ICAO’s Stephen Creamer, Other Government, Industry Leaders to Open ABACE2017

April 5, 2017

Further development of China’s aviation infrastructure will be a key theme throughout the 2017 Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE2017), including at the event’s Opening General Session with a presentation by Stephen Creamer, director of the Air Navigation Bureau at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and other aviation-policy leaders from China and the U.S.

He will be joined at the opening session by Hanscom Smith, consul general of the United States Consulate General in Shanghai; Geoff Jackson, executive director for the U.S.-China Aviation Cooperation Program; Jing Yiming, president, Shanghai Airport Authority (SAA) Jiang Chunshui, party secretary and deputy director general of the Eastern Regional Headquarters for the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC); and NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.

Creamer began his aviation career as an air traffic controller, and later oversaw several air traffic control facilities in the United States. In 2009, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) named him as director of the agency’s Europe, Africa and Middle East regional office in Brussels, Belgium, where he was responsible for advancing civil aviation safety and efficiency across a diverse region of airspace management authorities.

In April 2015, Creamer was named to his current position at ICAO, where he works with regulatory officials and industry stakeholders across the globe to develop strategies for safe and efficient management of international airspace, including harmonization of satellite-based, “next generation” airspace management strategies.

Smith has been consul general at the United States Consulate General in Shanghai since September 2014. He previously served at the United States embassies in Yaounde, Copenhagen, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Kabul and Beijing. In addition, Smith has served in the Office of Japanese Affairs at the Department of State, and was team leader at the United States Provincial Reconstruction Team in Muthanna Province, Iraq. He has also worked at the American Institute in Taiwan. 

The ABACE2017 opening session will be held Tuesday, April 11. Later that day, additional collaborative discussions regarding the ongoing expansion of China’s aviation infrastructure will take place at the CAAC Business Aviation Development Forum hosted by the Eastern Region of the (CAAC), the (SAA) and NBAA.

Taking place April 11-13, 2017, at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, ABACE2017 is held in partnership with the SAA, and co-hosted by NBAA and the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA).