Management
The Board of Directors
Board members of Air Astana JSC:
- Mr. Kanat Bozumbayev, Chairman of the Management Board of JSC "Kazakhstan Holding for Management of State Assets “Samruk” - Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company;
- Mr. Azat Bekturov, Vice-Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Mr. Nigel Bradley, Commercial Director – UK/ Rest of World, BAE Systems PLC;
- Mr. Peter Earl, Finance Director - UK/Rest of World, BAE Systems PLC;
- Lord Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh – Independent Director;
- Mrs. Gulmira Sissenbina - Independent Director.
The Air Astana Management Team
Peter Foster - President of Air Astana
Peter Foster entered the airline industry immediately after graduating from Cambridge University in 1982, as a management trainee of John Swire and Sons (HK) Ltd, the owners of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. From 1982-1999 he served in a variety of management and senior management positions with CPA in Hong Kong, Asia, Australia and Europe, and underwent business management training at INSEAD, France.
Mr Foster left Cathay Pacific Airways in 1999 to head up the rehabilitation team of Philippine Airlines Inc. He subsequently served as Chief Executive Officer of Royal Brunei Airlines from 2002 to 2005 prior to his appointment as President of Air Astana.
“By continuing to implement sound business practices and through unequivocal commitment to the highest standards of safety and service, we believe that we will be able to develop Air Astana into a world class airline and a credit to the Republic of Kazakhstan”.
Alma Aliguzhinova - Vice President Planning
Alma Aliguzhinova is among the first employees to join Air Astana at its early stage of formation in 2001 before the commencement of commercial operations.
Alma initially joined the company as Corporate Development Manager and progressively has been promoted to Corporate Development Director and then Vice President Planning.
Alma is a Bolashak Alumni graduated with an MBA degree from East Caroline University, USA.
Askhat Beisenbayev - Vice President Finance
Askhat Beisenbayev joined the airline in mid 2003 as Vice President Finance. Prior to joining Air Astana, he gained professional experience in banking reaching the level of Deputy Chairman in Bank Caspian. He had also previously worked in other companies on projects related to Securities Markets and Investments.
Askhat received his MBA Degree from Goizueta Business School of Emory University (Atlanta) specializing in Finance and Strategy and graduated with honors from Kazakh State Academy of Management. As an exchange student he studied at WHU, OTTO Beisheim Graduate School of Management in Koblenz (Germany). Askhat was born in North Kazakhstan, is married and has a son.
Yerbol Ospanov – Vice President Government, Corporate Affairs and Security
Yerbol has over 30 years of experience in the aviation industry.
He has had various jobs in different airlines in Kazakhstan. In his early career he worked as a co-pilot, but then advanced and has worked for various firms as a pilot instructor of many different types of aircraft including the Tu-154, Boeing 747, Boeing 757 and Boeing 767.
As well as his position as Vice President in Air Astana, Yerbol serves as a Captain to the Head of the State flights, a position which he has held for several years.
Galina Umarova - Vice President Procurement
The position of Vice President Procurement is held by Galina Umarova. Galina has experience in the airline industry and prior to joining Air Astana was Director on Finance at JSC «International Airport Astana».
Galina graduated from Aktobe State University of K. Zhubanov and she holds a Degree of Master of Public Administration (KIMEP).
Robert Bryant - Vice President Engineering and Maintenance
Robert Bryant was Grammar School educated in South Wales, UK. He became a British Airways Engineering Apprentice at London Heathrow Airport, continuing his College education for Aviation Maintenance in West London, and Management education at College in South Wales. He is a CAA UK and FAA licensed Aircraft Engineer. He has held senior positions at Air Malta, Saudi Arabian Airlines in Riyadh, British Airways Maintenance Cardiff, Alsalam A/C Company, Riyadh and Qatar Airways in Doha.
Patrick Rotsaert - Vice President Flight Operations
Patrick Rotsaert is the Vice President Flight Operations. Patrick originally pursued a College education in high mathematics, physics and electro-mechanics before joining aviation and graduated in Europe as Airline Transport Pilot (JAA). He has accumulated over 11,000 flight hours. Patrick has undertaken training programmes in business management, quality assurance management and universal safety oversight management. He has occupied various operational positions as airline instructor, airline examiner, and flight inspector before holding senior positions in a Civil Aviation Authority and in airlines in different parts of the world during the last 28 years. Patrick is a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Technical Cooperation Bureau (TCB) a body within ICAO that provides assistance to States for their civil aviation authorities.
Ashendra Liyanage - Vice President Sales and Marketing
Ashendra Liyanage holds the position as Vice President Sales and Marketing. Ashendra has over 19 years of airline experience working for some major players in the airline industry. He has worked for Air Lanka, United Airlines, British Airways, Sri Lankan Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Royal Brunei Airlines. He has worked in various positions in a wide range of areas such as sales, marketing, customer service, cabin crew, airport operations, route and fleet planning and corporate planning. Ashendra is also a qualified commercial pilot. He holds a Masters degree in Aviation Management from Southampton University in the UK and is also a member of the Chartered Management Institute, UK.
Fred Gorman - Director In-flight
As Director In-Flight, Fred Gorman has responsibility for Cabin Crew, In-flight Entertainment and Catering. He was educated in the Midlands in the UK, with university experience at Cornell University in New York State.
