Speakers

 Usman Ahmed
Senior Aviation Analyst, IBA Group

Usman joined IBA Group’s Consultancy Services team as an Aviation Analyst in April 2008 from Waviatech where he worked as a Project Assistant on assignments involving Aircraft and Technical records inspections. Prior to this he worked as an Aeronautical Analyst in Flight performance and navigation division at European Aeronautical Group, part of Navtech Inc.

Usman graduated from City University, London in 2007 with a Bachelor in Aeronautical Engineering. He was also an Air Cadet with Air Training Corps and has in depth knowledge of both fixed wing and rotary aircraft design and operations.

Usman is currently responsible for airline business plan review and compilations, feasibility studies, route and yield analysis and airline operational assessments as part of IBA’s advisory and consultancy department. Usman, now also heads up IBA’s Helicopter team, which under his lead has been growing rapidly over the last couple of years.

Fabrice Arfi
Vice President, Airbus Helicopters

Fabrice currently heads the newly created Business Development department. His main achievements include the start-up of a helicopter operating leasing company managing close to $150 million of rotary wing assets, and the launch of a new heavy helicopter program to address utility markets, especially in emerging countries. As of today, this new program has already passed the 15 unit-sale mark. In 2013, he was appointed by the French Prime Minister to attend the prestigious 66th Defense Policy class of the Institute for High Defense Studies (IHEDN). This exclusive international appointment is an
intensive one year (100 day) international engagement with current and potential world leaders, including heads of state, and military.

After a one-year mission by the President and CEO of Eurocopter to restructure the company in 2006, he was appointed as the Head of Commercial, Pricing and Network Policy. In 2009, he took on direct responsibilities in Sales to be in charge of Eastern Europe where he signed hundred million dollar contracts with Romania and Kazakhstan that are still active today.

He has been a member of the company Merger & Acquisition Committee for 10 years, Fabrice sits on the board of directors of Eurocopter Financial Services in Ireland, and is the co-chairman of Eurocopter Romania (a 51% owned Joint Venture Company).

Eurocopter recruited him in 2001 for his international experience, and his ability to open up new markets. He spent several years at Headquarters being in charge of the global Customer Service network of service centers, which led him to China as soon as 2003 where he set up the first Eurocopter approved maintenance center in Shenzhen, through a Joint Venture with
COHC, GAMEC.

Kirsten Bartok
Managing Partner, Air Finance.

Kirsten Bartok Touw is the founder and Managing Partner of AirFinance Leasing LLC, a firm that specializes in the financing of helicopters and business jets globally.

AirFinance’s core business is as an originator and servicer of business jet and helicopter loans that are backed by the United States Export Import Bank. AirFinance also works with Canada’s Export Development Bank and since 2012 has originated and approved more than $750M in general aviation financings.

In 2015, AirFinance won Corporate Jet Investors’ award for the Most Innovative Financier Europe Middle East and Africa for a G450 financing into Nigeria to a first time buyer. In 2014, the firm won the over award for the Most Innovative Financier globally with the US Export Import Bank for their creation of the Qualified Advisor Program and in 2013, AirFinance won Deal of the Year for developing and structuring Flight Options’ Phenom 300 financing by BNDES, Brazil’s ECA.

In 2010, Kirsten took a leave of absence to work with Hawker Beechcraft Corporation the manufacturer of business, special-mission and trainer aircraft.  While at Hawker, Kirsten was the company’s Vice President, Strategy, Structured Finance & Corporate Development where she was responsible for sales financing, joint ventures, corporate development, strategy, and M&A.

Phillip Bolt
Principal, Bolt Advisory

Principal at Bolt Steward Ltd an FCA Regulated broker, Phillip has been a professional in the aerospace sector for 39 years.  An economist, engineer and FCA Approved Person by formal training, he joined British Aerospace as an apprentice in 1977 and left as an Executive Director in 1999.  Periods at Airbus and Asset Management provided the grounding for his second career in the City of London as an MD at Marsh McLennan and Global Head of Aerospace for their Enterprise Risk Division.  In 2005 he left Willis Limited to set up his own companies, now specializing in asset and credit risk mitigation across the whole transportation and equipment finance sectors.  He also has a consultancy company in association with ACA in New York.  With clients on all continents and having facilitated the transfer of over $5bn of aviation asset risk, he is currently providing Residual Value Insurance (RVI) through Ironshore Insurance Ltd on Aviation, Marine, Transportation and other assets.

