Coming Through
the Clouds

The Aon Global Aviation
Virtual Series

The Series

What You Can Expect

‘Coming Through the Clouds’ is a five-part webinar series bringing together global aviation leaders and Aon subject matter experts to discuss the business, people, risk and safety of aviation organizations. Each Tuesday and Thursday, we will explore the post-COVID-19 environment and examine key areas that will shape the future of the aviation industry.
 
All five episodes will be relevant for anyone working in aviation, with an interest in how the industry is evolving.

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  •  
  1. Cost Containment,
    Evolving Revenue Streams and Returning to Profit
    This episode is already available on demand
  2. Where Next for your Employer Brand and Value Proposition?
    This episode is already available on demand
  3. Smart Funding of Human Capital and Skills for the Future
    This episode is already available on demand
  4. Cyber Safety, Aviation Security and The Human Factor
    This episode is already available on demand
  5. Aviation in 2040
    This episode is already available on demand
     
David Barrett - Host for Aon's Assessment Solutions Aviation Webinar Series

Your host for the series:
David Barrett
Chief Commercial Officer - Aon's Assessment Solutions
Partner - Human Capital Solutions

David oversees client and commercial operations for Aon’s talent assessment business across 30 global markets. His team works with over 100 airlines, airports, ATOs and OEMs on human capital solutions, with projects including the design of high volume talent assessment for attraction, selection, development, promotion and performance improvement of flight operations and business populations.

Talent assessment and human capital funding have evolved significantly in the aviation space over last decade. David has expanded Aon’s broader risk and safety management, rewards, insurance and funding solutions to enable improved productivity and cost saving strategies for airlines and aviation clients.

In addition to his core Human Capital practice work, David has also implemented large-scale national upskilling, retraining and employability initiatives for the Irish and Singapore governments and has been appointed as a board member of Solas, the authority responsible for developing a world class further education and training system in Ireland.

Session #1

Cost Containment,
Evolving Revenue Streams and Returning to Profit

In the macro environment, aviation continues to be a high growth industry with passenger numbers expected to increase by over 5% per annum up to 2037, with over 8 billion travellers per annum. The world's middle class continues to grow and 2019 marked the tenth year of profitable growth. This mission-critical sector for the global economy has been rocked by recent events. We explore the near, medium and long term as the industry comes back online.

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Panelists:

Peter Bellew, Chief Operations Officer at easyJet and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Peter Bellew

Chief Operations Officer – easyJet

Peter is a veteran in the tourism and aviation industry with over 30 years of experience in related fields. Peter’s first venture into the aviation industry in a management capacity was in 1993 at Kerry Airport. Under his tenure as Director and General Manager, he was credited with substantially increasing passenger volume.

In 2006, he joined the Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair, as Deputy Director of Flight Operations, and subsequently held various roles, including Head of Sales and Marketing, Director of Flight Operations and Director of Training and Recruitment.

In 2015, Peter joined Malaysia Airlines as Chief Operations Officer and took up the CEO position in 2016. Peter returned to Ryanair as Chief Operations Officer in 2017, before joining easyJet earlier this year.

Joan Vincenz, Managing Director of Corporate Safety at United Airlines and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Joan Vincenz

Managing Director of Corporate Safety - United Airlines

Joan is the Managing Director of Corporate Safety for United Airlines and has enterprise wide responsibilities for emergency response, business continuity planning, workers’ compensation and on-site clinics.

Joan has been in her current role within United’s Corporate Safety division since 2011 and works at the company’s headquarters in Chicago.

Before coming to United, Joan worked for Delta Air Lines in several leadership roles including Director of Flight Attendants, Managing Director of Strategic Planning and Managing Director of Product Marketing.

Joan is on the Board of the Workers’ Compensation Research Institute and participates in ChicagoFIRST (a non-profit that brings key Chicago private sector companies [e.g., banks, power companies, airlines) together with local and national public-sector entities for emergency management discussions].

