sustainable aviation

On May 26 we're joined by a panel of aviation professionals from across the globe who's coming together to discuss sustainable aviation! Get to know our moderator and subject experts below. 

meet the panel

Moderator
Vancouver, Canada

Curtis Grad, President of Modalis Infrastructure Partners Inc. 

Curtis Grad has over 25 years of international executive-level experience in airport development, planning, divestiture and privatization, spanning Canada, United States, Jamaica, Cyprus, Jordan and Panama, with extensive hands-on background in complex Build-Operate-Transfer/Public-Private-Partnerships.  He is the president, CEO and founding partner of Vancouver-based Modalis Infrastructure Partners Inc. Curtis will be the moderator of the panel discussion.
Modalis is a strategic investment advisory and professional services company specializing in international transport infrastructure privatization, investment, development and operations. They bring a world of experience to the air, marine, rail and road sectors, including: initial “deal making”, government liaison, investor recruitment, financing & refinancing, transfer & start-up, operations & management, market growth/diversification, and exit strategy.
Watertown, United States

CAROL LURIE, Regional aviation director,VHB

Carol is a Regional Aviation Director at VHB focusing on airport environmental and sustainability planning. She has worked on over 20 airport sustainability plans in the United States and is an acknowledged expert in the preparation of large complex environmental documents. With airport clients from Boston-Logan Airport, to Salt Lake City and Los Angeles World Airports, Carol is nationally recognized in the industry for promoting an airport sustainability approach that has served as an example for the FAA and airports across the country.
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​She is a founding member and leader in the Sustainability Aviation Guidance Alliance/SAGA initiative, a broad volunteer coalition of aviation interests formed to assist airport operators of all sizes in planning, implementing, and maintaining sustainability programs. Carol has a Masters in Community Planning from MIT, and is a LEED accredited professional and an ENVISON sustainability professional.
Founded in 1979, VHB’s passionate team of engineers, scientists, planners, designers and technologists provides consulting services to clients in the transportation, real estate, institutional, and energy markets, as well as to federal, state, and local governments. Sustainability is a guiding philosophy. VHB takes a holistic approach, which is woven into everything they do, to address and integrate social, environmental, and economic issues through innovative solutions.
Victoria, Canada

Jill Doucette, CEO, ​Synergy Enterprises

Jill Doucette founded Synergy Enterprises in 2008 after studying biology and clean technology at the University of Victoria. Passionate about how business, industry and communities can mobilize towards a low-carbon future, Jill works on the frontier of a number of sectors including aviation, marine ports, tourism, and clean technology.
 
Jill was one of the first Airport Carbon Accreditation Verifiers in Canada and currently works with airports across the globe to develop sustainability plans, emission reduction strategies and clean energy solutions. An active writer and speaker, with three published books, Jill is also the Executive Director of the Synergy Foundation, which focuses on clean oceans, circular economy and urban agriculture. She is also an associate with Modalis.
Synergy Enterprises is a corporate sustainability management firm founded on the principle that business can make a positive impact on the planet. Synergy's team of environmental business experts work with leading companies and organizations to mobilize climate action and social equity around the globe.
The Hague, Netherlands

Vivekanandhan sindhamani, sustainable aviation lead, ​NACO

Vivekanandhan Sindhamani holds the position of Sustainable Aviation Lead and Airport Consultant at NACO, a company of Royal HaskoningDHV, with a MSc in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology (2012). Vivek’s current focus is on spearheading the global aviation sustainability and resilience conversation and delivering tangible solutions to the clients, especially in (airport) resilience in close collaboration with the resilient experts, and using innovative digital solutions.  He is a member of various aviation committees such as ACI World Environment Standing Committee, the ICAO Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP) Working group 2; the Modelling and Database group (MDG) and the Forecasting and Economic Analysis Group (FESG).
NACO Netherlands Airport Consultants, a company of Royal HaskoningDHV, is a firm of airport consultants, economists, planners, architects and engineers. Since 1949, NACO has provided integrated and multi-disciplinary airport planning and design services for 660 airports globally in more than 100 countries. NACO's Smart Aviation approach makes use of innovative technologies to address our clients’ key challenges in Smart Assets & Operations, Sustainability and Climate Resilience and Customer Experience.
Stockholm, Sweden

fredrik kämpfe, Director industry affairs,
​swedish Aviation industry group

Fredrik took on the role as Director Industry Affairs for the Swedish Aviation Industry Group, which forms part of the Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises, in March 2018. His previous positions includes a managerial role at the Swedish CAA, and 14 years at EASA, where he began as a deputy chief legal advisor, taking on a managerposition in 2016 for the Agreements and External Representation Section in the International Cooperation Department.

Fredrik graduated in 1998 with an LLM from Uppsala University, and holds a second master’s degree in International Air and Space Law from the International Institute of Air and Space Law at the University of Leiden. Fredrik has also a technical background with an upper secondary school degree in mechanical engineering and Military service as a Battalion Engineer with the Swedish Armed Forces. 
The Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises is an umbrella organisation for associations and companies in the transportation sector in Sweden and aim to represent the entire transport sector. The core of their operation is consultation, working locally as well as internationally to support their members and to meet their varying requirements especially in the field of collective agreements and labour law. The Swedish Confederation of Transport Enterprises is a part of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
Dresden, Germany

hartmut fricke, director institute of logistics and aviation,
Technische Universität Dresden

Hartmut Fricke has held the professorship for Aviation Technology and Logistics since 2001 and is the director of the Institute of Logistics and Aviation, which since 2018 also includes the professorship for Helicopter Technology as a joint appointment with DLR in Braunschweig, Institute of Systems Engineering. The intention of this expansion is to extend the chair's research capabilities to Urban Air Mobility (UAM), which will be significantly characterized by rotorcraft drone operations. 

Hartmut is a member of the Program Committee of the Europe / USA ATM Seminar and European Program Officer of the International Conference for Research in Air Transportation ICRAT. Furthermore, he is Field Editor for the Council of European Aerospace Societies - CEAS Aeronautical Journal. He joined the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure BMVI in 2006, which he chaired from 2018 - 2020. In 2019, Fricke was elected to the Federal Drone Advisory Board and the BMVI Innovation Commission.
Technische Universität Dresden has its roots in the Royal Saxon Technical School that was founded in 1828. Today, it is a university that unites the natural and engineering sciences with the humanities and social sciences, as well as medicine. This wide range of disciplines, which is unique in Germany, brings with it the obligation for the university to promote interdisciplinarity and to contribute to the integration of science and society.
Please note: The time of the session is by default shown in CEST. Use the "show in my time zone"-function on the registration page to convert the time to the time zone of your choice. Examples for common time zones given below.
7am PDT | 9am CDT | 10am EDT | 11am BRT | 4pm CEST | 6pm GST | 10pm SGT | 12am May 27 AEST
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