David Crick
Partner, Lloyds Asset Services

David Crick is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the American Society of Appraisers (ASA).  He serves as the Machinery & Technical Specialties Discipline Governor on the ASA International Board of Governors and is the recent President of the ASA Australian Chapter.  He also serves as the Chair on the Finance & Leasing Committee of the Helicopter Association International.

David is a Partner with Lloyds Asset Services, an Australian company based in Queensland providing international asset valuation services for aviation assets and specialised machinery and equipment.

He has an unparalleled passion for the aviation sector performing appraisals of both fixed wing & rotary aviation assets in Australia, the Asia Pacific Rim, the USA and various countries in Europe & the Middle East.

With over 19 years of specialised valuation and consulting experience to many different sectors, David has considerable knowledge of corporate valuation requirements for financial reporting, mortgage security assessments, insurance & liquidation disposals. He performs appraisals for finance and leasing, aviation sales, mergers and acquisitions, insurance disputes, and expert witness for the legal fraternity.

David has presented at various international forums addressing current issues in aviation assets and appraisal methodologies, including events in the UK, USA, Russia, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Sharon Desfor
President, HeliValue$

Sharon Desfor, ASA, is president of HeliValue$, Inc., the world’s most trusted helicopter appraisal firm, and publisher of The Official Helicopter Blue Book®, the accepted standard for helicopter resale pricing information.
Sharon is an Accredited Senior Appraiser of the ASA, currently serving as ASA’s International Secretary/Treasurer. She has previously served on the Board of Governors, Strategic Planning Committee, Machinery & Technical Specialties Committee, International Special Committee, Budget & Finance Committee and Chapter Assessment Task Force, as Editor of the M&TS Journal and as Production Manager of Valuing Machinery and Equipment, Third Edition. Sharon is past Chair of the Helicopter Foundation International and of the HAI’s Finance & Leasing Committee, and served as Editor of HAI’s finance handbook, Helicopter Funding: Assembling the Pieces of the Puzzle.

Sharon performs appraisals for finance and leasing, helicopter acquisitions and sales, bankruptcies, estate settlements, mergers and acquisitions, insurance subrogation, and litigation support. Sharon gives lectures regularly for ASA, Corporate Jet Investor (CJI), and the Helicopter Association International (HAI), occasionally for the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) and the National Aircraft Finance Association (NAFA), and writes articles for a number of magazines in the aviation and appraisal industries.

Nick Fazioli
Vice President, Jefferies International

Nick Fazioli – Senior Vice President Investment Banking, Jefferies, LLC

Mr. Fazioli has over 15 years of strategic, operational and financial experience within the commercial aviation sector and at Jefferies is responsible for client coverage within the commercial and business aviation, aircraft leasing, MRO and aerospace manufacturing verticals.  Mr. Fazioli has completed numerous M&A, debt and equity transactions for both strategic and financial sponsor clients globally.

Prior to Jefferies, Mr. Fazioli was a Principal at SH&E Inc., a leading aviation advisory firm, where he focused on MRO strategy and financial advisory, airline restructuring and analysis, fleet planning and aircraft leasing.

Mr. Fazioli began his aviation career with Delta Air Lines Inc. where he focused on financial planning, supply chain management and technical operations.  He later joined Delta Tech Ops where he was responsible for finance and business development for Delta’s third-party MRO activities.

Mr. Fazioli received his BBA and MBA in Finance from Goizueta Business School at Emory University

David Fiore
Deputy Vice President, Export-Import Bank of the United States

David Fiore is the Deputy Vice President of the Transportation Division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (“Ex-Im Bank”).  The Transportation Division is responsible for Ex-Im Bank supported financings of large commercial aircraft, business aircraft, helicopters and railroad-related equipment.

