Walé Adepoju is a growth & transformation focused business strategist with a strong track record in the airline passenger experience industry.

‍

Previously, Adepoju held several senior executive roles at Global Eagle including, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Commercial Officer. He successfully grew the content and digital media group organically and through acquisition. Prior to GEE he was Chief Operating Officer of Munich-based Advanced inflight Alliance (AIA), which was acquired by Global Eagle. He is the founder of IMDC, an organization that advises companies on optimizing investment in passenger systems and cabin products. With over 20 years of experience in creating and delivering successful strategies, he is regarded as one of the leading experts in the sector.Earlier in his career, he worked as an air transport analyst providing key investment advice on Aerospace companies and products. This included new aircraft analysis, re-engine and retrofit analyses. He was part of the investment team that successfully executed the turnaround and sale of Thermal Engineering – an aero engine parts supplier.  Adepoju holds an honors degree in Manufacturing Engineering and a Masters in Air Transport Management from Cranfield University.

Peter Cooke has more than 17 years of professional experience in the aviation industry. After graduating at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 1989, he worked for six years as Senior Designer at Grey Matter Consultants. In 2000, Peter Cooke joined British Airways as Design Management Executive and moved in 2006 to the British Airways Design Lead Cabin Interiors. During the last 17 years at British Airways he has overseen and lead many aircraft interior programs including complete redesign of First Class on 747 and 777, role out of new cabin interiors on A380 and 787-9, new Premium Economy and Economy seats for 787 and A380, A320/321 Shorthall product and interior refresh as well as new Club World trim and the new 787-9 First Class seat.

Kathryn has worked at Collins Aerospace since 2021 and is currently responsible for Strategic Marketing, within the Commercial Seating and Furniture business. A customer advocate and self-confessed av-geek, Kathryn has a passion for human-centric design and making air travel accessible for everyone.

With over 20 years of experience in the aviation industry, Kathryn has worked across aircraft seating, cabin design, and inflight hospitality. She spent 15 years at British Airways, developing her expertise across a variety of roles within Operations, Airports, Programs and Customer Experience, culminating inleading the cabin interior design and development for 747/777 retro-fit, and A350/B787 line fit. This included LOPA development, cabin seating, integrated lighting, galley design, washrooms and overall cabin trim and finish.

Paul Estoppey has more than 25 years of experience in the aviation industry. After various jobs in other industries, Paul started his aviation career on the operational side of an airline. After 10 years in station management and operations control, he changed to product and development and took over Cabin Interior Development & Infotainment in 2001 for Swiss International Air Lines in Zurich. With now more than 15 years of experience in cabin interiors he was nominated on July 1st 2016 as “Senior Director, Head of Product Management Cabin” for the 3 Lufthansa Group Hub Airlines: Lufthansa, Austrian and SWISS, together with a team spread over 3 locations; Frankfurt, Vienna and Zurich.

Marcio Gobato has more than 20 years of aviation experience working with Embraer.His expertise is Cabin Systems and IFE&C. Throughout his career, from 1999 until 2012, he worked as product development engineer and also led engineering teams on the development, certification and product support of the Cabin Systems and IFE&C installed in Embraer commercial and executive jets. From 2013 until 2020 he was the manager in charge of Interiors, Noise and Vibration at the EMBRAER Core Engineering department. Since the beginning of 2021 he has transitioned to Interiors, Cabin systems and IFE&C senior product development engineering roles at the EMBRAER Core Engineering department.Marcio holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in Control Engineering. He also holds PCP credentials (equivalent to FAA DER) with ANAC – local Brazilian certification authority – since 2005.

Claudia S. Friedrich has an education in industrial design and design management and has been working with the user- centred design approach for more than 25 years.

She has gained experience in interior, product and user experience design for major brands at various workplaces in Italy and Germany. The value of design for the company and the brand as well as user and customer experience design are always at the centre of her work.

As Co-Managing Partner at zweigrad Industrial Design in Hamburg, she heads the Interface Design business unit, focussing on complex B2B solutions and diverse in-flight entertainment systems for the aviation industry. While designing with the zweigrad teams in a holistic design approach, she moderates the design process with different stakeholders from a design and business perspective for a unified experience of product and interface.

She is an experienced jury member of various design awards, also in leading and moderating the jury teams. As member of the German Design Club and the German Chapter of Usability Association she is permanently involved in the discourse of designing relevant products for the society.

