Sponsored by Telstra: Join American Airlines and Corniche Travel to discuss the new ways of traveling; Boeing and CSIRO will prepare and update us on the new wave of technologies that are being studied and tested as we venture back into the globe and beyond.
Our Distinguished Panel:
Tom Sanderson is the 787 customer leader. In this role he serves as senior manager of the 787 product marketing team and represents the sales & marketing organization on the 787 program leadership team. He assumed his role in November 2018. Prior to this assignment, he was manager of the Boeing Research & Technology Advanced Materials & Airplane Development team, responsible for providing BR&T support and technology development to BCA Product Development, primarily for the NMA, and the leader for enterprise modularity strategy. Since joining Boeing in 2005, Tom has held several engineering and operational leadership roles: 787 MAX 8 flight test operations manager, 737 wing-body join operations manager, flight test director including the entire 787-8 flight test campaign, 737 propulsion service engineer, and 707/727/737/757 fuel service engineer. Tom had a prior career as an engineer, manager, and senior manager in deepwater oilfield operations with Schlumberger. Sanderson holds Bachelor of Science in Engineering degrees from Princeton University in Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering. He subsequently earned three master’s degrees: Aeronautical Engineering from Stanford University, and Systems Engineering and Business Administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through the Leaders For Global Operations program. Sanderson is actively involved in his community supporting Boy Scouts of America and Northshore Youth Soccer. He represents Boeing as a recruiter for the LGO program at MIT and the EAHI program at Stanford. He is married with four children and a dog and resides in Puget Sound.
Dr Rob Grenfell, a Public Health Physician, is the Director of CSIRO’s Health and Biosecurity Business Unit. Leading a broad portfolio covering Nutrition, eHealth, Medtech and Diagnostics and Biosecurity from weeds to Ebola.
Rob has broad ranging public health experience including;
- National Medical Director at BUPA Australia New Zealand
- National Director Cardiovascular Health at the Heart Foundation
- Strategic Health Advisor to Parks Victoria
- Senior Medical Advisor at the Department of Health Victoria
- Physician in charge of travel health BHP
General Practice
He was a member of the Safety and Quality Outcomes Committee of the Hospital Innovation Reform Council, a member of the Victorian Quality Council, Chair of General Practice Victoria, and Member of the Health Advisory Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council.
Shane Hodges joined American Airlines in 2017 as the senior commercial leader for the Asia Pacific region, representing the company to corporate customers and agency partners as well as directing all general commercial activity in close co-operation with key industry stakeholders. In January 2020 his role expanded to encompass leadership of all international regions including Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America, and was expanded further in June 2020 to include the western region of the United States.
With more than 25 years of experience in the travel industry, before joining American Shane occupied the role of Vice President, Global Group and Emerging Sales Platforms at Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Prior to this role Shane held several other senior leadership roles at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, leading teams that developed global strategies in the corporate, leisure, online and distribution connectivity segments. Prior to these global leadership positions, Shane spent 17 years of his career leading sales and marketing teams at various Starwood properties throughout the world.
As an Australian, having lived and worked in numerous locations in Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States, Shane brings a truly global perspective to American Airlines. His leadership strengths include developing strong strategic relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, being well versed in the latest technology platforms, successfully executing broad change management and being a strong advocate of global team development.
Shane earned his Bachelor Degree in Business Management majoring in Marketing from Queensland University of Technology in Australia. He is based in Los Angeles, California.
Jonathan Cowley began his career with British Airways in 1989 spending a short time in the UK before moving overseas to manage a number of airport operations in South Africa, Indonesia & the People's Republic of China.
In 1999 he returned to the UK to manage the British Airways Flight Connections team at London Heathrow and later moved into In-flight Services to manage Cabin Crew based at London Heathrow & Manchester. In 2003 he moved to Los Angeles with British Airways, to start a commercial role managing corporate, agency & entertainment accounts in California & Arizona before moving back into the operation to manage the BA airport team at LAX in 2005.
In 2007 Jonathan changed direction by helping to start-up a brand new airline, Caribbean Airlines based in Toronto as their General Manager in Canada responsible for all commercial and operational functions.
In 2009 he returned to California to work with Worldview Travel as their Director of business development responsible for airline relationship management and contract negotiations. In 2010 he returned to familiar ground by rejoining the British Airways commercial team in Los Angeles. In March 2012 Jonathan joined the Air New Zealand commercial team in Los Angeles managing the airline’s North American corporate sales team.
In January 2014, Jonathan was diagnosed with an epithelioid sarcoma tumor in his right palm, which after 3 failed surgeries, resulted in him electing to have his right hand amputated to save his life.
In 2015 Jonathan joined TravelStore in Los Angeles to head-up their Client Services team. In May 2016, Jonathan joined Corniche Travel as Vice President Sales & Client Services. Jonathan is a board member of the British American Business Council, Los Angeles (BABCLA).
Jonathan is also a Patient Ambassador for Össur, who are an Icelandic based provider of world-leading bionic prosthetic technologies and supporting services. Jonathan is married to Michelle who is Scottish and works for British Airways. Together, they have two children, Logan (10) & Charlotte (6).