As the BAFTA nominated interviews producer on BBC Newsnight, Sam has negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace to The White House, Facebook to Tesla. With skills honed over a decade in the BBC's elite news programmes, she is used to persuading reluctant individuals to participate in a news programme renowned for rigour and bite.

Exclusives include, most famously, that interview with HRH Prince Andrew -- but also Sheryl Sandberg, President Clinton and Elon Musk.

Robert Courts was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport on 8 September 2020. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Witney and West Oxfordshire in October 2016. Robert was previously Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Secretary of State for Transport, having served as a PPS in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs prior to that. He served on the International Trade Select Committee before becoming a minister, having previously been a member of the Transport, Justice and Backbench Business Committees. Before his election to Parliament, Robert was a self-employed barrister. His practice focused primarily on personal injury and clinical negligence. He also served as a district councillor.

Guy Johnson covers top business, economic and market-moving stories from around the world. He is based in London.

Johnson brings nearly two decades of experience as a top financial broadcast journalist. He joined Bloomberg in 2012 from his role as an anchor at CNBC Europe. Earlier in his career, he reported for Financial Times Television and ITN (Channel 5).

Throughout his career, Johnson has covered major economic, corporate events and political events from the European Financial Crisis, to the Dotcom bubble, to the election of Donald Trump.

Johnson has also reported extensively on the aerospace sector covering many of the industry’s landmark events such as the development and first flight of the Airbus A380.

He holds a degree in Politics and International Relations from Lancaster University.

Carolina Martinoli joined IAG in April 2021 initially as Chief Culture Talent and Sustainability Officer, her responsibilities expanded  in June 2021 when she became Chief People, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer.

 Carolina was previously Brand and Customer Experience Director at British Airways (2017-2021), Chief Customer Officer at Iberia (2015-2017) and Marketing Director at Iberia (2011-2015). Before joining the Group she held different positions in Yell, Telefónica Group and Imperial Chemical Industries. She graduated from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in Business management.

Gaël Méheust is president and Chief Executive officer of CFM International (CFM), the world’s leading manufacturer of jet engines for single‐aisle aircraft. He was named to the position in February 2017.
In this position, Mr. Méheust serves as the company’s global representative in its relationships with customers, government agencies, industry associations, and the media.
He provides corporate leadership for the integrated management of the joint venture, as well as serving as a key interface between the top management levels at GE and Safran. He also has responsibility for the world‐wide brand awareness and reputation of CFM.
After achieving a master’s degree in international business from the University of Rouen, Mr. Méheust joined Hispano‐Suiza in 1984, which was part of the Snecma* group at the time and was named sales and marketing director for nacelles and thrust reversers two years later.
In 1989, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he served as Snecma's representative for CFM56 military applications. He was named head of Business Development at Techspace Aero (Safran) in 1992.

Martin was appointed Chief Executive Officer of NATS, the UK’s leading provider of Air Traffic Management services in May 2015. NATS employs around 4500 staff and provides air traffic control services 24 hours day, 7 days a week in UK and North Atlantic airspace for over 2 million flights per year. NATS also provides air traffic services and expertise to countries and airports around the world

Previously, Martin was the Managing Director of Operations at NATS responsible for delivering NATS’ regulated UK air traffic business.

Prior to joining NATS Martin worked for the Lockheed Martin Corporation where he was Managing Director of its £350M UK Civil business. In this role Martin was responsible for Lockheed Martin business with UK government across a wide range of critical national services, as well as being responsible for Lockheed Martin’s global air traffic business.

Martin’s career started with the European Space Agency working in orbital mechanics. Since then, Martin has worked in the aviation domain for more than 20 years across a number of companies leading large multinational teams across Europe, the US, and Asia with customers that include central government departments, military organisations and air navigation service providers.

Martin holds a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Systems Engineering

Julia Simpson CEO and President of the World Travel and Tourism Council.  She spent 14 years in the aviation sector on the Board of British Airways and Iberia and as Chief of Staff at International Airlines Group. Before joining British Airways, Julia was senior adviser to the UK Prime Minister. She held a number of key positions in the UK government and public sector, including Director at the Home Office and Department for Education and Employment; Assistant Chief Executive at the London Borough of Camden; and head of communications at the Communication Workers Union. Julia is on the Board of the London Chamber of Commerce.