Paul Hagy, SVP, Global Corporat Treasurer at Aon and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Paul Hagy

SVP, Global Corporate Treasurer - Aon Corporation

Paul is currently an SVP and Global Corporate Treasurer of Aon plc. In his role, Paul is responsible for: Treasury and Corporate Real Estate.

Paul has also spent time working for Aon’s Broker Deal, Aon Securities Inc., and holds his Series 7 and Series 63 licenses.

In Paul’s 29-year career he has experience in: Global Spent Management, Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Corporate Finance, Investments, Pensions, Risk Management, Real Estate and Procurement.

Prior to joining Aon in 2002, Paul worked for General Electric Capital Corporation, Heller Financial Inc. (purchased by General Electric), and Household International (purchased by HSBC), in various treasury roles of increasing responsibility.

Session #2

Where Next for your Employer Brand and Value Proposition?

Aviation has always had a unique set of attractions and challenges in the context of talent marketing.
There are powerful agendas at play in terms of demographics, diversity, digital business, quality of working, environmental impact and a multitude of other factors. We explore how airlines and the wider industry compete for talent now and going forward.

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Panelists:

Mark Duffy, Head of Talent at Ryanair and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Mark Duffy

Deputy Director HR - Head of Talent - Ryanair

Mark is Ryanair’s Head of Talent, managing teams in Dublin, Spain and Poland.

He has over 16 years' talent acquisition experience, working for a variety of Top 100 companies in London, Paris and Dublin. Mark has been central to innovation and scale in Ryanair’s pursuit of the best flights ops., business and technology talent across Europe. Having studied English and French law at university, Mark, who originally hails from Sutton Coldfield, fell into recruitment in the early 2000s. He spent his formative years in London, headhunting for investment banks and hedge fund companies. Apart from spreading the word across the globe about what a fantastic place Ryanair is to work for, he can be seen hitting a ball around the cricket grounds of Dublin and teaching the Irish what a great sport Cricket is.

Raj Rahavan, Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources at IndiGo and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Raj Raghavan

Senior Vice President and Head of Human Resources – IndiGo

Raj leads the human resources function at IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share. He is a key member of IndiGo’s Executive Management Committee.

Prior to this, he was Amazon’s Head of Human Resources (Asia Pacific and Middle East) for their International Consumer Business and Global Technology Development Centers in the region. He joined Amazon in early 2011 as their India Director of Human Resources and supported the launch of several Amazon businesses in the country. Earlier, Raj was Head of Human Resources for GE’s Global Research and India Technology Centers. Starting his human resources career in the late 80s, Raj has held several senior HR leadership positions across geographies in Hindustan Unilever, the Ford Motor Company and HSBC.

Suzanne Courtney, Strategic Consultant and Aviation Expert at Aon's Assessment Solutions

Suzanne Courtney

Strategic Consulting and Aviation Expert - Aon's Assessment Solutions

Suzanne studied occupational psychology and is specialized in the aviation industry working with Aon’s global aviation clients. Her role focuses on helping clients make strategic workforce decisions, including identifying potential for future leadership positions and ensuring the workforce is ready to evolve as the roles and business evolves. Additionally, her role focuses on helping clients measure culture fit, minimize hiring risk, convert their assessment process to digital formats and driving positive customer experiences by selecting the best candidates.

She is also the commercial lead for Aon’s pilot assessment suite and a key contributor to the measurement models and tools used for selecting and developing pilots. She regularly releases thought leadership on human resource topics within the aviation industry and presents on future considerations for human resources within the aviation industry at Aon’s global aviation events.

Session #3

Smart Funding of Human Capital and Skills for the Future

Looking to 2040 in the macro sense, best estimates indicate that over 500,000 new commercial airline pilots will need to be trained to supply the industry with the expected staffing levels. The funding model for pilot training is very much broken - with over 90% of financial cost falling on private individuals in many areas. We will look at smarter and more agile ways to fund this billion-dollar investment for the industry through smart partnerships around talent assessment, education, training, employers, banks and insurers.

