategy, start-up processes and management, aircraft operational and economic evaluation and aircraft acquisition and asset management.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Peter Morris
Chief Economist, Ascend
Peter Morris is Ascend Flightglobal’s Chief Economist, and is responsible for projects concerning airports, airlines, market demand analysis, forecasting and new product research.
Prior to joining Ascend’s Consultancy team in 2003, Peter Morris was IATA’s Chief Economist and headed the IATA Research Consultancy Department. Over the previous ten years he built up the Aviation Information & Research Dept for IATA to be one of the Industry’s leading suppliers of Market Research, Statistical and Forecasting Information.
He has been responsible for the direction and management of more than fifty international studies in the areas of aviation strategy, forecasting, business travel, marketing, market research, performance benchmarking, operational research, economic studies, pricing research, new product research and cargo. He is also an expert adviser to the European Commission on Transport Policy Research Programmes. He is a regular conference and media commentator on issues connected with aviation policy and industry trends.
During his career he has been involved in the transport and energy sectors, advising on economic, operational and market research, and policy analysis. Prior to joining IATA in 1989, he managed economic and market research within an international transport consultancy, and before that he was Senior Commercial Analyst for the UK Electricity Supply Industry. He started his career as an economist with London Transport’s Business Planning Department, where he became adviser on fares policy for rail and bus services.
His educational background is a B.Sc (Economics) and an M.Sc Energy Economics.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Jeremy Robinson
Legal Director, Hill Dickinson
Jeremy is a lawyer with particular expertise in regulatory and competition law problems in the aviation sector. Formerly a partner at boutique aviation law firm Gates & Partners LLP (London and Brussels), Jeremy joined Hill Dickinson in March 2014 as part of a new aviation law team offering a full legal service to the industry.
Jeremy has advised airlines on a whole range of issues from the regulation of airline mergers by the EU; State Aid for regional airports; the EU Emissions Trading Scheme for Aviation; airport charges; predatory pricing; airline ownership and control; consumer law; compliance with competition law and airport regulation.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Carol Benzie
Managing Director, Aberdeen International Airport
Born and bred in Aberdeen, Carol is a qualified accountant who has worked with the airport for 6 years. She is currently Managing Director and in her previous role of Commercial Director she headed up the commercial functions of route development, retail, property, IT, fire training and marketing, having formerly held the positions of both Operations Director and Head of Business Performance.
Prior to joining the airport, she worked for 6 years with local charity, Inspire, as Head of Finance and Social Enterprise as they designed and built their multi-resource centre on Aberdeen’s Beach Boulevard. Carol also spent 10 years working in the oil and gas industry, working with a variety of both operators and service companies
Carol lives in Aberdeenshire with her husband, and has two grown up children.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Simon McNamara
Director General, European Regions Airline Association (ERAA)
Simon McNamara was appointed Director General on 1 January 2013. He is responsible to ERA’s board for the delivery and implementation of ERA’s work in the field of policy, events and communications. Under his leadership ERA is highlighting the aviation sector’s vital contribution to Europe’s future economic prosperity, particularly in the regions of Europe. McNamara travels extensively within Europe meeting with policy-making bodies such as EASA and the European Parliament and Council. He is a sought-after speaker at industry events and provides comment and analysis on market issues across a range of international media.
A graduate of City University, London, McNamara also holds an MSc from Canfield University in the UK. His career in aviation spans nearly 20 years – before joining ERA in 1999 McNamara held positions at the Flight Data Company and the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Associations.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Nigel Mayes
Senior Vice President Consulting & Product Development, ASM
Nigel brings 20 years industry experience, starting his career as a key part of the route development team at Birmingham International Airport where he had a variety of roles in airport marketing, strategy and aviation business development, before joining ASM in 2001.
Following a successful consulting career Nigel went on to be responsible for all the commercial aspects of Routes including customer engagement, airport and airline attendance, revenues and conference content. During his time with Routes, Nigel had also been responsible for the development of the Routes online product www.routesonline.com
Nigel re-joined ASM in 2014 as Senior Vice President of Consulting and Product Development, where he is responsible for supporting their work across the client base and taking ASM’s new products and services to market. During his time at ASM, Nigel has worked on route development, traffic forecasting and airport transaction projects across the globe. Nigel has been responsible for the delivery of a number of new routes and has worked on airport projects that include Taoyuan International Airport, San Juan International Airport, Darwin Airport, London Stansted, Katowice Airport, Malaysia Airports, Perth Airport, Rzeszow Airport and Sikhuphe Airport.
Participating Talks and Sessions
John Grant
Executive Vice President, Data & Market Intelligence, OAG
John is responsible the management and enhancement of OAG’s product portfolio and new product development which includes OAG’s Flight Schedules database, Flight Status and its rapidly evolving analytical products, the OAGs Analyser Suite.
Previously, John served as Managing Director of ASM, a leading consultancy specialising in air service development for airports. During his tenure there he achieved a number of successes for the company and its clients, including the successful re-positioning of Kuala Lumpur as Asia’s major low cost airline network centre and the expansion and development of Lima Airport into a major hub facility in South America. Whilst under John’s leadership, ASM was twice voted the best consultancy by the UK Airport Operators Association.
John has worked for a range of airlines and airports around the world in areas including finance, marketing and commercial management. He worked at British Caledonian, on the development of its Middle East network, and at Air UK and KLM, where he managed commercial operations and led the rebranding of Air UK before moving to ASM.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Jens Boyd
Group Director Long Haul Network & Revenue Management, Thomas Cook Airlines Group
Jens currently holds the position of Director of Long-Haul and Revenue Management for Thomas Cook Airlines Group encompassing Thomas Cook Airlines UK, Belgium and Scandinavia as well as Condor German Airlines. He is responsible for all commercial decisions on long-haul flights and runs the Groups’ Distribution and Revenue Management Systems department.
He has been working at this airline for 8 years now in different roles and capacities and across three of the four airlines. Before joining Condor in 2007, Jens worked on multiple airline and airport projects as a consultant with McKinsey&Co.
Jens holds a doctorate degree from the Free University of Berlin.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Fernando Estrada
Strategy & Alliances Director, Vueling Airlines
Fernando currently holds the position of Strategy, Alliance and Business Development Director at Vueling Airlines, where reporting to the CEO, is responsible for business planning, strategy, alliances and corporate development. Prior to that he held responsibilities in network planning, airport planning and slots at Vueling Airlines and led the team responsible of the merger between Vueling and clickair where he enrolled in 2007.
Before working for the airline industry, Fernando made a full range of strategy consulting work for 7 years in more than 8 countries.
Fernando has a BS degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a Master at IESE Business School.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Kam Jandu
Chief Commercial Officer, Budapest Airport
Prior to joining Budapest Airport Kam gained 10 years' experience in the rent a car industry working for Hertz and Budget and a further 11 in the airline industry with bmi and Star Alliance GmbH in senior sales, marketing and operations roles. As someone who understands and appreciates the risks of starting new routes and how fiercely competitive the airline industry is, Kam is well placed to demonstrate empathy and provide value added support in route planning to ensure that the right considerations are met both directly and with the support of the team at Budapest Airport.
A British National, Kam holds various managerial qualifications from his career including a Professional Diploma in Management and an MBA in Strategy and Human Resource Management from the Open University Business School.