Edward “Ted” O'Byrne has nearly 30 years of experience in commercial aviation, spanning aircraft leasing and private equity, aircraft OEMs, and airfreight logistics.

Ted’s strength is developing businesses organically and through acquisitions, as well as building and managing teams and processes. He has a demonstrated transactional track record having participated in some of the industry’s largest deals (including the $7.6B acquisition of ILFC from AIG), backed by thorough financial expertise.

Ted was most recently Managing Director, co-Head of Aviation at CARLYLE (NYSE: CG), where he helped fundraise and launch two new investment strategies (>$1B in total equity raised). He also participated in the acquisition of aircraft leasing company FLY Leasing (NYSE:FLY).

Prior to that, Ted was Chief Investment Officer at AERCAP (NYSE:AER), the world’s largest aircraft leasing company. Ted was one of the architects of the growth of the company (AerCap’s balance sheet grew from $8B to $42B during his tenure). He was responsible for managing one of the world’s largest aircraft fleet, order books and aircraft trading activity.

Ted previously held several marketing and aircraft contract negotiation positions at AIRBUS where he structured and negotiated several multi-billion $ aircraft sales transactions.

Ted has experience reporting to board of directors and held several directorships himself. He currently is an investor and non-executive director at SIMAERO, a Paris-based flight training company with airline customers across Europe and Africa.

Ted holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth school of business. He is married with two children and has a French nationality tempered by a life-long multicultural experience.