Chris Annetts, Heathrow’s Commercial Passenger Services Director, is responsible for the airport’s travel services, premium products, digital and CRM strategy, research and insight.  His 12 years with Heathrow have been focussed on the airport’s commercial interests including retail and airline business development. 

In his previous role he developed a new commercial strategy framework for Heathrow and was responsible for the commercial team’s input into engagement with the Civil Aviation Authority and airlines through the recent regulatory settlement process. 

Chris is kept busy with two children and management of an under 11’s football team.

Ray Batt was appointed Director of Global Business Development for Automated Border Control solutions within the SITA Government Solutions Line (GSL) in August 2013, with responsibility for expanding the ABC business as part of the SITA iBorders Portfolio.  Ray is currently the head of European Business Development for GSL and responsible for the growth of the iBorders portfolio in the European, Russian & CIS region. 

Prior to his current position, Ray headed ARINC’s EMEA Government and Security business for 7 years to August 2012. Ray has over 30 years of experience in the Aviation & Government sectors, and IT and Communications industry, with 16 years at British Telecom. 

Throughout his ICT Career, Ray has managed a number of global projects, covering US, UK, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific at various points in his career, most recently for Automated Passport Control in the USA.    

Hugh Best has been working in aviation for over 15 years. After studying international relations, he embarked on a career in aviation with positions in ground handling, customer service and aviation management. He has been working with IATA’s Fast Travel Working Group for three years. The aim of the Fast Travel group is to bring together airlines, airports, vendors and governments alike in order to facilitate a smooth travel experience with increased self-service options throughout the passenger’s journey.  

President of the Italian Inter-University Center for Operations Research. Director of the Master Program in Data Intelligence and Strategic Decisions.  

Research interest in quantitative methods in management and optimization of real life transportation systems, in particular in the air traffic sector.

Klaas Fokkema was appointed Vice President Business Management for Airport Services in April 2012.  In this role he is responsible for all aspect of the Airport Services business in Europe, including the Profit & Loss, business development, solution design, bid & commercial management. 

During 2007 and 2012, Klaas was responsible for Mergers & Acquisitions and strategic partnerships at SITA.  Before that he has held various other commercial positions within SITA and has 15 years of experience in Air Transport and IT industry.  

Klaas began his career at Unisource in the Netherlands.  He graduated in Business Economics and Marketing from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

He is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

He has more than 15 years of cross-cultural experiences spanning the public and private sectors, complemented by two Master degrees in the area of information technology and a MBA.

Mr Garkov is a goal-oriented, innovative technology strategist driving large-scale global operations to optimize IT portfolio management and operational efficiency.

From 2007 until taking up the ED post in eu-LISA Mr Garkov was Operations Director for the Experian Group ltd., a leading global information provider serving the finance industry.  He commanded all delivery centre operations and ensured the alignment of technology solutions with business objectives across Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.

Prior to that, Mr Garkov worked as a Program Manager at Hewlett Packard, a major technology company, where he was responsible for key program initiatives, including a large-scale data centre consolidation and application portfolio consolidation and integration.

From 2003 to 2006 he served the Bulgarian National Revenue Agency as a CIO, where he delivered several successful initiatives, including country-wide implementation of a new core revenue management system and infrastructure. He also led the agency to receive recognition as the first-class ICT organization.

In 1996 Mr Krum joined the Centre for Mass Privatization (Bulgaria), the specialized government agency overseeing privatization of public assets in Bulgaria. In the Centre Mr Krum shared various responsibilities. Initially he was appointed National Coordination Senior Expert to manage information technology strategy and operations. Within two years he was named Deputy Director of ICT.

 Krum Garkov holds a M.Sc. in Computer Technologies from Technical University (Varna, Bulgaria) and an MBA in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology (New Jersey, United States).

Renaud Irminger is Director of SITA Lab, the company’s strategic research and development arm. He is responsible for overseeing projects and programs that explore new technology for the air transport industry—including wearable technology, iBeacons, Near Field Communications (NFC), Location Based Services, contextual mobile applications and many other initiatives.

Renaud joined SITA in 2005 in the Project Management Office, as Program and Project Director responsible for Project Management Methodologies. Previously he was Director Innovation Management for Valeo, a US$15Bn automotive supplier, where he led a project to revamp innovation and product development processes. Renaud has also held various roles in new product development, sales and business development, and program and project management at ITT Industries in the USA, and in R&D at Motorola in Switzerland.  

Arnaud Lambert was appointed Group CEO of Luxembourg based CHAMP Cargosystems S.A. in early 2015.

With more than 15 years of air cargo experience, Arnaud is determined to drive further value in this market and make CHAMP Cargosystems the preferred supplier of integrated air cargo IT solutions around the world.

Mr. Lambert started his career in 1994 with Procter & Gamble as a Brand Manager and moved into his first IT managerial role in 1996. 

In November 1998 Arnaud joined Cargolux in Luxembourg as IT manager and soon got appointed IT director.  Arnaud was part of the core team founding CHAMP Cargosystems in 2004 and joined the Executive Committee later the same year.