As President of Aviation for Shell, I am responsible for Shell's global aviation business, including operations, network, joint ventures and sales of fuels, lubricants and sustainable solutions. With one of the most extensive refueling networks in the world, Shell Aviation serves customers in more than 60 countries, while our customers range from the world’s largest airlines, the military of defense to the private pilots.
Connecting the world and at the same time leading the decarbonization of the aviation industry and supporting our customers to help achieve their sustainability ambitions is what excites me most. Pre‐COVID Shell Aviation fueled a plane every 14 seconds and we anticipate we will return to this frequency in line with market recovery.
During my time at Shell, I have been leading Wholesale, Retail, Trading, Marine and Aviation businesses across the globe. As a leader, I believe in empowering individuals to create trust and joint ownership of business’ purpose and goals.
I am married to Pia and we live in London UK with our 3 children and our dog. In my leisure time I enjoys sailing and skiing with my family or doing cooking with family and friends.

Graham Webb is chief sustainability officer for Pratt & Whitney. In this role, Webb coordinates the execution of Pratt & Whitney’s sustainable propulsion technology roadmap and strategy, focused on securing funding from government and industry partners and communicating Pratt & Whitney’s sustainability capabilities and achievements to key constituencies.

Webb holds a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, a master’s degree in Metallurgical Engineering, and a doctoral degree in Materials Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Nikhil Sachdeva is a Global Lead for Aviation Sustainability at Roland Berger and an expert in sustainable aviation. Nikhil leads Roland Berger's work into how the aviation sector can transition to more climate-friendly technologies, from electrical propulsion to hydrogen and SAFs, as well as the commercial and technological implications for the aerospace sector. As a consultant, he specialises in strategy projects for aerospace and aviation clients, having worked with major aerospace OEMs, suppliers, as well as major airlines. Nikhil holds a Masters in Engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Nikhil Sachdeva is a Global Lead for Aviation Sustainability at Roland Berger and an expert in sustainable aviation. Nikhil leads Roland Berger's work into how the aviation sector can transition to more climate-friendly technologies, from electrical propulsion to hydrogen and SAFs, as well as the commercial and technological implications for the aerospace sector. As a consultant, he specialises in strategy projects for aerospace and aviation clients, having worked with major aerospace OEMs, suppliers, as well as major airlines. Nikhil holds a Masters in Engineering from Imperial College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Thomas Reynaert is Managing Director of Airlines for Europe (A4E), Europe's largest EU airline association, since March 2016. A4E was founded in January 2016 by Air France-KLM, easyJet, International Airlines Group (IAG), Lufthansa Group and Ryanair. 

Prior to joining A4E, Thomas was President of United Technologies (UTC) International Operations (Europe), where he led their European government relations activities between 2008-1015. During this time, he provided counsel to the corporation and it's business units on EU rulemaking and policy and served as a corporate liaison for key decision-makers in the EU institutions and national governments. 

Prior to joining UTC, Thomas led the government relations and regulatory affairs team for Nortel Networks in EMEA, in 2000. Previously, he was director of EU public affairs for Lucent Technologies (today: 'Alcatel-Lucent').

Thomas was a member of the Supervisory Board of the UTC Company OTIS Management GmbH (Germany) from 2009-2014, From 2011-2015 he was Chair of AmCham EU's Security and Defence Committee, and in 2015 was appointed a Member of the Executive Committee of the European Centre for Public Affairs (ECPA). 

David Silver is the Vice President for Civil Aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). In this role, he uses his expertise in aviation safety, certification, sustainability, and emerging technologies to collaborate with AIA members and advance public policies and positions beneficial to the entire industry and the United States.

David represents AIA on several boards and committees, including the European Union Aviation Safety Agency Stakeholder Advisory Board and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team. He was also appointed by the Secretary of Transportation to serve on the Advanced Aviation Advisory committee, and by the NASA Administrator to serve on the Aeronautics Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.

Silver joined AIA with over 20 years of experience in aviation, most recently serving as the Director of Engineering & Regulatory Affairs for the Boeing Company in Washington D.C., where he worked extensively with both regulatory and legislative committee leadership. He developed an array of experience in working with a variety of international organizations involved in certification and validation programs.

Silver also served as the 787-8 Deputy Fleet Chief for the introduction of aircraft into commercial operations. Silver worked with airline customers, regulators, and airplane program chief engineers on model-specific technical and safety issues affecting the in-service fleet to increase reliability and ensure smooth operations for the airlines.

