Ahmad was appointed Group Chief Operations Officer of Malaysia Airlines on in February 2018. His current responsibilities include flight operations, airport operations, in-flight operations, airline security, fuel management, operations PMO and engineering & maintenance. Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Executive Officer of MAB Kargo. Ahmad is an air cargo professional, with 20 years of experience in cargo terminal operations as well as sales with P&L responsibilities. He was also instrumental in developing and implementing cargo processes for the Advanced Cargo Centre in Kuala Lumpur as well as the Penang Cargo Centre. Ahmad excels in data analytical skills, strategy formation and implementation. He holds a BSc in Aerospace Engineering from the Syracuse University, New York and recently completed a Business Leader Development Programme at the University of Oxford.
Cem joined Celebi in 1992. In November 2008 he took up the challenge of establishing the Mumbai station and heading the first Indian joint venture for Celebi in Mumbai with NAS - India, to form CelebiNAS Airport Services. He developed his business administration skills at the Istanbul Kultur University and has been living in India since 2008.
An ex-British Army Officer, Clive has worked in Cambodia, Abkhazia and Australia, amongst other countries. He left TYCO to join the aviation sector with Swissport in the UK before transferring to Servisair as VP Operations - Ground Handling. There followed time with Qatar Aviation Services as SVP before he took up the position of Group CEO with Aviapartner in 2016. Clive describes himself as having a proven record of creating value through inspiring and leading people in complex environments.
Dato Mohd is currently the Head of Airport Services for Malaysia Airlines, a post he has held since September 2015. In this role, he manages the airline ground operations at 16 domestic airports within Malaysia and 44 international airports within the network. This role includes the oversight of 34 appointed ground handling companies worldwide. He has been in the airline industry since 1986, and has served Malaysia Airlines in various roles over the last 33 years. He spent 22 years in Sales and Marketing, in which he held a senior management role at several international locations, which include Brunei, Germany, Holland, the US and Australia. He was the CEO of MAS Wings, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Malaysian Aviation Group, operating mainly in Sabah and Sarawak. Over the last 11 years he has held various leadership roles in customer services and the operations division of MAS and MAB that include managing airport services, lounges, catering, cabin crew, the call centre, customer care, inflight duty-free sales, IT and service quality. He was also the Programme Director for entry into service for the A380 fleet into Malaysia Airlines (2012–2013), and the Programme Director for the passenger services system cutover (2008–2009). Dato Mohd graduated with a BSc in Economics from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, in 1985. He has also completed a Business Leadership Development Programme at Oxford University.
Kam Weng Woo has been the Chief Executive Officer of Pos Aviation since February 2017. He started his career as a licensed aircraft engineer at Malaysia Airlines System in 1980 and moved to KL Airport Services in 1997 to set up the Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Division. He headed the Engineering Division for seven years before being promoted to be the Head of Business Development, with responsibility for the development of all areas in KLAS, including ground handling, cargo handling, inflight catering and aircraft maintenance and engineering. He subsequently became Head of Commercial Support and held the position for five years before being appointed as CEO of Pos Aviation. His most recent achievement was the development and establishment of the first ever Digital Free Trade Zone outside of China, a Malaysian Government initiative.
Kate is an aviation litigation specialist, having advised clients in the industry for over 12 years. She handles liability claims and insurance matters as well as non-contentious aviation matters such as contractual liability, conditions of carriage and risk management issues. Kate's clients include airport authorities, ground handlers, helicopter and fixed wing operators, and major airlines as well as insurers/reinsurers. She has supported aviation clients across more than 10 countries in Asia, including Japan, India, Philippines, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Nepal, and has a particular focus on Thai law and jurisdiction. Kate is recognised as Rising Star for Aviation (Expert Guides).
Lars has over 30 years of international experience, with the last eight years of these spent at Vestergaard Company. There, he is responsible for the full line of Vestergaard products in parts of Northern Europe, the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, South Korea, and China. He also takes overall responsibility for marketing within the company.
Max joined GHI in 2017 after launching and hosting conference and award events in the UK manufacturing industry. A trained journalist, Max strives to deliver innovative content on stage, online or in print that challenges, educates and entertains. As a non-aviation professional - Max is always eager to don the hi-vis jacket and get out on the apron to experience the everyday challenges facing ground handling businesses and their airline customers. Max graduated as a biochemist from Cardiff University in 2001. He became a NUJ/NCTJ accredited journalist in 2003. Max went on to an award-winning 14 year editorial career including stints at magazines in the UK pub, pharmacy and manufacturing sectors. Outside of work - Max is never far from a book, the fridge or the 5-a-side football pitch.
Michael is a corporate consultant, author and founder of Provolution consultancy. He has spent the last 20 years designing inspirational business workshops and consultancies across Asia. Working with clients as diverse as Marriott, Decathlon and Bupa and in industries as broad as the Engineering, pharmaceuticals and IT, his skill-based approach has been proven to build a better business culture in any business, anywhere.
