Jetrader - March/April 2012 - 12

Henry A. Hubschman, who had a distinguished career in law, government and business, died of cancer at the age of 63 in his Greenwich, Conn., home on 9 February 2011. He was revered by all as a person of the highest intellect, character and integrity, as a caring and steadfast friend, and as a loving and devoted husband and father who put his family ﬁrst. His boundless energy, insatiable curiosity, bed-rock authenticity, deep compassion, wry humor, natural leadership and commitment to the public interest made him an exemplar in both his professional and personal life and earned him profound respect, admiration and love from all who knew him. Henry was born in Newark, N.J., on 12 August 1947, the son of Morris and Esther (Weissman). On 9 June 1985, he married Joanne L. Goode, and their marriage of 25 years was marked by strong mutual support, the shared joy of raising their four children and Joanne’s selﬂess care-giving in the last years of Henry’s life. Following his outstanding service in law and government, he became General Counsel

of GE Aircraft Engines in 1992, where he was a lawyer, counselor and leader beloved by the global leadership both of GEAE and the parent company, GE. In 1997, he became the President and CEO of GE Capital Aviation Services, the commercial aircraft ﬁnancing and leasing business of GE (and a unit of GE Capital). He enjoyed remarkable global success, growing the company to a ﬂeet of 1,800 aircraft placed with nearly 250 airlines in more than 75 countries. Under his leadership, the company’s aircraft assets grew from $10 billion to $49 billion, making it the largest aircraft leasing business in the world. It had ofﬁces in 25 cities across the globe and offered productivity solutions as well as aircraft ﬁnance to the world’s airlines. Henry has been widely recognized as one of the aviation industry’s outstanding leaders, enjoying unqualiﬁed respect from his customers and his competitors. Henry served as Chairman of GE Capital Aviation Services from 2009 until his retirement earlier this year. He has served as a director of the GE Fund and the Jewish Federation of Greenwich.

that. GECAS has always had great people and talent: ﬁnancial talent, great technical skills, great risk management folks, expert lawyers, and the whole bit. Henry set the bar high. A lot of what Henry did—and I do—is just put the pieces together and exhort people to work together for a common purpose. He cared deeply about his team. If someone had a surgery or something like that, he would be the ﬁrst to call the hospital to make sure that everything was OK. I always kidded with him, asking if he had a Harvard MD in addition to his Harvard JD. In short, Henry was a person who always liked to give back. And we at GECAS are so pleased to have the ISTAT Intern Fellowship and a new Harvard Fellowship in Henry’s name, supported by many of his friends, now in place to honor him for years to come. JT: What do you see for future of GECAS in the next few years? NL: We want to remain an industry leader. I think we’re going to see more activity in the emerging markets. That’s where a lot of the organic growth comes from. A lot of players just focus on narrow bodies, which have gotten commoditized. We focus on more types of aircraft because we have the skill and the scale and the organization to do it. We just have to offer more value for the customer at the end of the day. Whether that is syndicated debt and arranging ﬁnancial packages or managing large inventories and consulting on routes/new market studies, that’s what it is all about. Just offering a lease on a narrowbody—anybody can do that. GECAS is a top player … approaching $50 billion in assets. Our focus will be on not only growing the business, but also on being a better company in the way we manage our account exposures, manage our portfolio by different types of aircraft, manage the technological risk. A lot of this comes from historical learning, but these days it is not just about growth for the sake of growth but it’s the quality of the growth.

JT: As the CEO of GECAS, how have you continued Hubschman’s vision for the company? NL: I was the commercial leader at GECAS for 14 years from 1995 to when I took over as CEO in 2009, so I played a role in helping to develop the strategy and implement it. Under Henry’s leadership, we wanted to diversify and do more than just narrowbody aircraft. Today, in addition to narrowbodies, we lease widebodies, regional jets, and cargo aircraft... We’re a major debt player. We’re an engine lessor, a player in spare parts. And more recently we’ve expanded into turboprops. We are also continuing our geographic expansion. In 1997, GECAS had ofﬁces in Stamford and Shannon, Ireland, and a couple of ofﬁces in Asia. Today we have ofﬁces in 24 cities around the world,

in the Middle East, Asia, Russia, and more recently two new ofﬁces in Africa. These ofﬁces allow us to be closer to our customers. You can’t duplicate Henry’s management style. Everyone’s got their own style. One of the things we both can’t emphasize enough is the sense of urgency, especially in today’s world. Focusing on speed and working through customer issues is universal, and I try to keep that at the forefront of what we do. JT: What did you learn from Hubschman throughout your years working together? NL: From a personal standpoint, he always pushed me hard to reach my maximum potential. He was a big supporter of my career. I’ve always been grateful for

12 The ofﬁcial publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

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Jetrader - March/April 2012

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