About Staff ERA BoardStaff - ERA Board
Antonis Simigdalas - President
CEO of Olympic Air, previously co-founder and COO of Aegean Airlines, Simigdalas is a Cranfield University graduate, having served there as a teaching and research assistant. Winner of the Euro-Award 2000 and Airline Manager of the Year by Regional Airline World. A Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, member of the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Chartered Institute of Transport, the Flight Safety Foundation, an active pilot since 1978 and a Reserve Hellenic Air Force Officer.
Carlos Bertomeu - Vice President
Building on his BSc from Valencia University, Carlos gained an MBA from Instituto de Empresa, Madrid, and then began his career at the IE Business School, offering finance and strategy consultancy while teaching. He later became Director of MBA and Executive MBA programmes. In 1994, industrial and finance corporation Nefinsa appointed him Director of Investment and Strategic Development, entrusting him with the Air Nostrum launch. He is CEO of Air Nostrum, and a Board Member of Vueling and some other institutions.
Marc Lamidey - Vice President
A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and Les Ponts et Chaussées, Marc Lamidey spent 21 years at Air Inter followed by a year in the US as a liaison between Air France and Continental Airlines. In 1998, he was promoted to Air France Executive VP, in charge of Marketing and Corporate Development. He was also President and CEO of Frequence Plus SA. Since December 2001, he has been President and CEO of Brit Air and the ICARE Training Centre.
Dimitris Gerogiannis - Board Member
Dimitris Gerogiannis holds a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Yale University. Dimitris worked for eight years at Daimler Benz in various engineering and management positions in the car manufacturing and aerospace subsidiaries. He joined Aegean in 1999 after working for two years at Athens International Airport during the design and construction of the new airport. Dimitris has been the General Manager and Accountable Manager of Aegean since 2002 and Managing Director since 2007.
Paul Schütz - Board Member
Paul Schütz was appointed Chief Executive of Aer Arann in January 2009 having previously worked as Chief Financial Officer for the airline since 2006. In his eighteen year career in the aviation industry Paul has held a number of senior executive, financial and general management roles at low-cost, national and regional carriers. He is a Management Accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Bertolt Flick - Board Member
Flick joined airBaltic in 2002 as President and CEO, taking responsibility for an airline that operated five aircraft on five individual routes. During his years in airBaltic the company has expanded its network to close to 60 destinations; today it operates a fleet of 32 aircraft. Before joining airBaltic Flick, a lawyer by training, has worked for Treuhand Osteuropa, Lavijas Gaze, and as a consultant.
Stefan Wentjärvi - Board Member
Appointed President and CEO of Blue1 in September 2005, Wentjärvi was previously Chief Financial Officer in Blue1 and has been a member of the Executive Management Group since 2000. His career within the airline industry began in 1986 and during this time he has been part of many different projects and one of the driving forces behind the Blue1 expansion that started year 2000 and continuing today. Mr Wentjärvi has a Masters degree in Political Science and a degree in National Economics, Finance and Investment.
Nicolae Petrov - Board Member
Nicolae started his professional career as a Flight Instructor in Volgograd, Russia. He joined Air Moldova as a pilot in 1991 and created Moldavian Airlines in 1994, the first private airline in the republic of Moldova. In 1999 he founded is sister airline Carpatair, in Romania. Nicolae is President & CEO of both airlines and remains an active airline pilot flying SAAB-2000 as a Commander. Nicolae is also Honorary Consul of Sweden for the Western district of Romania.
Boet Kreiken - Board Member
Boet Kreiken was appointed Managing Director of KLM Cityhopper on 1 June 2009, prior to which he was KLM's Chief Information Officer. After graduating from the University of Technology in Twente, and following officer's service in the Royal Dutch Air Force, he joined KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. His career at KLM has spanned various management positions from commercial and global account management to Pricing & Revenue management and Area Manager of Asia Pacific and Central/South America.
Martin Isler - Board Member
Martin's aviation career spans 33 years and covers virtually every aspect of the airline business from sales and marketing to product, ground handling, operations and maintenance. In 1985 he joined Swissair and subsequently worked for Sabena. In 2003 he became a member of the Swiss International Airlines executive management board before joining Luxair in 2005. He is a member of the executive management board of the Luxair Group where he has responsibility for the business line "Airline".
Jan Palmer - Board Member
Palmer's aviation career started in 1989 when he was appointed President of Malmo Aviation. Since then, he has been deeply involved in issues affecting the future of aviation. In 1994 he was appointed President of the Skyways Group. In 2007, he became Vice President of the Salenia group, the mother company of Skyways and of regional cargo airline Amapola Flyg, which Palmer established in 2004 and still holds the position of President. He is also Chairman of the Swedish Aviation Association.
