Advisory Board

Future Travel Experience Team and Advisory Boards

Future Travel Experience (FTE) has become a leading industry catalyst and global community for innovation, bringing together progressive airlines, airports, vendors, government agencies and wider travel stakeholders to share ideas, collaborate, and help shape the future of the sector. Through our events, media platforms, communities, working groups and industry initiatives, we provide a trusted environment where organisations can exchange knowledge, explore new business models, and drive meaningful change together. Since launching as a standalone event in North America in 2006, FTE has grown into a key industry platform and is now part of the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX). Today, we deliver four major annual events – FTE Global, APEX FTE EXPO Asia, the co-located APEX FTE EMEA and Ancillary & Retailing events, and the FTE World Innovation Summit. Beyond these flagship events, the FTE Communities – including the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub, FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group, FTE Ancillary & Retailing Working Group and the FTE Accelerating Collaboration & Engagement (ACE) platform with its Smart Ramp & Boost efforts provide year-round engagement through regular in-person and virtual meetings. Members of these communities are driving real industry change today through knowledge sharing and POCs. We engage with 50k+ industry executives globally on a weekly basis and our events attract thousands of senior attendees, as well as the leading suppliers and service providers in the field as exhibitors. We are also renowned for our Think Tanks, Power Lists & Industry Awards and supported by continual input from our Advisory Boards.

Christina Cassotis

CEO Pittsburgh International Airport

As CEO of the Allegheny County Airport Authority, Christina Cassotis has led a dramatic turnaround at Pittsburgh International Airport – a near doubling of nonstop destinations served, four years of record passenger traffic growth, and a recently announced billion dollar Terminal Modernization Program. During her tenure, Pittsburgh International was named Air Transport World’s 2017 Airport of the Year and Regional Airport of the Year by the CAPA Centre for Aviation.Ms. Cassotis also received the 2017 Excellence in Visionary Leadership Award from Airports Council International – North America, and was named the 2017 Director of the Year for medium-size airports by Airport Revenue News. A frequent speaker at national and international aviation events, Ms. Cassotis holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA from the University of Massachusetts.

Dimitris Bountolos

Chief Information & Innovation Officer Ferrovial

Dimitris Bountolos is the Chief Information and Innovation Officer (CIIO) for Ferrovial. He was previously Chief Digital Officer at Latam airlines. He replaces Federico Flórez, who is leaving the company after 12 years in this position, in line with the succession plans. Dimitris will take office in early July.

Bountolos has spent his career in business and entrepreneurship, with a proven track record in aeronautics and consulting. Dimitris Bountolos (Granada, 1978) spent much of his career in Iberia, where he was Director of Madrid-Barajas airport, Transformation and Hub Development Director, and Vice-President of Customer Experience.

As an entrepreneur, he has been a founder and partner of such startups as Zero 2 Infinity (Europe’s first investor-owned aerospace transport company), Guudjob (Employee Experience); BlueSouth (Drones); and IllusionBox (VR and immersive environments). He was also formerly a senior advisor to the Chief Innovation Officer at NASA in Houston; and senior advisor to McKinsey on digital processing for the travel, transportation and logistics industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Granada and post-graduate qualifications from Stanford, ESADE and IESE Business Schools. He is fluent in Spanish, English and Greek.

Dr. Bjoern Becker

Head of Intercont Fleet and Product Transformation Program Lufthansa

Bjoern has over 20 years of experience within Product Management, Passenger Experience, Cargo Operations, Production Planning & Control and IT, holds a PhD in Revenue Management and has published articles on Revenue Management, Production Control and Service Management.

He is responsible for the introduction of the new intercontinental fleet experience of Lufthansa and Swiss as well as the customer related topics of the Lufthansa Group ReStart program during the Covid19-crisis.

Tangible service innovations, e.g. fully digitalized Lufthansa Customer Service Experience, as well as comprehensive solutions for the experience are his focus. He has won various innovation and experience awards with his team.
Bjoern represents Lufthansa Group within the Star Alliance Customer Experience Strategy committee and is member or the advisory board of FraCareS GmbH.

Kevin Kleist

Head of Emerging Trends Southwest Airlines

Kevin Kleist is Head of Emerging Trends at Southwest Airlines. He researches and explores new and emerging tech, products and services to uncover practical and unconventional ideas. His focus is on identifying new opportunities for solving challenges within the company. By leveraging partnerships across multiple industries and unique internal perspectives, he is able to quickly proof out new solutions and share key insights that help improve both the customer and employee experiences. Whilst continuing his important work for Southwest In 2023 Kevin also joined the FTE team as Head of Innovation, Digitalisation & Startup Engagement. to help drive FTE forward with particular emphasis on nurturing and developing the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub. Kevin has also been a Captain of the FTE Baggage Innovation Working Group (BIWG) since the group’s inception and ever-present as Southwest’s lead for its membership of the FTE Digital, Innovation & Startup Hub.

