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...nal division.
An American who has lived in London for much of the last 20 years, Barbara has spent most of her career in the airline industry; first as a manager at British Airways and from 1997 to 2002 as Founder and CEO of budget airline Go.
Go was started-up with a £25m investment by British Airways. It made a profit within 3 years and Barbara headed a £110m management buyout, backed by 3i. A year later the company was sold to easyJet for £374m. In 2002, Barbara was named Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year and was voted Entrepreneur of the Year among the readers of a top UK broadsheet.
In 2003 she released a best selling book, "Go - An Airline Adventure" that recalled her time at Go. The book was voted the WH Smith Best Business Book by readers in 2004.
Following this, Barbara was asked to be Chairman of London's Olympic Bid which she successfully guided through the first bid stage. In May 2004 Cassani announced she was stepping down as chairman in favor of Olympic gold medalist and politician Lord Coe, saying that she felt the bid had reached a stage where his track record in the Olympic movement would be more useful to the bid than her technical and managerial experience.
Cassani stayed on with the bid, serving under Coe as Vice Chairman responsible for technical aspects of the bid. She continued to serve on the board (working unpaid one day per week); the IOC awarded the XXXth Olympiad to London on July 6, 2005.
In September 2007, Cassani became the new chairman of the board at Vueling Airlines, and in 2008 she was appointed Executive Chairperson of Jurys Inn hotels.
She is in demand around the world as a lively and engaging speaker on leadership and start-ups - drawing upon her experiences in the airline sector and at the Olympic bid.
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- How to be a the visible and credible advocat
- Maintain and develop public support
- Strong and responsible leadership
- Develop and maintain close working relations
- Create highly motivated teams with the highe
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