Silver also has vast experience working Airplane Systems for airplane programs such as the 777 and 767. Silver served for 22 years in the Army National Guard as an Engineer Officer, with successive leadership roles culminating in Battalion Command and Assistant G3 for Washington State. Silver received the Legion of Merit and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2014.

Silver holds a B.S. in engineering and B.A. political science from Arizona State University and a M.S. in engineering management from Washington State University. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Andy is passionate about promoting multi-stakeholder collaboration to secure a sustainable future.

He has over 30 years’ experience in tackling strategic and operational challenges across the UK aviation industry.  An independent consultant for the last decade, he supports Sustainable Aviation in directing its work programme and stakeholder engagement.   Prior to this, Andy has worked for both the Airport and Airline sectors across sustainability, planning and operational roles.

Laia Barbarà is the Community Lead for the World Economic Forum's Clean Skies for Tomorrow initiative, a global cross-sectoral coalition working to achieve net-zero flying by mid-century. She is an Aeronautical Engineer by training and holds a PhD in Climate Change. Laia counts with experience supporting the transition to net-zero emissions within the UN system and across the public, private and academic sectors.

Laia Barbarà is the Community Lead for the World Economic Forum's Clean Skies for Tomorrow initiative, a global cross-sectoral coalition working to achieve net-zero flying by mid-century. She is an Aeronautical Engineer by training and holds a PhD in Climate Change. Laia counts with experience supporting the transition to net-zero emissions within the UN system and across the public, private and academic sectors.

Bryan joined Royal Dutch Shell in 1996 after a short stint in the Aerospace Division at the UK Department of Trade & Industry where he was involved with the UNEP/ICAO program looking at new emissions standards for civil aviation and developing long-term market demand forecasts.

Prior to his current role in Shell Aviation, Bryan spent 18 years in Shell Trading including 7 years as senior jet trader in both Houston and Dubai. He has also worked in gasoline and crude oil trading in Singapore and London respectively. During his time as jet trader he worked closely with a large number of Shell’s airline customers and has been involved in most of our supply chain operations across the globe.

During his time in SAV, Bryan was responsible for setting up the aviation price risk and pricing team, both teams also sit under his portfolio of current activity alongside a three person sustainability team working to help our customers decarbonise flight in an affordable and simple way as soon as possible in accordance with our avoid, reduce, offset carbon management hierarchy.

Jean-Baptiste started his career in 1996 at Eramet Headquarters in Paris. He joined Safran in 1999, first in the equipment branch at Safran Filtration Systems, then at Safran HQ in Paris where he was in charge of International Affairs for South Asia. Since 2005 he held various positions at Power Units and Helicopter Engines divisions where he was acting as Head of Hybrid Propulsion before his recent appointment as Deputy Program, Research & Technology. Jean-Baptiste, 48, holds degrees from ESCE (1996), UT Dallas (2011) and MINES Paris-Tech with a post Master in Environment & Sustainable Development (2021). He is also currently a PhD student at UPPA - E2S (Energy & Environment Solutions), working on the decarbonization of air mobility while acting as Deputy Program R&T in charge of SAF for Safran Helicopter Engines.

Brian Yutko is the Chief Engineer for Sustainability and Future Mobility at Boeing, leading a team that ensures the company’s technical expertise and market leadership in sustainability technologies, as well as emerging, advanced aerial mobility applications. Working closely with Boeing’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, the company’s Chief Engineer, and its Research and Technology leadership, Brian is responsible for leading and integrating the efforts of diverse teams that are improving the sustainability of Boeing’s products and services via innovations in electrification, energy storage, aircraft design, operational efficiency and autonomy. Brian also oversees a portfolio of advanced aerial mobility products and services that are enabled by these new technologies, including Boeing’s joint ventures with Wisk, developer of an all-electric, self-flying air taxi and SkyGrid, producer of airspace integration software. He is also a member of Wisk’s board of directors. 

Christoph Beuttler splits his time between his role as CDR Manager at Swiss Direct Air Capture pioneers, Climeworks and as deputy CEO of Risk Dialogue Foundation St.Gallen a Swiss NGO, where he is advising institutions such as the Swiss Federal Office of the Environment on climate risks and CDR/Negative Emissions. He is also a visiting lecturer in Risk Perception and Communication in Science and Policy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich. He was educated in Heidelberg and London. His background is in Economics, Management and Sustainability.

