20 Sustainability heroes

Introducing CJI’s Sustainability Power Players 2022

The CJI Sustainability Power Players 2022 list aims to identify the most influential people in sustainable business aviation. From a long list of nearly 50 names, we selected, with the help of our independent judging panel, 20 people for our Power Players list. Our aim is to show how just one person, together with a team, can make a big difference to improving the sustainability of business aviation. Words by Mike Stones.

WELCOME TO THE inaugural Corporate Jet Investor Sustainability Power Players 2022 list. Over recent months we set out to name the 20 most influential people in sustainable business aviation. We wanted to document the most influential business leaders, scientists, engineers, technicians and others who are helping to move the dial on sustainability topics.

Without minimising the achievement of the powerful and effective teams our 20 individuals lead, we want to recognise their personal achievement in making a real difference to the progress of sustainability in business aviation.

Some of those selected hold prominent positions in aircraft manufacturing companies. Some work directly in the field of sustainability. Others work for fuel companies specialising in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or are private jet brokers and charter operators. Whatever their role or discipline, they are all united in their dedication to helping aviation cut its carbon emissions by the net zero 2050 deadline.

We have avoided including individuals from industry associations. This is not to say such associations aren’t playing a key role in leading sustainable business aviation – very often they are. But we wanted to preserve the independence of our judging panel.

The 20-name hotlist below was compiled after inviting Corporate Jet Investor readers to nominate the men and women who they felt had made the biggest contribution in the field of sustainability. We then sent the long list of names to our independent industry judges to help condense the list to just 20 names. This year’s industry judges, who deserve heart-felt thanks, were: David Crick, past president of American Society of Appraisers and MD DavAir Group, Marie-Laure Gassier, Jet and Yacht Finance specialist, BNP Paribas, Dan Hubbard, senior vice president Communications, NBAA, Anthony Lam, director, External Affairs, AsBAA, Tim Obitts, president and CEO, NATA and Ford von Weise, Director - global head, Aircraft Finance at Citi Private Bank.

View the Hotlist

It was such a tough task deciding who to include (and more particularly who not to include), that we decided to select an additional three names for a separate highly commended list.

The people named on each list share equal honour. They appear in an alphabetical order and in no way have we tried to rank achievements in order of importance. We believe everyone named has made an equally stunning contribution to sustainable business aviation. (If you believe key names are missing from our list, please email Mike Stones to explain who we overlooked and why we should have included him or her on the list).

We are sorry our list could not have been much longer to recognise the achievement of thousands of other people who work tirelessly, skillfully and with great determination to improve the sustainability performance of business aviation.

Meanwhile, thank you to our judges for giving their valuable time to this project. And congratulations to the CJI Sustainability Power Players 2022.

View the Hotlist

CJI Sustainability Power Players 2022

Who’s on the hot 20 list and why (click the photos below for more)

John Benjamin, 3M, Captain/pilot

Nancy Bsales, 4Air, Chief operating officer

Andrew Collins, Sentient Jet, President & CEO

Scott Cutshall, Clay Lacy, Senior vice president, development and sustainability

Gary Dunn, Aviation Partners, President

Charles Etter, Gulfstream Aerospace Company, Staff scientist/technical fellow

Daniela Flierl, AirGO, Founder and CEO

Pat Gallagher, NetJets, President of Sales, Marketing and Service

Alireza Ittihadieh, Freestream, President and CEO

Clive Jackson, Victor, Founder and chairman

Leo Knaapen, Bombardier

Thorsten Lange, Neste, Executive vice president Renewable Aviation

Scott Lewis, World Energy, Executive vice president, Commercial Operations & Strategy

Andreea Moyes, Air bp, Sustainability director

Ben Owens, Honeywell/UOP, Vice president & chief strategy officer

Keith Sawyer, Avfuel, Manager of Alternative Fuels

Bryan Sherbacow, Alder Fuels, Chairperson & CEO Repeat

Andrew Thomas, VistaJet, Director, Global Marketing & Sustainability

Graham Webb, Pratt & Whitney, Chief sustainability officer

Jonathan Wood, Neste, Vice president Renewable Aviation

View the Highly Commended list

Highly commended

Michel Coulomb, Elit’Avia, CEO

Simon Geere, Farnborough Airport, CEO

Kennedy Ricci, 4Air, President

What the judges said

What the judges said about sustainable business aviation

Big thanks to six independent, industry judges who helped to select the names on our CJI Sustainability Power Players 2022 list. They were: David Crick, past president American Society of Appraisers and MD, DavAir Group, Marie-Laure Gassier, Jet and Yacht Finance specialist, BNP Paribas, Dan Hubbard, senior vice president, National Business Aviation Association, Anthony Lam, director, External Affairs, Asian Business Aviation, Association, Tim Obitts, president and CEO, National Air Transportation Association and Ford von Weise, Director - global head, Aircraft Finance at Citi Private Bank.

“Aviation has always led the forefront of innovation, technology, improving living standards, and drives the development of the modern world,” Lam told CJI. “With such an important catalyst comes the responsibility of ensuring that we improve our quality of life not at the cost of the ecosystem and natural resources of future generations.”

Lam added: “We must strive to conserve natural resources and make prudent decisions today that are sustainable for many generations to come.”

DavAir’s Crick told us: “The key thought for the top 20 is that as individuals they are having an influence on the collective mentality and conversation around sustainability issues. From the available information, they are also on a current and upward trajectory of changing the narrative about sustainability on a global basis for the corporate and private jet community.”

NBAA’s Dan Hubbard noted: “This inaugural list of nominees includes people who have been at the forefront of aviation sustainability, and who are pioneers in moving the industry toward a carbon-neutral future.”

Power Players 2022 at a glance