The evolution of airport terminals

On October 20 we're joined by a panel of aviation professionals from across the globe who's coming together to discuss the evolution of airport terminals! Get to know our moderator and subject experts below. 

meet the panel

Moderator

Curtis Grad, President, 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.​

Ombretta russo, airport planning manager, adp ingénIerie

Ombretta is an airport consultant and planner with a civil engineering background. After graduating from Italy and the US, she started working in the aviation field for a NY-based consulting firm, serving many clients in the Tristate area and developing her expertise in airport planning. One of her clients being the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), Ombretta was asked to join their planning team as an extension of staff in the role of project manager for the projects related to one of their airports, as well as technical lead and support on assignments for the five other PANYNJ airports.

​Ombretta is currently working for ADP Ingénierie, a subsidiary of Groupe ADP based in the Paris region. She is the Airport Planning Manager in their Strategic Planning Department, where she works on several high-profile assignments for brownfield and greenfield airports worldwide, while leading the airport and passenger terminal planning practices for the company.

bee siow, vice president, Transsolutions

Bee Siow has 22 years’ experience in the specialized use of industrial engineering, simulation modeling, statistical analysis, and operations research techniques to evaluate transportation facility designs and operations. She has extensive experience in airport capacity analyses and planning which includes demand forecasting, curbside roadways, terminal facilities, airside ramp areas, and baggage systems evaluation.
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Established in 1998, TransSolutions offers transportation and facility design clients a unique business proposition by combining the skills of industrial engineering and operations research. We blend an in-depth understanding of operations and planning objectives and often serve as liaison between the project stakeholders to ensure facilities meet the needs and requirements of all. Our consulting services provide our clients with better decision-making information, allowing them to improve operational efficiency, forecast infrastructure requirements, enhance the level of customer service, and reduce costs.

Mark Rodrigues, Assistant Director Airport Development, IATA

As IATA’s Assistant Director of Airport Development for the Americas Region, Mark is responsible to ensure that major airport infrastructure projects in the region are demand-led and result in facilities that are adequately scoped, affordable to build, and efficient to operate. He has been supporting the airport expansion projects and airport operational assessments across the region.

During the pandemic his focus turned to supporting the aviation industry restart efforts by providing advice to states on their national health security protocols at airports across the Americas. Alignment and harmonization of measures has proved to be one of the greatest challenges during the pandemic, and the message is clear: airports need to be resilient; better prepared for events whether predictable or unexpected, and also to focus on their future sustainability. Mark brings these topics to the table whether engaging on airport infrastructure development or airport operations.

​Mark’s previous roles includes airport development and air service development & privatization projects with Lufthansa Consulting, Regional Director – Customer Experience at Star Alliance, and being in charge of establishing a Project Management Office for SunExpress Airline. 

Daniel beltran bolivar, production and planning manager, el dorado INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 

​Daniel Beltran Bolivar is a Production and Planning Manager at El Dorado Airport where he seeks for resource optimization, reducing the impact of construction works and proposing solutions for the improvement of service levels, while always focusing on the passenger experience. 
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He has more than 11 years of experience in design, coordination, execution and control of projects in the aeronautic industry; his experience has been mainly achieved in El Dorado International Airport, (3rd biggest Latin-American airport in pax numbers), where he has supported all the project phases such as the operation of the old terminal, construction and ORAT of the new terminal, and optimization of this last one, can be named as relevant milestones. 

His academic background includes a degree on logistic and production management, an “Airport strategic management diploma” from IATA as well as an MBA in general management from IEP and business school of San Pablo CEU University in Spain. 

miguel mÚjica mota, associate professor avaition academy,
​amsterdam university of applied sciences

Dr. Miguel Mujica Mota is an associate Professor at the Aviation Academy of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and the Scientific director for Europe of International Group on Aviation and Multimodal Transport. He holds a PhD and a MSc. in informatics and Operations Research from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the National University of Mexico respectively. He is the current president of EUROSIM the Federation of Simulation Societies in Europe and the Chair of the Dutch Benelux Simulation Society. He is the co-author of four books and has published more than one hundred scientific papers and general-public oriented ones.

He has participated in several international projects for industry and academia funded privately and by public institutions like European Commission or World Bank. He also does aviation-related consultancy worldwide. Dr. Mujica Mota has given training in aviation modelling, simulation, and optimization in different countries for industrial and academic audiences. He has published studies on sustainability-related problems with the focus on operational aspect of airports like emissions, efficiency and CO2 footprint. Currently he is doing research in the Aviation Network of Mexico City and the Multi-airport System of North Holland among other activities.
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.
8am PDT | 9am MDT | 10am CDT | 11am EDT | 12pm BRT | 4pm BST | 5pm CEST | 7pm GST | 11pm SGT | 2am (Oct 21) AEDT
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