Savannah, Georgia. Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. September 12 announced several strategic international sales appointments to further support growing demand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and the Asia-Pacific region (APAC), effective immediately.
Benoit Defforge and David Taylor have joined Gulfstream as division vice presidents of sales for EMEA and APAC, respectively. Defforge has more than 30 years of aviation experience, most recently serving as CEO of Stanton & Partners Aviation after spending more than 15 years at Airbus Corporate Jets where he served as CEO and president. Taylor comes to Gulfstream from Burrows Aerospace, a corporate aviation brokerage, where he was the APAC sales director. In his new role, Taylor leverages more than 20 years of customer relationships across APAC. Defforge is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Taylor in Singapore; both report to Mike Swift, group vice president of international sales for EMEA and APAC.
“Gulfstream continues to see strong demand in EMEA and APAC, and this new talent allows us to further enhance our relationships with customers in these regions,” said Scott Neal, senior vice president, worldwide sales, Gulfstream. “We have intentionally established this international sales leadership in the key business hubs of London, Singapore and Dubai to best serve customers directly in their markets, precisely where they need us.”
Additionally, Jack McGowan has been appointed regional vice president of sales for Northern Europe. Prior to joining Gulfstream, McGowan was executive director of sales at Flexjet, where he was responsible for all sales efforts and strategy in Europe and the Middle East. McGowan is based in London and reports to Defforge.
To further address increased interest in Gulfstream around the world, Gavin Thompson has been promoted to senior regional sales manager of worldwide sales. In this newly created role, Thompson, who joined the company in 2018 as a regional sales manager, will lead Gulfstream’s global network of regional sales managers. In addition, Scott Butcher has joined Gulfstream from Starflight Aviation charter service as a regional sales manager for Europe and South Asia, and Jessica Gagen has joined as a sales engineer in support of the EMEA team. Along with an aerospace engineering background, Gagen also brings in-depth experience promoting STEM education to students across the U.K. All are based at Gulfstream’s state-of-the-art sales and design center in London.
“We are pleased to welcome these leaders to the Gulfstream team as we continue to invest in these regions and build on the existing strength and expertise of our international sales team,” said Neal.
