Icelandair Group hf.: Candidates for the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group at the AGM on 12 March 2021
The following candidates, listed in alphabetical order, have declared their candidacy for the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group at the Annual General Meeting on 12 March 2021:
Guðmundur Hafsteinsson; ID no. 290875-3319
John F. Thomas; ID no. 250359-3409
Martin J. St. George; ID no. n/a
Nina Jonsson; ID no. 100567-3189
Steinn Logi Björnsson; ID no. 010959-5869
Sturla Ómarsson; ID no. 130972-5359
Svafa Grönfeldt; ID no. 290365-3769
Úlfar Steindórsson; ID no. 030756-2829
Þórunn Reynisdóttir; ID no. 120560-5149
Guðmundur Hafsteinsson
Gudmundur Hafsteinsson is an investor and entrepreneur and previously led product development for Google Assistant at Google. He joined Google in 2014 subsequent to the merger of Google and Emu, a chat-based virtual assistant start-up he founded in 2012. Prior to the founding of Emu, he was VP Product at Siri, and stayed on after the acquisition by Apple through the launch of Siri on iPhone 4S. Prior to Siri/Apple, Gudmundur was a Senior Product Manager at Google, where he managed the initial launches of Google Maps for mobiles and Google Voice Search. Mr. Hafsteinsson holds an MBA degree from MIT and a BSc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iceland. He joined the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group on 8 March 2018. He neither holds shares nor share options in the Company. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
John F. Thomas
John F. Thomas is the owner and CEO of Waltzing Matilda Aviation LLC, a jet charter and aircraft management company based in Boston that he founded in 2008. In 2016-2017, Mr. Thomas was Group Executive at Virgin Australia Airlines where he led a financial turnaround as CEO of a AU$ 4.0bn (appr. USD 3bn) full service carrier with over 6,000 employees and 125 aircraft, and from 1990-2016 he was with the global strategy consulting firm L.E.K. Consulting, as a Managing Director/Senior Partner from 1993 and created and led the Global Aviation Practice for over 16 years. Additionally he is a Senior Advisor to the management consultancy McKinsey & Co., the aviation infrastructure firm Nieuport Aviation Infrastructure Partners GP and the tourism technology firm Plusgrade. He also sits on the Board of SkyService Inc. the largest corporate aviation provider in Canada where he also Chairs its Health and Safety committee. He continues to provide advisory work to the global airline industry. Mr. Thomas holds an MBA degree from Macquarie University Graduate School of Business (which included 9 months at the MBA program at INSEAD) and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of New South Wales. He joined the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group on 6 March 2020. He holds 2,715,600 shares in the Company and subscription rights for 678,900 shares. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Martin J. St. George
Martin J. St. George has been the Chief Commercial Officer of the LATAM Airlines Group since 2020. From 2019-2020 he was the Interim Chief Commercial Officer of Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA. From 2006 to 2019 he held various positions at JetBlue Airways including EVP and Chief Commercial Officer, President of JetBlue Travel Products, SVP Commercial, SVP Marketing and Commercial Strategy and VP Network Planning. From 1996-2006 he worked for United Airlines as Director Network Planning and Managing Director of Marketing and Product Development. Previous roles include marketing, strategy and network management at US Airways, United Airlines and Northwest Airlines. He has been a Board Member of the Boston College High School since 2020. Previously he was a Board Member at the Ad Club of New York (2011-2014), Long Island City Partnership (2012-2019), The Ad Council (2016-2019), US Department of Commerce Travel and Tourism Advisory Board (2016-2018) and Discover Puerto Rico Strategic Advisory Board (2016-2019), Mr. St. George holds an SB degree in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He neither holds shares nor share options in the Company. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Nina Jonsson
Nina Jonsson is currently a Senior Advisor at aviation consultancy Plane View Partners and a board member at aviation technology firm FLYHT. Between 2015 and 2017, she held the role of Senior Vice President Group Fleet at Air France-KLM Group where she was responsible for group-wide fleet strategy, aircraft sourcing, leasing and sales. Previously, Ms. Jonsson held a number of other executive positions within the aviation industry including Fleet Management Officer at the Bristow Group (2012-15), Director Fleet Planning at United Airlines (2006-2011) and Director Fleet Management at US Airways (2002-2005). Ms. Jonsson holds an MBA degree from Rensselaer Polytechic Institute and a B.Sc. degree in Air Transport Management from the University of New Haven. She joined the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group on 6 March 2020. She neither holds shares nor share options in the Company. She has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Steinn Logi Björnsson
Steinn Logi Björnsson was the CEO and 50% owner of Bluebird Nordic from 2014 to 2020. He was the SVP of Marketing & Sales at Icelandair from 1996 to 2005 but during 1985 to 1996 he held various positions within Icelandair, such as Assistant to the President, Director Continental Europe, Africa & Asia and Director of the Americas. He was the President & CEO of Husasmidjan from 2005 to 2010 and President & CEO of Skipti from 2011 to 2013. He is currently a Board Member of Kynnisferðir-Reykjavik Excursions and the American-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce. He was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hagar from 2010 to 2012, Steinull ehf. from 2009 to 2010, Farice ehf. from 2007-2008, Loftleidir-Icelandic from 2004 to 2005, Island Tours from 1996 to 2004, Iceland Travel ehf. from 1997 to 2012, the Icelandic Travel Industry (SAF) from 1998 to 2003 and the American-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce from 1994-1996. He is also a former Board Member of Nordic Visitor and various Internet and IT companies such as Salt/Vyre, Amadeus Ísland, TripCreator ehf. and Ferðasmiðurinn ehf. Mr. Björnsson holds a BA degree in Economics from Drew University and an MBA degree from Columbia University. He holds 32,911 shares in the Company and further 14,230,716 shares in the Company and subscription rights for 3,307,679 shares through Rock Holding ehf. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders except for being a Board Member of Kynnisferðir.
