IATA Appoints Marie Owens Thomsen as Chief Economist

Marie Owens Thomsen joins IATA as Chief Economist

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has announced the appointment of Marie Owens Thomsen as its Chief Economist, effective as of January 4.

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,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

Owens Thomsen succeeds Brian Pearce who retired from IATA earlier this year after serving as Chief Economist since 2004.

“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,” she said.

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 US, UK and Swiss nationalities, she has worked in the UK, France and Switzerland and is fluent in Swedish, English and French.