Following a management buyout in March, London-based air charter provider Victor has promoted two of its longstanding employees, Toby Edwards and James Farley, to co-CEOs. Clive Jackson, who had been CEO and led the buyout with a small group of new investors, is taking the role of executive chairman.
Edwards and Farley joined the global charter service provider during its infancy in 2012 and helped expand Victor into an established charter brokerage brand, leading it to earn a place in the Sunday Times Top 100 Fastest-Growing UK Tech Companies rankings for five consecutive years, Victor said.
Edwards initially served as a member services executive when he joined Victor in July 2012. Victor credited him with building and training the sales, operations, and flight management teams, as well as recruiting a U.S. team when the company launched in North America in 2015. In 2018, he became managing director for the Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Middle East and North Africa regions.
James Farley, who joined in 2012 as head of product, has been responsible for Victor's global profit and loss oversight, ensuring that consumer and commercial objectives were met across the organization. He also has steered the brand and marketing team and also has served as head of CRM, head of data, and head of strategy and planning. Before joining Victor, he helped secure early-stage financing for the company in his corporate finance advisory role with TMT Ventures.
“Victor has weathered the Covid-19 crisis and emerged stronger than ever, testimony to the leadership of Toby and James through some very challenging times,” Jackson said. “They have worked hard for this moment and this is their time to take this powerful brand forward to become the world’s most successful and environmentally responsible private aviation [company] and set a new benchmark in business aviation.”
The new co-CEOs, along with Jackson, will focus on expanding the company’s climate-action strategies. Victor implemented a 200 percent carbon offset program in July 2019 and since has offset more than 48,000 tons of CO2 emissions through UN-accredited carbon sequestration programs.