Sturla Ómarsson
Sturla Ómarsson worked as a Pilot and Commander for Icelandair from 1998 to 2020. He was also a Type Rating Instructor at the Company from 2016 to 2019. He was a Board Member of the FÍA Pension Fund (EFÍA) from 2010-2013 and has been the Chairman of the Board since 2013. Previous positions include working at the finance departments of the National Hospital and the Icelandic Transport Authority. He has also undertaken various assignments for the Icelandic Pilots’ Association such as being a member of the negotiation committee. Mr. Ómarsson graduated as a Commercial Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor from Flugskóli Íslands. Furthermore, he holds a BSc degree in Business Administration from the University of Iceland and an MsC degree in Corporate Finance from Reykjavik University. He holds 2,500,000 shares in the Company and subscription rights for 675,000 shares. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Svafa Grönfeldt
Svafa Grönfeldt is a Professor of Practice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is a founding member of MIT’s newest innovation accelerator DesignX focused on the design and development of technology- and service-based ventures created at MIT. Svafa is the co-founder of The MET fund, a Cambridge based seed investment fund. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Össur since 2008 was a Board Member of Origo from 2019 to 2021. Previous positions include executive leadership positions at two global life science companies where she served as Chief Organizational Development Officer of Alvogen and Deputy to the CEO of Actavis Group. Her executive career has been focused on organizational design for high growth companies, strategy implementation, service process design for operational improvement and performance tracking. She is a former President of Reykjavik University. Svafa holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics where she examined the impact of customer-oriented behaviours and service design on business outcomes. She joined the Board of Icelandair Group on 8 March 2019. She holds 10,000.000 shares in the Company and subscription rights for 2,500,000 shares. She has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Úlfar Steindórsson
Ulfar Steindorsson is CEO and Chairman of Toyota in Iceland ehf. and Ju ehf. He was CEO of Primex ehf. in Siglufjordur from 2002 to 2004 and CEO of the New Business Venture Fund from 1999 to 2002. Ulfar is Chairman of the Board of Bilautleigan ehf., Okkar bilaleiga ehf., Motormax and TK bilar ehf. He is Board member of Toyota in Iceland ehf., Fagkaup ehf., UK fjarfestingar ehf., Skorri ehf., Keila ehf. and My Car ehf. and a vice board member of Bláa lónið ehf. Ulfar holds a Cand. Oecon. degree from the University of Iceland and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He joined the Board of Icelandair Group on 15 September 2010. He holds 17,240,000 shares in the Company and subscription rights for 1,250,000 shares through JÚ ehf. He has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders.
Þórunn Reynisdóttir
Þórunn Reynisdóttir has been the CEO of Ferðaskrifstofa Íslands since 2015 and has been the CEO & owner of Iceland Reps since 2012. She was the VP of sales & marketing at Iceland Express from 2011 to 2012, the CEO of Destination Europe in the USA from 2005 to 2011, the CEO & owner of AVIS Iceland from 1998 to 2005. Previously she held various positions within Icelandair Group from 1978 to 1998 such as being Director of Sales Icelandair / Hertz Iceland (1989-1998), Managing Director of Hotel Loftleidir (1992-1995), Station Manager in Denmark (1987-1898) and working for Icelandair Cargo in daily operations and sales & marketing (1978-1986). Ms. Reynisdóttir holds a degree in Business from the University of Iceland. Furthermore, she holds an IATA Passenger and Cargo Operation diploma and has received the Sabre Excellent Award in USA and As we try harder award worldwide. She holds 150,000 shares in the Company but has no option rights. She has no interest links with the Company’s main customers, competitors or major shareholders except for being the CEO of Ferðaskrifstofa Íslands.
It is the conclusion of the Board of Directors of Icelandair Group that all the candidates are independent of the Company, its management and significant shareholders except for Sturla Ómarsson who has been an employee of Icelandair ehf. within the previous three years.
Candidates to the Nomination Committee
The following candidates have declared candidacy to the Nomination Committee of Icelandair Group at the Annual General Meeting on 12 March 2021.
Helga Árnadóttir; id.no.120371-3479
Hjörleifur Pálsson; id.no 281163-4269
According to the Company’s Articles of Association the Annual General Meeting elects two members for the Nomination Committee. As two have declared candidacy, these candidates will be elected to the Nomination Committee without ballot at the meeting.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings the Board of Directors has decided that Icelandair Group‘s Annual General Meeting on 12 March 2021 will be held electronically, cf. Article 4.6 of the Company‘s Articles of Association. Shareholders who intend to participate electronically at the AGM shall register no later than at 4 pm on Sunday 7 March 2021.
Further information:
Ari Guðjónsson, General Counsel
e-mail: ari@icelandairgroup.is