With almost 30 years of global communications experience in mobility, technology and luxury industries, including 15 years in Asia (11 in mainland China), Trevor is a seasoned strategic counsellor for C-suite executives, with a track record of leadership, entrepreneurship, creative storytelling, public affairs and crisis management. In addition to leading communications in North America, he has helped numerous multinational companies establish and grow their presence in China, India, Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa.

He has extensive corporate experience, having led communications for Fortune 100 companies and brands including Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Jeep, INFINITI, Chrysler and others, as well as serving as press chief for the Olympic Games. He helped establish Daimler Northeast Asia in Beijing at the beginning of China’s auto boom. He was the architect of Ford’s Asia expansion communications plan while leading communications for Ford in Asia Pacific in Shanghai during unprecedented growth in China, India and Southeast Asia. He helped establish Ford’s Middle East and Africa region in Dubai – a startup at a 120-year-old company – spanning 63 countries across the region. He also served as global Chief Communications Officer for INFINITI through three chairmen and significant upheaval at parent Nissan.

He was a finalist for PR Week’s global in-house professional of the year in 2020 as well as the top PR executive in Asia Pacific. He is an active member of The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club and The Explorers Club. He began his career as a journalist at a small daily newspaper in Alabama and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Teresita resides in Medellin, Colombia and is an experienced aviation professional and Clinical Psychologist with more than 26 years of experience at Avianca and its associated airlines, 18 of which were in Emergency Response. She has responded to several major air accidents and incidents and provided support to passengers and families directly affected as a result of a hijacked aircraft.

Teresita’s experience and knowledge in psychological intervention during crisis situations from a clinical and educational psychological perspective have helped her to develop Emergency Response Plans that complied with industry-leading standards, that were easy to follow, tested in the real world, and aimed at managing and reducing the biopsychosocial consequences of family members and others affected by a traumatic incident or accident.

In addition, Teresita has held administrative and leadership positions in programs aimed at psychological assistance and adaptation to change, with special consideration given to empathy when dealing with people, organizations, especially those involved with Humanitarian Assistance.

Oussama has more than four decades of aviation experience in maintenance, regulatory compliance and safety with legacy and low-cost carriers, MROs and general aviation operators in the Middle East. He has been involved in the startup activities of 2 operators laying down the basis of their regulatory compliance framework.

His regulatory compliance and SMS experience includes maintenance, flight and ground operations and security. He has been instrumental in setting up and administering Emergency Response Programs that comply with the requirements of Safety Management System (SMS) as defined by ICAO Annex 19, several international civil aviation regulations and industry standards. Further, he is a subject matter expert in hazard identification, risk management, root cause analysis and mitigation in safety and security.

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown he was involved in setting up safety protocols that met the UAE GCAA Safety Decisions and Communicable Disease Management Program regulation in support of Gulf Wings’ continued international operations during 2020.

Mauricio Pontes has more than 25 years of extensive experience in complex risk business as an International Crisis Management professional, having started as a pilot and aircraft accidents investigator. His academic background includes a Law degree and post-graduate studies in Marketing (Communication), Management, Policy & Strategy at Brazilian Superior War College Graduate Society, and works as a Post Graduate and MBA professor in the fields of Crisis Management, Safety Prevention and Investigation, Safety Management Systems and Complexity Management.

In 2018, he was selected by the US Department of State as a member of IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program) as a Crisis Management and Emergency Responder expert, among 21 different nations representatives. He worked as Aviation Risk Manager and Senior Underwriter for SulAmerica ING insurance company, and acted as IATA ERP Task Force as Regional Representative for South America and Caribbean. He was also a member of Task Force 285, the Commission which helped to develop standards of aircraft family members assistance for ICAO.