Joe Chiu

Information Technology Consultant Changi Airport Group

At Changi Airport Group (CAG), Joe Chiu works closely with key stakeholders to strategize, lead, develop and implement IT programs that are aligned with the company’s Digital Master Plan. He oversees two of the digital transformation tracks: “Connecting to Customers” Thrust, which aims to deliver highly personalized and user-centric services to customers, and “Innovation with Information” Thrust, that provides more data driven, relevant & timely info to customers & stakeholders with good use of data management, analytics & AI.

Robert Carey

Executive Vice President Copa Airlines

Robert joined Copa Airlines in October 2024. Prior to that he served as President of Wizz Air, Chief Commercial and Customer Officer for EasyJet, and worked for Delta Air Lines and America West Airlines. Mr. Carey was also a Partner at McKinsey & Company. Mr. Carey received an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Arizona State University.

Samuel Ingalls

Principal Barich, Inc

Samuel G. Ingalls is a Principal for Barich, Inc. with over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. Samuel recently retired as the Assistant Director of Aviation, Information Systems for Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS), serving the Clark County Department of Aviation (Department) for more than 30 years. He started his career as the Department’s Business Office Manager after earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Aviation Business Administration from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, where he continues to serve on the University Business Industry Advisory Board. He is certified as an International Airport Professional (I.A.P.) by the International Civil Aviation Organization and Airports Council International (ACI), along with his certification by the American Association of Airport Executives as an Accredited Airport Executive (A.A.E.). Samuel is a frequent user of the aviation system with a commercial multi-engine pilot’s rating.

Steven Greenway

CEO flyadeal

Steven Greenway was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Arabian low-cost airline flyadeal in January 2024, bringing with him over 25 years of travel, airline, loyalty and advisory experience gained around the world.

He was a founding member and Chief Commercial Officer of Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ successful LCC subsidiary; CEO of reward-U, a pioneering Hong Kong loyalty/lifestyle programme; and President of Swoop, WestJet’s ultra low-cost subsidiary in Canada.

With exposure in C-level and executive board roles in Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America, his expertise ranges from sales and distribution to planning and revenue management, ancillary revenue, digital commerce, loyalty and strategy.

In recent years, he joined Boards in the manufacturing AI space (T-DAB.AI – UK), Virtual Reality pilot training (VTR – USA) and airline commercial solutions (Caravelo – Spain).

rior to joining flyadeal, he was President Commercial of Pangiam, a solutions and service provider of the efficient flow of people and goods across industries, including travel and transportation.

Steven has Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Political Science degrees.

Juha Jarvinen

Chief Customer Officer Virgin Atlantic

A long-standing customer champion, Juha oversees the design and delivery of the airline’s end-to-end customer experience as Chief Customer Officer. His remit includes Brand & Marketing, Loyalty, Communications, Customer Experience Design & Journeys, Cabin & Inflight Services, Customer Centre and Clubhouses.

With more than 25 years’ experience across the aviation, travel, and logistics industries, Juha previously led Virgin Atlantic’s Commercial function as Chief Commercial Officer. He is also the executive sponsor of the Pride network, supporting the LGBTQ+ community and fostering a strong sense of belonging across the airline.

He joined Virgin Atlantic in January 2019, having previously served at Finnair as Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Board Member from 2014; and before that as Managing Director of Finnair Cargo between 2012 and 2016. Earlier in his career, he spent 14 years at SAS Scandinavian Airlines, holding a number of senior commercial and operational leadership roles.

Juha is non-exec board member at British American Business, the leading transatlantic trade organisation which is committed to strengthening the economic corridor between the UK and US, and at QOCO Systems, a Finnish tech SaaS company driving efficiency and analytics in the aerospace maintenance and engineering industry. Between 2016-2021, Juha acted as non-exec board member, Chairman and President Emeritus of the Airline Passenger Experience Association [APEX] Board, a US based non-profit association representing the global airline, technology and entertainment industry.

Thomas Hoff Andersson

Chief Operating Officer Munich Airport

Thomas Hoff Andersson is a results-oriented aviation executive with more than two decades of international leadership experience across the aviation and transport sectors. He currently serves as Managing Director & Group Chief Operating Officer at Munich Airport (MUC) – Europe’s first 5-star airport – where he is a member of the Executive Board and plays a key role in the operational leadership of one of the world’s highest-performing premium airport hubs. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of AeroGround and the Terminal 2 joint venture company with Lufthansa.

Prior to joining Munich Airport, Thomas held the same role at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER), where he was part of the leadership team that helped the airport earn the Skytrax World’s Most Improved Airport award in 2025. His previous experience includes Senior Vice President for Menzies Aviation in Northern Europe and Managing Director roles overseeing operations across Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He also served as Chief Operating Officer at Bangalore International Airport Ltd in India, gaining valuable experience in one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets.

Earlier in his career, Thomas spent a decade at Copenhagen Airports (CPH), widely recognised as one of Europe’s most efficient airports, as well as six years with Scandinavian Airlines and a year with global shipping leader Maersk. He has also contributed to the wider industry as Vice Chairman of Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, supporting the advancement of the airport sector across the region.