In addition to his responsibilities assisting the Vice President of the Transportation Division in managing the workload of the Transportation Division, David is also responsible for aircraft financings for a number of airlines based in Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean region.  He has been involved with Ex-Im Bank supported financings for such airlines as Ethiopian Airlines, TAAG-Angola Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Cargolux and Norwegian Air Shuttle.  In addition to his airline responsibilities, David is the lead loan officer responsible for Ex-Im Bank’s financings of U.S.-manufactured locomotives and rolling stock to railroads located in various countries including South Africa, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Brazil and Indonesia.

David has a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College and a Masters of Business Administration from McGill University in Montreal.  David is fluent in French and Italian.

Philippe Foulon
Global Head of Specialized Asset Finance & Aviation, Société Générale Equipment Finance

Philippe Foulon is Societe Generale Equipment Finance Global Head of Specialised Asset Finance and Aviation, with a portfolio of over 500 aircraft under management, of which there are more than 150 helicopters.

Philippe has successfully grown this activity over the last 8 years, making it a global Business Unit after decades of sustained development on local markets where the SocGen group had a direct prescence.

After graduating from ESSEC MBA Philippe started his career at The Chase Manhattan Bank where he built his experience as a Vice-President in Banking and Financial Services, before serving as CEO of ILC, as well-known Financial Institution specialising in vendor finance. ILC was taken over by Societe Generale to form Societe Generale Equipment Finance.

Societe Generale Equipment Finance is currently active in 35 countries around the globe.

Roberto Garavaglia
Senior Vice President, Strategy & Competitive Positioning, Finmeccanica Helicopter Division

Roberto Garavaglia is a graduate of the Milan Polytechnic where he earned a master in Aeronautical Engineering. Following his graduation, R. Garavaglia served as an officer of the Italian Air Force .
SVP Strategy & Business Development, AgustaWestland, the leading helicopter company owned by Finmeccanica which employs about 13,000 people worldwide with the main industrial activities concentrated in Italy, UK, Poland and USA.

In July 2003 he became AgustaWestland VP Marketing Department, where he and his Italy and UK-based teams contributed to product definition user segment development and sales achievements in both civil and military competitive markets.

In December 1998 he joined Agusta SpA and held a position as area manager for civil sales covering several European countries. Achieved the first sales of AW109 Power series and AW139 in Scandinavia.

In June 1991 he joined ATR regional aircraft manufacturer in Toulouse (France), holding several posts in Marketing and Sales of regional turboprop and jet aircraft, eventually leading the Airline marketing team. Sales achievements included successful competitive campaign for 7 + 2 ATR 72 turboprops for Mount Cook Airline (New Zealand) in 1998.

In 1989 R. Garavaglia joined an aero engineering and aeronautical design Company in Milan, dealing with systems and structural analysis and design on several civil and military aircraft programmes.

Edward Gross
Shareholder, Vedder Price

Edward K. Gross is a Shareholder at Vedder Price and a member of the Global Transportation Finance team.

He established the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and has over 25 years of experience representing bank affiliated and large, independent equipment financing companies in all aspects of equipment finance transactions, including documenting, structuring, negotiating, syndicating and enforcement.

Eddy is considered an industry leader in business aircraft finance, especially jet aircraft and helicopters. These transactions vary in structure and include tax and nontax lease and secured loan financing or managed and/or chartered aircraft, air taxi and air ambulance fleet and engine pools, and aircraft operated under fractional and “pay card” arrangements.

Joe Hawke
Chief Executive Officer, Hawke Aerospace Holdings

Prior to co-founding Infinity Helicopter Leasing LLC in January 2014 and Hawke Aerospace Group in 2007, Hawke was General Partner of Meridian Venture Partners and MVP II, Radnor, Pennsylvania where he was a Senior Member of the investment team for a firm with $200+ million cumulative capital under management. He was instrumental in redirecting the investment strategy towards middle market buyouts with deep industry access. Joe was active on 7 portfolio company Boards and Chairman of 3. Hawke was responsible for

Innovating the aerospace investment practice at MVP, beginning with Keystone Helicopter Corporation in 2002. He completed a 2nd acquisition Composite Technology Inc. (CTI, based in Grand Prairie, TX) in 2004, then combined Keystone and CTI to prepare for sale. Executed successful stock sale to Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in December 2005.