While with TAM Brazilian Airlines, Mauricio managed real-world crises, including the response to a major aircraft accident. He went on to develop the Humanitarian Volunteer Program and Crisis Response Plan of Azul Brazilian Airlines, a department he led since the first day of Azul’s operation. Mauricio also worked as Head of Crisis at GRU/Sao Paulo International Airport, where he designed the sector from the 1st Situation Room floor plan until the protocols and plans for different abnormal situations, like pandemics, flight disruptions, hijacking and terrorism, among others. In this role he was responsible for managing special operations for major events, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics & Paralympic Games of XXXI Olympiad.

Mary Ruiz resides in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and has over 30 years of experience in the airline industry. She has extensive work experience in the areas of policies, procedures, and program management, always with a focus on people. She has worked for Pan Am, TWA, American Airlines, and most recently, as the Station Manager for Spirit Airlines, where she led the airline’s local station team in its response to various emergencies, including weather-related natural disasters. Her career roles and responsibilities as a Station Manager not only included the Safety and Security of the airlines’ airport operations, but she also worked as a Complaints Resolution Officer, providing attention and resolving disability-related issues for customers.

Mary became a central figure in the response and recovery of western Puerto Rico, working closely with Operation Puerto Rico Care-Lift which assisted in the delivery of over 160 tons supplies to the island. In addition, she also assisted in the distribution of the supplies to remote sections of the region, and helped many of her fellow Puerto Ricans cope during such a devastating period.

Mary has been very active in her emergency preparedness activities, having participated in the Aguadilla Airport’s Emergency Response exercises, contingency planning, and large security exercises. She is also certified in sign language, and has worked as an airline instructor as well as a tutor, volunteering frequently throughout her community.

In her academic pursuits, Mary began in the field of computer programming, where was on the Dean’s List. She is currently working on her Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice and Forensics.

Recently retired as the Director of Emergency Response (ER) & Business Continuity (BC) for Hawaiian Airlines (HA) and wishes everyone Aloha. She also retired with over forty years of aviation experience with United Airlines. Linda was responsible for the oversight, development, management and direction for all facets of the Hawaiian Airlines ER/BC programs. This included the training and team management of HEART (Hawaiian Emergency Assistance Response Team), Corporate & Station ER Plans/Training, Go Team, and system wide drills as well as working with local and government agencies on natural disaster plans.

Linda is a member of the A4A Emergency Working Group, contributed to the IATA ER Best Practices and worked with the NTSB-TDA in managing the humanitarian response side of accidents and events involving HA and UA customers and employees. She started an Emergency Working Group (EWG) at HNL Daniel Inouye International Airport. Past positions at UA included Inflight Service (including oversight of ER policies/procedures for the Flight Attendant Division/Domiciles, and served as Security SME in liaison with internal and government organizations to ensure compliance with federal safety and security directives); Corporate Security (FAMS Liaison, TSA Watchlists, GSC, & airport security audits).

Linda has responded to, and provided humanitarian response assistance for all UA and UAX incidents (including turbulence injuries, diversions, evacuations and natural disasters) as well as providing assistance to other air carriers beginning with her first ER experience in 1979. She has provided family assistance working the family Travel Desk for all UA accidents throughout her career and worked the Manifest Reconciliation and Travel Desks during 9/11. She led the UA Special Assistance Team (SAT) by providing team leadership and humanitarian response at the Family Assistance Center (FAC) for the Asiana accident in San Francisco in July 2013.

Linda received her Bachelor of Science degree from Utah State University and is honored to be working with GoCrisis

Leticia has 20 years of experience in Emergency Planning and Response Management. She held leadership positions in Safety and Security with Aeroméxico and Volaris in Mexico City, and Sky Airlines in Santiago de Chile, while also representing and participating as an alliance partner with SkyTeam. Leticia developed the Emergency and Family Assistance Programs for these airlines, and also created the response infrastructure for them.

Leticia has attended several incidents and accidents, directing and managing the entire emergency response. After working directly for airlines, she began a new career working in Airport Operations at one of the busiest airports in the world, Mexico City International Airport, specializing in Safety and Security. We are extremely pleased and excited to have someone with Leticia’s extensive experience as our key GoCrisis Associate in Mexico.