Jonathan leads Neste’s Renewable Aviation business for the Europe/MEA region. Jonathan is responsible for all activities relating to the sale and supply of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and related services, investments and business development. The role also covers engagement with government authorities and policy makers on regulatory matters, to help accelerate the use of SAF and support the aviation industry on its path to reduce emissions.
Prior to joining Neste, Jonathan has extensive experience in the energy industry with bp, in senior leadership positions in the Downstream marketing businesses, responsible for commercial, business development, M&A, strategy, marketing and operations activities. The last 10 years Jonathan has focused on the aviation fuel business.
Jonathan graduated in Economics from London University, and completed an Executive MBA programme at Harvard Business School.

Giorgio is an energy engineer specialised in climate change and transport decarbonisation. As Head of Advanced Fuels at the Department for Transport, he manages the UK Government team responsible for the policy work and industry engagement activities aiming to kick-start sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) use and production in the UK. This includes the oversight of the Jet Zero Council SAF Delivery Group, the day-to-day management of over £200m of grant funding, and the development of a SAF mandate and wider SAF policy. 

He previously worked as a policy advisor at the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and then as a senior policy advisor in the DfT Climate Change Strategy team, leading on a multimillion pound electric vehicle charging infrastructure programme, supporting Ministers during parliamentary debates and raising the ambition of transport decarbonisation policy within government.

Both through work and outside, Giorgio has been regularly active in international climate change research, engagement and advocacy. After representing Italy as a climate change delegate at the Youth Summit of the G7 Canada in Ottawa in 2018, he has led a research on innovative business models in the transport sector in Shanghai. He has then presented the UK Government’s vision for transport decarbonisation at COP25 in Madrid and led all the COP26 policy work within DfT until September 2020.

Giorgio holds a BSc in Energy Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Tongji University of Shanghai, and an MSc in Sustainable Energy from Imperial College London. He is a Junior Policy Fellow at the University of Cambridge. In his spare time, Giorgio is a photographer, traveller and water polo player.

A committed Tourism & Development practitioner, author, diplomat and on-air presence, Anita leads ANITA MENDIRATTA & Associates, a highly respected, UK based international consulting firm. With professional and living experience across almost all continents Anita has an innate ability to feel the ‘heartbeat’ of economic, social, political and environmental dynamics of nations. Most recently, Anita has become a trusted advisor of government and business leaders seeking to understand the impact and implications of COVID-19 on decision-making. Anita is also honoured to be:
• SPECIAL ADVISOR to the Secretary General of the UNWTO
• STRATEGIC ADVISOR to CNN INTERNATIONAL
• STRATEGIC RESOURCE to the WORLD BANK GROUP, WTTC, IATA and ATAG
• CO-CREATOR and CO-HOST of RISE http://www.rise-weekly.com/

Steve is a commercial aviation professional with 36 years of broad, strategic airline, aviation OEM, and SAF experience. Over his career, Steve has been a strong industry advocate who has worked in roles of developing pragmatic solutions to the challenges of aviation growth, and such engagement led him to accepting the current CAAFI Executive Director role in 2012. CAAFI (the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, www.caafi.org) is an industry partnership fostering the development and commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). CAAFI engages in public-private- partnership activities designed to convene the group of participants needed to stand up an entirely new industrial sector.
Steve also continues to serve in leadership, steering committee, consultancy, and BOD roles with multiple aviation industry organizations in areas of applying technology and business concepts to enable commercial progression with SAF, both through the work of CAAFI, as well as independent activities through his consultancy.

Dr. Andac’s past responsibilities have centered on gas turbine combustor aerodynamic design and aviation fuels, encompassing the military, commercial, marine and industrial platforms. He has extensive experience in fuels and additive approvals, and fuel specifications development. He is the chair of GE Aviation’s Fuels Board, the Secretary of the ASTM Sub-committee D02-J01 “Jet Fuel Specifications,” the Chair of ASTM 100% Synthetic Fuel Task Force, and the R&D team of CAAFI. He represents GE in many platforms including IATA, ASTM, ICAO, AFC, CRC, and IASH. Dr. Andac holds Master’s & Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southern California and has authored more than 30 journal publications and conference proceedings, and a book chapter.

