Mr. Willits has over 35 years of experience in the aircraft sales and leasing industry. He started his career with Douglas Aircraft in product support for MD-80s, DC-10s and MD-11s, and later joined the Douglas sales team as an Area Sales Director selling over 200 MD-80 aircraft to American Airlines, Midway Airlines and leasing companies.
In the late 1980s Mr. Willits joined Potomac Capital Investment Corporation (a subsidiary of Potomac Electric Power Company, the utility for the District of Columbia) where he helped to build and later manage a $1B aircraft lease portfolio. Also during his employment at PCI, Mr. Willits was an active member of the Equipment Lessors Association and on various occasions lobbied the US Congress for changes to both the federal tax code and bankruptcy laws and spoke before a Presidential Commission on Airline Competitiveness. In the late 1990s he joined Tombo Aviation (a wholly subsidiary of Mitsui & Co.) as Executive Vice President where he handled all portfolio management actives for Tombo's aircraft investments. This included negotiating with Boeing on the acquisition of new 737NG deliveries, performing sale-leasebacks with airlines and remarketing aircraft coming off lease, as well as managing a sales force based in the US, Europe and Asia.
Mr. Willits formed JetStar Partners in 2006 in order to offer his aircraft lease management experience to other investment companies (services include lease negotiations, portfolio management and, remarketing services), as well as launching the JetBase Asset Management Software System. JetBase was created as a result of Mr. Willits' real-time aircraft lease portfolio management requirements.
Mr. Willits has been an active member of the ISTAT Association (International Association of Aircraft Traders) over the past 19 years and was the the ISTAT Foundation Chairman, and served on the ISTAT Board.
John Cloggie - Maintenance Operations & Technical Management
Mr. Cloggie has over 45 years of aviation experience, John brings an in depth understanding of fleet operations, technical, fleet management, supply chain, MRO, PBH and other support concepts as well as considerable expertise in OEM negotiations and relationships.
Mr. Cloggie was most recently a Vice President & Chief Technical Officer in Bristow and prior to that was the Business Unit Director for Bristow’s expansive European Operations. Other roles included being the Technical Director of both onshore and offshore helicopter operators and the Managing Director of an MRO and composite parts manufacturer. John is a CAA Licensed Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Directors.
Louis Emery - Legal
Mr. Emery has over 35 years of experience in the legal and finance arenas related to aviation world-wide. Most recently serving as the Assistant General Counsel for Transportation at the Export-Import Bank of the United States where his, and related teams, over 19 years, have financed and managed one of the largest aircraft and helicopter portfolios in the world. His experience includes structuring, negotiating and closing both bank and capital markets transactions, as well as amendments, financial workouts and restructurings for the Ex-Im portfolio.
Mr. Emery has, for over 10 years, served as a member of the US delegation to the Aircraft Sector Understanding meetings at the OECD in Paris. He was a member of the U.S. delegation which negotiated the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the related Aircraft Protocol (the “Cape Town Convention”), as well as the Rail and Space Protocols. He also served on the Registry Task Force, which formulated the performance criteria, regulations, procedures and operational requirements for the International Registry for Interests in Aircraft Equipment pursuant to the Cape Town Convention. Louis has also represented the U.S. in other capacities at the international level related to aviation matters.
Mr. Emery has, in addition to his government service, practiced law in the areas of aviation, aviation finance, litigation, regulatory and corporate law in private practice in D.C. and in-house with British Aerospace plc. He also acted in a business capacity as Vice President-the Americas for the British Aerospace Asset Management Organisation, a group managing a portfolio of over 100 regional jet aircraft. Mr. Emery is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and New York.