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 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 $3bn worth of aircraft and has been a central player in the creation, funding and management of 5 aircraft leasing platforms.

Mark Shaw
(Marketing Director)

Mark Shaw has enjoyed a career spanning nearly 30 years in the fields of commercial aircraft finance/leasing and heavy maintenance. Prior to joining Stratos, Mark had spent 12 years as Vice President Marketing for Aviation Capital Group (USA), a major aircraft financier and lessor and was, at various times, responsible for the company’s marketing activities in Latin America and Europe. Mark began his career with NatWest Bank Aerospace Department (London) and went on to build substantial aircraft portfolios worldwide with boutique lessors PLM Transportation (San Francisco) and Electra Aviation (London). Mark spent the early 90s as Sales Manager for heavy aircraft maintenance specialist, Shannon Aerospace (Ireland).

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.

Mike Sanders
(Marketing Director)

With a career spanning over 50 years in the aircraft industry, predominantly on the leasing side, Mike adds a wealth of experience and deep relationships. During the ten years prior to joining Stratos, Mike was VP at ALAFCO where he was responsible for marketing in the Americas, EMEA and Russia and was part of the team that positioned ALAFCO to become a major leasing company with a committed new order book of 117 aircraft. Prior to this, Mike spent 20 years running the European office of GATX (now Macquarie) where with his team leased and purchased over 300 aircraft. Mike is an aircraft design engineer and started his career at BAC as head of the Concorde flight test design support team before moving to Airbus in 1979 where he spent a decade as marketing director.

Kristian Lindberg
(Lease & Finance Manager)

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.

Ervin Bach
(Technical Advisor)

Erv Bach has over 30 years experience in various technical roles, most recently managing various aircraft transitions for lessors in Asia, prior to which Erv worked as Director of Transitions for AWAS and Pegasus where he was responsible for the team of technical inspectors. Erv has an airframe structural engineering background, having started his career at the US Air Force and afterwards moved on to work for various MRO, airlines and freighter conversion facilities.

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.

Michael O’Hurley
(Lease Manager)

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.

Ana Urien
(Legal & Contracts Manager)

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.

Brian Jeffery
(Marketing Director)

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. He has also acted as a freelance Consultant to aviation lessors on an ad-hoc basis.