GMD 2024 Speakers

Willie Walsh became the eighth person to lead the International Air Transport Association (IATA) when he took on the role of Director General in April 2021.

Prior to joining IATA, Walsh spent his entire career in the airline industry. beginning as a cadet pilot with Aer Lingus in 1979 and rising to the position of Chief Executive at the airline in 2001. In 2005 he was appointed Chief Executive of British Airways (BA). He led BA through the 2008/09 global financial crisis, established a transatlantic joint business venture with Iberia, Finnair and American Airlines, and oversaw the 2011 merger of BA and Iberia under a newly established parent company, International Airlines Group (IAG). He was Chief Executive of IAG from its inception until September 2020.

Under Walsh’s leadership, IATA has focused on supporting the industry’s emergence from the COVID-19 crisis as well as aviation’s ambitious and historic commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Walsh has also advocated for infrastructure partners to avoid recouping their COVID losses from their customers including airlines and air travelers.

Walsh is deeply familiar with IATA, having also served on the IATA Board of Governors between 2005 to 2018, including serving as Chair (2016-2017). A citizen of Ireland, Walsh was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1961. Walsh holds a Master of Science and Business Administration from Trinity College, Dublin.

> Full biography and photos

Nick leads IATA’s work on safety, security and operations, including airports, fuel supply, passenger experience, cargo and ground handling. 

Before joining IATA in 2015, Nick was Vice President of Airports, Call Centers and Customer Relations for Air Canada. He built his career in Air Canada and its subsidiary Jazz, where he managed various aspects of airport operations, including Inflight, Flight Operations, Operations Control, and Maintenance. Nick brings with him a wealth of experience covering all facets airline operations, human resource management, labor and government relations.

He completed his studies in Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, and also holds the Master Black Belt Certification from Six Sigma.  

Tony is responsible for the association’s media relations, brand, digital communications and internal communications.

Prior to joining IATA in 1999, Tony was with Gavin Anderson and Company Japan from 1997-1999 where he served as the Associate Director, and All Nippon Airways (ANA) from 1992-1997 where he began his career in international communications.

Tony has lived in Canada, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland and is fluent in English and Japanese. He holds an Honors BA in East Asian Studies from McGill University, Montreal.

Stuart Fox leads IATA’s teams that are responsible for flight and technical operations as well as Air Traffic Management. Prior to joining IATA, Stuart headed up safety oversight teams for Qatar Civil Aviation Authority, as well as the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

Stuart has more than 30 years’ experience in the management various aspects of airline and business jet operations including crew training, regulatory affairs, and line operations. He also holds an MBA in International Business from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Yanik has over 35 year’s airline industry experience, most of which at British Airways where he began as Senior Manager Revenue Management in 1996 and then held several positions as Area Commercial Manager, overseas.

Yanik joined IATA in May 2011 and took on the leadership of the New Distribution Capability Program (NDC) in July 2013. By January 2021, he had advanced to the position of Director, Distribution, where he oversaw the broader realm of Airline Retailing. His responsibilities included spearheading the adoption of industry standards like NDC and ONE Order, and driving the overall transformation of the industry towards achieving 100% Offers and Orders. In November 2023, his portfolio expanded to include industry transformation initiatives in the area of payments, focusing on modernizing and streamlining payment processes to enhance efficiency and customer experience.

Yue Huang currently works with IATA as Assistant Director for Climate Policy.

Yue joined IATA in 2017. In IATA, she is mainly responsible for aviation environmental policies, and advocates favorable policies for the aviation industry, as needed, before national, European, and other authorities. Identifying policy trends, setting priorities, and developing effective strategies for IATA engagement in the environment and sustainability front. Yue is heavily involved in international standard-setting under the auspices of ICAO and UNFCCC. Yue also provides capacity building to the airlines, essentially to help their compliance under different regulatory regimes. In addition, Yue engages in advocacy campaigns for galvanizing support and removing barriers to the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel.

Before joining IATA, Yue worked with legal department of Civil Aviation Administration of China and Environment Team of U.S. State Department, Mission China.

Yue holds two LL.M. degrees from the University of Glasgow, UK, and McGill University, Canada, respectively. She is a Ph.D. D candidate with Leiden University, Netherlands. Yue is a lawyer, qualified to practice law in China.

Dr. Preeti Jain is Head, Net Zero Transition Programs at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). She comes with 20+ years of rich global experience spreading across refining, petrochemicals and steel sector focused on energy transition and sustainability.

Dr. Jain was ‘Member’ of various high level national committees and industry forums to steer policies aimed at low carbon pathways. A Fulbright alumna by Department of Energy of the US, she is an ardent believer of enhancing women equity in energy and aviation sector.

Younkyung (Youn) Kim is a Manager in the IATA Customer Experience department based in Geneva and is currently working on IATA’s One ID initiative. In this role, Youn also acts as the secretariat and manages the Customer Experience and Facilitation industry Working Group which mainly focuses on developing the One ID industry standards. She has been with IATA since 2015 and was previously based at IATA’s Asia-Pacific regional office in Singapore where she was involved in various passenger experience and facilitation initiatives such as One ID, passenger data programs (API/PNR), Automated Border Control (ABC), visa and travel authorization. Youn has about 17 years of aviation experience including a 7-year stint in Japan Airlines that included airport passenger handling, sales & marketing.