A committed Tourism & Development practitioner, author, diplomat and on-air presence, Anita leads ANITA MENDIRATTA & Associates, a highly respected, UK based international consulting firm. With professional and living experience across almost all continents Anita has an innate ability to feel the ‘heartbeat’ of economic, social, political and environmental dynamics of nations. Most recently, Anita has become a trusted advisor of government and business leaders seeking to understand the impact and implications of COVID-19 on decision-making. Anita is also honoured to be:
• SPECIAL ADVISOR to the Secretary General of the UNWTO
• STRATEGIC ADVISOR to CNN INTERNATIONAL
• STRATEGIC RESOURCE to the WORLD BANK GROUP, WTTC, IATA and ATAG
• CO-CREATOR and CO-HOST of RISE http://www.rise-weekly.com/

Paul is the Chairman of Rolls-Royce SMR, the business established by Rolls-Royce to develop and manufacture low-cost nuclear power. Prior to this Paul was the Chief Technology Officer of Rolls-Royce plc, responsible for the Group's technology strategy and balance of engineering and technology investment. 

Before joining Rolls-Royce in 2010, was the Director General, Science and Technology, in the Ministry of Defence responsible for the UK's national investment in defence science and technology. Leading up to 2006 had many years of experience in the communications and electronics industries including technology leadership positions with Siemens, Thales and Philips. Paul serves on several Government advisory committees including an appointment in March 2020 to the Prime Minister's Council for Science and Technology (CST).

Jim Woodger is the Managing Director of LanzaTech UK, a subsidiary of LanzaTech Inc headquartered in
Chicago, USA. In this role, Jim is leading a growing UK team focused on driving forward numerous internal
and customer projects based on LanzaTech’s Gas Fermentation and LanzaJet’s Alcohol‐To‐Jet
technologies. Jim is also engaging on government policy to support these decarbonization technologies,
and is a member of various Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) industry bodies such as the Jet Zero Council,
Sustainable Aviation, and the Road Transport Fuels Association.
In terms of his wider career, Jim is an environmental chemical engineer, who started his working life with
Honeywell‐UOP, with roles in R&D, Manufacturing, Engineering and 5 years commissioning oil refineries
around the world. In 2007, he was a founding member of UOP’s Renewable Energy & Chemicals business
unit that commercialized the UOP HEFA Green Jet & Green Diesel technology.
In 2012, Jim joined Solazyme (later acquired by Corbion) in California to undertake business development
activities for sustainable products made from algae. Ultimately, Jim was responsible for the global growth
of Corbion Algae Ingredients into animal feed, oil & gas, and personal care.

Alastair leads the sustainable aviation team at ICF, supporting companies and governments across the global industry to reduce the environmental impact from aviation. In recent projects, Alastair has worked with several airlines in the US and Europe to understand and purchase sustainable fuel (SAF), supported ACI world to establish a net zero carbon target for their ~2,000 airport membership by 2050, and worked with ATAG to assess the technical, economic and environmental requirements to deploy sufficient SAF to achieve net zero carbon airline emissions by 2050. Alastair combines this practical experience with a technical and financial understanding as a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Financial Analyst.

David Hyde leads the World Economic Forum’s efforts on Advanced Aerial Mobility and electric and hydrogen propulsion. In this role David works with leaders from the public and private sectors to lay the groundwork for the adoption of new aviation technologies. David joined the Forum in 2021 from the Aerospace Industries Association, where as Director of Environmental Policy he was responsible for developing and advocating industry positions on issues including climate change and supersonic aircraft. Prior to this, David was an aviation policy advisor at the UK Department for Transport. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Master’s degree in Global Politics, and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Robin co-leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility and its work in mobility disrupters in the Americas and is a global leader of the Disruptive Aerospace sector within McKinsey’s Aerospace & Defense Practice.

His work focuses on innovative topics in the aviation industry, including advanced air mobility, unmanned aerial systems, sustainable aviation, and super or hypersonic flight. This covers the entire value chain, which includes operators, aircraft manufacturers, part-and-service providers, airports, ground handlers, training organizations, regulators, and investors.

In this constantly evolving, competitive market, Robin leverages hands-on expertise and broad, cross-functional knowledge to support clients across the aviation industry by addressing strategic challenges, and capturing value and growth.

Before joining McKinsey, Robin held department leadership roles in both the commercial and operations branches of a major airline. He is also a certified commercial airline pilot.

