Executive team

Alexis began his role as Chief Executive Officer, WestJet on February 15, 2022. 

Born in Cologne, Germany, Alexis attended the University of Bonn, where he received his Physics diploma in 1995 and later, completed his PhD at Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in 1999. Alexis spent his early career at The Boston Consulting Group, a management consultancy company, working out of their Munich and Tokyo offices, with clients primarily from the aviation industry.  

In 2005, Alexis joined the Lufthansa Group as head of strategy and investment management for Lufthansa. From there, Alexis ran various integration projects; became head of commercial at the airline's biggest hub in Frankfurt, before becoming CCO of Lufthansa Cargo AG. Alexis went on to become Austrian Airlines CEO and CFO in 2018, and during his three-and-a-half-year tenure, he restructured the airline and its network to compete with ultra-low-cost-carrier (ULCC) competition in Austria and successfully led the company through the COVID-19 crisis.  

Angela Avery joined WestJet February 2020 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. With more than 25 years’ legal and business experience, and an extensive regulatory and compliance background, Angela lands at WestJet from Athabasca Oil Corporation where she was General Counsel and Vice-President, Business Development and was responsible for legal, business development, human resources as well as marketing and transportation. Previously, she had various technical and leadership roles at ConocoPhillips and TC Energy.

Angela’s international experience includes an appointment to the United Nations Compensation Commission where she worked in Geneva, Switzerland to prepare and present war reparations claims to an international court.

Having served on several boards including the Canadian Energy Law Foundation, the Calgary YMCA, Arts Commons and the Calgary Zoo, Angela is an active member of her community.

Angela and her husband enjoy planning family adventures that almost always involve hiking and history. Her favourite destination is Palm Springs because picking a grapefruit right off the tree for breakfast never loses its magic.

She is called to the bar in Alberta and New York.

Charles Duncan joined WestJet in June of 2017 as the President of WestJet Encore. In August 2018 he became Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer before becoming the President of Swoop, WestJet’s ultra-low-cost carrier in April 2020.

As President of Swoop, Charles has accountability for all aspects of the business, including short and long-term planning, branding, pricing, product development and operations. Charles will drive Swoop’s footprint in Canada in support of the WestJet Group’s long-term strategy.

In addition to being the President of Swoop, Charles also oversees WestJet Cargo where he is focused on the domestic and international growth of the airline’s in-house cargo services.

Prior to joining WestJet, Charles enjoyed a long and successful career with Continental Airlines and then, through merger, with United Airlines. He navigated the commercial side of the Continental business with roles in pricing and revenue management, network planning and sales, spending thirteen years in Asia. In his last position at United Airlines, Charles was Senior Vice-President, Technical Operations, where he oversaw the maintenance organization of 12,500 employees.

During his 20-year career in aviation, Charles has held several senior leadership positions, including President of Continental Micronesia, Vice-President, Chicago O’Hare Hub, as well as Vice-President, Europe, Middle East, Africa and India for United Airlines.  

His favourite WestJet destination is the Okanagan Region in B.C. It combines world-class skiing, water sports, and plenty of outdoor activity, along with terrific locally-grown produce and amazing local wines. All wine-growing regions around the world are special, but for Charles, the Okanagan is the best.

Diederik joined WestJet in October of 2021 as Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer. Reporting to the President and CEO, Diederik is responsible for daily operations of the airline and will oversee many teams including Flight Operations, Inflight, Airports, Technical Operations, General Operations and WestJet Encore.

Diederik has more than 25 years of aviation-industry experience in the Asia-Pacific and European regions and joins WestJet most recently from Wizz Air, a fast-growing, ultra-low-cost business, where he held the position of Executive Vice-President and Group Chief Operations Officer. Diederik was responsible for the company’s significant expansion into the U.K., Central and Western Europe and its startup in the Middle East. Previously, Diederik held leadership roles at Martinair Holland and Virgin Blue Airlines in Australia.

A native of the Netherlands, Diederik holds a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in Business Economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Diederik enjoys travelling and exploring new destinations with his wife Hiske and their twins, Vivienne and Vincent. In his spare time, Diederik enjoys running, cycling, skiing and is a self-declared petrolhead (avid car enthusiast).

