ICNS 2025 Day 1 Overview

Raúl Medina, Director General, EUROCONTROL

Raúl Medina has been the director general of EUROCONTROL since January 2023. Previously, between 2015 and 2022, he was director general of civil aviation at the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda and president of the Spanish Aviation Safety and Security Agency (AESA). During those years, he was also member of the boards of directors of ENAIRE (Spanish Air Navigation Service Provider), SENASA (Services and Studies for Air Navigation and Aeronautical Safety) and INTA (National Institute for Aerospace Technology), as well as member of the ENAIRE Foundation, which works to promote aviation culture. At international level, Raúl was vice-president of ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) and a member of the ECAC Coordinating Committee. He was the president of the ICAO Technical Commission during the last ICAO Assembly. He has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Department in Washington D.C. and as a systems engineer for Siemens.

Florian Guillermet, Executive Director, EASA

Florian Guillermet has been executive director of the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) since April 2024. He has worked in the aviation sector for over 25 years, holding top-level management posts in France and the European Union. In addition to extensive leadership experience, he has acquired profound knowledge of many aviation domains, particularly safety and air traffic management (ATM). Guillermet joined EASA from France’s air navigation service provider DSNA, where he had been director of air navigation services since June 2021. Prior to that, he was executive director at SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU). He stepped up to this role in 2014, after two years as deputy executive director of the SJU. He held various positions at EUROCONTROL from 2003 to 2011, ranging from system developments to operational service delivery. His earlier work experience involved various aviation roles in France.

Coleen Hawrysko, Director, Africa, Europe, Middle East Office, FAA

Coleen Hawrysko is the FAA’s Director of the Africa, Europe, and Middle East Office located in Brussels and is responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating all non-operational activities within the regions. She advises the FAA administrator, the assistant administrator, and other key agency officials on all matters under the purview of the office and leads all efforts in coordination with the appropriate elements of the U.S. and other diplomatic missions within the area. She is the senior FAA spokesperson in relationships with civil and military officials of these missions and other national and international organizations. Ms. Hawrysko was formerly the director of the Air Traffic Organization International Office where she ensured seamless operations and promoted harmonized international air traffic management standards by collaborating with international organizations, other air navigation service providers, and airlines in support of the FAA’s global leadership initiatives.

Predrag Vranjkovic, CNS Program Manager, EUROCONTROL

Predrag Vranjkovic is an experienced senior aviation expert with a demonstrated history of working across the aviation industry, in both private and public international sector. Skilled in air traffic management (ATM) policy planning and development, ATM innovation and deployment, international relations and negotiation, Predrag has been in various roles since he joined EUROCONTROL in 2009. This also includes the secondments to the European Commission DG MOVE where he worked on the Single European Sky file and in the SESAR Deployment Manager where he was leading the ATM implementation programs. Currently, Predrag leads the CNS program manager team in EUROCONTROL that aims to deliver the European CNS Evolution Plan, the document driving the evolution of CNS infrastructure in the European network. Predrag also supports EUROCONTROL director general as a senior advisor.

José Luis Chinchilla García, Director, Indra

José Luis brings over 36 years’ experience in technology and in business management in the air traffic management domain at Indra. He started at Indra as an engineer developing solutions for 3D military radars, secondary radars, both IFF and SSR radars, antenna measurement systems, and other radiofrequency systems. He assumed the responsibility for approximately 10 years for Indra CNS R&D Department creating the ATM-CNS Indra portfolio. He developed the Indra voice communications switching over IP, introducing the digitalization of DVOR and DME Navaids, and the surveillance systems portfolio MSSR, PSR, 2D and 3D, ADS-B, MLAT, WAM, SMR and data analysis tools. During this period, he shared the responsibility of the ENAIRE account for surveillance and communications business.

Hugues de Beco, Head of ATM Program, Airbus

Hugues de Beco has 37 years’ experience in the aerospace industry, particularly in aircraft systems. He started as an avionics engineer in Sextant Avionics (Thales) in 1987 and then joined Airbus in 1992. Hugues has been in various positions in aircraft systems in engineering, procurement, and program management. Hugues is now heading the multi program projects and air traffic management organization in Airbus.

Raza Ali Gulam, CNSS Technical Officer, ICAO

Raza Gulam is a technical officer for CNS and Spectrum at ICAO, serving as secretary of the Communication Panel Data Communication Infrastructure Working Group, and a distinguished career spanning over three decades. Since 2020, Raza has been working in the CNS and Spectrum section of ICAO’s Air Navigation Bureau. Also, a certified ICAO instructor, he conducts ICAO training courses. In 2016, he transitioned to ICAO headquarters in Montreal as a regional program officer, supporting regional aviation planning and safety groups. He joined the ICAO in 2007 as a regional officer CNS in the Middle East Office, supporting states in implementing ICAO SARPs for CNS systems and coordinated frequency assignments.

Agnès Leroux, Director, EU Government Affairs, Boeing

As a EU government affairs director at Boeing, Agnès focuses on aviation safety and digital policy, supporting international cooperation and interoperability. Prior to this role, she was a policy director at Airlines for Europe (A4E) where she was the COVID crisis coordinator and supported airlines on security and cargo topics. With a background in European political sciences and over 14 in Brussels, Agnès has a good overview of political challenges and dynamics at stakes in the European aviation ecosystem.