Negotiating the acquisition of Air Evac Lifeteam which closed in July 2004 with a majority equity co-investment from Brockway Moran & Partners. Then Hawke led to formation of Air Medical Group Holdings along with a series of acquisitions of related air medical Part 135 flight operations (Critical Air Medicine, Southwest Helicopters, Med-Trans, et al). Bain Capital acquired Air Medical Group for approximately $1Billion in August 2010. Hawke took on the role of acting CEO to lead the turnaround of Boston-based managed care services company MCMC, then recruited new industry veteran CEO. Hawke then made a total of 9 acquisitions including platform investment, and rose over $20 million in senior credit facilities and $9 million of subordinated debt. From May 1999 – September 2001 Hawke was Partner and Co-Founder, NewSpring Ventures, L.P., Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, a $90+ million venture capital firm.

Joe began his career in Commercial Banking and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree (finance concentration) from Temple University Graduate School of Business and Management, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree (philosophy major) from Haverford College, Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Gretchen Haskins
CEO, HeliOffshore

Gretchen Haskins is the CEO of HeliOffshore Ltd., a company dedicated to global offshore helicopter safety. She is an aviation industry leader in safety performance improvement and an internationally-recognised expert in human factors.

She has served on the board of the UK Civil Aviation Authority as Group Director of Safety; overseeing aviation safety in the UK (including airlines, aerodromes, air traffic, airworthiness and personnel). Prior to that, Gretchen was Group Director of Safety at NATS where she championed activities to support frontline operational safety. Gretchen previously worked in nuclear certification and safety of intercontinental ballistic missiles, joint airworthiness trials for military aircraft, defense system design – and as an expert advisor to NATO on human performance and safety critical systems. She has a strong aviation background, and has flown jet and piston aircraft in the U.S. Air Force.

Jaspal Jandu
CFO, LCI

Following his graduation from the University of Essex with a Masters Degree in Economics – concentrating on macroeconomics, econometrics, and international economics – Jaspal joined the Government Economic service as an Economist. In 1997 he joined the Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC) as their Economic Analyst and developed their consultancy practice providing support to SBAC’s clients.

In 2001 he joined Morgan Stanley’s Aircraft Group and then transferred to AWAS (then owned by Morgan Stanley) as the Strategic Economist to the company, playing a major role in the formulation of group strategy and development of new business initiatives. In 2005 he became co-responsible for the marketing of AWAS’s Investor Services department, providing management of advisory services to third party clients.

Jaspal joined Lease Corporation International in 2007 as Vice-President, Strategic Marketing.

Viren Joshi
Strategic Account Executive, Export Development Canada

Viren joined Export Development Canada (EDC) in 1997 after spending 7 years in the Federal Government working in various analytical roles at Investment Canada, Indian Affairs and Foreign Affairs. Over the last 15 years at EDC, Viren has had the opportunity to experience and contribute to the growth of both the Insurance and Financing aspects of our services. For the past 6 years, Viren has taken on his current role with the Transportation Group as a Strategic Account Executive. Viren manages some of the larger Canadian aerospace strategic companies. The origination aspect of his work also involves developing and managing the transaction cycle to successful completion. Viren has participated in numerous panels and conferences within the aviation sector.

Viren finished his post-graduate qualifications at the University of Toronto. He subsequently completed his CFA designation in 1999.

Nadav Kessler
Business Development & Rotary Program Sales, Asian Sky Group

Nadav joined the Hong Kong based Asian Sky Group over two years ago and is responsible for the company’s business development and rotary program sales in the Asia Pacific region. Nadav has over five years of experience in business development and aviation consulting for both fixed wing and rotary operations, primarily in Asia for the utility and oil and gas sectors.

Rafael Kuhn
Vice President, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.