Robin co-leads the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility and its work in mobility disrupters in the Americas and is a global leader of the Disruptive Aerospace sector within McKinsey’s Aerospace & Defense Practice.

His work focuses on innovative topics in the aviation industry, including advanced air mobility, unmanned aerial systems, sustainable aviation, and super or hypersonic flight. This covers the entire value chain, which includes operators, aircraft manufacturers, part-and-service providers, airports, ground handlers, training organizations, regulators, and investors.

In this constantly evolving, competitive market, Robin leverages hands-on expertise and broad, cross-functional knowledge to support clients across the aviation industry by addressing strategic challenges, and capturing value and growth.

Before joining McKinsey, Robin held department leadership roles in both the commercial and operations branches of a major airline. He is also a certified commercial airline pilot.

Grazia Vittadini was appointed designated CTO of Rolls-Royce in November 2021. Before that, throughout her nearly 20-year career at Airbus, she covered a broad range of operations from Commercial Aircraft, Defence and Space to Technology and Innovation across the company. She was the first woman to be appointed to the Airbus Executive Committee as CTO.
Grazia has always led transnational and diverse teams. Beyond her expertise in future mobility and sustainable aerospace, she has maintained a forward-thinking interdisciplinary approach, promoting innovation through fields like AI and quantum computing.
Grazia is a member of the Siemens Supervisory Board and the Senate of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. She also serves as advisor at the German Centre for Mobility of the Future (DZM) as well as at the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology of Politecnico di Milano (DAER).
Born in Italy, Grazia grew up between Milan and the USA. She holds a pilot’s license and graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, where she specialized in Aerodynamics.

Frank Preli is vice president, Propulsion and Materials Technologies at Pratt & Whitney. Preli’s more than 40-year career in the aerospace industry has included leading roles in the development of technologies for aerospace and energy markets.
Preli earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He also earned an MBA at the university. Preli is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

Brian Yutko is the Chief Engineer for Sustainability and Future Mobility at Boeing, leading a team that ensures the company’s technical expertise and market leadership in sustainability technologies, as well as emerging, advanced aerial mobility applications. Working closely with Boeing’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, the company’s Chief Engineer, and its Research and Technology leadership, Brian is responsible for leading and integrating the efforts of diverse teams that are improving the sustainability of Boeing’s products and services via innovations in electrification, energy storage, aircraft design, operational efficiency and autonomy. Brian also oversees a portfolio of advanced aerial mobility products and services that are enabled by these new technologies, including Boeing’s joint ventures with Wisk, developer of an all-electric, self-flying air taxi and SkyGrid, producer of airspace integration software. He is also a member of Wisk’s board of directors. 

Christopher Lorence, GE Aviation Chief Engineer — As the Chief Engineer, Chris Lorence leads technical excellence and design quality for the engineering team at GE Aviation to develop and support safe, reliable, and efficient products and services. He is the champion and business leader for product safety, certification, airworthiness, and is responsible for ensuring regulatory compliance worldwide. The Chief Engineers Office global team he leads contains over 1,000 technical specialists across a wide range of disciplines. He is also responsible for the technical development of the broader engineering team, with particular focus on our Edison Engineering Development Program for early career engineers.

Rodrigo is the Head of Marketing and Strategy at Embraer Commercial Aviation, responsible for market forecast, strategic planning, new product development and sales engineering and sustainability initiatives
Rodrigo has been working at Embraer for 25 years.

He has performed several roles in engineering and marketing. As Director of Product Strategy he led product positioning and marketing activities during the early development stages of the E-Jets and E-Jets E2. More recently he lead the development of the Energia family of sustainable products. Rodrigo is also the main responsible for initiatives regarding sustainability inside Embraer Commercial Aviation.

David Hyde leads the World Economic Forum’s efforts on Advanced Aerial Mobility and electric and hydrogen propulsion. In this role David works with leaders from the public and private sectors to lay the groundwork for the adoption of new aviation technologies. David joined the Forum in 2021 from the Aerospace Industries Association, where as Director of Environmental Policy he was responsible for developing and advocating industry positions on issues including climate change and supersonic aircraft. Prior to this, David was an aviation policy advisor at the UK Department for Transport. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Master’s degree in Global Politics, and is currently pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Tom holds degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Advanced Systems Engineering, holds a MBA, is a Chartered Engineer, and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. Tom joined HAV in 2013 from BAE Systems, where his experience covered a range of senior engineering and programme leadership roles in the development and delivery of new products and services. Tom was the Head of Business Management for BAE Systems' Tornado Availability Support Service, was Assistant Chief Engineer in BAE Systems' unmanned aircraft development business, and prior to that led programmes developing new UAV mission system capabilities in BAE Systems Australia. He also worked on the Airbus A380 and Eurofighter Typhoon programmes.

