Jeremy Akel joins Milestone

Heligo AW139

Jeremy Akel has been appointed as the executive vice president of commercial aviation at Milestone after leaving Bristow in 2016.

Mr Akel will take up the new position on 2 July 2018 and will be relocating to Dublin, Ireland in the autumn of 2018. He has been working in the aviation sector for 20 years – fourteen of them in the rotorcraft sector.

At Bristow, Akel held the role of senior vice president and COO. After leaving the company in 2016, he established his own aviation technology investment and advisory firm Global Walkway Capital – which he is still heading up as of the time of writing.

Daniel Rosenthal, Milestone President and CEO said: “We are excited to recruit Jeremy to lead Milestone’s industry-leading commercial team.

“He brings extensive helicopter industry knowledge as well as the unique perspective of our customers. As a former operator who has worked in every corner of the world, he knows first-hand what operators need from a leasing partner, and his leadership will be instrumental to guiding our global customer relationships.”

Prior to his work at Bristow, Mr Akel worked as an aviation consultant, advising on transactions and fleet plans for private and commercial aviation firms. Most notably, Milestone notes that he was involved in a $1 billion restructuring effort for an airline client.

Other leadership changes

Alongside this appointment, Milestone will also be promoting its senior vice president of strategy Lauren Norelli to COO. She has been working at the company for five years.

Rosenthal continued: “Likewise, we are thrilled to announce Lauren’s promotion to this operations leadership role. She brings vast expertise and a broad perspective into our operations functions, paving the way for our continued success as we manage and grow our helicopter fleet that now exceeds $5.0 billion. Lauren’s collaborative and strategic leadership style will help Milestone continue to drive industry change and greater efficiency.”