Ishka: Meet the Ishka Team – Aviation & Aerospace Consultancy

Eddy Pieniazek

Head of Advisory

Eddy has supported thousands of aircraft transactions during his 35 years’ career, advising leaders of the world’s top aviation finance, investment and leasing companies, airlines and manufacturers.

A respected and valued influencer, Eddy was one of the original pioneers of today’s aircraft valuation and appraisal industry, developing the industry’s first online valuation tool and associated analytics, fulfilling the rigour and consistency demanded by investors.

Eddy began his career at Ascend (formerly known as Airclaims) in 1982. He founded and led Ascend’s rapidly expanding data and advisory business, spearheading flourishing relationships with industry leaders which continue to this day.

Eddy is a frequent speaker on the international conference circuit and is a visiting lecturer at the Air Business Academy in Toulouse. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Science from the University of London.

One thing you may not know about Eddy.
His alter-ego back in the late 1970’s was Skunk Cyanide, a musician during new wave music’s formative years.

Gehan Talwatte

Executive Chairman

Gehan is an entrepreneur and investor who specialises in using data and analytics to help business people make better decisions. He is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Ishka which provides data, analytics, advice and events to the global aviation finance community.

He also holds several non-executive chairman roles on both sides of the Atlantic. He works closely with management teams to transform traditional media/database businesses into high value analytics companies. He has led strong exits for Smart Analyst (US and India based pharmaceutical research), AgriBriefing (UK headquartered agriculture pricing and data) and OAG (UK headquartered global flight information, intelligence and analytics).

Previously Gehan co-founded and ran several venture and private equity backed businesses including Ascend (aviation data), Hoovers Online (company information), eccelerate.com (trust and workflow software) and Cognizant Technology Solutions (IT services); all of which made strong trade or public market exits.

Gehan was born and raised in Sri Lanka, educated in the US, and lives in London and Cape Town. He chronicles his travels on MartiniMandate.com

Chris Keene

Managing Director

Chris joined Ishka in 2017. Chris has played an integral role in navigating Ishka from start-up to scale-up and he was appointed Managing Director in April 2023 to lead Ishka’s global expansion. A firm advocate of consultative workflow solutions, Chris works closely with clients to understand their strategic goals, external influences and drivers for growth. He has developed key relationships with the banking, leasing and airline communities around the world.

Chris has an excellent track record of delivery in B2B information and data businesses. Prior to Ishka, Chris worked at Flightglobal (formerly Ascend) with roles in both the UK and Hong Kong. Previous positions include senior posts at Thomson Reuters and UBM.

Rob Taylor

Sales Director

Rob has championed customer-focused, senior management sales roles in global organisations for over 25 years. He advocates close working relationships with partners and clients to ensure needs are met with confidence and transparency.

Rob has a distinguished track record in high profile financial service companies. He began his career in stock broking with Scrimgeour Vickers before moving into dealing room sales with Knight-Ridder Financial. After selling banking services with Citigroup and Société Générale he moved into the online market place. Rob ran the global sales teams at Alacra, OneSource, Ascend and more latterly CRU, where he performed a central role in developing global customer relationships and client-focused product development.

Fiona Benharoosh

Director

Fiona is a dedicated advocate of innovative B2B marketing practices. During her 30-year career, Fiona has been responsible for all aspects of international B2B marketing, developing and leading strategic brand and communication solutions. She applies creative flair to senior management roles to engage, drive awareness and demand for inbound marketing globally.

As one of the co-founders of the company, Fiona also works closely with Ishka’s international events and new product development teams.

Previously, Fiona was Marketing Director at Reed Business Information (RBI), where she led the successful rebranding and re-positioning of two major information brands, following Flightglobal’s acquisition of Ascend. Prior to her seven-year tenure at Ascend, Fiona held senior positions with Airclaims, PEI Media and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and was a staff writer at Industry and European magazine

Dickon Harris

Editor

Dickon operates at the very heart of the aviation financial community and is one of the sector’s most respected journalists. Dickon has been a financial journalist for nine years and spent four years as editor of Airfinance Journal leading the aircraft and leasing finance news and data service from Euromoney.

