London Gatwick appoints new Chief Human Resources Officer
London Gatwick has announced Kathleen Maes as its new Chief Human Resources Officer, effective 17 August.
Kathleen joins London Gatwick from BT Group, where she served as HR Director, Portfolio Business, Transformation and Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). Kathleen brings a wealth of experience, working on large M&A, transformation, talent and culture programmes across a number of sectors.
Kathleen replaces Simon Baker, who has served as Interim HR Director for the past year. Simon has been appointed Chief Human Resources Officer for Edinburgh Airport, another member of the VINCI and GIP Airports network, effective 1 October.
Kathleen holds a Master’s degree in Literature from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, and has spent the past 12 years at BT in its international customer-facing business. During her time with the company, she has held a variety of global roles, most recently leading the delivery of BT’s mergers and acquisitions roadmap. Having lived and worked in Belgium, Switzerland and the UK, Kathleen brings extensive international experience and a strong track record of leading change and transformation.
Pierre-Hugues Schmit, Chief Executive, London Gatwick said: “Our vision - to be the airport for everyone, whatever your journey - means delivering an enjoyable, accessible and efficient passenger experience and making our airport a great place to work. Our people are what sets us apart and we are delighted to welcome Kathleen and the experience that she brings at such an important phase in our journey following the recent legal decision on our Northern Runway project."
Kathleen Maes, Chief Human Resources Officer, London Gatwick said: "It’s an exciting time to join London Gatwick as we look forward to realising the benefits of the Northern Runway and embrace innovation and technology to keep improving the passenger and employee experience. Our vision is at the heart of everything that we do and my focus will be on ensuring our employees feel valued, supported and proud to work here."
With around 43m annual passengers, London Gatwick is the UK’s second largest and one of Europe’s top airports. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure that drives both the national and regional economies by generating £5.5bn GVA and supporting over 76,000 jobs (2023). More than 60 airlines fly from the airport to over 160 short-haul and more than 50 long-haul destinations. With a declared maximum capacity of 57 movements an hour, London Gatwick is the most efficient single runway airport in the world.
The airport is located 28 miles south of the UK capital and is extremely well-connected, with more than a quarter of England’s population (15m people) – including all of London – less than one hour away by road or rail. A six-year, £2bn sustainable growth programme includes an ambitious plan to be a net zero airport by 2030 and to increase capacity by bringing the airport’s existing Northern Runway into routine use, alongside its Main Runway. VINCI Airports owns a 50.01% stake in the airport, with Global Infrastructure Partners managing the remaining 49.99%.
VINCI Airports, as the leading private airport operator in the world, manages the development and operation of more than 70 airports located in 14 countries. VINCI Airports draws on its expertise as a comprehensive integrator to develop, finance, build and operate airports, leveraging its investment capability and know-how to optimise operational performance and modernise infrastructure while bringing about their environmental transition. In 2016, VINCI Airports became the first airport operator to commit to an international environmental strategy, setting itself the aim of reaching zero net emissions (scope 1 and 2) across the network by 2050 while supporting the territories’ local climate transition.
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Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock, is a leading infrastructure investor that specialises in investing in, owning and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure and water and waste management sectors. With energy pragmatism central to our investment thesis, we are well positioned to support the global energy transition.
GIP’s scaled platform has over $170bn in assets under management. We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our clients’ capital and to create positive economic impact for communities. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com .
