CAA board and staff

Sir Stephen Hillier

Sir Stephen Hillier became Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority on 1 August 2020.

He previously had a long career in the Royal Air Force, eventually becoming Chief of the Air Staff, the head of the Service. He has extensive military flying experience as a pilot and instructor on a wide range of aircraft types, although his flying career started at age 17 when the CAA issued him his Private Pilot’s Licence.

He also has wide experience of leading large, complex and high-profile portfolios and programmes, and of change and risk management within regulated environments.

Richard Moriarty

Richard was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in May 2018 having previously joined the CAA Board in January 2016 as Group Director of Consumers and Markets and Deputy Chief Executive. In that role he was responsible for airline licensing, the ATOL scheme, the economic regulation of airports and air navigation providers, our competition powers, and our consumer redress and enforcement activities.

Before joining the CAA Richard was the CEO of the Legal Services Board, which oversees the regulation of the legal profession in England and Wales.

Richard has also held senior public and private sector roles in a number of regulated sectors including water, energy, aviation, postal communications, and social housing. Richard was non-executive Board Member and Deputy Chair of the Social Housing Regulator from 2012-2019.

Paul Smith

Paul was appointed to the board as Group Director of Consumers and Markets on 24 May 2018.

Before joining the CAA he was Head of Regulatory Strategy and Policy at the Payment Systems Regulator since January 2016.

Paul has also previously held the position of Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Market Commission. Prior to that he worked on economic regulation issues as a consultant and in a number of roles at Postcomm and Ofgem.

Chris Tingle

Chris Tingle is currently Chief Operating Officer, a Trustee of the Air Travel Trust Fund and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.

Chris is responsible for the management of Finance and Corporate Services and the Shared Service Centre.

Chris joined the CAA in January 2016, previously having a career in a variety of financial and operational roles within the private sector, predominantly in the rail freight and consumer goods industries.

Rob Bishton

Appointed to the Board as Group Director of Safety and Airspace Regulation in November 2019, Rob has been at the CAA since 2014, and previously held the role of Head of Flight Operations.

He has extensive experience in the aviation industry, including as former Operations Director at Fastjet and as a commercial pilot with over 10,000 flying hours.

Rob also brings significant board experience and is currently a executive director of the UK Flight Safety Committee. He is also a former general aviation helicopter pilot and intends to start flying light aircraft again.

Jonathan Spence

Jonathan Spence joined the Civil Aviation Authority in January 2022.

His responsibilities include leading the in-house legal and enforcement teams, internal audit team and ensuring that the CAA properly identifies and addresses legal risks. Jonathan is also a trustee of the UK’s Air Travel Trust.

Prior to joining the CAA, Jonathan was a Legal Director at the Office for Gas and Electricity Markets, advising on public law, competition law and regulation.  Jonathan started his career in private practice working for a number of leading competition law practices in the City

Katherine Corich

Katherine Corich was appointed as a Non-Executive member of the Board on 1 July 2019.

She serves on the Audit and Remuneration Committees. She has extensive experience of corporate governance, performance/risk-based regulation and aviation safety, serving on public, corporate, academic and third sector boards.

She is currently Chair of the Sysdoc Group and IAP boards, and is a non-Exec director of MyWave Artificial Intelligence, Pure Advantage Climate Change Think Tank and Auckland University Business School.

Katherine is a technology entrepreneur and trained commercial pilot. She was inducted into the NZ Hi-Tech Hall of Fame in 2015 and has been twice named as an EY Entrepreneur of the Year.

Jane Hanson CBE

Jane was appointed as a Non-Executive member of the Board on 1 September 2021.

Jane also serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee which helps direct the Civil Aviation Authority’s corporate governance, internal control frameworks and oversees the financial audit processes.

A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Jane brings a wealth of experience at Board level, holding Executive, Director and Non Executive Director positions at several large and regulated organisations including Aviva, Welsh Water, Direct Line Group and Rothesay.

She is also the Honorary Treasurer at the Disasters Emergency Committee, Chair of the Reclaim Fund and Chair of the Government’s Dormant Asset Expansion Board.