‍

Dr .Holger Friehmelt has more than 25 years of professional experience in the aviation industry. Beyond various research and technology positions both in Germany and the U.S. for several companies, Holger Friehmelt was in different management functions for project and product management at Recaro Aircraft Seating. He has been leading AAT Composites, an aerospace supplier based in Cape Town, South Africa, as managing director during the last years. He went back at Recaro Aircraft Seating as Senior Manager After Sales Projects, Customer Service until autumn 2017 and currently holds his position as Head of Institute of the Institute of Aviation at FH Joanneum Graz, Austria.

Adam Gavine is the editor of Aircraft Interiors International, published by UKIP Media&Events, the founder of Aircraft Interiors Expo. The magazine is the industry's leading publication, providing its 12,000+ readers with the latest information on the most important new innovations, products, technologies and airline case studies, via its beautifully illustrated pages and sharply written articles. Adam is also editor of sister titles Airline Entertainment International and Airline Catering International.

Dr. Dierk Hickmann has more than 25 years of professional experience in the aviation industry, mainly as a consultant for cabin and cargo projects for civil, paramilitary and military aircraft and for aviation supplier audits.

‍

He acquired his Ph.D. at the German Aerospace Center where he led a research project, dealing with air traffic control, satellite navigation and navigation aids. He has previous experience in the field of semiconductor development.

Zuzana Hrnkova has 22 years’ experience in aviation business. After graduating as engineer and private pilot in 1991 from the Air Transport University of Zilina, Slovakia and from the French School of Civil Aviation (ENAC) in Toulouse in 1994, Zuzana joined Airbus in 1994 as a trainee and then as Performance Engineer in the Product Marketing group. In 1998, she moved to the A330/A340 product marketing group where she supported the marketing and entry in service of the A340-500 and A340-600. During this period she discovered a passion for the cabin interior and that remains to the present day. From 2003 to 2007, Zuzana was Payload Accommodation Manager responsible for explaining Airbus cabins to customers, as well as providing the cabin engineering team with customer and market requirements. She continued her development as Aircraft Interiors Marketing Director from 2007 to 2011 responsible for supporting sales campaigns, as well as supporting cabin interiors developments and working on market strategy. Her last assignment in Airbus was Head of Aircraft Interiors Marketing since 2011. She was responsible for leading the Aircraft Interiors Marketing team, covering all current and future Airbus cabins. One of her main tasks was to guide new cabin product developments in order to ensure that cabin design fulfills all passengers’ and airlines’ expectations.Since 1st September 2015, Zuzana was appointed as Vice President Marketing in ATR, leading the team responsible for Market Strategy, Airline Marketing and Product Development.

Mary Kirby has covered the aviation industry for 27 years as both a journalist and an editor. After cutting her teeth at a weekly world airline newsletter Mary joined Flightglobal in 1999 as a reporter for its real-time news site Air Transport Intelligence. She was promoted to Deputy Editor, Americas in 2003 and later to US Editor. In 2007 Mary assumed the position of Senior Editor at Flightglobal’s weekly magazine title, Flight International, where she led coverage of inflight entertainment and connectivity (IFEC) and aircraft interiors. During this time, she was also proprietor of the highly regarded Runway Girl blog, which focused on covering the passenger experience (#PaxEx) sector. In November 2013, Mary launched Runway Girl Network, which delivers news and intelligence about the airline passenger experience industry, promotes diversity and highlights the work and accomplishments of women in aviation. The award-winning site is completely transforming the traditional aviation B2B trade news model to encompass a B2B2C model that considers passengers’ needs and wants.

Joe Leader serves as the CEO of APEX / IFSA, a four-decade old leading global non-profit with every major airline and supplier in the world working to accelerating airline passenger experience and improve in-flight service.  As passenger experience becomes a growing profit center for airlines, Leader works with senior executives at all of the world’s leading airlines, top industry suppliers, government organizations, and major media groups. A forerunner in aviation and technology, Leader has been a leading executive for more than two decades across technology and aviation companies. Leader holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Emory University, MBA in technology management, and conducted his business Ph.D. research on accelerating technology adoption in aviation.

Maribell Buedo Leyva has extensive experience in the aviation industry, particularly in engineering, development, and operations for more than 20 years.

She leads the engineering, development, and operations divisions at AERQ, part of the Lufthansa Technik family, focusing on advancing innovative digital solutions for aircraft cabins. She ensures compliance with aviation regulations, manages significant operational processes,and drives the creation of a fast and agile product development infrastructure for AERQs hardware and software components.  

