Swissport has appointed Dave Lynch as Group Chief Information Officer and member of the Executive Leadership Team. He will assume his duties shortly, with the exact starting date still to be agreed upon between him and his current employer. Fewer market clusters and new regional responsibilities in Europe.
Dave Lynch will join Swissport International AG as Group Chief Information Officer (CIO) and become a member of the Executive Leadership Team. A starting date will be announced in due time. He succeeds Giuseppe Genovesi, who stepped down from his position in July. Dave joins Swissport from FirstGroup, a leading private-sector provider of public transport in the UK. He will report to Warwick Brady, President & CEO of Swissport.
“We are delighted to announce Dave Lynch as our new Group CIO,” says Warwick Brady, President & CEO of Swissport International AG. “Swissport has a long track record of product and service innovation ranging from our industry-leading position in the hub and large base operations, supported by our advanced resource planning and staff rostering, to our Pharma Centers in the air cargo business, to digital innovations such as our cargo app and kiosks, which helped digitize cargo logistics. With his vast experience, Dave has what it takes to bring Swissport to the next level of process integration and digitization, supporting further enhanced service delivery.”
At FirstGroup Plc, one of the largest bus operators and one of the most experienced rail operators in the UK, Dave Lynch served as Group CIO since 2014. In this role, he drove an ambitious IT transformation and digitization agenda and positioned FirstGroup Plc to exploit the business opportunities presented by digital transformation. Before that, Dave Lynch worked at the Go-Ahead Group Plc, another of Britain’s largest public transportation companies, first as Group Technology Director and then as Group Technology and Procurement Director.
Warwick Brady, in thanking Peter Billiau for his contributions as interim CIO since July: “Peter hit the ground running and has been leading Group IT as a very effective and inspirational CIO. He has energized the team and led them to go above and beyond to support Swissport’s goal of being the digital leader in aviation services.”
Effective 9 September, Swissport combines the market management for Germany and Austria under one roof with Switzerland, Italy, and France. Bruno Stefani, Managing Director for Switzerland, Italy, and France, will manage the enlarged cluster. Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Spain, and Bulgaria, which were all part of Continental Europe, will be merged with the Middle East and Africa (MEA) cluster. Dirk Goovaerts, Managing Director MEA & Global Cargo Chair, will also assume responsibility for these markets.
The streamlined structure, which sees a consolidation of market clusters, is in line with Swissport’s credo to “govern the company centrally and manage the business locally.” Within globally aligned principles, this enables us to further increase the company’s agility by empowering capable local leaders. They are accountable for the success of their service delivery and for the satisfaction of their customers, similar to a franchise model.