Ronce Almond was named Managing Director, International Government Affairs in July 2024. Based in the airline’s Washington office, he plays a leading role in advocating the airline’s policy and legal priorities in international affairs before the U.S. federal government, foreign authorities, and international institutions.

Prior to joining American, Ronce was Senior Counsel at the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee. As the top Democratic staffer on the Subcommittee on Aviation, he led historic legislation and policies to address challenges facing aviation and shape the future of the global aerospace industry. Before serving on Capitol Hill, he was partner and vice president at The Wicks Group, a law and consulting firm focused on aerospace, transportation, and international aviation. In addition to being a member of Aero Club of Washington Board of Governors,

Ronce has served on the Editorial Board of the Air & Space Lawyer, a journal of the American Bar Association. He has taught at Georgetown University School of Law and published extensively on aviation and international affairs. Ronce holds a Juris Doctor, cum laude, and Master of Arts (Political Science) from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts (History), cum laude, from George Washington University. He and his wife Yasmine are parents of two children.

Yanina Belen Vidal is a Senior Industry Manager at Google, passionate about shaping the future of the Travel industry. She leads cross-functional teams to develop cutting-edge solutions that address complex industry challenges. With a background in International Studies and experience in finance, Yanina brings a unique perspective to her role. Her fascination with technology's impact on the world led her to participate in Singularity University's Executive Program. Outside of work, she enjoys exploring her passions for wine, chess, and astrology.

Rob Bishton is the Chief Executive of the UK Civil Aviation Authority and has held the role since October 2023. Rob became Chief Executive after holding the Interim Joint CEO position between April and October 2023. Appointed to the Board as Group Director of Safety and Airspace Regulation in November 2019, Rob has been at the Civil Aviation Authority since 2014, and previously held the role of Head of Flight Operations. He has extensive experience in the aviation industry, including positions at Fastjet, Astraeus and easyJet. Rob, as a qualified commercial pilot, has more than 10,000 flying hours on B787 and B737 aircraft. Rob has also represented the UK at the EASA Management Board and was formerly a NED of the UK Flight Safety Committee.

Kate is an aerospace reporter on the aviation team at Bloomberg, covering airlines and space across the UK and Europe. She delves into a range of topics including supply chain issues, strikes and air travel post-Covid. Kate joined Bloomberg last year after spending almost three years on the business desk at Business Insider, where she covered similar themes.

Jim Fairlie was born in Perth and has lived and worked in the area all his life. He began his career as a shepherd before becoming a hill farmer. He built a successful food and events-based catering business and has extensive experience in urban and rural affairs. He was elected to represent Perthshire South and Kinross-shire at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

He was appointed Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity in February 2024.

Luke joined Loganair in March 2024 and has already set about making significant changes aimed at improving performance and the customer experience. Before his time with Scotland’s Airline, Luke already had an impressive background in the UK regional airline sector. His extensive experience includes notable roles such as Group COO and Accountable Manager for Flybe until 2018, as well as senior positions with BA CitiExpress and Brymon Airways. He has also held senior executive roles at easyJet and Wizzair. Beyond the airline industry, Luke has worked in the onshore and offshore rotary sectors as CEO of one of the UK’s largest helicopter Air Ambulance providers, Specialist Aviation, and was Managing Director of Bond Offshore Helicopters, and a board member of Oil & Gas UK. Luke lives in Edinburgh.

Amanda Francis was appointed Chief Executive of AICES in 2020. AICES represents the UK’s international express sector which imports and exports 250 million consignments every year, supporting the UK Government’s objective to grow the economy and promote global trade. Members range from larger companies including DHL, DPD, Evri, FedEx, Parcelforce and UPS to SME express operators, collectively providing over 100,000 jobs across the UK.

Previously, Amanda acted as consultant to AICES and other clients including TNT Post, DHL, Hermes and the Governments of Guernsey, Jersey and the British Virgin Islands.

Philip Georgiadis is Transport Correspondent at the Financial Times, where he covers airlines, airports and wider transport policy issues. Over the past three years he has covered the industry's response to the coronavirus pandemic, government border policies and last year's travel restart. He is increasingly focused on aviation and how the industry plans to hit its target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. A journalist at the FT since 2019, he previously worked for the Wall Street Journal in London.

Steve is Boeing’s Regional Director – Europe and METACA Sustainability. In this role he leads a team supporting Boeing’s customers and partners achieve their sustainability goals across Europe, the Middle East, Türkiye, Africa and Central Asia.

Prior to this role, Steve was Boeing’s NATO Director and UK Head of Government Affairs.

Steve joined Boeing from Rolls-Royce, and the Ministry of Defence. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and has lived and worked in Belgium, India, the USA and China.

Chris is an executive at GE Aerospace in Brussels where he leads the government relations team for GE Aerospace in Europe. His main responsibility includes building and maintaining relationships with the EU institutions as well as with relevant national governments where GE Aerospace has a presence. He represents GE Aerospace interests in policy developments in the area of sustainability, trade and regulatory matters. He also enables the participation in collaborative R&D programs like Clean Aviation and EDF. Other areas of relevance are digital, state aid and competition law. Lastly, he supports the business in Europe on large scale investment projects. Prior to joining GE in 2011, Chris worked for 15 years at Deloitte and PwC as a director. He led a team that consulted on innovation strategies for large corporations and evaluated the effectiveness of government policies.

Chris has a Master’s degree in International Law from Leiden University the Netherlands as well as an MBA.

Simon McNamara joined Heart Aerospace in 2023 as its Director Government & Industry Affairs responsible for leading their interaction globally with government bodies, regulators and industry stakeholders.

Prior to Heart, Simon led IATA’s United Kingdom & Ireland office engaging with Government across a range of policy areas.