With extensive experience from her previous senior roles at Lufthansa Technik AG, where she managed large engineering departments and complex cabin integration projects, Maribell Buedo Leyva brings a wealth of expertise and strategic vision to AERQ's mission of transforming the passenger experience. She holds a Diplom-Ingenieur in Automotive & Aeronautical Engineering from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences.

Since early 2020 Joe Keegan has led the BCA Product Development Systems team. In this capacity his team develops innovative systems architecture and technology solutions for future and derivative airplanes and product enhancements. He also engages beyond Commercial Airplanes as the Enterprise Domain Leader for Systems Engineering and Autonomy.

In May 2018, Joe became Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ first Director of Mobility Transformation. He was responsible for the development of future airplane concepts and inventive technologies to drive Boeing into its second century.

Previously, Joe served as the Product Development leader for systems and technology and led Features Development. He has held leadership positions during the development of the 777X, 787 and 737NG. Joe joined The Boeing Company in 1988 as an intern and began his career on the development of the original 777.

He holds a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Idaho.

Quentin Munier leads Safran Seats France within the Seats activities of Safran.

Quentin started his career at the French Economy ministry where he steered  the creation of bpifrance, the French public investment bank which has a particular mandate to foster innovation in France. He then joined Zodiac Aerospace, and Safran, where he lead the SFE seats activities, seats strategy, innovation and R&T, and now Safran Seats France. He brings to the jury years of professional experience serving the aviation industry, with expertise in aircraft seating domain and innovation.

‍

Bruno Oldenbürger has more than 10 years of experience within the professional aviation industry. Today he is leading the Innovation & Advanced Development team at RECARO Aircraft and holds a Flight Instructor and Commercial Pilot License for aeroplanes.

Bruno fell in love with aviation during his first glider flight at the age of fifteen. He earned his Bachelor of Engineering in International Technical Project Management, with a semester abroad at University of California, Santa Barbara. At RECARO Bruno worked in different roles in the areas of: Quality, Process Management, IT and Engineering.

In his current role he oversees the predevelopment of new components, technologies, and seats for demonstrators, eVTOLs and the new generation of Economy and Business Class seats.

‍

Wah Li has been with Singapore Airlines for more than 20 years.  She heads the cabin product innovation team in Singapore Airlines.  Her team is responsible for the design and development of new cabin and seating products, inflight entertainment, inflight connectivity, and digital solutions, to achieve a best-in-class experience for customers.

Prior to this, Wah Li was responsible for the airline’s pilots and cabin crew manpower planning and scheduling, and has also held other portfolios in the areas of cabin branding and airport services development.  

Melissa Raudebaugh is a member of Delta Air Lines’ Customer Experience team and currently serves as General Manager – Aircraft Experience. In her role, Melissa leads the team responsible for defining and developing new products directly related to the cabin interior. During her 14 years at Delta, Melissa has held positions in Supply Chain, Interiors Engineering, Fleet Strategy and Aircraft Acquisitions. She has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master in Business Administration from Georgia State University. Prior to joining Delta, Melissa served as a test engineer at Rocketdyne.

Melissa Raudebaugh is also Chairwoman of the Crystal Cabin Award Judging Panel since November 2014.

Joerg Rissiek is a well-known leader in the aviation industry, who is responsible for the global sales, marketing and business development activities at Diehl Aviation since 2019. With passion and dedication, he manages the worldwide customer interfaces, delivering innovative cabin and systems solutions for the aviation markets. Joerg's role includes orchestrating global sales campaigns and business development, based upon a deep understanding of the aviation markets, customers and industry trends.

Prior to joining Diehl Aviation, Joerg gained invaluable experience in leading positions with major players in the aviation industry in the areas of strategy, sales, services, support as well as aircraft procurement.

He has worked in the Department of Economics at the Technical University Ilmenau and received his Dr. rer. pol. in Economics in 1998.

Kathrin Rusitschka-Knispel looks back onmore than 20 years of professional experience in the aviation industry with astrong focus on aircraft cabins. As an aircraft engineer she gained perspectivefrom both, an OEM and a supplier perspective. The deep understanding of thechallenges and opportunities in aircraft cabin and related innovations beenalways a driver for her. After working with Airbus in Future Cabin Definitionand the A350 program Kathrin joined Thales InFlyt Experience (the ThalesIFE&C business) back in 2012. Since than she worked different roles includingSales, Account Management and Business Development. Kathrin also establishedResearch and Technology activities for Thales InFlyt Experience in Germany.  

