STEERING COMMITTEE

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.

Mehtap Cevher Conti

Partner, Hogan Lovells

Mehtap Cevher Conti is a partner at Hogan Lovells, where she concentrates her practice on asset finance, particularly in the aviation and transportation industries. Her broad-based experience includes working with clients on secured debt and export credit agency supported transactions, revolving credit facilities, leveraged leases, operating leases, portfolio acquisitions, and asset-backed structured financings and securitizations for commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, financial institutions, aircraft operating lessors, and airlines. She also advises clients in the purchase and lease financing of corporate aircraft and helicopters.

Ms. Cevher Conti frequently handles finance transactions that involve multiple global jurisdictions. She has been recognized in The Legal 500 US for Aviation/Air Travel Finance, as well as in Euromoney’s Expert Guides for Aviation.

Ms. Cevher Conti received her BA from Koç University in Istanbul and her JD from Boston College Law School. She is a native of Turkey and is fluent in Turkish.

BIO

Sarah conway

Sarah Conway was a Senior Vice President and Head of Lessor Origination, Pricing & Structuring for Deucalion Aviation Limited (“Deucalion”) in the London office. Since 2020 she has been responsible for all origination initiatives with lessors and banks globally, leading a team tasked with expanding Deucalion’s global footprint in both debt sourcing and investment origination. Sarah is a member of the Deucalion Senior Management Team and also part of Deucalion’s Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) working group. From 2013 she worked alongside the Deucalion platform at DVB Bank SE as an SVP in the Structured Lending Team where she was responsible for originating opportunities from airlines and lessors in EMEA. In this role she originated on a wide variety of financing transactions from non-recourse debt to full recourse warehouse facilities for airlines and leasing companies in EMEA, closing over US$1bn of fund-raising for over 15 airline and lessor clients.

With over 19 years of experience across aviation and banking, Sarah has accumulated significant knowledge in a wide range of topics including structured lending and equity origination, debt sourcing, pricing analysis and asset valuation. Roles at RBS Aviation Capital in aviation leasing and Ascend as a Senior Risk Advisor were instrumental in forming Sarah’s deep understanding of aviation risk, leasing and finance.

Sarah graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Financial Maths and Economics from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She also holds a Masters of Science in Investment and Treasury from Dublin City University.

BIO

marie ryan

head of asset allocation, Avolon

Marie Ryan is the Head of Asset Allocation with Avolon in Dublin, Ireland. Her focus is on accurate evaluation of all commercial transactions, transaction structuring, model development and commercial portfolio analysis. In portfolio analysis, Marie is responsible for driving the strategic outlook of Avolon’s roll-off and trading portfolios incorporating technical, commercial and financial factors. She  previously held the role of Head of Contracts Management & Pricing from 2012 to 2019.

Marie began her professional career as a Market Risk Analyst in Ulster Bank, working in financial markets for seven years prior to a move into aircraft leasing in 2007.

Marie has a Bachelor of Business from University of Limerick and a Masters in Financial Engineering from National University Ireland, Maynooth.

BIO

MARILYN GAN

HEAD OF APAC, VMO AIRCRAFT LEASING

Marilyn is VMO Aircraft Leasing’s Head of APAC (sales and leasing). As Head of Region, she is responsible for defining and implementing VMO’s revenue strategy and managing the company’s presence in the Asia Pacific region.  

Marilyn joined VMO from MUFG where she was Regional Head of Asia Pacific Aviation Finance. She was also a member of the management board of the Global Aviation Finance Office. At MUFG, Marilyn was responsible for the aviation loan book of business totaling US$4B across airlines and lessors in Asia and led a team of 12 based in Singapore and Hong Kong.  

Prior to MUFG, Marilyn spent over ten years at DVB Bank, both in their Singapore and London branch where she served as Deputy Head of EMEA and then subsequently Head of APAC and Deputy Branch Manager of DVB Bank, Singapore Branch. 

Marilyn started her career in aviation with SALE (now BOC Aviation), where she gained valuable experience in the legal department and aircraft trading.  

She is currently serving on the Board of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT) as well as the Executive Committee of ISTAT.  

Marilyn was awarded Air Finance Journal’s Woman of the Year Award in 2020 for her contributions to the aviation industry and for promoting and advancing women in aviation. She is a frequent speaker and moderator at aviation conferences primarily in the Asia Pacific region.  