Jane qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, latterly leading the advisory practice for Internal Audit and Risk Management in the North of England.

She has extensive experience in Enterprise Risk Management, Corporate Governance and Internal Control frameworks in predominantly heavily regulated sectors. Jane is also a Magistrate. In 2022 she received a CBE for services to the charitable sector.

Air Vice-Marshal Simon Edwards

Simon has commanded 99 Squadron flying the C-17, along with appointments as CO 904 Expeditionary Air Wing in Afghanistan and Station Commander of RAF Brize Norton.

He graduated from the Royal College of Defence Studies in 2017, working briefly in the Cabinet Office as a policy adviser in the National Security Secretariat. Shortly after, he became the Assistant Chief of Staff for Capability Delivery at Headquarters Air Command overseeing high-risk, high value government projects.

During his tenure he was the Senior Responsible Owner for a wide portfolio, including the A400M Tactical Airlifter and the United Kingdom Military Flying Training System. Promoted to Air Vice Marshal in May 2021, Simon works in the Ministry of Defence as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Strategy)

Marykay Fuller

Marykay Fuller was appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in January 2019 and CAA Board Senior Independent Director in 2021.

She  is Chair of the Air Travel Trust Fund, and also serves as a member of the CAA Audit Committee, and CAA International Ltd Management Advisory Board.

Marykay also serves as a Non-Executive Director of Southern Water where she sits on the Risk Committee.  She is also a director on GCP Asset Backed Income Fund Limited where she is a member of the Audit, Risk and Remuneration Committees.

Marykay previously was a board member of British American Business and currently also serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of Carnegie Mellon University Heinz College in the USA.

Marykay’s executive career was in finance and consulting and she is a former senior advisory partner at KPMG LLP.

Earlier in her career, she also worked for the US Government where she worked on numerous US airline restructurings and served on the White House National Airline Commission.

Anne Lambert

Anne Lambert CMG was appointed as a Non-Executive Member of the Board on 1 February 2019.

She is currently also a non-executive member of the Horseracing Betting Levy Board.

She was an Inquiry Chair at the Competition and Markets Authority 2014 to 2019 and a Non-Executive Director of the CMA from 2016 to 2018.

Previous roles include the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU and Director, European and Government Affairs for NATS. She also works as a freelance trainer on negotiating skills.

Manny Lewis

Manny Lewis was appointed as a Non-Executive member of the Board in October 2021, serving as a Non-Executive Director leading on people, change and business excellence.

Manny brings with him a wide array of skills and experience having worked in numerous positions across the public sector and local government, including Watford Borough Council, Essex Partnership University Foundation NHS Trust and Habinteg Housing Association.

Peter Drissell

Peter was appointed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as its first Director of Aviation Security in 2013 and led the transition of operational aviation security functions from the Department for Transport (DfT) to the CAA on 1st April 2014.

In February 2015, he took on the additional role of Director CAA Transformation Programme.

Prior to his appointment, Peter was Director of Security & Business Continuity for the Home Office. He was also the Home Office HR Diversity Champion. Prior to this, Peter had served for 32 years in the Royal Air Force from which he retired as an Air Commodore in April 2007.

In his military career, Peter served in a number of operational and staff appointments within the UK and overseas. After a year serving as Provost Marshal for the RAF, his last appointment combined the roles of Commandant General of the Royal Air Force Regiment and Air Officer RAF Police.

Until 2014, Peter was a Director of Plan UK, an international children’s charity, a position he had held for some 10 years, and until 2014 had been a trustee of the City and Guilds; he remains on the governing council of that organisation.

Tim Johnson

Tim is Policy Director for the CAA, responsible for driving forward the CAA’s approach to major policy issues including EU Exit, innovation, airspace modernisation and consumer policy.

Prior to joining the CAA in January 2014, he was Head of Strategy and latterly Head of Regulation at NATS.

His earlier career was spent in Government, and included posts at HM Treasury, the Shareholder Executive and the MoD.