Nadzir started his career with Ernst & Young International in the Assurance and Business Advisory Division. He was a Senior Manager when he was seconded to Malaysia Airlines in 2001 to assist in the airline restructuring exercise. He joined as a permanent staff member in 2003 as the General Manager, Project Management and Assurance. One of his major assignments was to complete the construction of the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi and subsequently to oversee the operations of the resort. Nadzir was appointed as Senior General Manager, Airport Operations in 2005 until 2007 when he left to join Khazanah Nasional Berhad as its Chief Financial Officer in 2007. Apart from his role as the CFO, he was also assigned as the Overseeing Director for the aviation sector, looking after Khazanah’s investment in Malaysia Airlines and Malaysia Airport. Nadzir was also a board member of Malaysia Airport from 2007 to 2010. He was subsequently appointed Executive Director, overseeing Khazanah’s investments in the leisure and tourism sector. He went on to set up Destination Resorts and Hotels, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Khazanah, and became its Chief Executive Officer in 2011. Nadzir rejoined Malaysia Airlines in Nov 2013 as its Chief Financial Officer and was reassigned as the Chief Restructuring Officer in 2014, where he reported directly to the Board Restructuring Committee. After the transition into the new organisation structure in 2015, Nadzir was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of AeroDarat Services as part of the plan to transform the ground handling operation into a separate entity. Nadzir holds a BSc in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics and is a member of the Malaysia Institute of Accountants. He was also a fellow member of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants from 1995 to 2011.
Jack is Safety Supervisor, with four years in aviation at BFS. At the outset, he felt that it was impossible to change the mindset of operational colleagues and the organisational culture. However, over the past four years, many friendships have been forged with thousands of colleagues from BFS, AOT and client airlines through understanding their problems and identifying solutions.
Nick is Founder and CEO of Air Dispatch, a UK-based specialist aviation support company which is dedicated to providing centralised load control services to tier 1 and tier 2 airlines around the globe. Nick has almost 30 years’ experience in the ground handling industry. Prior to joining Air Dispatch in 2001 he spent over a decade working for Servisair as a specialist in flight operations, load control and business analysis. He is a former participant in the IATA Aviation Ground Services Agreements task force (AGSA), where he was the Vice Chair, and is now an observer on the IATA Ground Operations Group. He is a passionate advocate of centralisation of load control and improving safety in ground operations and has spoken on these subjects at a number of industry conferences.
Consultant Training, Recruitment and Placement
NORTHERN LIGHT ACADEMY OF AVIATION AND TECHNOLOGY (NAAT)
Prakash is the Founder/Chief Executive of Aspire jobs and Aspire Education and is the Recruitment and Placement Consultant of NAAT. Before devoting himself full time to Aspire Jobs and NAAT, Prakash served as General Manager for Staff Source International/QMS Facility Management, in Doha, where he worked in business administration. He also spent time as Director-Human Resources and as Manager-HR & Administration for QMS before becoming General Manager. A graduate in Sociology, he started his professional career at the Green Himalayan Society, in Nepal, as Senior Officer-Recruitment & Training.
Roswitha Becker, the 2014 BWA Business Woman of the Year is a dynamic and engaging business woman, drawing on her wealth of international experience she has been integral in building an organization that exemplifies the possibilities of globalization. A graduate of the Executive Development Programme at the University of Stellenbosch and also graduate of the prestigious INSEAD International Directors Programme, she has been the Managing Director of Global Load Control for the past 12 years ensuring millions of passengers safely reach their destinations annually. Driven by a deep sense of making a difference and believes in doing the change the world needs doing. Through her mentoring work and CSI involvement to her engagements as a public speaker she inspires others to achieve beyond what they have thought possible.
Originally from Australia, Scott’s experience in the GSE industry began in 2011, transforming a traditional pushback manufacturing business into a full service GSE rental business in Australia and Malaysia. In 2016 Scott joined TCR, the world leader in fully integrated GSE solutions and the inventor of full service GSE rental back in 1999. Scott joined TCR at the time the company had stepped out of Europe into the Asia Pacific region and has since led the business’s growth and development in the region from Malaysia to Australia and more recently a start up in New Zealand. A key pillar of TCR’s strategy is supporting and advocating sustainable innovation in GSE and more specifically the advancement of battery electric GSE. As the owner of the largest fleet of battery electric GSE in the world, TCR is advocating the benefits of such technology and supporting the adoption of this in APAC.
Stephan has more than 25 years of experience in the travel IT industry. Over that time, he has worked with ground handlers, airlines, and airports, to provide solutions which address the dual challenges of rapid growth in global travel and dynamic customer expectations. At Amadeus, he is responsible for key account management, strategic sales, and business development within the Airport IT division. Stephan is passionate about sales, business development, and customer management.
Khet is QA supervisor with eight years in aviation with Air Asia and BFS. As a member of the BFS Tiger Team, he enjoys engaging with operational colleagues to drive improvement through direct communication and their suggestions. He is proud to contribute to the Tiger Team, which continues to improve the company’s safety performance.
Thilo and Kersten Eckert founded Mototok in 2003. Thilo takes responsibility for worldwide marketing and sales. They have now over 750 machines in operation worldwide. They focused only on intelligent, electrical, wireles controlled aircraft movement solutions. Many well known customers and aircraft manufacturers have improved their operations with Mototok because the concept brings unique advantages.
Yacoob has been SATS’ Executive Vice President, Gateway Services since January 2014. Prior to this, he was its Executive Vice President, Food Solutions. He joined SATS in April 1981 and since then has assumed various positions including Senior Vice President, Cargo Services; Vice President, Apron Services; Vice President, Cargo Services; and Vice President, Inflight Catering Centre 2. He also held other managerial positions in apron and baggage, passenger services, marketing, and SIA Ground Services, where he was responsible for network procedures and ground handling contracts. During his terms in Food Solutions and Gateway Services, he spearheaded the Group’s entry into the sports catering, cruise terminal management, and inflight duty-free and duty-paid retail sales businesses. Yacoob sits on various boards of SATS’ subsidiaries and associate companies. He is the Chairman of SATS-Creuers Cruise Services and the Vice President Commissioner of PT Jasa Angkasa Semesta. He is also a member of Saudi Arabia’s private sector logistics advisory team. Yacoob graduated from the National University of Singapore with a BA, majoring in English.