Manfred Helldoppler - Board Member
Manfred Helldoppler's career in aviation began in 1980 when he joined Tyrolean Airways, being a member of the team which planned the airline's initial scheduled flights. Since then he has worked in many areas, from ground handling, scheduling, to airport slots, inflight services, aircraft interiors, operations control, performance and navigation. He was project leader for the introduction of the F70, CRJ, Q400 and F100 and for the introduction of business class. He was appointed Executive Vice president in 2003 and President in 2006. He joined the Welcome Aviation Group as COO on 14 June 2010.
Lars Kobberstad - Board Member
Lars holds a masters degree in business and administration from the University of Augsburg, Germany. He also holds a certificate in Executive Leadership for IMD in Switzerland. Lars has been a member of the executive management of Widerøe since 1997 and deputy CEO since 2002. He was appointed President and CEO of Widerøe on 1 August 2008. Widerøe is part of the SAS Group.
Oleg Usmanov - Board Member
Oleg Usmanov has been in the aviation business since 1982 when he joined Aeroflot-Nord as a pilot. He was soon promoted to Captain and, after graduating with a Diploma in Economics, he became Financial Director and Crisis Manager. In 2004 he was appointed Deputy Director General, and took over as Director General of the Airline in September 2009. On 23 October 2009, Aeroflot-Nord was renamed to Nordavia Regional Airlines.
Roland Wondolleck - Board Member
Roland Wondolleck has been involved in aviation for over 30 years. In 1994 he became CEO of Rotterdam Airport, where under his leadership traffic more than tripled. His strong belief in the positive developments and ever-growing importance of regional aviation, concerning economical as well as environmental aspects, motivates him to actively participate in campaigns and initiatives contributing to a positive image for the (regional) aviation industry, as well as in the ERA Board.
Roland Hermann - Board Member
Roland Hermann started his career at Salzburg Airport in 1981 as head of air traffic. Since 1990 his position has expanded to Airport Manager with commercial power of attorney, responsible for traffic development, marketing, advertising, passenger and ramp handling, freight services and environment (budgeting €36m revenue planning with 102 employees). He became CEO of Salzburg Airport in June 2007.
Clemente Affinito - Board Member
An Economics graduate from the University of Naples, Affinito holds an MBA in Business Development and a Masters Degree in Aerospace Industry & Marketing. In 1995, he was seconded by Alenia Aeronautica to strengthen the commercial team of Aero International (Regional), the then joint venture between ATR and British Aerospace. He was also involved in Asset Management and financing activities for ATR. Since 2002 he has been responsible within ATR for Sales & Marketing in Morocco, Israel and Europe.
Stewart Cordner - Board Member
Stewart Cordner's aviation career began as a British Aerospace technical apprentice in 1985. A global career in regional commercial aviation followed, encompassing management positions in manufacturing, customer support and sales and asset management, supporting and developing regional operators. He is currently VP - Business Development for BAE SYSTEMS Asset Management, Vice President Avro Business Jets and Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board for CST AVRO Berlin, a joint venture simulator training business with Lufthansa Cityline.
Luiz Fuchs - Board Member
Luiz has worked in key management positions overseeing operations of international and Brazilian companies for 32 years. Luiz joined Embraer in 2000 to establish the Asia/Pacific operations of Marketing and Sales in Singapore. Today he is President and Managing Director of Embraer Aviation Europe - responsible for the company's administration, IT, communication, new Projects in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Luiz graduated in Mechanical and Civil Engineering in Brazil and subsequently from Columbia University (NY) School of Business.
Jean-Paul Ebanga - Board Member
Jean-Paul Ebanga has spent more than 20 years playing different active roles in the aerospace industry. Early 2000, he was Managing Director of Snecma Control Systems, then subsequently Vice-President, Commercial Engines Division of Snecma before leading, since 2007, PowerJet, a JV owned by Snecma (France) and NPO Saturn (Russia).
Marco Balbo - Board Member
Marco has been working in the aviation industry since 1992 with the Alenia Aeronautica / Finmeccanica Group in various sales management positions. He is currently Sales Director for SuperJet International working on the Sukhoi SuperJet 100 jet program. Marco is an Aeronautical Engineer and holds a Doctorate in Flight Dynamics, together with a Corporate MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs, Paris. He is also a commercial pilot and a glider pilot.
Todd Freeman - Board Member
As Senior Vice President & Manager of Regional Jet Programmes, Todd is responsible for growth and profitability of the regional jet portfolio at GECAS. In 15 years at GE, he has held sales and marketing roles at GECAS and GE Aircraft Engines in Europe, Asia and the US. Prior to GE, his experience included Airbus Industrie and JP Morgan. Todd received MBA/MA degrees from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BS degree from Lehigh University.
Olaf Dlugi - Board Member
Olaf Dlugi has a broad range of flight and flight instruction experience from Mach 2 fighters to heavy metal (747). He was President & CEO of Augsburg Airways from 1996 to 2002 and has also been a past member of the ERA Board. During the Definition Phase of SESAR, he was the Chairman of the Executive Committee and represented the interests of regional aviation in the project. Currently, he runs his own consultancy firm and is Senior Advisor to the SJU.
Moritz Suter - Honorary President
Peter King - Financial Controller
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