Management Profiles

Brian Hollnagel

President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Hollnagel is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, which he founded in 1997. The company's success is a testament to Mr. Hollnagel's unique vision of the commercial aircraft leasing business and his strong commitment to BCI's relationships. Spurning the highly leveraged fad of the late 1990s, Mr. Hollnagel built a company based on prudent leverage, true equity investment, and commitment to BCI's stakeholders. Mr. Hollnagel also eschewed high yield/high risk airlines in favor of more moderate returns provided by the world's leading carriers. On these simple concepts, Mr. Hollnagel built BCI into a billion dollar commercial aircraft trading organization, one of the fastest growing in the industry. Prior to founding BCI, Mr. Hollnagel was employed by United Airlines, working directly with the chief pilot and director of flight operations. Mr. Hollnagel began flying at age 15 and has been a multi-engine pilot since 1992. He has flight experience in commercial aircraft such as the Boeing 737. Mr. Hollnagel attended Purdue University for Aviation Technology, Leasing and Finance.

Pablo Bottacchi

Regional Managing Director, Latin America

Mr. Bottacchi joined BCI in 2006 and is responsible for all business development in Latin America with a mandate to do aircraft trading, remarketing and sale & leasebacks with carriers in the region. Previously, he worked for ING Bank N.V. (Netherlands) in the Structured Aviation Finance area. Mr. Bottacchi holds two Engineering degrees and a Master in Business Administration from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in The Netherlands where he specialized in Finance.

Joe Cirillo

Managing Director, Aircraft Sales

Mr. Cirillo joined BCI in 2005 and is responsible for aircraft transaction logistics, aircraft remarketing, and maintaining lessee relationships. Mr. Cirillo studied Economics and Finance at Saint Louis University and Aviation Management at Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology.

Emmanuel D'Hoop

Regional Managing Director, Europe

Mr. D'Hoop is the newest member of BCI in 2008. Mr. D'Hoop is responsible for all business development in the European and Middle Eastern market. His experience includes stints at Jet Aviation and Universal Weather & Aviation where he was a Sales Manager for business aircraft management contracts and charter sales during the 1980s and a Phoenix Fuel Corporation European representative in the 1990s. From 2001, he was responsible for international business development for Euralair, a charter airline based in France. He was also responsible for overseeing airframe heavy maintenance, aircraft charter and ground handling services for the airline. Recently he has represented a major US FBO in Europe as sales representative. Emmanuel has an engineering degree from Institute Voor den Autohandel in Utrecht and a business degree from London School of Foreign Trade.

Jacob Hodges

Managing Director, Global Capital Markets

Mr. Hodges joined BCI in 2003 and concentrates on obtaining financing for BCI acquisitions and portfolio. His responsibilities include building and maintaining relationships with banks and money centers worldwide. He brings to BCI nearly a decade of experience in corporate finance, leasing and business banking. Prior to joining BCI, Mr. Hodges worked as a Business Development Officer with Key Bank, N.A. He has also held positions of Director of Intermediary Relations with ACC Capital, formerly Amembal Leasing in which he managed over 500 revenue relationships, and Director of Sales with United Business Capital an equipment leasing company wherein he established and maintained broker and discounting/underwriting relationships with national lenders. Mr. Hodges started his finance career with Matrix Funding Group, a division of Unicapital in Salt Lake City, UT. Mr. Hodges received his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Utah.

Alain Maestracci

Regional Managing Director, Asia

Mr. Maestracci joined BCI in 2004 and is in charge of initiating and closing aircraft lease opportunities through sale-leasebacks with airlines or purchase of existing leases from other lessors. Mr. Maestracci has been involved in aviation since 1987. He was responsible for Asia Pacific as well as North American Airlines while at GATX Air and later at UniCapital. His experience includes tax lease structuring, operating leases and aircraft remarketing. He was involved in buying, leasing or financing over fifty commercial aircraft. He has extensive airline, financiers, lessors and manufacturers contacts. Mr. Maestracci has a Master in Business Administration in Finance and Marketing from Columbia University. He is also a Certified Public Accountant, New York State.

Ídil Özer

Regional Managing Director, Middle East

Mrs. Özer joined BCI in 2005 and is responsible for remarketing, acquisition, leasing and sales of the company's aircraft and engines in Turkey. Mrs. Özer brings to BCI 14 years of experience in international trade and business. She founded her own company and where she developed multilevel experience in marketing, implementing barter arrangements, developing and launching new lines of business, and put in place joint ventures and multinational investment projects. Her knowledge of credit as well as Turkish financial regulations has allowed her to develop creative business opportunities for her clients. Mrs. Özer has received her BS degree in Business and International Relations from Boston University and also studied International Relations in Bogaziçi Üniversity, Turkey.

Craig Papayanis

Managing Director

Mr. Papayanis joined BCI in 2000 and is responsible for the debt financing of aircraft acquisitions and business development. Mr. Papayanis has been involved in aviation since 1988. He led North American aviation financing activities of Coast Business Credit from 1999 to 2000, The Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd. from 1995 to 1999 and the Nippon Credit Bank, Ltd. from 1990 to 1995, and was previously with First Interstate Bank, Ltd. Craig's diverse aviation finance background includes financing aircraft, airlines, and leasing companies across the spectrum, from the largest players in the industry to small start up operators. He has experience with new and used aircraft, operating, finance and tax leases with individual transactions ranging in size from $5 million to $400 million. Mr. Papayanis also has extensive experience in managing troubled transactions and bankruptcies.

Steve Shamsai

Managing Director, Technical Administration

Mr. Shamsai joined BCI in 2006 and has over 24 years of airline maintenance and engineering experience, with responsibilities that include asset management of aircraft and engines. Steve is an FAA designated airworthiness representative (DAR) and has authority by FAA to perform aircraft inspections and issue airworthiness certification under part 183 of Federal Aviation Regulation. He has managed maintenance operations, Quality Control, Engineering, Technical Publications, Aircraft Records, maintenance planning, training, tooling and material support as a Sr. Director at Polar Air Cargo from 1995 thru 2003, where he managed a $62 Million annual maintenance budget. He was personally involved in assembly-configuration, ground inspections, test flight and delivery of new 747-400F fleet of aircraft from Boeing during 2000-2002 for Polar Air cargo. Mr. Shamsai received his Bachelors degree in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering from Parks College of St. Louis University in 1981. He was the first to develop and implement the improved GPS oceanic navigation accuracy program (RNP) for 747-100/200, using the original 747 long range inertial navigation equipment, with the support of ARINC.

T.D. Butzbaugh

General Counsel

Mr. Butzbaugh joined BCI in 2005 as General Counsel for the company. He is responsible for the negotiation and preparation of all legal documentation, the legal review and analysis of the structure and financing of aircraft investments, and the coordination of all legal compliance measures. Before joining BCI, he worked as General Counsel and Director of Commercial Lending for a Chicago-based mortgage operation. Prior to that, he worked in the Business Transactions Group of a highly esteemed Detroit law firm representing and advising business entities in all aspects of formation, governance and operation. He holds a B.S., J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the State Bar of Michigan, the Chicago Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.

Patrick Yip

Regional Managing Director, North America

Mr. Yip is responsible for business development throughout North America. He works directly with the North American airlines to finance new aircraft deliveries, find sale and leaseback opportunities, and purchase prequalified aircraft. In addition, Mr. Yip customizes financial and statistical models designed to analyze aircraft investment opportunities for the company as a whole.

Previously, Mr. Yip was with Disney and ESPN Media Networks, where he worked with executive management on budget development and strategic long term planning. Mr. Yip’s educational background includes a degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, where he graduated magna cum laude.