The members of the board of Air Malta were appointed by the Finance Minister today, days after Louis Farrugia was named as chairman, succeeding Sonny Portelli.
The board members are Alison Attard, Andrew Calascione, Alan Caruana, Roderick Chalmers, Adrian Coppini, Helga Ellul and Mark Micallef Eynaud. All are new except Alison Attard and Adrian Coppini.
Mr Fenech thanked outgoing board members for their committment to the Air Malta Group in these challenging times and expressed his conviction that the new board, under the direction of Louis Farrugia, would continue supporting the Group in the ongoing effort to restructure and return this to profitability.
Alison Attard is an accountant by profession, having obtained an international qualification through the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants. She has been employed with the Foundation for Medical Services since 2001. She held the post of Commercial Manager on two major contracts as part of the team that successfully completed the Mater Dei Hospital Project. She was later appointed as the Financial Controller of the Foundation, primarily responsible for the Finance, Cost and Contract Unit. She has been a director on the Air Malta Board for the past three years.
Andrew Calascione holds a degree in Systems Analysis. In recent years, as CEO of Retail International Ltd, Mr Calascione was instumental in launching international retail brands like Marks & Spencer, Next, Mango and several others in North African countries including Libya. He remains actively involved in the local commercial scene as a non-executive director on various boards operating in the agricultural, industrial, food, and retail sectors in Malta.
Alan Caruana is a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Accountants, an ICT Auditor, and holds a MBA in General Management through the University of Bath. He currently heads the secretariat to the Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment. His current role is that of managing multiple national projects where the Government of Malta has the lead role. He is a member of the University of Malta Council and the FinanceMalta Board.
Roderick Chalmers has been the Chairman of Bank of Valletta plc since 2004. He serves as a director of Gasan Group and has been a director of Simonds Farsons Cisk since May 2006. Mr Chalmers is a chartered accountant by profession. He was formerly the senior partner of Coopers and Lybrand in Hong Kong, and chairman of the firm's South East Asia Regional Executive. Upon the merger of Coopers and Lybrand and Price Waterhouse, Mr Chalmers was appointed chairman, Asia Pacific for PricewaterhouseCoopers and was a member of the PwC Global Management Board. He served as a non executive director of the Securities and Futures Commission and on the Takeovers Panel and Banking Advisory Committee in Hong Kong.
Adrian Coppini is the HR and Corporate Services Department Manager at Banif Bank (Malta) plc. He has played a fundamental role in the current restructuring process at Air Malta. He is also chairman of the airline's ICT Governance Committee which is responsible for the mapping and oversight of the company's ICT strategy. During his time at Air Malta plc in the role of Chief Officer HR & Corporate Services he had overall responsibility for ICT services, human resources, and project management. He is also a director on the SITA Board representing the Western European and African Airlines.
Helga Ellul is Chief Executive Officer at Playmobil Malta, which employs over 900 people. Until March 2011 she was president of the newly merged Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry. Mrs Ellul is also a governor at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) and a board member of the Ricasoli Tank Cleaning Ltd. Recently she was appointed to the Policy Board at the Office of the Prime Minister. Earlier this year, she received the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit on behalf of the German President by the German Ambassador Bernd Braun. In 1994 she was also honoured by H.E. The President of Malta with the 'Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika' on an honorary basis.
Mark Micallef Eynaud is a pilot and administrator with Cathay Pacific Airways. After a three year cadetship at the Royal Air Force College in the UK he was commissioned into the Royal Air Force. He served in the RAF for 19 years on operational squadrons, staff tours and on exchange with the United States Marine Corps. He retired from the RAF in 1987 and joined Cathay Pacific Airways based in Hong Kong.