IATA appoints chief economist

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Marie Owens Thomsen will join the association as its chief economist effective January 4, 2022.

Owens Thomsen will come from Banque Lombard Odier, where she has served as head of global trends and sustainability since 2020. Prior to that, she was the long-time global head of investment intelligence (2011-2020) at Indosuez Wealth Management. Additionally, she has served in chief economist and related roles for Merrill Lynch, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and HSBC. Her varied career also includes entrepreneurship and market development activities.

“Marie’s work on macro-economic issues with a focus on sustainability will prepare her to address aviation’s top issues – namely recovery from Covid-19 and sustainability. Coming from outside the aviation sector, she will bring valuable new insights and perspectives. And I am confident that she will carry on IATA’s reputation for objective reporting and analysis that is essential for explaining aviation’s contribution to the global economy and advocating for the polices airlines need to be successful,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.

“I am joining IATA to contribute to the aviation sector which has been a formidable long-term driver of economic growth. I’ll do this with a research approach that identifies causal factors for critical issues and their high-priority solutions. This is important as aviation begins the recovery from Covid-19 and continues the journey to net zero emissions. I look forward to a future where aviation can flourish within a sustainable global economy,” said Owens Thomsen.

Owens Thomsen holds a PhD in international economics from The Graduate Institute in Geneva and an MBA equivalent from the University of Gothenburg in international economics and business. Holding U.S., UK and Swiss nationalities, she has worked in the UK, France and Switzerland and is fluent in Swedish, English and French.

Owens Thomsen succeeds Brian Pearce who retired from IATA earlier this year after serving as chief economist since 2004. She will report to Conrad Clifford, IATA’s deputy director general and provide economic analysis to support the work of all IATA’s divisions.