Fred joined the aviation industry in 1965 with a small airline, then called “Caledonian Airways”. Since then he has spent most of his working life abroad in places as far a field as Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, The Gulf States of Bahrain and Qatar, Sultanate of Brunei and Azerbaijan Republic.
His experience has covered all aspects on In-flight Service from Duty Free Operations, Cabin Crew Management, to In-flight Catering Management, from both an Airline as well as a supplier of meals to airlines.
Ibrahim Canliel - Commercial Planning Director
The position of Commercial Planning Director is held by Ibrahim Canliel. Ibrahim has been with Air Astana since 2003 and prior to that he has worked 9 years in tourism with major tour operators in Turkey from where he moved to aviation with KLM; shortly in the Middle East and thereafter Almaty in charge of the Commercial Organization in Kazakhstan and neighboring countries.
Ibrahim received his MBA degree from Bosphorus University (Istanbul) and his undergraduate in Economics from Marmara University. Ibrahim is also a board member of the European Business Association of Kazakhstan.
Bella Tormysheva – Public Relations Director
The position of Public Relations Director is held by Bella Tormysheva. Bella has over 10 years experience in PR, Information and Cultural activity. Before joining to Air Astana she worked in the Delegation of the European Commission covering the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan. She holds a Master Degree in International Relations and is currently completely a PhD in Political Sciences. Bella has attended numerous trainings abroad and enjoys working in a multinational and international environment.
Aidar Kashkarbayev – Director Legal
Aidar Kashkarbayev holds the position as Director Legal. Aidar has over 10 years experience in jurisprudence. He started his law practice in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan in 1993.
Prior to joining Air Astana Aidar has worked in law firm Denton Wilde Sapte, consulting company KPMG and worked as a manager of the legal department for “Karachaganak Petroleum Operating B.V.” in Karachaganak oilfield, Western Kazakhstan.
Aidar graduated from Kazakh State National University and experienced study placement at Southern Illinois University, USA, under the “Visiting scholar” programme.
Yevgeniya Nee - Human Resources Director
The position of Human Resources Director is held by Yevgeniya Nee.Yevgeniya is a graduate of Karaganda State University and holds Diplomas in English/French languages and Legal.
She joined Air Astana in October 2002 as Executive Assistant to the President. Prior to Air Astana, Yevgeniya worked for 4 years with Inter-Continental Hotel.
Gerry Mitchell - IT Director
The position of IT Director is held by Gerry Mitchell. Gerry has over 25 years of IT experience and has worked in a wide range of industries including aviation, finance, taxation, utilities, mining and data centres. Prior to joining Air Astana, Gerry was Head of IT at Royal Brunei Airlines. He has held senior IT positions in Australia, Fiji, Indonesia and Brunei. He is a member of the Australian Computer Society and holds a Bachelor of Business (Computing) degree as well as post-graduate qualifications in IT Management, from Australian universities.
Valentina Khegay - Internal Audit Director
The position of Internal Audit Director is held by Valentina Khegay. Valentina has over 23 years experience in Finance and prior to joining Air Astana had been working as Chief Accountant, Finance Director and External Auditor in the local and international companies. She is a licensed auditor and a member of the Chamber of Auditors.
She graduated from the Institute of National Economy as well as post-graduate course and has Diploma of the Candidate of economic sciences.
Gerhard Coetzee - Vice President Corporate Safety
The position of Vice President Corporate Safety is held by Gerhard Coetzee. Gerhard started his career as an Air Force navigator and is a qualified Accident Investigator with qualifications in (Aviation) Safety Programme management from various institutions including University of Southern California. He holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce and an Honours degree in Transport Economics from University of South-Africa. He has been actively involved in flight safety for the past 15 years including as Staff Officer Flight Safety in the South-African Air Force and Managing Consultant with BAE Systems.
Berdykhan Agmurov - Control Centre Manager
Berdykhan started his career in 1993 as ATC controller for “Kazaeronavigatsia” at Kyzylorda airport. In 1996 he was appointed as supervisor and in 2000 as leading specialist in the Department of Safety of Air Movement and VIP flights.
From 2001 until 2003, Berdykhan worked in the Main Center planning of air movement for "Kazaeronavigatsia“ in Almaty. He joined Air Astana in 2003.
Elena Obukhova - Manager Ground Services
As the Manager Ground Services, Elena is in charge of all operational ground services issues concerning Kazakhstan and international airports. Elena joined Air Astana in November 2001 as one of its first employees.
She has progressed her career in various departments of the airline including administrative and airport services. She has worked in various positions in the Service Delivery department, including as Passenger Services Agent, Duty Officer, Terminal Manager, Manager Customer Services and now as Manager Ground Services.
During her time with Service Delivery she successfully implemented self-handling service at Almaty Airport.
Oliver Mathwich - Director Ground Services
As Director Ground Services, Oliver has responsibility for all Airport Services in the Air Astana Network. This includes all domestic and international airports.
Oliver started his career in Germany and spent 17 years working in the aviation industry. He has held several senior positions for one of the leading airport ground handling companies in the world. Prior joining Air Astana, Oliver worked as a Project Manager in many airport and airline projects throughout Europe.