He was also integral to the expansion of Airfinance Journal’s deals database, editorial and international events portfolio. Before his career in financial journalism, Dickon worked for the former UK MP and Energy Secretary, Ed Davey and has worked on several UK regional newspapers.

Since joining Ishka, Dickon has led the foundation and development of the editorial team and specialist reporting capabilities, delivering breaking news, exclusive features and in-depth interviews with key industry leaders.

Dickon holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Manchester and a MA in International Relations from the University of Aberystwyth

One thing you may not know about Dickon. Dickon is proud of his maternal Colombian heritage and travels to the country as frequently as possible.

Stuart Flaye

Senior Consultant

Stuart has over 15 years’ experience within the aviation industry.
Prior to joining Ishka, Stuart was Technical Director at Hong Kong Aviation Capital (formerly Allco Finance Group) where he was responsible for the day-to-day technical asset management of the HKAC portfolio, the drafting of technical lease documentation, co-ordinating and managing aircraft valuations and investor reporting, along with analysing trends in the aviation market. Stuart previously spent seven years as Senior Analyst at Ascend where he provided advisory services to banks, financiers and lessors.

Stuart holds an HND Engineering qualification from the University of Hertfordshire and a BEng (Hons) Aeronautical Engineering from City University, London.

Siddharth Narkhede

Head of Airline Analysis

Siddharth has over eight years’ experience in aviation research and analysis. He has a strong background in airline financial research and strategic analysis and has written many business and credit research reports on airlines and other industries alike. Siddharth is an integral part of Ishka's advisory team responsible for development of Airline Credit Profiles and bespoke aviation consultancy projects.

Siddharth holds a MSc in Finance degree from the University of Edinburgh Business School and a Bachelors degree in Business Studies from the University of Mumbai. As part of his masters’ thesis, he had researched the impact of the US Bankruptcy Code (Chapter 11) on the financial performance of US based airlines.

Julie Chen CFA

Senior Analyst and Data Lead

Julie joined Ishka’s advisory team in January 2018. Her role comprises conducting lease encumbered valuations on aircraft portfolios and collecting and analysing historical aircraft transactions.

Prior to joining Ishka, Julie was an intern at Nomura Asset Management in the quantitative investment solutions team in Taipei, where she evaluated equity indexes such as TAIEX, S&P500, FTSE100, and MSCI. Julie also completed an internship with PwC, independently auditing groups for the creation of annual reports in the tech, construction and retail industries.

JulieCFA® charter, CFA Institute (May 2023) holds a Masters in Financial Analysis degree from London Business School and a BA (Hons) in Business Administration in Finance from National Taiwan University.

Eduardo Mariz

Senior Analyst and Sustainability Lead

Eduardo is Ishka's Sustainability lead and heads Ishka SAVi's sustainable aviation intelligence platform, covering the latest regulatory developments, reporting trends, and market developments on all-things sustainability. Before heading Ishka SAVi, Eduardo worked as a senior analyst at Ishka Insights covering aviation finance, where he helped develop Ishka's ESG and sustainability coverage.

Eduardo joined Ishka in January 2019 with a background in journalism and a three-year stint working as a journalist and country risk analyst in Indonesia. He holds a Master’s in Economics from Kyoto University and a Bachelor of Media in Communications and Journalism from the University of New South Wales.

Noriko Nozaki

Head Of Asia

Noriko has over 15 years’ experience working for international companies in senior sales, marketing and consultancy roles, developing close working relationships and managing strategic accounts within the aviation finance and leasing sectors.
Previously, Noriko was at FlightGlobal/Ascend, managing sales in the Japanese and Korean finance markets, playing an integral role in expanding the company’s N.E. Asia reach.
Noriko’s previous positions include roles at International Data Group and Chiyoda Life Insurance.

Noriko holds a BA (Hons) in English.

Martin Di Fede

Chief Sales Officer, Americas

Martin leads the company’s operations in the Americas, overseeing the company’s ongoing growth and expansion efforts in the region.
Prior to Ishka, Martin has gained over 15 years’ experience supporting clients globally with their strategic initiatives in both existing and new and emerging markets. Since transferring to New York from London in 2019 Martin has worked closely within the Financial Services Industry, managing, and developing longstanding relationships with Key Accounts.
Previous positions include roles at GlobalData, Informa, and Datamonitor.

