AWB TRACKING
our people
Craig Smyth
Group CEO
Craig joined WFS as Group CEO at the end of August 2016 and is based at Roissy, Paris. Having qualified as a Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland) with EY Glasgow, he joined John Menzies Plc in early 1993 as Group Strategic Planning Manager. He was immediately involved in creating Menzies Aviation through the acquisition of AMI, now the world’s largest wholesale freight forwarding organisation. He and the team saw this as an opportunity to grow into cargo and ground handling services which, in the 1990’s, had started to become a rapidly growing global market as airlines were beginning to see the benefits of outsourcing. In early 2004, Craig became the CEO of Menzies Aviation, with he him & his team transforming it into a major multi-service handling force over the next 10 years with revenues of €850m, 22,000 team members and a presence in 32 counties and over 140 airports. He was also a main Board member of John Menzies Plc from 2007 to 2014. After leaving Menzies, he led and supported a number of Private Equity financial sponsors on a range of aviation services transactions. He is married with 3 children.
contact Craig Smyth
François Mirallié
Group CFO
Francois Mirallié joined WFS in August 2016 as Group CFO. He is a seasoned CFO with global experience having previously held similar positions in a number of multinational companies including Ion Beam Applications, listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange, and four private equity owned companies, MediMedia, a publishing and marketing services business previously owned by Vivendi, Vizada, a satellite telecoms company spun off from Orange and Telenor, Zodiac Marine & Pool, and more recently Customs Sensors & Technologies, formerly part of Schneider Electric. He started his professional career at Andersen Consulting. François graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris and from the Wharton Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania.
contact François Mirallié
Michael Simpson
Executive Vice President
Americas
Mike Simpson joined WFS as the CFO, the Americas, in 2016 and is based in JFK, NY. He was promoted to Executive Vice President, the Americas in 2019 where he is responsible for North and South American operations.
Mike brings more than 25 years of experience in financial management, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, and transition and integration management. Prior to WFS, Mike held the position of Chief Financial Officer for Sensis, Inc. a print and digital media portfolio company of Platinum Equity Holdings, LLC.
Mike also served as Chief Financial Officer of CompuCom Systems, Inc., a 10,000 employee North American IT Outsourcing Company servicing the Fortune 100. Mike is an experienced CFO in other Platinum portfolio companies in addition to serving as Vice President of Portfolio Operations at Platinum Equity where he was responsible for transitioning newly acquired companies from a financial and operations perspective.
Prior to joining Platinum Equity, Mike served in various financial management roles and several accounting practices with leading firms such as KPMG. Mike holds an MBA in finance from St. Mary’s University, and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Abilene Christian University. He is married with two children.
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John Batten
Executive Vice President
Europe Middle East, Africa & Asia
John has over 35 years’ experience in senior positions in the aviation Industry, including the setting up of TNT Airways, the post of Senior Vice President Cargo at Qatar Airways, and Executive Vice President – Cargo at Swissport. Within this role, John became a key member of a number of IATA working groups on e-Freight, e-AWB and Cargo 2000 where he was on the board as an adviser. After leaving Swissport John stepped down but was asked to return in 2016 after the name change to CargoIQ. He is now a Board Member of CargoIQ.
In 2015, John rejoined the Handling Business with Worldwide Flight Services as Executive Vice President Business Development and then, starting June 2016, acted as Interim CEO for Europe, before taking the lead of WFS’ Cargo operations as EVP Europe, Middle East, Africa & Asia (EMEAA).
contact John Batten
Andrew Bonney
Global Head of Project Management Office
Andrew Bonney joined WFS as Interim Global PMO in 2018. He is based in Paris.
Andrew brings with him over 25 year’ experience in operations across the automotive, oil and gas, heavy equipment and industrial products sectors. Working in-house and in consultancies, he has led operational turnaround programmes, he developed and implemented deployment strategies, profitability improvement programmes and production systems.
Prior to joining WFS, Andrew was Interim Head of Commercial at Staples Solutions Since 2017 with commercial responsibility for B2B and online business across six European regions. He joined Staples Solutions in 2017 as Interim PMO lead where he set up the Programme Management Office.
