BOARD OF DIRECTORS - AWAR - Dedicated Team of Aviation Leaders

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Behind AWAR’s success is our dedicated team of experienced leaders, drawn from multiple sectors of the aviation industry including major airlines, leasing companies, financial institutions, law firms and professional services organizations. We share a passion for the advancement of women in all aspects of the industry, and an unwavering belief that by engaging with our male and female industry colleagues, we can drive real change.

In 2022, AWAR will start a new chapter, with a new President of the Board. Click here for more information.

Emily Wicker

Partner, Clifford Chance US LLP

AWAR President

Emily Wicker became president of AWAR in July 2022. Ms. Wicker is a partner in the New York office of the law firm Clifford Chance and a member of the Global Asset Finance team. Emily joined Clifford Chance as a partner in 2013, and has experience in all aspects of aircraft finance, leasing and related restructuring transactions, including EETCs and other structured finance transactions. Emily advises clients across the commercial aviation, cargo and business jet sectors. Emily is listed as a “Leading Lawyer” by in The Legal 500 US Transport: Aviation and Air Travel- Finance. She is ranked in the “Band 2” tier of Aviation Finance lawyers in Chambers USA.

Before joining Clifford Chance, Emily was counsel at Debevoise & Plimpton where she represented Delta Air Lines in its EETC financings and American Airlines in its Chapter 11 reorganization. She started her career at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, where she represented Northwest Airlines in leasing, financing and EETC transactions and in its Chapter 11 reorganization.

Emily received her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and her B.A. cum laude from Dartmouth College. Emily loves running and has completed several marathons, and she has recently starting cycling. Emily and her husband, Ian, live in Westchester County, New York with their Corgi, Penny.

AMELIA ANDERSON

AWAR Treasurer, Co-Founder & President Emeritus

Amelia Anderson is Treasurer, Co-founder and President of AWAR. During her 30-year career in corporate finance, Amelia saw first-hand the challenges that women often face in advancing their careers. She also saw how dialogue across gender lines can help leaders recognize and overcome bias to level the playing field.

Prior to her retirement from corporate finance in 2018, Amelia was Managing Director, Assistant Treasurer of American Airlines, the largest airline in the world in terms of revenue passenger miles, scheduled passengers carried, and fleet size. At American Airlines, Amelia and her team executed over $50 billion of best-in-class transactions, including financing 500+ new aircraft. Amelia also served as co-chair of the American Airlines Women’s Leadership Program.

In 2021, Amelia joined the Advisory Council of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), an agency of the State of Texas created in 1950 to address problems and challenges facing all modes of transportation. A member of the Texas A&M University system, TTI is a diverse, interconnected group of 700 professionals, students, and support staff representing 38 countries. TTI’s mission is to deliver practical, innovative, and sustainable solutions to improve the movement of people, data, and goods through research, education, and technology transfer.

From 2019-2020, Amelia served as Chair of the DCU and Aviation Year of Inclusion, a joint initiative between Dublin City University’s Center of Excellence for Diversity & Inclusion and the Irish aviation industry. Established in 2019, the initiative aims to build awareness, enhance understanding and foster collaboration in the industry. The first research of its kind within the aviation industry Ireland, the initiative seeks to create ongoing data input from multiple segments of the aviation industry including airlines, airports, MRO, aircraft leasing and manufacturing. The insights gathered from this research have and will continue to inform the development of action plans that foster inclusive working environments and position the aviation industry to compete for diverse talent and drive innovation going forward.

In 2017, Amelia was honored to be named the inaugural recipient of the Aviation Woman of the Year award by one of the global aviation industry’s leading news sources, Euromoney’s Airfinance Journal.

Before relocating to Texas in 2014, Amelia lived in Phoenix, Arizona, where she held the positions of Assistant Treasurer and Director of Corporate Audit for copper mining giant Phelps Dodge Corporation, and Managing Director of Corporate Finance for US Airways. She also served the community as a Trustee of the Arizona Opera from 2012-2016, and as Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair of Arizona’s Children Association, one of Arizona’s oldest and largest statewide child welfare and behavioral health not-for-profit agencies, from 2009-2013.

Amelia holds a BS degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and an MBA degree in Corporate Finance from Georgia State University in Atlanta. Amelia and her husband Robert, an attorney, have two daughters and reside in Coppell, Texas.

