Vueling’s Board of Directors proposed the appointment of 4 new members to the Annual Shareholders’ meeting which took place on 22nd June 2007. The new members are Barbara Cassani, Jacques Bankir, Allen Custard and a…
Vueling’s Board of Directors proposed the appointment of 4 new members to the Annual Shareholders’ meeting which took place on 22nd June 2007. The new members are Barbara Cassani, Jacques Bankir, Allen Custard and a representative from Atalaya Inversiones SRL, an investment vehicle owned by several Spanish savings banks, which recently acquired a 5% stake of the airline.
The member from Atalaya Inversiones SRL and Allen Custard, from the US Investor Group, with a 3,8% stake of the company, that has been a stable shareholder since the airline’s foundation in February 2004, will join the Board in substitution of two Apax Partners board members, who recently resigned after the full sale of shares by the private equity group.
Barbara Cassani is an experienced airline executive having spent a decade at British Airways in various management roles. She then founded and served as CEO of Go, British Airways` low cost airline which was profitable in less than three years. Ms Cassani led a management buyout of the airline and then sold the
business to easyJet in 2002. She lives in London and was named Veuve Cliquot Business Woman of the Year in 2002. She is currently pursuing business interests in the travel and leisure sectors.
Jacques Bankir first joined Air France where he held a number of positions such as head of the CDG project or head of Schedule Planning before serving as deputy VP cargo, VP North America, VP Airport and In-flight Services and VP Planning. He moved on as Executive VP of AOM-French Airlines. Then, as CEO, he built up and launched Air Tahiti Nui. After that came six years in regional air transport, firstly as CEO of CityJet, directing the airline from near bankruptcy to handsome margins and more recently as chairman and CEO, supervising the merger of three airlines that made up Regional, today one of the leading European regionals.
He was Chairman of COHOR, the French slot coordination company. Mr. Bankir is today a consultant in airline and airport strategy.
Allen Custard, from the US Investor Group that joined the airline at its foundation in February 2004, is a Managing Director and head of First Southwest Company’s Corporate Finance Group, an investment bank based in Dallas, Texas.
Prior to joining First Southwest, Mr. Custard was with Merrill Lynch’s Leveraged Finance Group in New York, originating both high yield bond and loan financing, and Chase Securities in the High Yield, Structured Finance and Mergers & Acquisitions groups. He was also a Vice President and principal of PMC Reserve
Acquisition Company, an institutional oil & gas acquisition fund with over $100 million. Mr. Custard currently serves on the Board of the Trustees of the Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation, the Board of the Trustees of the Dallas Theatre Center, the President’s 21st Century Council of Southern Methodist University and the Advisory Council of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.
Mr. Custard graduated cum laude from Duke University with an A.B. in History and holds an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
In representation of various Spanish Savings Banks, Vueling will shortly announce a Board Member from Atalaya Inversiones SRL. This investment vehicle, owned by Caja Badajoz, Caja Castilla La Mancha, La General de Granada, CajaSol and Caja Murcia, recently acquired 5% of the airline’s stocks. Atalaya has acquired this significant stake as a medium/long term investment.
The new Board, which is now 12-person strong, consists of:
- Jose Miguel Abad – Chairman of the Board
- Carlos Munoz – CEO
- Lazaro Ros – COO
- Jose Creuheras – Inversiones Hemisferio
- Ferran Conti– Inversiones Hemisferio
- Dave Barger – US Investor Group, CEO of jetBlue
- Allen Custard- US Investor Group, MD of First Southwest Bank
- Atalaya SRL- individual to be announced
- Cesar Gonzalez-Bueno – independent, Managing Director of ING Direct Spain
- David Huttner – independent, former Chief Commercial Officer Virgin Blue (Australia)
- Barbara Cassani – independent, former CEO of Go (UK)
- Jacques Bankir- independent, former CEO of CityJet, Regional (France)
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
