Management
The Board of Directors
- Mr. Nurzhan Baidauletov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Air Astana JSC; Managing Director of Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund JSC;
- Mr. Yerkyn Dyusembayev, Member of the Board of Directors of Air Astana JSC; Vice-minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan;
- Mr. Nigel Bradley, Member of the Board of Directors of Air Astana JSC; Commercial and Procurement Director, Programmes & Support and International, BAE Systems;
- Mr. David Brent, Member of the Board of Directors of Air Astana JSC; Group Treasurer, BAE Systems;
- Mr. Dmitriy Larionov, Independent Director of Air Astana JSC;
- Lord Thomas Alexander Hesketh, Independent Director of Air Astana JSC.
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.
Alma Aliguzhinova - Senior Vice President Planning and Commercial
Alma 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 and now Senior Vice President Planning and Commercial.
Alma is a Bolashak Alumni graduated with an MBA degree from East Caroline University, USA.
Yerbol Ospanov – Senior Vice President Government, Regulatory 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 Senior 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.
John Wainwright - Senior Vice President Maintenance, Engineering and Service Delivery
John has over 34 years of aircraft maintenance experience, both in Base and Line maintenance. He was educated in the United Kingdom and trained at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Bedford. After spending almost 20 years working for Britannia Airways, he moved to South East Asia, working for Royal Brunei Airlines in Brunei, Viet Nam and Nepal. When he left Brunei to immigrate to Australia, he held the position of Head of Maintenance. John joined Air Astana in 2006 as the Maintenance Manager and moved to the position of Vice President in 2008. The holder of an EASA B1 and C category Maintenance Engineers License, he is married with three children.
Askhat Beisenbayev - Vice President Finance
Askhat 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 two sons.
Galina Umarova - Vice President Procurement
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).
Tom Nichols - Vice President Flight Operations
Tom joined Air Astana in 2005, and flew as a Captain on the Boeing 757/767 and on the 737NG as a Line Training Captain. During this period he began working in Flight Operations on special projects. In 2006 he was asked to fill the newly created position of Manager Flight Operations. He held that position until his appointment as Vice President Flight Operations.
Tom is a graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1975. He served as a commissioned officer in the Coast Guard, in shipboard operations and as a pilot in Alaska for ten years. After military service, he flew as a line pilot for TransAmerica Airlines in Ethiopia and Central America. In 1985 Tom began a 19 year career as a pilot for Delta Airlines, working in Flight Standards. He retired from Delta in 2004 as a Captain on Boeing 757/767. Tom has 3 daughters and 2 grand children, all living in the US.
Gerhard Coetzee - Vice President Corporate Safety and Quality Assurance
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.
Ibrahim Canliel - Vice President Marketing and Sales
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. From November 2005 Ibrahim was also a Board Member of the European Business Association of Kazakhstan and left this duty in Nov 2008.
Richard Ledger - Director Sales Worldwide
Richard joined Air Astana in June 2006 as the Regional General Manager EU, USA & Canada, based in London, where he was primarily responsible for the creation of a sales network throughout the region. Prior to joining Air Astana, Richard worked in corporate sales for Singapore Airlines in London for five years before becoming Sales & Marketing Manager UK at Royal Brunei Airlines in Jan 2005. Richard started his travel industry career in 1993 after graduating from Lancaster University with a MA in Travel and Tourism, and from the University of London (UCL) with a BA (hons) in Geography. His first positions in the travel industry were as Tour Operations Manager for a tour operator specializing in packages to Thailand and India, before progressing to Wexas International as a ‘Round the World’ specialist. Richard is married with three children and was appointed Air Astana’s Director Sales Worldwide in February 2009.
Aiman Tileubayeva – Director Network and Revenue Management
Aiman joined Air Astana in Nov 2003 as the Commercial Planning Manager, where she was responsible for the schedule and network planning. Prior to joining Air Astana, Aiman worked in Air Kazakhstan airline for five years. Aiman graduated from Kazakh National University has PhD in Applied Mathematics.
Aiman was appointed Air Astana’s Director Network and Revenue Management in February 2009.
Trevor Wood - Director In-flight
Trevor has responsibility for Air Astana’s cabin crew team and for service delivery on board, including duty free and in-flight entertainment.
His track record in the customer service industry includes management positions with British Airways, United Airlines and Great North Eastern Railway. Trevor’s experience covers service training and development, cabin crew and airport management and rail operations management.
Trevor joined Air Astana from Emirates Airline, where he was responsible for the on-board leadership team on the flagship A380 fleet.
Oliver Mathwich - Director Ground Services
Oliver has responsibility for all Airport Services in the Air Astana Network, including 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.
Bella Tormysheva – Public Relations Director
Bella has over 10 years experience in Public Relations, Information and Cultural activity. Before joining 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 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
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.
Chamindra Lenawa - Director IT & e-Commerce
An IT professional having management experience in three National Carriers. He initially joined Air Astana as Manager IT Business Systems. He holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering. He holds certifications in different IT domains. He is a certified PMP (Project Management Professional, PMI - USA) and a Chartered Information Technology Professional of British Computer Society.
Valentina Khegay - Internal Audit Director
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 a number of 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.
Alima Zamanbekova - Chief Accountant
Alima joined the airline in mid 2003 as Chief Accountant. Prior to joining Air Astana, she held positions of Chief Accountant in the oil industry.
Alima graduated from the Institute of Foreign Languages (English faculty) and from the Kazakh State Academy of Management while specializing in Accountancy and Audit. She is a Certified Accountant and a member of the Chamber of Professional Accountants.
Alima is married and has two children.
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.
