Hayrettin (Hayri) Yagiz

For nearly three decades, Hayri has been involved with commercial passenger aircraft leases into and out of his native Turkey.

Operating his own consulting practice, Hayri has concluded deals with ILFC, AWAS, Guggenheim Aviation / Altavair, Sky Holding, and others for more than 100 total aircraft of all types representing hundreds of millions of dollars - from turboprops to widebodies. In addition, he provides advisory services to various airlines, including Freebird Airlines.

Hayri graduated from Lewis & Clark College and subsequently earned an MBA at Portland State University.

Hitesh Patel

Hitesh Patel brings extensive knowledge and hands-on skill across commercial, financial, and technical disciplines. His thirty years of aviation experience began as an engineer with Continental Airlines. He was present at the founding of JetBlue Airways, serving as the first Director of Technical Operations for a startup that has now become the nation's 6 th-largest carrier. After leaving JetBlue he joined Kingfisher Airlines, and now runs his own consultancy, where among other roles he serves as an advisor to the recently announced Riyadh Air.

His expertise extends to operational management, fiscal planning, and business development. Hitesh has both a BA and an MBA from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, as well as a Six Sigma black belt.

Ian Stothers, FRAeS

For thirty-plus years, Ian's work has been directed at technical functional innovation while reducing costs, improving reliability, and enabling production sustainability.

Over this period, Ian was responsible for many designs which are currently in production in commercial aviation. He holds or co-holds roughly 50 patents in areas including active noise and vibration control, proximity sensing, and actuator/sensor design, as well as aircraft steering and landing gear controls.

Ian recently retired as Chief Technology Officer of Ultra Electronics, where he oversaw work on aircraft from Boeing, Airbus, Gulfstream, and Embraer. He holds a BSc degree (Hons.) in Engineering Acoustics and Vibration from the University of Southampton.

Richard Stuart

Richard Stuart has been in the aviation business since 1986, during which time he has gained valuable experience in airport ground operations, specifically in the areas of ground support equipment and security. His familiarity with the constraints of today's pushback options led him to WheelTug. Based in Singapore, Richard has an extensive knowledge of the aviation business in the Asia Pacific region, where he has dealt with most of the major airlines (legacy and LCC) as well as several major airports.

Richard has been involved with WheelTug for a decade and has played a key role in the company's development. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from Solent University in England.

Sanjeev Kumar Gupta

Sanjeev Kumar Gupta brings to WheelTug an extensive and diverse experience in the field of aviation, particularly in airport management, air traffic control, and especially in aviation safety. As General Manager & Head Safety at CSMI Airport, Mumbai, he leads the safety oversight function to ensure safe aircraft operations and occupational health and safety, supporting more daily departures per runway than any other in the world.

Sanjeev also collaborates with the Indian Civil Aviation Authority and implements relevant ICAO & ISO standards at his Airport. He holds a PGDBM from Emeritus Institute of Management, Singapore, an MBA from Sikkim Manipal University, India, and Diplomas in Cyber Laws and Electronics.

Walt Klein

Walt Klein joined Delta as a junior mechanic, starting a career that culminated with him serving as Delta's Director of Maintenance and subsequently Director of Quality, Engineering & Training. During this time, his responsibilities included management of engine, APU, and landing gear maintenance lines. Over nearly three decades, Walt increased fleet availability, introducing cost savings while speeding up service times, and oversaw thousands of employees.

In addition to ongoing involvement with the FAA and IATA, Walt's team led the certification of the only EASA-approved training facility in North America. A long-time WheelTug advisor, Walt is an Air Force veteran and graduate of Georgia State University.