The competition

Senior Vice President - Public Affairs, International Affairs, Industry Affairs and the Environment, Emirates

Andrew Parker is Senior Vice President of Public Affairs, International Affairs, Industry Affairs and the Environment at Emirates Airline. In this role he is responsible for managing the airline’s global government and international relations, public and industry affairs and the Group's environmental policy, issues and engagement. This involves representing the Airline in government negotiations, air services talks and broader political and public affairs engagement worldwide. He is also on the Board of the Emirates Airline Foundation, a charity specialising in supporting needy children around the world.

Director of the BBC's Global News division

Peter Horrocks is Director of the BBC's Global News division, responsible for leading the BBC's international news services across radio, television and new media.

He is a member of the BBC's Direction Group and the BBC's Journalism Board. The division brings together BBC World Service, the BBC World News television channel, the BBC's international facing-online news services, BBC Monitoring, and BBC World Service Trust – the BBC's international development charity.

Previously he was Director of BBC World Service responsible for its overall editorial leadership and management. Mr. Horrocks has worked for the BBC since 1981, holding senior management and editorial posts in television, radio and online. He graduated from the University of Cambridge.

Chairman of the Executive Board, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

Johann-Dietrich Wörner is the Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). He was appointed to the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and is representative of the Technical Sciences Section of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. He is also a member of the board of École Centrale Paris and École Centrale Lyon, the Convention for Technical Sciences (acatech) and the supervisory board of Röhm GmbH, among others. Prof. Wörner studied civil engineering at the Berlin Institute of Technology and Darmstadt Technological University. He received honorary PhDs from the State University of New York (U.S.), the technological universities of Bucharest (Romania) and Mongolia, St. Petersburg University for Economics and Finance (Russia), and École Centrale Lyon (France).

Founder and CEO of the UK-based low cost airline, Go

Barbara Cassani was founder and CEO of the UK-based low cost airline, Go – initially a subsidiary of British Airways, then bought by management, grown to profitability and merged with the UK’s easyJet – and also the founding Chairman of London’s successful 2012 Olympic bid. She is a Non-executive Director on the board of Air Berlin and has also served as Chairman of Spanish low cost airline Vueling and European hotel group, Jurys Inns. Ms. Cassani graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College and holds an MA in international relations from Princeton University. 

Executive Vice President of Engineering at Airbus

Appointed in 2010 Executive Vice President of Engineering at Airbus, Charles Champion is responsible for research and technology, overall product architecture and concept development, the design office, integration, flight-testing and continued airworthiness. He is also a member of the Airbus Executive Committee and the patron of the Airbus Fly Your Ideas 2011 competition. Mr. Champion held various management positions from manufacturing to commercial activities within Airbus, including head of Customer Services and of the A380 programme. He has more than 30 years of experience in aeronautics. Mr. Champion graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace in Toulouse and holds a Master of Science from Stanford University, California.

Vice President, Environmental Affairs, EADS & Airbus

Andrea Debbané is Vice President of Environmental Affairs at Airbus. She joined Airbus in 2003 in the Public Affairs and Communication Department to brand the A380 as the world’s favourite and most iconic plane. She is Executive Director of the Airbus Corporate Foundation that supports environment, youth development and humanitarian initiatives and projects. Having started her career with the Government of Canada, Ms. Debbané also worked for the Coca-Cola Company in Japan and Asia before joining Airbus. She holds an MBA from IMD in Lausanne, a BA Honours from Concordia University in Montreal and is a recipient of the Japanese Government Scholarship for post-graduate studies.

Vice President of Marketing, North America at Airbus

Mary Prettyman is Vice President of Marketing, North America at Airbus since 2008, overseeing marketing and business operations departments, managing the airline fleet analysis and presentation activity for airlines, and promoting Airbus products and strategy in the region. During her 15-year tenure with Airbus Americas, she has been involved in transactions for more than 250 aircraft. Prior to joining Airbus she worked at other aircraft manufacturers in marketing and engineering positions. Mary holds a degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Vice President of Communications at Airbus China

Lindsey Mi is Vice President of Communications at Airbus China. Prior to this, she led the Chinese communications functions for some of the world’s biggest brands, including Dell Computer and General Motors. Ms Mi started her career in journalism at BusinessWeek Magazine of America in Beijing. She graduated from Beijing Normal University having majored in English Language and Literature, and furthered her studies by gaining diplomas in Linguistics from Bell College in England and Business Administration and Management from Washington State University in the U.S.

Senior Vice President of Airbus Innovation Cell

Appointed in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Airbus Innovation Cell, Richard Tisseyre is responsible for identifying and maturating game-changing technologies, processes and business models for future-generation products and services. Before joining Airbus, he held various management positions in the aerospace industry, within EADS as well as Thales and Alcatel Space. Mr. Tisseyre graduated from L’Institut Supérieur de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace.

Vice President Marketing, Airbus

Bob Lange began his career as a Future Projects Engineer at British Aerospace Woodford after completing an Undergraduate Apprenticeship and an honours degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Bath.

He joined Airbus in 1987 where we held Airline Marketing account responsibilities in North America and Asia before being appointed A330/A340 Product Manager where he worked on the launch of the A330-200 and A340-500/600.

Bob became A3XX Marketing Director in 1996, working with major airlines to define requirements for the cabin interior, managing consumer research and concept design. In 2001, following successful launch of the A380, he held a staff function planning New Product Communications within the Brand & Image team.

In 2003 he was appointed Director Long Range Product Policy responsible for product development recommendations resulting in the launch of the A350 XWB. In 2005 Bob became Director of Cabin Strategy where he led a project to develop the new cabin vision for the A350 XWB. He moved back to Marketing in 2007 to lead the Aircraft Interiors Marketing team, covering all current and future Airbus cabins.

Bob was recently appointed Vice President Marketing. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He is married with two sons and enjoys rugby, football, golf and music.