Kelli has over 28 years of experience in the aviation industry in emergency response, business continuity, accident investigation, accident prevention, regulatory compliance, and engineering. Most recently Kelli was the Senior Manager Emergency Response and Humanitarian Assistance for United Airlines. During her time there and at Virgin America and Hawaiian Airlines, Kelli developed Emergency Response and Business Continuity Plans, assembled, trained, and led corporate, humanitarian, and accident investigation response teams to ensure the airlines were prepared to respond to emergencies. She has also developed Emergency Response Plans and provided training for private jet and corporate operators as well as space companies.

Kelli has responded to a number of aviation-related events including, the Asiana accident at SFO, mass shootings, hurricanes, turbulence accidents, employee fatalities, and a pandemic. She has also been an instructor at the NTSB Academy.

Kelli was instrumental in establishing the first Airport and Airline Emergency Working Groups which changed the industry paradigm for the initial hours of response. She authored the first Emergency Working Group Planning Guide for airports and airlines. Kelli has a passion for teamwork and collaboration and her motto has always been “Together we are better prepared.”

Kelli co-authored “The Skies Are Not Always So Friendly: 10 emergency response lessons we can learn from commercial aviation” published in Facilities Manager magazine and was a founding board member of AERO, the Aviation Emergency Response Organization. She is currently based out of Northern California and the Midwest. She has a Masters in Emergency Management and Homeland Security from Arkansas Tech and a Bachelors in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University.

Jean has 35+ years of experience as an aviation professional with Western Airlines and Delta. She held positions of increasing responsibility in Reservations, Airport Operation, Operations Control and Emergency Planning and Response. Her response experience includes Go Team and Immediate Crisis Team leadership for aircraft accidents, bombings, and terrorist events and Command Center activations for emergencies as well as other business continuity events. She has been a training developer, facilitator and training leader for human services and airport emergency response drills and exercises. She was instrumental in the development of standardized station emergency plans for Delta and is passionate about providing training and hands-on exercises to best prepare responders for their roles in crisis situations. Additionally, she is a professional Voice Actor and has provided voiceovers for online training and book narrations.

Jana Thomas is the former General Manager of Emergency Operations and Business Continuity for Delta Airlines, having retired in 2020 with over 29 years of experience in the aviation industry. As an emergency response professional, Jana has extensive experience in planning, training, logistics, deployment, response, and after-action analysis. During her career, Jana has successfully prepared for and responded to crisis events including natural and manmade disasters, security incidents and aircraft accidents.

During the late 90’s Jana was responsible for Delta’s Reservations Operation Center in Atlanta which focused primarily on irregular operations and crisis management for Reservations. During a crisis event, she and her team were responsible for manifest verification, passenger inquiry and family assistance.

In 2007 Jana assumed responsibility for Delta’s Corporate Emergency Program, including oversite of Delta’s Emergency Command Center and all response teams. During a crisis event requiring activation of the Go Team, Jana became the Go Team Incident Commander.

Jana was a 2010 recipient of Delta’s most prestigious honor, the Chairman’s Club Award. It is a peer-to-peer employee recognition program, honoring women and men across the company’s worldwide operation of over 80,000 employees who embody reliability, innovation, thoughtfulness, and servant leadership, and who demonstrate the highest standards of service to customers. In addition, Jana was also North America’s IATA Representative and later became the ER Group’s Chair. She was also the Chair of both the SkyTeam ER Board and A4A while Delta was a member.

In her career, Jana has responded to five major Delta/Delta Connection accidents, 2 foreign carrier accidents, a terrorist bombing, an active shooter, severe weather events, and numerous lesser emergencies. She is also certified in Project Management and Change Management, and has a Six Sigma Black Belt and Green Belt.