Gary Lavery

Account Manager

Gary joined Ishka in November 2019 and is the main point of contact for Ishka’s EMEA-based Insights customers. Gary is an enthusiastic and outgoing sales professional who enjoys close working relationships with Ishka’s clientele.
Prior to Ishka, Gary held a number of sales roles including three years at GO Airlines and completed a business studies programme at Colchester Institute Braintree Campus.

Victoria Blanco

Head of Marketing

Victoria joined Ishka as Marketing Manager in February 2020 after five years in marketing, sales and research roles at Informa, across a range of international sectors.

Victoria is responsible for lead acquisition and branding for Ishka’s subscription product portfolio and advisory services, creating innovative and engaging campaigns for Ishka’s international markets. Victoria also utilises her excellent design skills in the development of Ishka’s creative sales enablement material.

Victoria holds a BSc. in Management and Business Administration from the University of Oviedo. She is fluent in English and Spanish.

Luke Short

Global Head of Event Management

Luke is a seasoned international event operations and logistics manager, with first-rate relationship and project management experience.
Luke is passionate about connecting people, building relationships and delivering exceptional and memorable experiences across Ishka’s portfolio of global events. Luke utilises his previous experience in B2B marketing, sales and customer service to inspire creativity and commercial acumen into his role.
Prior to joining Ishka in March 2018, Luke held managerial positions at Euromoney Conferences, Euromoney Institutional Investor, Alt Assets and BMJ. Luke holds a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Psychology from the University of Liverpool.

Dean Forrester

Head of Production

Dean joined Ishka’s events division in February 2020. Dean is responsible for the research, production and delivery of Ishka’s leading international events portfolio, including Ishka’s innovative new Ishka+ virtual service.
Dean brings a wealth of conference production expertise to the Ishka team from his former role as Head of Production for the ExCred Series, Informa’s export finance, credit and political risk insurance portfolio.
Dean holds a BA (Hons) in International Politics from King’s College London.

Phoebe Weston

Head of Marketing

Phoebe is responsible for marketing Ishka’s international events portfolio, including its innovative new Ishka+ virtual service. Phoebe joined Ishka in October 2019 and works closely with production, operations and sales to ensure the successful delivery of Ishka’s growing calendar of global events.
Phoebe has a successful track record in marketing roles across the events industry having previously worked at RBI, GovNet and GIC. Phoebe has experience of a broad range of industries including finance, petrochemicals, pharma and the public sector.
Phoebe holds a BSc in Psychology from Lancaster University.

Eva Karagianni

Analyst

Eva is an aviation industry professional motivated graduate of Air Transport Management with a background in marketing and experience in Aircraft Finance, Airport Transactions and Consulting. She has proven experience of airport operations monitoring, aircraft appraising, delivering, and managing projects, being active in the Aviation industry and having a strong understanding of Air Transport planning developed through her academic career.
Prior to joining Ishka’s advisory team in March 2021, Eva worked as an analyst for Mott MacDonald and Flight Ascend Consultancy. She is fluent in English, French, Greek and Spanish.

Joe McNeil

Analyst

Joe joined Ishka’s Insights Team in February 2022. His areas of interest and topics of research range from airline restructurings, OEM performance, and engine leasing to the secondary aircraft market.

Joe holds an MEng (Hons) in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Bristol.

Jake Farrelly

Senior Business Development Associate

Jake joined Ishka in May of 2023 to help drive business development efforts and growth in the Americas. Prior to joining Ishka, Jake served as a Business Development and Research Associate for leading expert network firms, Third Bridge & FirstThought, serving on the financial services team. During this time, Jake played a pivotal role in fostering strategic partnerships and driving growth initiatives. With a keen understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of investment research.

Jake holds a BSc in Economics; Minor: Management Information Systems.

Richard Jaques

Global Head Of Partnerships

Richard, the Global Head of Partnerships at Ishka, boasts over 20 years of experience in commercial roles, specializing in conferences and exhibitions for the past eight years. With a robust background in investment, finance, banking, aviation, and airport infrastructure. Richard is passionate about helping clients achieve their goals. Beyond work, Richard finds solace in sailing and joined Ishka in 2021, dedicated to driving growth, innovation, and impactful partnerships in the conference space.