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Panelists:

Andy O'Shea, Chairman of the Aircrew Training Policy Group - EASA

Andy O’Shea

Chairman of the Aircrew Training Policy Group - EASA

Andy served in the Irish Air Corps and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) between 1976 and 1992. He joined Ryanair and flew BAC 1 11s and B737s. Between 2002 and 2019, he was Head of Training at Europe's largest airline. He is chairman of the Aircrew Training Policy Group which advises EASA and the European Commission on matters relating to professional pilot training. Andy is also working with Aon to continue the development of aviation talent assessment tools which will enhance efficiency and safety in the airline industry.

Andy is also a co-founder and chief executive of The Airline Pilots Club, an organization focused on increasing access, participation and diversity in the field of commercial pilot training.

Simon Azar, Vice President of Strategy and Marketing at CAE and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Simon Azar

Vice President of Strategy and Marketing - CAE

Simon recently joined CAE as Vice President of Strategy and Marketing and also Civil Aviation Training Solutions, where he is responsible for global marketing and the product management teams. Prior to joining CAE, Simon worked for Airbus for nine years in roles with increasing responsibility - starting in procurement, then going on to the Airbus A350XWB for marketing during the aircraft’s certification in Toulouse. For the past four years, he was based in Hong Kong as a Sales Director in the Asia Pacific region. Before joining Airbus, Simon started his career with Pratt & Whitney Canada in development engineering.
 
Simon holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from his native city of Montreal, Canada. During his free time, Simon is an avid skier and scuba diver.

Brian Jilley, Head of General Aviation at Aon

Brian Jilley

Head of General Aviation – Commercial Risk Solutions  - Aon

Following a career within the Royal Navy’s Submarine Service, Brian was attracted to the aviation insurance marketplace due to the close community that exists within a truly diverse sector.

Brian joined Aon in 2016 as an Executive Director of Aon Commercial Risk solutions team within the Global Broking Centre and holds a position on Aon’s Aviation Board of Executives. His role encompasses working directly with operations and colleagues within Aon’s network, while driving innovation and sales within the aviation sector.
 
Brian is passionate about the risks aviators face, in pursuit of delivering vital services to others.

Session #4

Cyber Safety, Aviation Security and The Human Factor

Aviation stands out as an industry where it is not just business as usual. Events that happen in this space make the ‘front page’. They impact our personal, as well as our business lives. From human error to terrorism to data breaches, we explore what the industry is doing and can do, now and into the future to enable a prosperous and secure upward trajectory.

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Panelists:

Kashif Khalid, Regional Director of Africa and Middle East at IATA

Kerry Peirse

General Manager - IT Infrastructure, Operations and Security - Cathay Pacific Airways

Kerry is an executive manager within the IT department of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited. She has enterprise wide responsibilities for all aspects of the airlines IT Risk and Security as well as IT Infrastructure Engineering and overall Operations Management. Under Kerry’s leadership Cathay Pacific’s IT teams embarked on a transformational change to the delivery of IT services to the business including a highly complex cyber security uplift.  
 
Prior to joining Cathay Pacific Kerry gained over 20 years of international experience in the area of IT Strategy and Management, Consulting, Programme Management, Service Delivery, and Account Management across both the vendor and client landscape. 

Kashif Khalid, Regional Director of Africa and Middle East at IATA

Kashif Khalid

Regional Director of Africa and Middle East - IATA

Kashif Khalid is Regional Director of Africa & Middle East for the International Air Transport Association (IATA). He provides leadership and subject matter expertise to airlines, airports, ANSP's, civil aviation authorities, security agencies and governments to further develop IATA’s mission, projects, business development and advocacy initiatives.

Formerly he was Head of Assets and Acquisitions at Abu Dhabi Airport, leading the global M&A function for the Abu Dhabi government as well as the development, modernization and operations strategy of the airport's portfolio. These included multi-billion dollar infrastructure investment and development programs, featuring Abu Dhabi’s crowning jewel, the iconic Midfield Terminal Building.