Marilyn holds an LLB (Hons) from University College London and has attended various execution programs at INSEAD and the London Business School.  

 

FIONA COUGHLAN

CORPORATE FINANCE ANALYST, AIRCASTLE

Fiona Coughlan, hailing from the west coast of Ireland, joined Aircastle in Stamford CT at the end of 2022 as a Corporate Finance Analyst within Aircastle’s Capital Markets department. 

Prior to Aircastle, Fiona started her career in aircraft leasing at GECAS as a Technical Claims Specialist as a part of her university’s co-operative placement. Once graduated from university, she worked on assignment to GECAS with CAE Parc Aviation as a Technical Operations Analyst. She then completed Avolon’s one-year graduate program in 2021 and spent six months in the departments of Risk and Capital Markets respectively. 

Fiona graduated from the University of Limerick with a B.Sc. in Financial Mathematics and is currently undertaking the ISTAT Professional Development Program Americas 2023-2024. 

PATRICIA MOLINERO

VP, RISK MANAGEMENT, AIRCASTLE

Patricia Molinero is an aircraft leasing and finance professional with extensive international experience across several platforms. She is currently Vice President of Risk Management with Aircastle in Connecticut, USA. She is responsible for assessing and managing portfolio and credit/country risks on Aircastle projects in the Americas and Spain. 

  

Prior to assuming her current role in December 2021, Patricia was Head of Pricing & Valuations, responsible for leading the company’s pricing and valuation function as well as providing critical input to the C-suite to inform investment decisions for managed and owned aircraft. 

  

Patricia joined Aircastle in 2018 from Intrepid Aviation in Ireland, where she was responsible for the Pricing and Portfolio Management functions. Prior to Intrepid, Patricia spent 8 years at AWAS in Ireland and Miami, where she held various roles in Financial Planning & Analysis, Pricing and Portfolio Management. Patricia’s direct responsibilities included management of all secondary market pricing activities, the Airbus and Boeing order book, and aircraft leasing activities in EMEA and the Americas. 

  

Patricia began her professional career as an accountant in Oracle in Ireland, working in the Finance team for 5 years before making the move into aircraft leasing in 2007. 

She earned her Master of Business Administration from Griffith College in Dublin and a Finance degree  from Pontificia de Comillas University in her hometown of Madrid, Spain. 

 

 

MARIE-AMELIE CLOTTEAU

AIRLINE MARKETING DIRECTOR, SOUTH EAST ASIA, AIRBUS

Marie-Amelie has been in the aviation industry for more than 20 years.  She has been in her current role since 2020
and is responsible to lead Airbus Commercial marketing-related activities for half of Southeast Asia.  

She has previously worked for BOC Aviation in Strategy & Market Research and has undertaken roles within Airbus Group HR department in Change Management and Business Transformation, after 10 years working in the Airbus Commercial Marketing department supporting aircraft campaigns in various regions from the Americas to Asia.

Marie-Amelia started her career at Airbus  in marketing working on the A380 and environment-related topics. 

She holds a Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the French Civil Aviation University (ENAC).

POOJA GARDEMAL

MANAGING DIRECTOR, OWNER BK ASSOCIATES

Pooja Gardemal is the Managing Director and owner of BK Associates.  BK Associates specializes in aircraft valuation, intangible asset valuation, route and fleet planning, financial modeling, and business valuation. Ms. Gardemal is an accomplished valuation professional with over a decade of wide-ranging experience.  She has also worked with a number of investors on due diligence projects evaluating aircraft lessors, airports, airlines, manufacturers, and MROs. Ms. Gardemal has a strong history of leadership as a valuation professional, both by serving as an expert witness in many lost profit cases and by speaking at a variety of events.

Prior to joining BK Associates, Ms. Gardemal had been Morten Beyer & Agnew’s VP of Valuation & Economic Analysis.  There, she worked on a number of expert witness matters, valuations for both privately held and publicly traded entities, and different feasibility studies.  Ms. Gardemal started off her career as an auditor with KPMG.  From there, she went on to join the valuation and litigation group, CapAnalysis.  There she worked on a variety of expert witness matters; garnering deep expertise in business valuation, trademark valuation, lost profit analysis, tax impact analysis, and the calculation of damages. 

Ms. Gardemal earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Maryland.  She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) licensed in Maryland, Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) by the AICPA and is ISTAT certified.

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.

EVENTS