When I was looking for people that are influential in aviation I stumbled upon Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez. I had never heard the name before, even though he is the President of the ICAO council. Mr. Gonzalez is from Mexico and he received his Engineering degree in Communication and Electronics from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico in 1965. He also studied at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma and the National Productivity Centre of Mexico taking several management, planning, quality assurance and leadership courses. He has had an impressive career that started in 1966 and led him to the head of ICAO in 2006.
The duties of the President of the Council is to oversee the governing body (36 nations) which is elected by the ICAO Assembly for three-year terms. For a more detailed explanation of how ICAO functions please follow this link. The ICAO headquarters are located in Montreal, Canada.
Mr. Gonzalez and the work that ICAO does is vital to the Aviation industry. With many countries in dispute with the European Union’s emission plan that is set to take place on January 1st, ICAO has been working with the numerous countries that have objected to this plan and trying to prevent a setback in jobs as well as financially to the aviation sector. Mr. Gonzalez has previously worked on negotiations on international air transport agreements, as noted in his biography. Hopefully he will help the nations opposed to this EU law arrive at an agreement with the EU that will not hinder the aviation industry. Another reason that Mr. Gonzalez is helping the aviation industry was by his statements in his re-election speech just last year. He is looking to further improve the safety, security, and the environmental sustainability of international civil aviation. In the 2010 assembly the governments of ICAO nations agreed to cap greenhouse gas emissions from international aviation at 2020 levels, and to improve fuel efficiency by two percent annually to 2050 as cited from this article.
To be honest, I did not know who was in charge of ICAO. To learn that it is a Mexican...AWESOME. Not hatin' on Mexico, but I feel that they are lacking in the leadership role. But now they got Mr. Gonzalez in charge of an international group....Way to go Mexico!
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I have not heard of Mr. Gonzalez in the past either. In fact your blog has given me the opportunity to read and learn more about ICAO's Council President, Roberto Gonzalez. In fact, after reading within the links of your blog, I came up into a conclusion that Mr. Gonzalez has significantly contributed a wealth of knowledge and years of his life to both, Mexican aviation and to the international aviation community as President of ICAO. I am optimistic that ICAO, under the leadership of Mr. Gonzalez will ultimately reach a fair deal regarding EU's ETS and other environmental disputes given the fact that he previously and regularly negotiates international air transport and environmental agreements.
ReplyDeleteWow, I was about to write something about Roberto Gonzalez as well. He was, and still is, a man of say and action in Mexico in terms of aviation issues. he did really a great job fixing Mexican aviation problems in the past and for sure turned ICAO into a very successful arm of enforcing IATA's standards and laws of global civil aviation industry.
ReplyDeleteNice and interesting choice. He has been influential in the past and will have plenty of more opportunities to do so as ICAO establishes their alternative to the EU ETS.
ReplyDeleteHe does appear to be very influential, and if he plays his cards right, perhaps he can be instrumental in bringing aviation into even more uniformity amongst nations.
ReplyDeleteI also did not know who Roberto Gonzalez was, but now I can see how important he is to aviation.
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