Chris Thomas

Teaches at Drinky Draw

A global executive with over 15 years in Asia spanning aviation, loyalty-lifestyle, online travel, and finance sectors.

An expert in aviation and low-cost carrier development, Chris offers unique insight into the rapidly evolving aviation and transportation industries. From 2012 till end 2017, Chris was a key member of the core leadership team which transitioned Hong Kong Express from an 8-year old loss-making full-service carrier into a dynamic, low-cost, high-growth, manpower-efficient and profitable airline. During his tenure as Director - Talent & Innovation, Chris lead all talent acquisition, manpower planning, strategic department restructuring, system transformation and system security aspects as HKE grew from 5 A/C to 25A/C in less than 4 years, achieved profitability for the first time in company history in 2015 and 2016, and the overall staffing surpassed 1,100 employees.

Upon leaving HKE at the end of 2017, Chris became Managing Director of Ventana Aviation Academy, a leading aviation education and training institute; and Aviation Talent, a specialist executive search and selection firm.

Chris graduated with an MA in International Economics, Finance, and Asian Studies from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and has a BA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University. The early part of his career focused on finance and private equity with roles on Wall Street and leading a family office in Beijing, China. He is Mandarin fluent and addicted to spicy food.