Rafael Kuhn is a Vice President in Deutsche Bank’s Aviation Capital Markets group, which is responsible for the development, origination and structuring of secured and unsecured debt financings for airlines, rotorcraft operators, aircraft lessors, and aerospace manufacturers globally. Prior to joining the aviation group, Rafael spent two years specializing in the structuring and syndication of investment grade private placements. Rafael joined Deutsche Bank in 2008 and holds a BA from the University of Chicago.

John Mannion
President, Kylemore Group

John Mannion is President of Kylemore Group LLC, a finance and strategy consultancy specializing in the aviation and energy sectors.  Prior to founding Kylemore Group, Mr. Mannion served as Director of Asset Finance and Portfolio Management Officer of Bristow Group Inc. where he negotiated lease and financing agreements for Bristow’s $4.0 billion fleet of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft with the industry’s lowest costs and best terms and conditions.  Mr. Mannion’s aviation experience also includes labor analysis and negotiations, aircraft financing, route profitability analysis, fleet planning, investor relations and treasury in 12 years at Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines.  He has also held executive officer positions in the energy and manufacturing sectors with Plains All American Pipeline LP, Quanex Corporation and Furmanite Corporation.

Mr. Mannion serves on the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) Finance and Leasing Committee and is a regular presenter and panelist at helicopter finance and broader aviation industry events.  Mr. Mannion holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Accounting from Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Bruce Marshall
Vice President & General Counsel, AIC Title Service

Bruce L. Marshall joined AIC Title Service as its Executive Vice President and General Counsel in February 2014, helping ensure that AIC’s clients and leadership are protected as they move through unprecedented FAA and industry changes. Bruce was recognized in the November 2013 issue of D CEO Magazine as one of Dallas-Fort Worth’s top corporate attorneys following his win as Outstanding General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer in the Small Legal Department category at the Association of Corporate Counsel and D CEO’s 2013 Corporate Counsel Awards. Individually a 2011 winner of the General Counsel Forum’s Magna Stella Award in the Small Legal Department category and finalist in the Major Litigation category, Bruce and his team also won Texas Lawyer’s 2013 Legal Department of the Year in the Diversity and Quality of Life category. With over 20 years’ experience in aviation legal matters, specializing in contracts, regulations, and litigation, he previously served as Senior Director and Division General Counsel of Bombardier’s Flexjet fractional aircraft ownership program where he strategically managed two cases challenging state and federal taxes that affected the entire fractional aircraft ownership industry and resulted in the refund of millions of dollars of paid taxes. Prior to joining Flexjet, Bruce served as corporate counsel and business manager for a charter management company with both Part 135 on-demand air cargo and passenger operations, served as vice president and legal officer for a major financial institution in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in private practice, he represented banks, construction companies, transportation companies, and employee benefits funds in commercial litigation matters.

Crispin Maunder
Executive Chairman, LCI

Crispin Maunder is the Executive Chairman of Lease Corporation International, the aircraft and helicopter lessor, having joined the lessor as Chief Executive Officer eight years ago.

Crispin has over 40 years experience in aviation. Graduating from Imperial College with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering he entered Court Line Aviation, then the leading UK charter airline. In 1974 he joined the marketing team at British Aircraft Corporation concentrating on the BAC One-Eleven programme. This was then followed by a period working in the Middle East and Africa with Autair Limited, a helicopter operator and aviation trader, as Commercial Manager, representing a number of aircraft and helicopter OEM’s.

In 1977 he joined Short Brothers to head up their sales efforts in Africa and the Middle East, subsequently adding European Sales to his responsibilities in 1983. In 1986 he was appointed General Manager, Aircraft Trading Division, charged with the establishment of Shorts’ new leasing and trading operations in advance of the privatization of the company.

Crispin left Shorts in 1989 to join Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services (AWAS) as Regional Sales Director Europe, before being appointed in 1991 as EVP Sales and Marketing, heading up the lessor’s global sales and marketing activities. In 1997 he assumed additional responsibility for technical oversight of AWAS’s aircraft portfolio. Following the acquisition of the lessor by Morgan Stanley in 2000, he joined the AWAS Holdings Board, and in 2002 he was appointed EVP Strategic Development, charged with the development of the lessor’s new strategic plan ahead of its eventual sale to Terra Firma in 2006.

