Our Team - Aviation Capital Group

Our management team has decades of experience navigating the unique challenges and demands of investing in and leasing commercial aircraft globally.

Senior Leadership Team

Mahoko Hara

Executive Chair

Ms. Hara is the Executive Chairperson of ACG and is also a Senior Managing Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Tokyo Century Corporation (“TC”). Ms. Hara assumed the Executive Chair role in December 2019 following TC’s acquisition of ACG.

Ms. Hara joined TC in 2011 and has been responsible for strategic planning and cross-border M&A for TC’s specialty finance businesses with particular focus on the aviation sector.

Prior to joining TC, Ms. Hara worked for Shinsei Bank and Citibank specializing in structured credit and asset finance. Prior to these roles, Ms. Hara was with Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (now Mizuho Bank) fulfilling a variety of roles in corporate and investment banking, including several years in the London and New York offices.

Ms. Hara holds a B.A. in International Relations from Tsukuba University and a certificate in Leadership and Management from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Thomas G. Baker

Chief Executive Officer and President

Mr. Baker is the Chief Executive Officer and President of ACG. Prior to assuming leadership of ACG in November 2020, Mr. Baker served as Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, with responsibility for leading ACG’s Sales/Marketing, Trading and Technical teams. Mr. Baker previously oversaw ACG’s corporate strategy, financial planning & analysis, and investor relations functions.

Mr. Baker joined ACG in 2016 from Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division, where he covered clients in the Aviation & Transportation Sectors since 2006. In this role, he advised clients on strategic priorities, capital structure optimization, equity and debt issuance, mergers and acquisitions, as well as managing relationships with key sector investors. From 2012 –2014, he was head of the Asia (ex-Japan) Transportation coverage group for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, where he worked on debt and equity financings in the aviation and transportation sectors. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Mr. Baker spent a number of years at Citigroup in investment banking and Morgan Stanley in equity research.

Mr. Baker holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Craig Segor

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Segor is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ACG with responsibility for the Accounting, Treasury, Risk, FP&A, Tax and ESG functions. Prior to joining ACG in December 2022, Mr. Segor co-founded Plane View Partners, a boutique aviation consulting firm, where he served as Chief Executive Officer from 2014 to 2020 and as Managing Director from June 2022 to October 2022. In this role he advised a variety of industry stakeholders including airlines, OEMs, lessors, investors and entrepreneurs in projects spanning strategy, M&A, aircraft and engine orders, lease transactions, product innovation and business planning. From 2020 to 2022, Mr. Segor served as Chief Investment Officer for CDB Aviation in Dublin, where he oversaw the Trading, Pricing and Strategy functions. Prior to founding Plane View Partners, Mr. Segor was SVP Strategic Planning with International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC); held various roles at Seabury Consulting, including Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer; was a Project Manager in the Strategic Development Group of TACA Airlines, and was a Senior Associate Consultant with Bain & Company.

Mr. Segor holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Carter A. White

Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer

Mr. White serves as Executive Vice President and the Chief Commercial Officer of ACG with responsibility for the Global Marketing and Aircraft Trading teams, and shared responsibility for the continued growth and development of ACG’s Aircraft Financing Solutions program. Prior to assuming his current leadership role in May 2021, Mr. White served as Senior Vice President and Head of Aircraft Trading with responsibility for the strategic development and tactical implementation of all aircraft trading initiatives for ACG.

Mr. White joined ACG in 2016 from AWAS (Ireland) Limited, where he was Managing Director EMEA Sales, Head of Aircraft Trading and OEM Relationships. At AWAS, Mr. White’s direct responsibilities included management of all secondary market trading activities, direct placement and aircraft leasing activities in Europe, Middle East and Africa and OEM commercial negotiations. Prior to AWAS, Mr. White spent several years at Transamerica Finance Corporation as Senior Vice President of Aircraft Sales and Marketing, and Sanwa Business Credit Corporation as Director of Syndications for the Commercial Aviation Finance Division.

Mr. White holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from Cornell College.

James A. Zembrzuski

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

Mr. Zembrzuski serves as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. In this role, he manages ACG’s legal team and oversees all legal, insurance and compliance affairs of the company. Mr. Zembrzuski joined ACG in 2015.

Prior to joining ACG, Mr. Zembrzuski worked as in-house counsel at International Lease Finance Corporation in its Los Angeles and Amsterdam offices and advised the company in connection with a wide variety of aircraft finance and leasing matters. Previously, he was a Senior Associate in the Aircraft Finance practice at the law firm of Fulbright & Jaworski in New York. Mr. Zembrzuski began his career as a revenue management analyst at US Airways in Arlington, Virginia.

Mr. Zembrzuski earned a B.S. in Commerce (Finance) from the University of Virginia and a J.D. degree from George Washington University Law School.

Rob Downes

Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer

Mr. Downes serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of ACG, with responsibility for the design and implementation of strategic investment and portfolio management activities. Prior to assuming this role in May 2024, Mr. Downes served as Senior Vice President and Head of Aircraft Trading with responsibility for the strategic development and tactical implementation of all aircraft trading initiatives for ACG.

Before joining ACG in 2018, Mr. Downes served as Vice President, Aircraft Investor Services for DAE Capital and previously held various roles in Pricing/Portfolio Management for AWAS, progressing to Corporate Finance Director, where he was responsible for ABS activity and banking relationships in the ASPAC region. In his early career, Mr. Downes spent nine years in an engineering role with Airbus, including five years in the Flight Test department in Toulouse, France.

Mr. Downes holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Limerick, Ireland, and an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Dublin, Ireland.

Alan Godson

Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer

Mr. Alan Godson is Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of ACG. In this role, he has overall asset management responsibility for all ACG assets operating worldwide. Mr. Godson’s responsibilities also include providing technical subject matter input and expertise to support ACG’s overall corporate goals and strategic objectives.

Prior to joining ACG, Mr. Godson served as Executive Vice Present (Technical) with Aircastle Limited, from 2008-2023, overseeing technical operations from their offices in APAC and EMEA. Alan is a senior aircraft leasing executive, with over 20 years of global experience in leading technical functions, managing all technical aspects of the business including: lease transactions, sales/trading, distressed asset recovery; and oversight of delivered aircraft whilst on lease. He has also built, grown and managed international technical teams and has an in-depth knowledge of commercial aircraft leasing.

Alan graduated from Kingston University with a first-class honours degree in Aircraft Engineering, and holds a master’s degree in International Economic Law from Warwick Law School, in the UK.

Takamasa Marito

Executive Vice President

Mr. Marito has served as Executive Vice President of ACG since December 2019, following the acquisition of ACG by Tokyo Century Corporation (“TC”). Mr. Marito is also Joint General Manager, Aviation Finance Division of TC where he is responsible for the overall marketing of TC’s aviation finance business covering lending, leasing and Japanese tax leases.

Prior to joining TC in 2011, Mr. Marito was with The Royal Bank of Scotland where he was responsible for asset securitization and structured finance origination in Japan as Senior Director and Deputy Head of Japan Coverage and Origination. Previously Mr. Marito worked for ABN AMRO Bank in the 1990s, where he was responsible for the bank’s structured financing activities in Japan with a primary focus in aircraft finance using Japanese tax lease structures and later for ING Baring Securities specializing in asset securitization of Japanese card loan companies and multinational companies.

Mr. Marito holds a B.A. degree in Sociology from the International Christian University in Tokyo Japan.