Nichola Bates joined Boeing following a decade-long career working with early stage and scaling startups, where she championed the role of the SME to government, particularly in the security and resilience sector. Nichola brings extensive experience of international business development and fundraising for growth, from strategy through to execution; with a wide network across governments and industry. Having also gained experience of working inside one of the world’s largest corporations, she has become even more passionate about the benefits of collaboration between startups and corporates. In her role as Managing Partner for Aerospace Xelerated, Nichola invests in and supports startups using innovative technologies to the benefit of the aerospace sector and related industries.  

Neil Titchener is a Senior Manager at Boeing, leading the team developing the Cascade Climate Impact Model-a data modeling and visualization tool supporting aviation’s decarbonization efforts. With a strong foundation in experimental aerodynamics and propulsion research, Neil brings over 15 years of experience spanning roles at Boeing, Aurora Flight Sciences, MIT, and the University of Cambridge. He has held key engineering and research leadership positions, including work on next-generation aircraft concepts and climate modeling tools. Neil holds a Ph.D. in Experimental Aerodynamics and a Master’s in Aerospace Engineering, both from the University of Cambridge. 

Andy Jefferson is an independent consultant and a Director of A&G Jefferson Limited, the consultancy he jointly set up in 2012.  Within the aviation sector he promotes sustainable development and assists companies in tackling environmental issues. For those in other sectors developing innovative ideas and technology on environmental and sustainability issues he supports them in developing links to the aviation industry. For over 10 years he has supported Sustainable Aviation to drive and deliver their work programme, giving them their independent voice.

Leigh Hudson is Head of Carbon Markets within International Airlines Group’s Sustainability team, which is responsible for setting strategy and policy for the group. Leigh works on policy work relating to  sustainable fuels, carbon markets, carbon capture and storage and non-CO2. She is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Fuels working group which sets the standards for CORSIA eligible fuels.  Leigh is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and works on developing the group’s investments and offtakes to deliver against IAG’s Net Zero targets.