Our Team


Stephen Murphy
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Mr. Murphy has almost 20 years of financial services experience and joined the AV AirFinance platform in August 2022 as CEO, moving from Goshawk Aviation Limited. At Goshawk, he held a number of executive positions, primarily as Head of Corporate Finance with responsibility for Capital Markets and Structured Finance activities, evolving the financing strategy from a start-up to a Top 10 Lessor, including the development of Goshawk’s 3rd party Asset Management Platform. Most recently, Mr. Murphy held a dual role also acting as Head of Airline Marketing, overseeing placement, SLB, and remarketing activities. Previous to Goshawk, Mr. Murphy worked at a number of financial institutions, most recently as a Director with HSBC Bank with responsibility for investing the bank’s balance sheet and developing the coverage model in the aircraft leasing space. Mr. Murphy has a BA in Engineering and MBS both from University College Cork, Ireland.


Axel Hammar
Chief Investment Officer
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Mr. Hammar has more than thirteen years of experience from investment analysis to complex cross border transactions. Prior to his role with AV AirFinance, Mr. Hammar served as a senior vice president of Volito Aviation Services, a company he co-founded in 2016 that provided debt origination services for Goldman Sachs among others. He began his career with one of the world’s leading oil majors and quickly advanced to roles within the corporate M&A function. Mr. Hammar holds an MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management from Lund University of Technology.


Ciara McGrath
Director of Operations
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Ms. McGrath is responsible for the operation side of AV AirFinance overseeing contract management, compliance, accounting, tax reporting, and insurance among others. Ms. McGrath has over 20 years of experience in commercial aviation finance first with Babcock and Brown between 1998 and 2006 and later for BBAM between 2011 and 2019. During her time there, she covered contract and portfolio management responsibilities. In between her time with Babcock and BBAM, Ms. McGrath worked for Hannover Aircraft Leasing as a company director and consultant monitoring tax compliance, preparing financials and overseeing general corporate affairs. More recently, she has worked with WNG Capital as a senior contract manager. Ms. McGrath is a Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants (F.C.C.A) and holds a B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Liverpool John Moores University.


Kiel Garcia
SVP – Loan Origination APAC
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Mr. Garcia has over 17 years of experience in aviation and asset finance. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, Mr. Garcia spent three years in MUFG, most recently as Deputy Head of Aviation Finance, APAC. Mr. Garcia transitioned to MUFG when it acquired DVB Bank’s aviation finance business where he served as Senior Vice President. In his roles at both MUFG and DVB Bank, he was responsible for sourcing and structuring finance leases, limited recourse operating lease financings, PDPs, engine financings, and warehouse facilities across a wide range of airline and lessor clients and jurisdictions in the APAC region. Mr. Garcia also held senior roles at Philippine Airlines earlier in his career dealing with banks, aircraft lessors, and OEMs.


EDEL BRENNAN
SVP – Loan Origination EMEA
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Edel has over 15 years of experience in the aviation industry. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, Edel spent seven years at Goshawk Aviation in a variety of executive roles, most recently within the Corporate Finance function with responsibility for Investor Relations and sourcing a broad spectrum of debt capital. Prior to this, Edel led the Business Analysis function with oversight of structuring and pricing all debt, leasing and trading transactions, and also led the setup of the Finance and Treasury functions. Previous to Goshawk, Ms. Brennan was Financial Controller Ireland at Intrepid Aviation and started her career in KPMG Audit covering both the Aviation and Banking industries. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ACA) and holds a Masters in Accounting and a Business Degree.


MICHAEL RUBINETT
SVP – Loan Origination Americas
[ AV AIRFINANCE L.P., USA ]
Mr. Rubinett has almost a decade of experience in commercial aviation and finance. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, he served as Vice President of mba Asset Management where he had responsibility for portfolio management, remarketing, and trading of managed assets, and also advised debt and equity investors on airline restructurings, non-performing assets. Prior to mba Asset Management, Mr. Rubinett worked in capital markets at Aircastle, where he was responsible for raising debt capital and managing debt origination and aircraft trading within the lessor’s various joint ventures, while also raising both unsecured and secured debt for the Aircastle platform. Mr. Rubinett holds a BBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.


Mark Rangel
VP Risk
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Mark Rangel joined AV AirFinance on the Pricing Analysis side, and is responsible for Credit Risk Monitoring, Financial Modelling and Commercial Analysis. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, Mr. Rangel spent two years as a Commercial Analyst with EMP Structured Assets GmbH where he was responsible for financial modelling, credit risk/marketing analysis, and contracts management. Mr. Rangel is a 2018 graduate of the MSc in Aviation Finance out of the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and holds an MSc in Corporate Finance and Banking out of EDHEC Business School.


Jack Dwan
VP Marketing
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Jack Dwan joined AV AirFinance on the Marketing and Pricing Analysis side, and is responsible for Financial Modelling, Commercial Analysis and assisting the Loan Origination team. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, Mr. Dwan worked with ORIX Aviation as a Pricing Analyst within the Corporate Planning and Investment team. Mr. Dwan earned a BSc in Economics and Finance from University College Dublin during which time he completed a 12 month internship as part of the Investment Strategy team in Davy Private Clients. He subsequently earned an MSc in Finance from Imperial College London and is currently enrolled in the CFA programme. Mr. Dwan has and continues to play rugby at a high level and has represented Ireland at U20, University and Club level.


Aideen Tivnan
Treasury Manager
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]


KATE BELL
Finance Manager
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Ms. Bell has joined AV AirFinance as Finance Manager and is responsible for accounting and financial reporting. Ms. Bell began her career in KPMG financial services audit and has since gained over 10 years’ accounting experience from holding finance roles across a range of industries including financial services, retail, and manufacturing. Ms. Bell is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Dublin.


GARETH ROWE
Contract Manager
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Gareth Rowe joined AV AirFinance with responsibility for contract management. Prior to AV AirFinance Mr. Rowe worked for 3 years in Goshawk Management Limited on the contract management team responsible for a portfolio of lessees from Europe and the APAC region.
Previously Mr. Rowe worked on the Director services team in Maples Group from 2010 to 2019 where he was appointed to the Boards of asset and structured finance SPVs. Mr. Rowe began his career in Citibank Europe PLC. Mr. Rowe holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Dublin City University.


Sarah Foy
Finance and Operations Assistant
[ AV AIRFINANCE LIMITED, IRELAND ]
Sarah joined AV AirFinance as a Finance and Operations assistant with primary responsibility for accounts payable and office management. Prior to joining AV AirFinance, Sarah worked with Goshawk for just under 5 years in both operational and finance-based roles, most recently in the accounts payable function on the finance team. Sarah began her career with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi and has since gained over 10 years of experience in training, customer operations and service, office management and finance. Sarah holds a bachelor’s degree in athletic therapy from Dublin City University and professional diplomas in Accounting and Finance and Management from Dublin Business School.
With a group of experienced finance professionals and the support of KKR, we intend to become a global leader in commercial aviation lending, supporting the financing needs of airlines, lessors, manufacturers, and investors.