Andrew has a Bachelor of Engineering from the Royal Naval Engineering College.
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Will Juggins
Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)
Will Juggins joined WFS as Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) in February 2021 and is based in London. He joined WFS from Cerberus Capital Management where he was a private equity investment professional. Will was involved in the 2018 acquisition of WFS while at Cerberus and worked closely with WFS’ management team. After graduating from William & Mary in Virginia, Will started his career as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan, where he spent time in both the New York and London offices.
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David Clark
Global Head of Safety & Security
David holds an Aeronautical Engineering degree from Glasgow University. He comes from British Airways where he has held various Engineering and Ground Operations roles over more than 17 years, including the last 8 years in senior management. Most recently David ran the Ground Operations safety, quality and training functions globally, working with the airline’s in-house ground handling teams, ground service providers, partner airlines and IATA to drive improvements in safety and security.
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Barry D. Nassberg
Group Chief Commercial Officer
Barry D. Nassberg leads the global commercial development activities of WFS. He joined WFS 29 years ago, initially working in Europe during the company’s time as a subsidiary of American Airlines, and later in Asia as he led the company’s rapid growth in regions beyond its traditional strongholds in Europe and North America.
Barry’s career in aviation began as a Passenger Services Agent 43 years ago. He went on to work for Pan American Airways in a career that has encompassed the full range of airline and airport services activities.
Barry is WFS’ delegate to the industry trade organisations, a Trustee of TIACA, and serves on the Board of the Airport Services Association. He also served on the Board of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, appointed by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from 2013 to 2019.
contact Barry D. Nassberg
Fabienne Bricaud
Global Head of People
Fabienne is a considerably experienced multi-site, multi-national B2B HR Director. She started her career with Alcatel-Alsthom, in the telecoms & engineering sector, where she gained experience within its operating divisions, fastly in France and then internationally. She successfully led a number of people transformational programs aimed at promoting robust network-wide common operational delivery cultures. She also established strong leadership teams and talent development processes across the organisation. In 2013, Fabienne became Group HR Director for Mobivia, Europe’s leader in multi-brand provider of vehicle servicing & parts, which employs today 22,000 people.
Fabienne holds a Master of Economics, specialising in Human Resources, and is married with two children.
contact Fabienne Bricaud
Catherine Thomas
Group General Counsel & Head of Legal
Catherine joins WFS in May 24th 2017 as General Counsel & Head of Legal and is based at WFS’ global headquarters in Paris, Madeleine. She has 25 years of legal experience acquired in the UK and in France, starting out as a litigator in private practice and then running in-house legal functions for leading global companies as General Counsel.
After earning her LLB Law Degree with French at De Montford University in the UK in 1987, Catherine worked for law firms in Paris and London. Between 2007 and 2015, she was General Counsel at Global Closures Systems in Paris, later joining the computer hardware and storage company Diebold France as Vice President & General Counsel, EMEA, the post she held prior to joining WFS.
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Valérie Marchand Battard
WFS MAIN CONTACT
Head of Corporate Communications
Valerie is responsible for WFS Group’s communication strategy, both to its global customers and the company’s 26,400 international employees, and all aspects of brand management. She was promoted to her current role in 2007 based at WFS’ global headquarters in Paris.
As Head of Corporate Communication, Valerie leads a team than manages media relations, the Group’s online presence and social media channels, participation in worldwide industry events, and bespoke customer communications and events. Valerie joined WFS in 2002 as Administration Manager of its international division. Earlier in her career, after two years working in the travel industry in New York, she spent two years as Event Manager with the Marriott Group.
Pedro Garcia
Group Chief Information Officer
Prior to joining WFS, Pedro spent 10 years with Swissport, including the last five years in the role of Vice President, Cargo Information Systems.
At WFS, he is responsible for the development of robust, sustainable and standard IT solutions that will support WFS and its customers as WFS continues to efficiently grow its global airport services portfolio.