Jim McAuslan
General Secretary, BALPA

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Clark McGinn
Senior Vice President, Sales & Relationship Management, Waypoint Leasing

Clark McGinn joined Waypoint as SVP, Sales & Relationship Management in April 2015 with over ten years’ experience with helicopters having executed around USD 5Bn in mandates across the sector. He was previously Managing Director of CHC’s global aviation finance group in Dublin, building an inter-disciplinary team which executed the complex leasing and finance strategy for one of the largest civilian helicopter operators including the first significant transactions with the new generation of helicopter operating lessors, including Waypoint.

He joined CHC after a near thirty year career in corporate and investment banking in London and New York, latterly managing helicopter asset finance for RBS, where he executed many of the biggest and most complex structured debt, operating lease and M&A financings in the civil rotary wing sector. Before joining RBS in 1994 he held management positions in the corporate banking groups of Bank of America and Hill Samuel & Co, having completed his graduate training with Lloyds Bank.

Clark is a regular contributor to the debate around helicopter finance and leasing as a presenter and panellist at conferences arranged by Corporate Jet and Helicopter and others.

He is also known as a speaker and writer about Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns and has published several books on Burns and on the history of financial crisis, including ‘The Ultimate Burns Supper Book’ and ‘Out of Pocket’ (Luath Press). He is an active supporter of the development campaigns of the University of Glasgow (for which he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship) and of the charitable activities of The English-Speaking Union.

He holds an MA (Hons) degree in Philosophy and a PhD in Scottish Literature from the University of Glasgow, he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Grant Newman
Vice President – Global Banking, Industrial Group, Deutsche Bank

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Damien Oliver
Assistant Director: MCA Aviation, Maritime Coastguard Agency

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Aubrey Point
Director Helicopter Market, Avinco

Aubrey Point, joined AVINCO in 2006 as Director Helicopter Market, building Avinco’s helicopter commercial strategy and overseeing its global sales team and operations. He was appointed Vice President Helicopters in 2013 and played a pivotal role defining and implementing Avinco’s diversification strategy and extending the scope of Avinco’s activity in terms of product types and segments.

During Aubrey’s employment at Avinco, the firm has totaled 270 helicopter transactions, of which 50% from trade.

Aubrey Point worked as Sales and Support Manager for Eurocopter, based in South East Asia, until the end of 2006 and was in charge of governmental and civilian customers in Thailand, Hong Kong and China. He began his career in 1999 as trader and manager in various industries (luxury, commodities and High Tech) in charge of worldwide  markets.  He began his career in 1999 after graduating from university, holding a Master of Arts in Economics and International Trade, a Master of Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management.

Steve Robertson
Director – HQ & Research Centre, Douglas-Westwood

Steve joined DW in 2002. He has led DW’s industry-leading research in regions such as Russia and the Middle East and many technology areas including onshore oilfield services, drilling markets, field development, floating production and subsea processing. He has managed DW’s commercial due-diligence studies for investment banks and private equity firms and was appointed to the board in 2009. He now heads DW’s worldwide M&A and advisory activities. Steve is a graduate in Economics & Computing and completed an MBA at the University of Kent & Canterbury Business School.

Rex Rosales
Partner, Watson Farley & Williams

Rex Rosales is a partner and Global Head of the firm’s Transport Sector Group, based in London. Rex joined Watson Farley & Williams in December 2010 with a team from another international law firm. Rex is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. He is also qualified as a barrister and solicitor in Quebec and is a fluent French speaker.

Rex has been practicing in the Transport Sector for nearly 25 years and has been based in Paris, Montreal and London. A true sector specialist, he advises clients on every aspect of the life-cycle of Transportation assets, from acquisition, financing, leasing, operation, maintenance, trading, disposal through to end-of-life scrapping of the assets.