He has advised governments and airport investors/operators on both greenfield and brownfield redevelopment projects, privatizations, public private partnerships in airports and associated infrastructure projects and concessions.

Edward Stroz, Co-Presidient of Aon Cyber Solutions

Edward Stroz

Co-President – Aon Cyber Solutions

Edward is a global leader in investigations, intelligence and risk management. He provides hands-on strategic consulting in investigations, intelligence and due diligence, plus cyber and physical security.

Ed was a Special Agent with the FBI where he formed their computer crime squad in New York. Trained as a certified public accountant, he has extensive experience in white collar crime investigation, including bank and securities fraud, and has testified in court numerous times as an expert witness.

Ed sits on the Board of Directors of the Crime Commission of New York City, an independent non-profit organization focused on criminal justice and public safety policies and practices.

Session #5

Aviation in 2040

2020 will certainly be remembered as an ‘annus horribilis’ for the aviation industry. However, the future is full of opportunity - both known and unknown. We will take a dive into the potential future landscape across consolidation, hardware, airports, consumer preferences, demographics, technology, the environment and other factors that will impact the industry and our futures.

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Panelist:

Simon Witts, Founder and CEO at Aviation 360

Simon Witts

Founder and CEO – Aviation 360

Simon is a highly experienced transport operations, engineering, regulatory, education, skills and training senior executive with a career spanning all aspects of airline and aviation operations - latterly working across other sectors.

An executive director on the boards of five regional airlines, including British Airways, initially in an engineering/technical capacity and latterly responsible for all aspects of airline operations (COO role). He has held all EASA/CAA regulatory approvals, including accountable manager.

Simon Witts, Founder and CEO at Aviation 360

Jeffrey C Lowe 

Managing Director - Asian Sky Group & Asian Sky Media

Jeffrey has almost 40 years of Engineering, Marketing and Sales experience in commercial and business aviation. His most recent position is as Managing Director for Asian Sky Group & Asian Sky Media in Hong Kong. Asian Sky Group is the largest business aviation consulting group in the Asia-Pacific region with 20 employees & 6 offices.
 
Having resided in Hong Kong since 1997, Lowe specializes in the Greater China business aviation market. He first came to Hong Kong as a Director of Sales for Asia-Pacific for the Bombardier Aerospace Business Aircraft Division. He was then appointed Regional Vice President of Sales for Asia by Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation in May 2000 where he was a top sales executive.
 

Peter Hörnfeldt, Founder of Mentour 360 SC and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Petter Hörnfeldt

Founder - Mentour 360 SC

Petter, also known under the alias ‘Mentour Pilot’, started flying professionally at the age of 15 and was trained to fly Boeing 737-800s in Sweden. He has 17 years of experience in commercial aviation, including 14 years as a simulator instructor, a type-rating instructor and an examiner.

Petter currently works as a Training Manager at his home base of Girona, as well as running his own social media company, Mentour 360 SC. The company aims to provide informative, constructive and positive aviation content for aviation enthusiasts and professionals.

Petter is also a co-founder and Social Media Director of The Airline Pilots Club, an organization focused on increasing access, participation and diversity in the field of commercial pilot training.

Petter runs a YouTube channel, a Facebook page and an Instagram account and has over 650,000 followers across the three platforms. His YouTube channel alone has almost 500,000 subscribers and receives two to two and a half million views per month.

Peter Hörnfeldt, Founder of Mentour 360 SC and panelist of Aon's Assessment Solutions' Aviation Webinar Series

Lambros Lambrou

Chief Executive Officer, Commercial Risk Solutions at Aon

Lambros is the Chief Executive Officer of Aon Risk Solutions. Prior to this appointment, Lambros held several positions with Aon internationally, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of the Global Broking Centre in London.

This followed roles with Aon Risk Solutions in Chicago as Head of Strategy for Aon Broking, Head of Aon Analytics and Head of Carrier Management.

Lambros has worked in the risk management industry for almost three decades, with experience across Asia Pacific, the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Read this paper to learn how the industry's top five future risks will change as the world ventures into the new normal.
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