DANA BARTA

Executive Director, Head of Aviation Capital Markets, JP Morgan

AWAR Co-Founder

Dana joined JPMorgan in July 2021 as an Executive Director to focus on EETC origination and to work with the bank’s other capital markets experts on both aviation and transportation deals.

Prior to JPMorgan, Dana spent 11 years at Morgan Stanley’s Capital Markets division where she was responsible for originating and executing deals in the transportation space. Dana has been involved in all Morgan Stanley EETC transactions 2010-2020, raising $45Bn+ for domestic and international EETCs.

In 2016 Airline Economics has recognized Dana as one of the “40 under 40” to watch. Dana is a co-founder of AWAR.

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Dana worked at JPMorgan as an Analyst in Structured Credit Products and at Wachovia as an Associate in Structured Equity Products. In these roles, Dana was involved in structuring Synthetic Collateral Debt Obligations and Alternative Investments respectively.

Dana graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mount Holyoke College with a B.A. in Economics and Computer Science and from Columbia’s MBA – the Executive Program in 2015 with Dean’s Honors, sponsored by Morgan Stanley.

Dana was born and raised in Romania and moved to the U.S. to attend college. She lives in Westchester with her husband and two kids.

MURRAE ROSS-ESKELL

Founder and Managing Director, Horizon Executive Search International Ltd

AWAR board secretary

Murrae Ross-Eskell is Managing Director and Founder of Horizon Executive Search Int’l Ltd.

With over fifteen years experience in executive search, Murrae is a specialist executive search consultant for the Aviation Industry. She has successfully placed people in executive and senior roles across the value chain, including aircraft leasing companies, aviation financiers, airlines, airports and service providers (including MRO, catering and ground handling).

Horizon Executive Search, formed in early 2007, was created with two goals in mind; Firstly, that the focus be solely on the clients’ requirements and secondly it would be a search firm that would span not only the various sectors of the aviation industry but also a wider range of personnel levels from board and executive level, to senior and middle management levels across all the functional areas.

The type of roles Murrae has filled extends from C’Level, senior and middle management in varying functions, across the globe from Asia, Europe and Africa, giving her a wealth of experience.

Murrae is a member of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Traders (ISTAT) and currently sits on the ISTAT Foundation Board as a trustee, along with being the Chair of the Education Committee which includes both the Internship Committee and ISTAT U. Additionally, she is a member of the International Aviation Women’s Association (IAWA), as well as the Aviation Club of the UK and is a Board Member of Advancing Women in Aviation Roundtable.

Prior to her role at Horizon, Murrae worked at Odgers (Ray &) Berndtson initially as manager of the Global Response Department, and then as an Associate, in the Aviation practice, with particular responsibilities for search, business development and marketing activities.

Murrae’s early career was in media production and the education sector.

mui sin chan

Head of treasury, BOC Aviation

AWAR Board Member

Mui Sin Chan is the Head of Treasury at BOC Aviation Limited (“BOC Aviation”), overseeing all treasury functions, including debt financing and liquidity management, globally. Mui Sin joined BOC Aviation in 2005 and prior to her current role, she was EVP, Deputy Head, Aircraft Sales, responsible for aircraft sales in the Asia Pacific region, covering both equity investors and aircraft financiers.

Before she joined BOC Aviation in 2005, Mui Sin spent more than 8 years as an investment banker, covering origination and transaction management for both the debt and equity capital markets.

Mui Sin has an Accountancy degree (Hons) and is a CFA Charter holder.

Liwen Huang

Independent consultant to clover aviation capital
Co-founder, capella aviation, llc

AWAR Board Member

As the Independent Consultant to Clover Aviation Capital, Liwen Huang is also the Co-founder of Capella Aviation LLC. She has 30 years of experience in the aviation industry working for airline, fast-growing start-ups, one of the biggest leasing companies in the world, and a mid-size public leasing company with PRC background based in Singapore. Her extensive experiences include marketing, trading, financing and leasing of aircraft, and through these experiences, she has established strong and close relationships with numerous airlines, leasing companies, equity investors, banks and other financial institutions globally. She has successfully closed many leasing, financing, sale & leaseback and trading transactions involving over 100 new and used aircraft worth over US$4 billion.