Rex has particular expertise in advising clients on complex and innovative structured asset finance transactions in the transportation (aviation, rail and shipping) sector. The market widely recognises Rex’s work on the ground-breaking development of the use of the capital markets to finance big-ticket assets in Europe, notably acting for Iberia, Credit Agricole – CIB and CMA CGM. He also recently advised the arranging bank on the structuring and market launch of a ground-breaking capital markets structure collateralised by airport landing slots.

As a result of the increased demand for helicopters to service off-shore installations, Rex has been advising financiers on the intricacies of helicopter finance and the particularities of this subset of the Aviation sector, as compared to more common commercial airliners. He is also active in the area of business jet leasing and financing, acting for financiers and owners alike.

Daniel Rosenthal
President, Milestone Aviation Group

Daniel Rosenthal is the President of Milestone Aviation Group, overseeing global sales, finance, operations and strategy for the global leader in helicopter leasing. In August 2010, he and five partners launched Milestone. After growing the business to over $3.0 billion in aircraft, the company was acquired by GE Capital Aviation Services in January 2015. Prior to Milestone, Dan served as Executive Vice President in the NetJets Inc. Office of the Chairman. A graduate of Yale University, Dan holds a BA in history and international studies, and a JD magna cum laude from Duke University School of Law.

Joseph Ryan
President – Investment Bank Division, Goldman Sachs

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Chris Seymour
Head of Marketing Analysis, Ascend Flightglobal Consultancy

With more than 23 years’ aviation experience, Chris has responsibility for many of Ascend’s comprehensive market studies, covering a wide variety of aircraft types.

He also performs appraisals of commercial aircraft and prepares the company’s forecast of aircraft deliveries. Chris is a specialist in helicopter valuations.

William Sturm
Executive Sales Director, Avpro

William Sturm manages the Airbus Helicopters pre-owned twin engine market at Avpro.  He started his career in aircraft brokerage over a decade ago with his father Ernie at Aircraft Management Solutions.  In 2008 Sturm then became the sales director for HondaJet Southern Europe first based in Madrid and then in Paris at Le Bourget.  In 2013 he joined Heli Asset in Paris that later joined forces with Avpro to become the world’s leading independent helicopter sales and acquisition company.  William is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Ed Washecka
CEO, Waypoint Leasing

Mr. Washecka is the CEO and founder of Waypoint Leasing and has over 18 years of experience in the helicopter industry. After only 2 years in operation, Waypoint has over $1.2 billion in assets with a broad global customer base, while remaining diversified across all four OEMs.  Prior to Waypoint, Mr. Washecka was CEO of Era Group Inc. the helicopter subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings (NYSE: CKH). Over the course of a decade, Mr. Washecka built SEACOR’s initial small seed investment in helicopters to more than US$710 million in helicopter assets through organic growth and acquisition. Era’s 800+ employees operated and supported more than 175 helicopters in the US, Australia, Brazil, India and other major markets. While leading Era’s helicopter operating business, Mr. Washecka pioneered Era Leasing, which grew to encompass over 45 helicopters leased to operators in more than a dozen countries worldwide. Mr. Washecka has traded more than 65 aircraft while negotiating contracts for approximately US$2 billion in helicopter acquisitions. Mr. Washecka is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia Business School.

Raymond Weiser
Helicopter Program Specialist, JSSI

Ray Weiser is an aviation industry professional with over 38 years of experience in various elements of rotary and fixed-wing operations.  A US Army helicopter Crew Chief and veteran, Ray has extensive corporate and commercial experience in aircraft maintenance, operations, and technical services. Throughout Ray’s career, he has accumulated more than 13 years of OEM experience with Turbomeca as a technical representative, and Rolls-Royce as a Regional Manager.  Ray also has extensive MRO experience, spending 8 years with Vector Aerospace. In addition to holding his A&P license with Inspection Authorization, Ray has a myriad of OEM factory approved technical training certifications for both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. Ray has experience with FAR Part-91, Part -135, and Part-145 operations and has even supported the FAA and NTSB through accident investigation. Most recently, he served as a VP of Sales and Business Development for an FAA Part-145 Helicopter Repair Station. Ray also aids airborne law enforcement as a Technical Advisor and through selfless dedication to voluntarily helping his community, he was awarded the honor of Special Deputy through the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department. He has bought, sold, owned, operated and maintained aircraft of all types and currently serves as JSSI”s Helicopter Program Specialist in support of their global fleet.  Ray currently serves the Helicopter Association International as a member of the Technical Committee.