Previously he was Director of Communications at the UK regional airline Flybe and prior to that he worked in EU affairs for 18 years ending with a term as Director General of the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), a European trade body representing regional airlines.

Simon has a degree in Aeronautical Engineering (1994) from City University, London and an MSc from Cranfield University in Air Transport Management (1995). He is a current Board Member at ERA.

Robert helps clients sharpen their storytelling to shape public debate. He is an award-winning former foreign and political correspondent for BBC and Sky News, working in Washington DC, Brussels and Westminster on both radio and television. In 2018 he became the national spokesperson for the British railway industry, regularly appearing on BBC radio and TV, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 News. He helped hone and deliver the industry’s messaging to customers, business and government before and during the pandemic. Robert sits on the Advisory Board of the public services think tank ‘Reform’, is a Leader in Residence at UCLAN and a Senior Fellow at the John Schofield Trust.

Ken is currently MAG’s Group CEO, having taken over the role in October 2023. He joined MAG in 2012 and has held senior executive roles across the company including Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Executive of London Stansted Airport, Chief Executive of Manchester Airport and Deputy CEO of the MAG Group. Ken spent six years before joining MAG with Ryanair Holdings plc, initially as Head of Revenue Management and then as Director of New Route Development. He has previously worked in the retail and investment banking sectors.

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 bank, 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 manged 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.

David Shepherd is the CEO of IAG Cargo, the global logistics business of International Airlines Group (owners of British Airways, Iberia & Aer Lingus). He is a Non-Executive Director on the Aer Lingus UK Board and has held a number of executive roles within the Group.

Mohammad Taher, widely known as 'The Airport Guy,' is an aerospace engineering graduate, turned content creator and educator. While both excelling in his engineering career, becoming the aerodrome systems specialist for the biggest and most complex aerodrome in the UK, he has also built a thriving online community of over half a million people to empower individuals, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds, to explore careers in aviation. The impact he has had on the aviation sector has been recognised by the UK government who recently announced him as an Aviation Ambassador for the Department for Transport, as well as being named one of the top 50 most influential Muslims in Europe.

Alex joined the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) as Director of Policy and Insight in March 2022. In this role he is responsible for the policy positions adopted by the Chambers network and for the BCC’s extensive business insight programme. Before joining BCC Alex worked for over 20 years in various roles across the environment, transport, logistics and trade sectors, in the UK and overseas. Alex is a Chartered Member of the CILT, IEMA and CMI.

Shai Weiss is Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Atlantic and an Executive Director of its Board. With the belief that everyone can take on the world, Virgin Atlantic leads from the front in pursuit of its vision to become the most loved travel company. In service of its people, customers, and the communities from which it operates.

With an unrelenting commitment to business as a force for good, Virgin Atlantic has been pioneering sustainability leadership for more than 15 years, with a commitment to achieving 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) by 2030 and Net Zero by 2050.

Shai was named Virgin Atlantic CEO in January 2019 and led the Company during Covid-19, emerging from the pandemic a transformed airline, in the process evolving from being a challenger brand to being recognized as a flag carrier. Shai joined Virgin Atlantic in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer later assuming the role of Chief Commercial Officer.

During Shai’s tenure Virgin Atlantic has been recognized as a leader in safety, customer and employee satisfaction and has been awarded the Global Five Star Award by the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) for seven years running and the only British carrier to achieve this. In 2022, the airline was ranked as the number one most loved workplace in the UK by Newsweek and 1st in the UK and 7th globally in World’s Best Airlines 2023 by airlinesratings.com

Shai serves as a non-Executive Director of Check Point Software Technologies (NASDQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions. In 2022 Shai served on the Prime Minister’s Business Council.

In 2006 he was a Founding Partner of Virgin Green Fund and an Investment Partner with the Virgin Group from 2012. Before joining Virgin, he held several senior management positions at ntl:Telewest (now Virgin Media), the UK and Europe’s largest cable operator. Shai was part of the turn-around of ntl with roles including Managing Director of Consumer Products, Director of Operations, and Director of Financial Planning for the Consumer division and was behind the merger between Virgin Mobile UK and ntl:Telewest and the subsequent re-brand to Virgin Media. Prior to ntl, Shai established the European office of early-stage technology venture fund JVP and was a Senior Associate with Morgan Stanley Technology Group in London.

Shai holds an MBA from Columbia University in New York and a BBA from City University of New York, Baruch College.

He resides in London, has two children in university, attends Arsenal games whenever he can, loves The New Yorker and attempts to play basketball on weekends.

Thomas Woldbye took up the role as Heathrow CEO in October 2023. As CEO, Thomas is focussed on driving innovation in passenger service, sustainability and growth at the UK’s hub airport. He is also overseeing the airport’s multi billion pound investment plans to upgrade existing facilities and provide an even better service for passengers, including the next generation security programme and new baggage system for Terminal 2. Thomas is a member of His Majesty’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, the BritishAmerican Business Advisory Board and the Jet Zero Council.

Thomas was previously CEO of Copenhagen Airport from May 2011 – September 2023. Under Thomas’s stewardship, Copenhagen Airport was consistently rated as one of the world’s top airports, both in terms of customer and retail experience as well as efficiency and profitability. He worked in partnership with the trade unions in Denmark and put customers at the front of mind for all colleagues at the airport.

Previously, Thomas worked for A.P. Møller-Maersk for 27 years. He started his career as a management trainee in 1983, and over the next 20 years, held several management positions in Indonesia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Denmark. During this period, he was primarily involved in the management of Maersk Line, the company’s worldwide container business. In 2004, Thomas took over as Group CEO of Norfolkline Group with headquarters in The Hague.

Thomas has an HD in Financing from Copenhagen Business School and professional qualifications from the London Business School and the IMD in Switzerland.