Prior to Clover Aviation Capital and Capella Aviation, Liwen was Deputy Head of Global Sales at BOC Aviation Limited based in Singapore for 3 years, and before that, she was Vice President of Lease Sales at ILFC/AerCap for four years, where she oversaw aircraft leasing and trading in the Greater China market. Between 2003 and 2011, she was with PAFCO, Sky Holding and Jackson Square Aviation, where she had played several important roles in marketing and capital markets in the Asia Pacific region. In fact, Liwen gained her first experiences in the aviation industry when she was working at the treasury department of Xiamen Airlines, a regional airline based in southern China, where she headed the team responsible for aircraft leasing and financing.

Liwen holds an MBA (Finance) from Questrom School of Business, Boston University, USA, and Master of Economics (Banking and Finance) and B.A. from Xiamen University, China. She currently resides in San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

Zoe Tite

Partner, Clyde & Co llp

AWAR Board Member

Zoe Tite is a Legal Director at Clyde & Co LLP, based in their Dubai office. She specializes in aviation finance and has extensive experience advising airlines and lessors on a wide variety of cross-border aviation financing, leasing and trading transactions. Zoe trained as a lawyer at another global aviation law firm in London, Paris and Hong Kong before landing in Dubai in 2011, where initially she worked for Emirates airline for 5 years.

Prior to joining Clyde & Co, Zoe worked for a leading international aircraft leasing company.

Zoe graduated from the University of Oxford in 2002 and qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales in 2007

Fiona Scott

CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, CDB Aviation

AWAR Board Member

Fiona Scott is Chief People Officer (CPO) at CDB Aviation where, as a member of the C-Suite, she is responsible for setting and overseeing the execution of the business’ overall People strategy in line with its ESG goals, leading all aspects of talent acquisition and engagement, training and development, performance management, as well as building an agile culture of diversity, inclusivity, and personal growth.

With more than 20 years of experience in managing talent and operations, Fiona has served in managerial and consulting roles at several organizations, both in Ireland and across Europe. In 2017, Airline Economics recognized her as one of the industry’s ‘40 under 40.’ Fiona co-founded PropelHer, a grass roots initiative focused on the exchange of ideas, opinions, and experiences around topics relevant to the aircraft leasing industry. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Advancing Women in Aviation Roundtable (“AWAR”) and not-for-profit Aoibhneas.

Fiona is a graduate of Dublin City University. She earned a B.A. in International Marketing and Languages and is currently completing a M.Sc. in Talent, Leadership & HR Strategy.

Laura Cunningham

general counsel, WORLD STAR AVIATION

AWAR Board Member

Laura Cunningham is General Counsel of World Star Aviation. Among other corporate duties, Laura oversees all of World Star Aviation’s transactions and lease documentation and has been taking a lead role in the business. Laura has the proven ability to manage multiple work-streams across different functions and jurisdictions and advise on multiple projects simultaneously, while developing and nurturing positive relationships with colleagues, investors and clients.

In her role as General Counsel and in her previous roles she has dedicated herself to the advancement of women to positions of leadership. Aswell as being an AWAR board member, Laura is a mentor to professionals in the industry including as part of PropelHer’s mentoring programme which aims to help women in the aircraft leasing industry advance their professional and personal development through connections with senior aircraft leasing professionals.

Prior to joining World Star Aviation, Laura was a partner at Arthur Cox in Dublin, Ireland. Prior to that, Laura worked internationally in aviation with Milbank, principally in their London office having spent time on secondment in their Singapore office. Laura also worked in Freshfield Bruckhaus Deringer’s aviation and asset finance team, having begun her career training as a solicitor with Arthur Cox.

Laura graduated with a Bachelor in Corporate Law and Spanish and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She holds a Master of Laws in Commercial Law from the University of Cambridge. She has been admitted as a solicitor in the jurisdictions of Ireland and England and Wales.

ImpactfuL AWAR EVENTS

Unique opportunities for real engagement – across gender and seniority lines

AWAR events seek to educate and enlighten, providing unique opportunities for engagement with our industry colleagues. Roundtable exercises set the stage for meaningful dialogue and learning through shared experiences.