The Team

Gary Fitzgerald
(CEO)

Gary is an aircraft design engineer having started his career at Airbus customer support (Toulouse) and Airbus design office (Bristol) where he developed A340 and A319 fuel control systems. At Stratos, Gary leads a team of experienced industry professionals on various aircraft investment and lease related projects. Prior to founding Stratos, Gary spent 8 years as VP Commercial at Avinco (Monaco), 3 years as commercial director at an aircraft leasing affiliate of Crédit Agricole (Paris) and 3 years as sales manager for BAe (Bristol) where he marketed A300 freighters. During his 24 year career, Gary has traded (bought, sold or leased) over $5bn worth of aircraft and has been a central player in the creation, funding and management of 5 aircraft leasing platforms.

Brian Jeffery
(Chief Commercial Officer)

Brian has accumulated over 30 years of commercial aviation experience in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, specializing in Aircraft Financing & Leasing. His most recent appointment was as Chief Financial Officer for Nok Airlines Public Co., Ltd., Thailand. Prior to this, he served for eight years as the Senior Vice President, Corporate Treasury (Group Treasurer) at Emirates Airline in Dubai and was previously Managing Director and Global Head of Aviation Finance for The Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC), based in Hong Kong.

Camille Pousseur
(Marketing Director)

Camille Pousseur has several years’ experience trading aircraft. Prior to joining Stratos, Camille spent 6 years as Commercial Director at Avinco (Monaco) where she successfully traded a number of helicopters worldwide, specialising in the medium/large aircraft. Camille began her aviation career with Airbus Helicopters (Marseille, Shanghai) where she held a commercial role covering both the European and Chinese market. Prior to this, Camille worked at BNP Paribas, managing bank guarantees and letters of credit.

Lourens Geldenhuys
(Corporate Finance Director)

Lourens Geldenhuys has worked for many years as a corporate finance banker, most recently Lourens held the role of Global Head of Asset Finance at Standard Bank Plc where he successfully raised financing for many airline clients in challenging jurisdictions. Prior to this Lourens was Head of Corporate Finance at African Merchant Bank. Lourens is a qualified chartered accountant and is based in London.

Michael O’Hurley
(Head of Servicing)

Michael is an experienced banker and analyst with a specialisation in commercial banking. Prior to joining Stratos, Michael worked with Bank of Ireland and as an asset manager for an affiliate of Lloyds Banking group/ Bank of Scotland. Michael holds a diploma in aviation leasing and finance and a BA in Economics and Mathematics.

Kristian Lindberg
(Head of Finance)

Kristian is an experienced financial controller and analyst with a specialisation in financial modelling. Prior to joining Stratos, Kristian spent 7 years as financial controller at Accenture (Finland, Ireland, UAE) where he oversaw all aspects of financial accounting and business control for UAE and Qatar. Kristian began his aviation experience in 2008 when developing operating lease simulators and leasing business models for Avinco (Dublin). Having studied business studies and computer science, Kristian has also worked at Citco Fund Services, IBM, Google and eBay.

Ana Urien
(Head of Legal & Risk)

Ana is an experienced corporate  lawyer having spent 7 years in the energy industry as legal counsel for Gas Natural Fenosa (Madrid). Having started her career at Cuatrecasas (Barcelona) specialising in corporate law, Ana moved on to work for Baker & McKenzie (USA) in corporate, finance and banking law. Ana is a member of the Madrid Bar Association and holds an MBA as well as a degree in law and economy.

Stu Schwartzberg
(Contracts Director)

Stu has worked in aircraft leasing at CIT Aerospace for more than 30 years, serving in various positions including VP Technical and VP Contracts.  Stuart was instrumental in the growth of CIT Aerospace from a small leasing company to one of the world’s largest and was actively involved in numerous projects such as airline bankruptcies, lease negotiations, negotiations of major accident claims with insurers, lease returns and deliveries and writing technical provisions of aircraft leases.

Cian O’Shea
(Lease Manager)

Cian is a qualified financial analyst having started his career at GAM Asset Management (Dublin) as a valuations and settlement analyst before moving to Bank of New York Mellon (London) as a senior account analyst specialising in equities and fixed income portfolios. Cian is a qualified finance and accounting specialist holding an MSc in financial services.

Niamh Teehan
(Lease Manager)

Niamh Teehan is an Aeronautical Engineer with a Composite Materials and Manufacturing PhD qualification. Niamh started her career in Aerospace Mechanical Design working on a More-Electric-Aircraft project at Microsemi Corporation. Since then, Niamh has worked on European research projects for the aviation, space and marine industries at the Irish Composites Centre.

John McHugh
(Lease Manager – Technical)

John McHugh is an aircraft design engineer having started his career at Rolls Royce (UK) as Trent 7000 engine controls engineer before moving to engine flight test support.  With 8 years of experience at a major engine OEM, John specializes in the technical aspects of lease management, particularly engine costs and performance forecasting.

David Fitzgerald
(Lease Manager)

David Fitzgerald graduated from the University of Limerick with a Bachelor of Business Studies, majoring in Risk Management and Insurance. During David’s undergraduate degree he completed a nine month internship in the Securities Pricing Department in Northern Trust who specialize in asset servicing, investment and wealth management. Recently David graduated from The Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin, with MSc in Aviation Finance.

Ian Butcher
(Technical Director)

Ian Butcher has spent the past three decades managing and inspecting aircraft from a technical perspective. Having started his career at Dan Air (UK), Ian moved on to work for various MRO, airlines, freighter conversion facilities and most recently large lessors. During his career, Ian has worked on technical records, maintenance planning, structural repairs and transitions of nearly all commercial variants of Airbus and, Boeing.

Greta Jankune
(Analyst)

Greta graduated from the International University of Monaco with a degree in Luxury Marketing, Sales & Services. While studying, she worked as a marketing intern for Infinite Monte Carlo. Greta had previously spent 12 years studying piano at the National School of Arts in Lithuania. At Stratos, Greta is responsible for the CRM system and detailed airline credit analysis.