Following the most difficult period in its history, British Airways has named four new leaders to its Management Committee as the airline accelerates its recovery and delivery of its new business strategy.
Calum Laming takes over as the airline’s Director of Business Recovery, leading the effort to rebuild the airline’s global network, resources, and operations following the pandemic, as well as ensuring the company’s resilience and agility in the years ahead in a drastically altered aviation landscape.
Calum is presently Chief Customer Officer of Vueling, an IAG airline based in Barcelona, and has previously worked at Virgin Atlantic, Air New Zealand, and Etihad Airways in customer, brand, product, and marketing roles.
Michelle Lydon has been named Chief Human Resources Officer. She will join British Airways shortly after serving as Group Human Resources Director at QinetiQ, a global authority in military, aerospace, and security.
Michelle will be in charge of British Airways’ people and people transformation strategy, as well as learning and development, reward, strategic resourcing, recruitment, and employee and industrial relations.
During the pandemic, Colm Lacy and Tom Stevens stepped in as Chief Commercial Officer and Director of Brand and Customer Experience, respectively, on an interim basis.
Both of their roles have already been confirmed. Colm joined British Airways in 1997 as a Finance Analyst and has held a variety of finance and commercial responsibilities since then.
Tom began his career at British Airways as a graduate in 2011, working in the procurement department before moving on to customer and operational responsibilities. Both have been on the Management Committee since 2021 and will continue to spearhead the airline’s digital-first, customer-centric strategy as it emerges from the pandemic.
Announcing the appointments, British Airways’ Chairman and CEO Sean Doyle, said: “I’m incredibly pleased to welcome Calum and Michelle to British Airways and confirm Colm and Tom in their roles to help us deliver our new vision for the business.
As we recover from the global pandemic, there’s never been a more important time to have a determined, ambitious and supportive leadership team that will put our people and our customers at the heart of everything we do.
There’s a lot of work to do but we’re on our way and I’m confident we can create a working culture that allows our people to thrive, deliver excellent customer service and look to a sustainable future while always continuing to do what we do best – connecting Britain with the world and the world with Britain.”
Calum Laming joins British Airways in April, and Michelle Lydon starts her new job in February.