His first responsibility was Vice President Enterprise Services primarily in charge of the Cargolux IT outsourcing contract.

In 2010, Mr. Lambert became Vice President Customer Services responsible for CHAMP’s global customer base and in 2012, Arnaud got appointed as Vice President Global Solutions Delivery with responsibility for the cargo solutions portfolio delivery for over 200 customers, the CHAMP Group IT and the IT outsourced services provided to Cargolux and Luxair.

Dr Simon Moores is a strategic technologies consultant and a Vice President of the Conservative Technology Forum. A regular Chair of the UK Internet Policy Forum He advises organisations on  the emerging trends shaping the future of business.  

A Former  'Technology Ambassador' for the British Government, Simon was rated in the 'Top Ten' of UK 'Tech Thought Leaders' in 2014'  A popular keynote speaker, recent events include IFSEC Global, Harvard Business Review, and CIO Connect  in London. 

Simon is also a semi-professional display pilot and has written on aviation-related topics for The Guardian newspaper, Pilot and P1 magazines.

Ian Neill is an expert on Border Systems and has been at the forefront of the development of international passenger data standards.

Ian has over 35 years in border management having delivered Border systems for the UK and advised other governments on the development of their systems.

Ian has worked widely with industry having chaired the International Air Transport Association’s   Passenger Facilitation Working Group. Together with Australia, Canada, the USA, IATA, and the airline industry he delivered the new passenger data message standard PNRGOV as a free to use product for governments and carriers.

Ian was the UK’s representative on the Frontex research and development board and has contributed to work on analysis of passenger data and Automated Border Controls. He has worked as an advisor to The International Civil Aviation Organisation’s facilitation panel and is a regular contributor to work on travel documents. As part of the World Customs Organisation’s Contact Committee he has played role in ensuring clear guidelines on the implementation and use of both Interactive and standard advance passenger information have been agreed between IATA, ICAO, WCO industry and governments.

Ian continues to speak and moderate at international events on data and border security and has provided advice to a number of governments since leaving the Home Office in 2014.

Mr. Paraschis is the Chief Executive Officer of the “Athens International Airport S.A.” (AIA) since 2007. He joined AIA shortly after its establishment in 1996. Prior to the Airport Company, he worked for ten years in international management consulting. 

Mr. Paraschis is the Immediate Past Chair of the Governing Board of the world trade association of airports, Airports Council International (ACI). He is currently member of the Board of the European trade body, ACI EUROPE, which he has also served as Chairman for the period from 2007 to 2009. He is the Chairman of the Board of the Athens Airport Fuel Pipeline Company S.A. Mr. Paraschis participates as a member in various other boards of companies and trade associations such the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE), the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) and the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) as well as Marketing Greece SA. 

He holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Hamburg in Germany.

Francesco Violante was named CEO of SITA in 2006.

 Under his leadership, SITA has undergone a dramatic transformation with the merging of previously separate entities into a single company, delivering complex IT solutions to the world's air transport community.

His vision

Francesco’s vision is to strengthen SITA's position at the heart of the air transport industry by using technology to solve industry and business issues. To this end, he championed the formation of SITA OnAir to help realize the full potential of the connected aircraft, initiated the creation of the SITA Lab as a world class R&D facility and oversaw the opening of a software center of excellence in Letterkenny, Ireland.

Francesco has grown the company to achieve consolidated revenues of US$1.7 billion in 2014 and employ over 4,500 staff in 200 countries and territories. SITA won over $1 billion worth of new business for the first time in 2006 and has repeated this achievement every year since.

A hallmark of his leadership has been his ability to forge new alliances for the company with prestigious industry partners such as Airbus, Cargolux and Orange Business Services. He has also strengthened SITA's technology leadership position with a series of acquisitions, including the purchases in 2010 of WorkBridge A/S and Com-Net Software. Previous acquisitions have included Vancouver-based SMG Technologies, Dublin-based Eland and Sydney-based CPS, which have given an innovative edge to the company's portfolio of solutions.

Francesco is a computer science graduate with a solid background in IT and Telecommunications. He started his career at Digital as a software specialist and rose through the ranks on the way to becoming Vice President for the Telco Industry World-Wide and then Vice President for Sales and Marketing, Europe.

Subsequently, he became Chief Information Officer with Telecom Italia where he was responsible for all IT services and IT companies, employing 12,000 people. After this, Francesco joined EDS as Regional Vice President for southern Europe with responsibility for 4,500 employees and annual revenues of Euro 700 million.

Francesco is based at SITA's global headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

CAPA – Centre for Aviation is the leading independent supplier of global aviation knowledge, delivering market analysis, data and information services.

Jonathan joined CAPA in 2013 to lead its analytical coverage of European airlines and is now also responsible for developing financial analysis product. Previously, he spent 13 years as an equity research analyst covering airlines and airports for Société Générale, HSBC and Deutsche Bank and BAE Systems. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Bristol and a Masters in Business Administration from London Business School.