Val Miftakhov is the Founder & CEO of ZeroAvia, a company that is developing the World's first practical zero emission aviation powertrain. Val is a serial entrepreneur in EV space - his previous company eMotorWerks has developed the World’s leading platform for EV battery aggregation to provide grid services, and was acquired in 2017.

Prior to that, Val held a number of senior business and product positions at Google and McKinsey & Company, and was a nuclear researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator. Val holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, Masters in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, and was a two-time winner of Russian Nationwide Physics competitions.

In his spare time, Val makes good use of his airplane and helicopter pilot licenses.

JoeBen is the founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, having led the team since its inception, more than a decade ago. He has dedicated his life to driving radical innovation in electric propulsion and robotics. In 1999, JoeBen co-founded Velocity11 to develop high-performance robotic laboratory systems, which was acquired by Agilent Technologies. In 2005, he founded Joby Inc., a company that develops consumer products including the Gorillapod flexible camera tripod.

Russ studied Aeronautical Engineering and German at Bath University, before joining Airbus where he spent 17 years mainly in technical leadership roles. This culminated in leading the Wing Engineering team for all A350WXB derivatives from early concept development through detailed design, manufacture, assembly, flight test and certification.

Russ joined GKN Aerospace in 2013 and joined the Executive team in 2014 as the senior technical representative. During this time, Russ’s scope has evolved to include technology, quality, business strategy and corporate affairs. Russ has also taken responsibility for sustainability at GKN Aerospace as well as acting as chair for the UK ADS Sustainable Aerospace Board.

David was appointed easyJet Chief Operating Officer in November 2022, having served as interim COO from July 2022. David joined easyJet in September 2016 as the airline’s Chief Pilot, and in December 2017 took up the position of Director of Flight Operations, responsible for the safe and efficient operation of the airline’s flights across Europe with a fleet of more than 300 aircraft. During his time at the airline, David has overseen the airline’s operations and delivered significant improvements in operational performance.

An operating pilot with over 35 years in aviation, David has also been leading easyJet’s work on supporting the development of new technologies, such as hydrogen, to decarbonise aviation. This includes partnerships with a variety of companies, including Airbus and Rolls-Royce. Prior to joining the airline, David was Chief Flight Operations Officer at Wizz Air. His long career in aviation has taken him around the world including Australia and the Middle East. He is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Prior to Carbon Engineering, Amy was VP Corporate Development and Sustainability at Virgin Atlantic where she was accountable for setting and delivering carbon strategy, securing expansion at London’s Heathrow Airport, corporate strategy and government affairs. In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic she co-led recapitalization and solvent restructuring of the airline. Amy previously spent 10 years at BCG in the Consumer Practice Area, leading projects on topics ranging from strategy to transformation; operations to commercial, working across Europe and the USA. Amy’s Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge “Novel sensors for the selective detection of hydrocarbons” combined the disciplines of solid-state electrochemistry, materials and surface science.

Group Head of Sustainability, International Airlines Group Jonathon is a Master’s graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, London and has an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.
In July 2015 Jonathon became Group Head of Sustainability for the International Airlines Group with responsibility for the group sustainability strategy across the Groups’ four airlines Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia & Vueling.
In August 2019 he was elected as the Chair of the newly formed IATA Sustainability and Environment Advisory Council.
Jonathon is also Chair of the oneworld airline alliance’s Environment & Sustainability Best Practice Group.
In November 2020 Jonathon became Chair of the UK Government’s Jet Zero Council’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Delivery Group.

As the BAFTA nominated interviews producer on BBC Newsnight, Sam has negotiated with everyone from Buckingham Palace to The White House, Facebook to Tesla. With skills honed over a decade in the BBC's elite news programmes, she is used to persuading reluctant individuals to participate in a news programme renowned for rigour and bite.

Exclusives include, most famously, that interview with HRH Prince Andrew -- but also Sheryl Sandberg, President Clinton and Elon Musk.