| Speaker Biographies |
| Ian Biggs Ambassador to Iran Australian Embassy Mr Biggs is a senior career officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Until recently he was Acting First Assistant Secretary of International Security Division. He has served overseas as Ambassador to Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, Chargé d’Affaires in Baghdad, and Deputy Head of Mission in Vienna and Damascus. He took up his appointment as Ambassador to Iran in Jul-2016. Mr Biggs holds a Master of Arts (International Relations) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney. | |
| Mr Alex Cruz Chairman and CEO British Airways Alex began his professional career at American Airlines in 1995, spending half his 10 years at the group with its travel technology arm, Sabre, in London, working with a range of European airlines. In 2000, he became a partner at Arthur D Little before setting up his own aviation consulting firm in 2002. In 2005, he joined Accenture as its head of aviation. In 2006 he founded Clickair, a Barcelona-based airline, merging the airline with Vueling in 2009 and becoming Vueling’s Chairman and CEO. Vueling was acquired by International Airline Group (IAG) in 2013, with Alex joining the IAG Management Committee. In April 2016, Alex was appointed Chairman and CEO of British Airways. He is also a visiting lecturer at the IESE Business School in Madrid and the ESADE Business & Law School in Barcelona. Alex is 50 years old and originally from Bilbao in Spain. He has a degree in industrial engineering from Central Michigan University, an MSc from the Ohio State University, and Business Management & Administration degree from the Cox School of Business in Dallas. He is married with four children and lives in London. | |
| H.E. Nicholas Hopton Ambassador to Iran British Embassy Mr Nicholas Hopton is Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Previously he was Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Qatar from 2013 to 2015. Mr Hopton joined the FCO in 1989 and has also served as Ambassador to Yemen and at the British Embassies in Paris, Rome and Rabat. He has worked on national security issues in the Cabinet Office, led the International Organisations Department in the FCO and was Private Secretary to the Minister for Europe. | |
| Lord Norman Lamont UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Iran British Government Norman Lamont was a Cabinet Minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and a member of the House of Commons for twenty-five years. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) from 1990 to 1993. In 1998, he was appointed a member of the House of Lords (the second chamber of the British Parliament). He is a member of the Economic Affairs Committee. Norman Lamont was Britain’s Chief Negotiator at the Maastricht Treaty and negotiated Britain’s non-membership of the euro, of which he remains a strong opponent and critic. When he was Chancellor, Norman Lamont’s political advisor was David Cameron and his Parliamentary Private Secretary, William Hague. In 2008, David Cameron asked Norman Lamont with other former Chancellors to be part of a team to advise him on Britain’s financial problems. As well as being a working Peer, he is a director of a number of financial companies. He has, in the past, been a director of companies trading with Iran and is currently the Chairman of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Advisory Board of the Iran Heritage Foundation, a body promoting Iranian culture and art. In 2016, he was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Iran. He is an Honorary Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. | |
| Antony Single Partner Clifford Chance LLP Antony leads Clifford Chance's leading aerospace finance practice in the Middle East. He is a partner in the global Asset and Structured Finance Group specialising in advising financiers and lessors in the aviation and defence sectors, using asset-based and receivables-backed finance and leasing transactions, utilising leveraged debt, capital markets and tax enhanced structures. He advises senior and junior lenders and equity providers/asset support providers on secured “straight” and tax enhanced structured financings. Antony frequently advises on the structuring of Shari'a compliant funding and leasing structures for aircraft. Antony is a contributing editor to the leading practitioners' handbook, Aircraft Finance. | |
| Firoz Tarapore CEO Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Firoz Tarapore serves as Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Ltd. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the company. Mr. Tarapore is a seasoned operating and finance executive with 30 years of experience in managing complex, global businesses. Mr. Tarapore has successfully led DAE’s development over the last several years, and has positioned DAE for strong future growth. Prior to joining DAE, Mr. Tarapore spent over 20 years at a global financial institution and was Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance and Treasury. Mr. Tarapore holds an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Bombay. | |
| Bertrand Grabowski Member of the Board of Managing Directors DVB Bank SE Bertrand joined DVB in May 2005 as Board Member responsible for the whole Aviation activity of the Bank as well as Rail Financing. In Aviation, under his leadership, a strong team effort has allowed the franchise of the Bank to expand to Aviation Asset Management, Aviation Advisory, strengthen considerably Aviation Investment Management and have delivered further growth of our Tokyo based Aviation platform. Before joining DVB, Bertrand spent four years at Citibank's London Asset Finance Group with primary responsibility over Europe and Japan. The Group delivered highly structured asset finance products out of Japan and Germany to first class airlines and railways operators all over the world. Before Citibank, Bertrand has worked, since 1985,in various positions at Banque Indosuez, renamed Credit Agricole Indosuez, in Paris, Tokyo and New York : Head of the Tokyo-based Asian Aviation Team for eight years and Tokyo Branch Manager, New York Branch Manager with direct responsibility over all American based Asset Finance and LBO / PE activities for three years. Bertrand holds an MBA from ESSEC ( France ). | |
| H.E. Francois Sénémaud Ambassador of Iran French Embassy Ambassador Sénémaud, a career diplomat, class of Minister Plenipotentiary, was sworn in as the Ambassador of France to Iran in April 2016. Prior to that, Ambassador Sénémaud served as the Director of Intelligence at the French Directorate for External Security from 2012 to 2016 and as Ambassador to Laos from 2008 to 2012. Ambassador Sénémaud has a longstanding experience in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as in the Ministry of Interior. Among his main assignments abroad, Mr Sénémeaud has served in Amman (1990-1993), in Madrid (1995-1997) and in Beirut (1997-2001). At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, Mr Sénémaud has been Advisor to the Director of Middle East and North-Africa (1993-1995), Head of the Department for Strategies, Means and Evaluation (2001-2005) and Head of the Foreign Press Reception Center. Mr Sénémaud has also served as the Chief of staff of the High Commissioner in New Caledonia (1985-1986) and as a Technical Advisor to the Cabinet of the Minister of the Interior (1988-1990). Ambassador Sénémaud is a graduate from the Paris Institute for Political Studies (1980) and from the French National School of Administration (ENA) (1985). He is knight of the French national Order of the Légion d’Honneur and knight of the French national Order of Merit. Mr Sénémaud is married with two children. | |