Youn holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Geneva in Switzerland and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Ewha Womans University in the Republic of Korea.

Leslie leads IATA’s corporate governance and legal services since late 2023.

She joined IATA’s Legal Team in 2012 and prior to her current role, was IATA’s Director Legal Advocacy. Before IATA, she was the Chief Legal Counsel of the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority, which she joined in 1996.

Leslie has over 35 years’ experience as a lawyer including 27 years’ experience in aviation law.  In addition to providing specialist legal advice on regulatory, commercial, labour and international law has represented IATA in various international aviation fora.

Leslie holds a BA and LLB from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She is admitted to practice law as a barrister and solicitor in both Ontario and New Zealand.

Andrew is the Director Policy and Standards, Sustainability and Economics at the International Air Transport Association, based in Geneva. 

With 15 years of industry experience, Andrew leads a team which provides thought leadership, strategic insights and actionable advice on the global economic, regulatory and policy landscape, as well as the key issues and developments facing the air transport industry.

These insights inform IATA’s member airlines and other stakeholders, including governments and regulators.

John is IATA’s Head of Worldwide Airport Slots, responsible for IATA’s advocacy activity on airport slots – including working with the airport, coordinator, and airline communities to develop the Worldwide Airport Slot Guidelines. He also leads the organization of the Slot Conference, the twice-yearly global airline schedule optimization meeting.

For ten years prior to joining the slots team, John was a member of IATA’s legal team, working on slots, financial settlement systems, and airline bankruptcy matters.

Hemant Mistry has 30 years’ experience in aviation, including technology application, commercial strategy and regulatory reform. He leads IATA’s Energy Transition activities to support decarbonization of the industry, working across airlines, governments and the supply-chain to achieve Net Zero by 2050.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Hemant has been responsible for IATA’s work on securing financial support for airlines and supply chain partners. Prior to this Hemant was IATA’s Director of Infrastructure and Fuel where he worked with governments, airports, ANSPs and jet fuel suppliers to build opportunities for partnership, pricing & efficiency improvement, as well as effective capacity development.

Before joining IATA, Hemant worked as a Senior Associate for Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consultancy, where he led competition and regulatory assessments for the European Commission and performed safety audits for national aviation authorities. Hemant’s first employment was with UK National Air Traffic Services where he helped develop ICAO standards and recommended practices for new aviation technologies and operational concepts. He was sponsored by the UK Civil Aviation Authority and is a graduate of the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology.

Mark Searle leads IATA work on all safety activities to support IATA members; those on the IOSA Registry; and the wider airline industry to deliver continuous improvement in aviation safety. Current work is focused on the IATA Safety Leadership Charter; the implementation of Risk-Based IOSA; compliance with ICAO Annex 13 accident investigations to ensure the delivery of quality accident reports; and the development of safety improvement programs leveraging intelligence in the IATA Safety Issue Hub.

Prior to IATA, Mark led the UK CAA Safety Strategy team responsible for the UK State Safety Program; preparing the regulator for the safe integration of new, and evolutionary, technologies; and advocating governmental and regulatory positions around the world. He has twenty years’ experience as a commercial airline pilot accumulating over 12,000 flying hours. Mark was Chair of the British Airline Pilots Association; and has held Board positions in financial services and insurance companies providing him with extensive corporate experience.

Brendan leads IATA’s cargo activities as the Global Head of Cargo.  Before taking on this role in July 2021 Brendan held a number of roles in IATA covering cargo operations, e-commerce and dangerous goods.

Prior to joining IATA in 2007, Brendan was at Air Canada managing various aspects of cargo operations, processes, and procedures. Passionate about air cargo, innovation, diversity and talent, Brendan also founded IATAs future air cargo executive FACE program and has a wealth of experience in logistics, operations, and people management.

Marie joined IATA in 2022 as Chief Economist. In January 2023 Marie added responsibility for IATA’s Environment and Sustainability activities to her role.

Marie joined IATA from Lombard Odier where she was Head of Global Trends and Sustainability. Her 30-year professional life includes roles for both investment banks and private banks, including HSBC in London, Merrill Lynch in Paris, and Indosuez in Geneva. Outside of the financial sector Marie worked for IKEA, and she also founded and managed her own company in the equine industry.

Marie holds an MBA from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and a PhD in International Economics from the Graduate Institute in Geneva, Switzerland. She speaks Swedish, English, and French fluently.

Marie's full bio and more photos

Dr. Bojun Wang is the Manager of Net Zero Modeling at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Sustainability and Economics Division. Bojun is leading the development of IATA’s net zero model and is the lead author of numerous IATA publications, including the Net Zero CO2 Finance Roadmap 2024 and the Aviation Net Zero Transition Pathways Comparative Review.

Besides this role, Bojun is also an honoree Senior Associate at Cambridge University Institute of Sustainability Leadership (CISL), where he leads the research collaboration between IATA and the Aviation Impact Accelerator (AIA) at the Whittle Lab of Cambridge University. Prior to IATA, Bojun was the Prince of Wales Global Sustainability Fellow at CISL. He holds a PhD in Energy and Air Transport and an MSc in Energy and Environmental Economics, both from University College London (UCL) in the UK.