Mark Porter joined WestJet in October 2015 as Executive Vice-President, People and Culture where his focus and leadership advances WestJet’s vision and culture. As EVP, Mark drives the airline’s cultural initiatives, performance management, learning and career development, and workforce planning.

Mark’s passion for human resources was born from working at Bombardier as an aircraft engineer and seeing the need for training and development. After pursuing his HR diploma, he was accepted at Bombardier as a HR Business Partner and the rest is history.

Before joining WestJet, Mark's career included work at Canadian companies including Molson Coors and Shaw Communications, where he was Chief People Officer at Molson Canada and Senior Vice President of Human Resources with Shaw Communications for almost a decade.

In his spare time, Mark sits on the volunteer board for STARS Ambulance and spends time with his family either in Calgary or in their favourite Canadian destination, Victoria B.C.

Karl joined Westjet in January 2022 as EVP and Chief Loyalty Officer.

Prior to joining Westjet, Karl spent five years as CEO of Virgin Australia Group and Affinity Private Equity’s Velocity Frequent Flyer Programme. Under his leadership the business grew significantly before being purchased for profit in late 2019.

Karl has also served as the Managing Director of Carlson Marketing Group Australia and New Zealand based in Sydney between 2001 and 2006. In 2006, he was promoted to President of the Asia Pacific region. Following the acquisition of Carlson Marketing by Canada’s Aimia (Aeroplan) in late 2009, Karl re-located to Singapore to oversee the development of Aimia's business in Asia. During his tenure, Aimia grew to eight offices in seven countries with over 500 people serving some of the region’s largest clients. He oversaw the implementation of some of the largest and most successful loyalty programs across the airline, financial services and retail sectors as well as leading multiple Aimia investment initiatives in the region.

Prior to moving to Australia, Karl spent ten years with the Ogilvy Group, initially in London and latterly heading up the OgilvyOne business in Cape Town, South Africa.

He has worked on five continents in leadership roles and obtained a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from University College Dublin in 1984.

Harry joined WestJet as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in October 2015. He led the airline’s inaugural U.S. bond issue, negotiated the purchase of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and was instrumental in the sale of WestJet to ONEX. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, Harry led the Finance team in managing WestJet’s liquidity to position the airline for recovery. As CFO, Harry was responsible for accounting, financial reporting, financial planning & analysis, investor relations, internal audit, procurement, supply chain, treasury and tax. 

Before joining WestJet, Harry spent more than 20 years in retail and consumer packaged goods. He held senior finance and operating leadership roles with Canadian Tire Corporation, Holt Renfrew, Home Depot, and Frito-Lay in both Canada and the United States. Harry began his career in professional services, serving clients for McKinsey & Company for five years and Ernst & Young for three years.

A native of Winnipeg, Harry considers Toronto to be his hometown, even though he has lived in Dallas, Atlanta and Calgary for considerable periods of time. Harry earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Trinity College, University of Toronto in 1983, a Chartered Accountant designation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario in 1985 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario in 1988.

Reporting to the President and CEO, John leads WestJet’s Commercial team with responsibility for network planning, alliances, revenue management, sales, loyalty, digital, marketing, and WestJet Vacations.

John has more than 20 years’ experience in the aviation industry, and joined WestJet in 2013 as Director, Network and Schedule Planning. He subsequently held the roles of VP Revenue and Pricing, and VP Network and Revenue.

Together, his teams are responsible for the optimization of WestJet’s revenue streams and the development of long-term guest engagement and loyalty. This includes managing profitable global growth through the strategic deployment of the airline’s fleet of more than 180 aircraft including WestJet’s new 787 Dreamliners, delivering $5 billion in annual guest revenue, pre-pandemic.

Prior to joining WestJet, John was Executive Vice-President, Route Development at InterVISTAS Consulting. During his time there he held responsibility for management of the firm’s air service development practice, leading strategic projects for airport, government and tourism clients in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America.

John holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

John and his family enjoy travelling to sunny destinations. When he is not relaxing at his family cottage, he can be found building backyard skating rinks.