Chris Willis
Valuations Manager, Ascend Flightglobal Consultancy

As Valuations Manager at Ascend Flightglobal Consultancy, Chris leads the European valuations team as well as managing the appraisal pipeline globally. In addition, he is head of helicopter & flight simulator valuations and is lead for maintaining values on a number of commercial aircraft types. This position follows two and half years spent in the Ascend New York office. Having attained certification from the International Society for Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) International Appraiser Program to the level of certified appraiser in 2012, he is well placed for conducting appraisals, oversight of the teams valuations, and taking a leading role in the development of the company’s valuation methodology.

Paul Wilson
Founder, Chiral Capital Partners

Paul Wilson has over 15 years experience in the investing and financial services industry. He is the founder of Chiral Capital Partners, an independent advisor and arranger of structured finance investment opportunities in Europe. A new venture, Chiral was founded in 2014. Current areas of focus include aircraft, structured credit, hard asset securitization, niche real estate and project finance opportunities.

Prior to Chiral, Paul was a senior portfolio manager at the hedge fund Blue Mountain Capital Management, investing in structured finance assets. Before then, Paul ran structured credit trading teams at Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Calyon.

William Wolf
CEO, Lobo Leasing

Since graduating from the Harvard Graduate School of Business in 1991, Bill Wolf has been an investment banker and financial advisor with Goldman, Sachs & Co., HSBC and Credit Suisse. Bill left investment banking in 2008 and entered private practice, where he invested in service, retail and private financial companies. In this connection, Bill and members of his family formed Wolf Partners to invest in and arrange financing for private companies in the energy, aviation, and investment management among other sectors. Bill, along with his father Howard Wolf, is a founding partner of Lobo Leasing.

Alasdair Whyte
Editor and Co-founder, Helicopter Investor

Alasdair co-founded Corporate Jet Investor in 2010. He has more than 15 year’s experience as a financial journalist and has specialised in aviation and high value assets for most of this time. As well as editing the website, Alasdair helps to organise our international conferences and events. He also regularly chairs them as well as other industry events. He has chaired, spoken and moderated more than 100 conferences in 18 different countries.

Jean Marc Youkhana,
Managing Director, Uplifting Aviation

Managing Director Jean-Marc Youkhana has both a vast international experience and a broad set of technical qualifications. After qualifying as an avionic and on-board instrument technician in 1991, Jean-Marc went on to serve a 5-year maintenance apprenticeship where he specialised in aircraft airframes, engines and systems and graduated in 1997 with a Technical Sales degree.

During his apprenticeship and training, Jean-Marc also worked for France’s largest business jet, air charter specialist and maintenance, repair and overhaul centre; marketing the company’s capabilities across business jet and propeller powered aircraft. Turning his knowledge into practical experience he became the youngest sales engineer in France, gaining a deep insight into all aspects of the industry.

Zohar Zik
Consultant, Holman Fenwick Willan

Zohar is a Legal Consultant at Holman Fenwick Willan LLP and specialises in aviation law with expertise in aviation finance and leasing transactions and complex commercial contracts.

Zohar has advised extensively on fleet management issues, such as aircraft procurement, purchase and disposal, operating leasing, sub-leasing, lease novations and amendments and end of lease returns. His aviation finance experience includes sale and leaseback transactions, debt financing, hire purchase and conditional sale agreements, receivables financing and securitisation.

In particular, Zohar has advised helicopter operators and lessors on a variety of issues including leasing and financing transactions and insurance.

Zohar is the former General Counsel – Aviation of TUI Travel, a leading global tourism company and operator of one of Europe’s largest fleets of aircraft. He is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.