Mariya Stoyanova is the Vice President of Guest Experience at Etihad Airways, where she leads the airline's customer experience and hospitality initiatives, ensuring a world-class service for every passenger. With a career spanning over 16 years in the aviation and hospitality sectors, Mariya brings a wealth of expertise in product and service innovation as well as strategic operations. At Etihad,she is responsible for all aspects of guest engagement, including in-flight and on the ground services, customer insights, hospitality, and the design of passenger experiences across all travel classes.

Prior to joining Etihad Airways, Mariya was Director of Product Development at JetBlue, where she oversaw the customer experience from the ground to 35,000 feet. She was responsible for designing new customer products, including Mint, the airline’s award-winning premium cabin offering. Before joining JetBlue, she worked on process optimisation in the charter aviation business, where she focused on developing innovative ways of delivering services.

‍

Corinne Streichert is a celebrated and renowned Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity (IFEC) expert, recognized for redefining and innovating customer experiences in the commercial aviation space. She is a multi-award winning IFEC veteran and global speaker, who has regularly presented at prominent industry events and served on the APEX Education Committee 2013. Corinne also has a strong foundation in the entertainment industry, having spearheaded projects in both video production and the music business.

With two decades of aviation and technology experience, aside from founding and running IFECtiv, Corinne’s career highlights include leading United Airlines to win its first ever Crystal Cabin Award for its state-of-the-art, feature-rich, seatback IFE system in 2019. This ground-breaking system pioneered the world’s most extensive suite of accessibility features on an embedded system, and continues to garner industry recognition and accolades. Corinne also worked for Qantas Airways where her contributions resulted in her being awarded the 2005 Qantas Innovation Award.

Paul Sweeney is currently in the Senior Management for the Product & Cabin Development at Qantas Airways. Paul has 15 years’ experience in the aviation industry working across aircraft seating, cabin design and IFE. Paul’s background as an engineer has seen him participate in the development of leading edge technologies both technically and commercially.

Peter Vink is professor at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, where he teaches, guides students (PhD and MSc) and conducts research. He has more than 200 publications in the field of participative design and comfort.

Christopher Wood MBE is a veteran leader in aviation accessibility and governance with more than four decades of experience. He currently advises Access IQ on a blind‑passenger communication tool and sits as trustee of Chesham Museum and a local community‑fundraising initiative. His recent appointments include chair of the Wilson James Advisory Board, member of the Department for Transport’s policy task‑force, and participant in Blue Origin’s inaugural accessibility‑space team. Since 2020 he has been a core member of the Air4All consortium, collaborating with regulators, designers and certification bodies—including the UKCAA and US DOT—to embed accessibility solutions in aircraft cabins. As founder of Flying Disabled (2015‑present), Christopher has shaped UK and international policy, engaging ministers, airports and airlines to improve rights for disabled passengers. His expertise spans governance, public‑policy advocacy, stakeholder relations and regulatory engagement.

Ingo Wuggetzer, Vice President Cabin Innovation & Design, is responsible for the complete coverage of all Cabin Marketing activities – starting with Trend & Market Research to identify Future Customer Needs, up-to Customer campaign activities to create value added solutions by consumer centric approach. Therefore he also drives the relevant channels to promote cabin advantages, including fairs, exhibitions and the Sales mock-up centre.

In his former role as Vice President Strategy, Innovation & Design, Ingo established a consumer centric approach, covering key upstream services ‘trend and market research’. On this basis, Ingo set up a cabin product and technology strategy as a guideline for future cabin innovations – some examples of the major innovations he delivered are the A350XWB cabin design, the A350 XWB Customer Definition Centre and the Concept Cabin Vision 2050, both resulting in a new passenger comfort & service experience as well as a higher airline efficiency.
After studying both aeronautical engineering and business administration, Ingo worked for a top international management consultancy for three years. In 1996 Ingo joined Lufthansa for almost ten years and held several positions. As Senior Manager Corporate Strategy, he was responsible for fleet strategy decisions, business cycle management and the Aircraft Asset Management Team. In 1999 he became General Manager Cabin Development and Product Innovation for Lufthansa’s in-flight-products.

In addition to his role at Airbus, Ingo is board member of the APEX Board (Airline Passenger Experience Association) and is chairing the Marketing & Communication Committee. Furthermore he is member of the judging panel for the Crystal Cabin Award and in addition he is lecturing at different universities in Europe.