Marie Owens Thomsen to join IATA as chief economist

Marie Owens Thomsen is to take over as IATA’s chief economist, following the departure of Brian Pearce this year.

Starting on 4 January, Dr Owens Thomsen will bring experience of macro-economic issues gained from her current role at Banque Lombard Odier, where she has been head of global trends and sustainability since 2020.

Before that she spent nine years as global head of investment intelligence at Indosuez Wealth Management, and she has also worked as a chief economist for Merrill Lynch, Dresdner-Kleinwort Benson and HSBC.

“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,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s director general.

“Coming from outside the aviation sector, she will bring valuable new insights and perspectives. And I am confident 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.”

Dr Owens Thomsen said: “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.”

Dr Owens Thomsen holds US, UK and Swiss nationalities and is fluent in Swedish, English and French.