Véronique Travers Sutter, Head of iCNS Unit, EUROCONTROL

Véronique Travers Sutter is an aeronautical engineer with over 25 years of experience in CNS avionics, trajectory management and certification expertise. She was previously working for Airbus where she was leading the SESAR program contribution and more recently serving as head of Airbus’ transformation and system integration. Now part of EUROCONTROL NM team, she is the head of iCNS team, focusing on maintaining, evolving, and implementing the iCNS strategy and objectives. Together with her new team, she will be working on European CNS infrastructure projects and products supporting the technical performance of the European CNS infrastructure. This also includes coordinating the allocation of pan-European scarce resources, such as spectrum and radio frequency bands, etc. and working closely with the SESAR deployment manager (SDM) and the SESAR 3 Joint Undertaking on research and innovation and on supporting the ATM Master Plan.

Achim Baumann, Policy Director, Airlines for Europe (A4E)

Achim Baumann has worked in aviation for over three decades, gaining experience across a variety of topics, cultures, and organizations. His career has been defined by a holistic approach aimed at finding optimal solutions for all stakeholders. Achim joined Airlines for Europe (A4E) as a policy director in December 2017, where he manages regulatory and technical matters related to airline operations, safety, engineering, maintenance, and security. Before joining A4E, Achim served as IATA director of Safety and Flight Operations for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, focusing on improving safety and efficiency in the region’s aviation industry. Prior to IATA, he worked at Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS) as a senior consultant and regional manager.

Manuel Garcia, Head of Communications Division, ENAIRE

Manuel García is head of the Communications Division of the Spanish Air Navigation Service (ENAIRE). He has more than 30 years’ experience in CNS/ATM (communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management) project management. Active participation in international working groups for the specification, development, and editing of the requirements of new communication systems within the framework of aeronautics (ICAO, EUROCONTROL, SDM). His responsibilities at the international level include the following: official Spanish representative on the ICAO Aeronautical Communications Panel (ACP) and Frequency Management Panel (FSMP); spanish representative in the governing groups of pan-European projects: PEB (PENS Executive Board), DEB (Datalink Executive Board) and others; chairman of the technical group of the AEFMP Plan (Algeria, Spain, France, Morocco and Portugal), developing technical and operational coordination between these five countries for the homogeneous and harmonized development of their respective air navigation systems.

Jörg Pikolin, Head of ATM Development and Regulatory Affairs, DLH

Jörg Pikolin is currently an advisor for the Lufthansa Group in the field of ATM development, and he has had a long and significant experience in management positions within the Lufthansa Group. From October 2019 to September 2024, he was head of ATM Development and Regulatory Affairs for Flight Operations. Prior to that, starting in September 2016, he was the head of Flight Operations Efficiency and Innovation, focusing on the concepts of efficiency and innovation within the LH Group and being responsible for the development and implementation of efficiency concepts and measures for the Lufthansa airline. Previously, he was director of product management Airline Operations Solutions at Lufthansa Systems, where he was overseeing the product development and consulting for all products of Airline Operations Solutions (i.e., flight planning, EFB). His career at Lufthansa Systems also includes the position of vice-president Product Management Airline Solutions. He is vice chair of NDTECH, vice chair of IATA RCG EUR and a technical expert to IATA ATM WG.

Greg Saccone, Technical Fellow, Airspace Operational Efficiency, Boeing

Greg Saccone has worked for more than 30 years in the aeronautical data link communication area. At Boeing he works in the Airspace Operational Efficiency group on advanced air traffic management concepts, research, operational trials, and implementation, specializing in data link communication, trajectory-based operations, and flight data processing. He is the focal for Internet Protocol Suite projects at Boeing, leading both internal and joint industry research projects, and he is currently the co-chair of the Airlines Electronics Engineering Committee (AEEC) Internet Protocol Suite for Aviation Safety Services and Hyperconnected Air Traffic Management groups. Additionally, he has been active in the ICAO Aeronautical Communications Panel and the RTCA SC-214 NextGen Data Link group, serving as co-chair of the Validation Subgroup. Prior to joining Boeing he was the technical director of data link research and development projects at Raytheon Canada, investigating implementing and integrating data link applications into flight data processor functionality of Raytheon commercial and military air traffic control systems.

Lendina Smaja, Policy Officer, European Commission

Currently serving as a policy officer at the European Commission (DG MOVE), Lendina is engaged in high-level discussions, strategic initiatives, and regulatory advancements that drive European ATM modernization, CNS evolution, and the integration of new entrants into airspace. She is an experienced ATM strategic policy advisor with 18 years of expertise in air traffic management (ATM), combining technical proficiency with high-level political acumen. Through various roles in the ATM/CNS domain, Lendina has contributed to the adoption of satellite navigation procedures, particularly performance-based navigation (PBN) and Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS), to enhance efficiency and sustainability in air traffic management.

Anna von Groote, Director General, EUROCAE

Anna von Groote joined the EUROCAE Secretariat in 2011 and was appointed EUROCAE director general in 2022. Before joining EUROCAE, she worked at the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) since 2006, where she assumed responsibilities for the organization’s work program in different sectors. In her role as program manager at CEN, she was responsible amongst others for the aerospace and air traffic management sector. Anna holds a master’s degree in European studies from the Centre for European Integration Studies, University of Bonn (Germany) and a Master of Laws in technology and intellectual property law from the University of Liverpool (UK).

Technical Program

Sponsors and Exhibitors Reception

Best Paper Awards