Mississauga, ON
May 6, 2023
WestJet South Bay Hanger

Schedule Speakers Exhibitors Venue Sponsors Register

Schedule

8:00 am - 9:00 am	Registration Pick up your badge and network with industry leaders
9:00 am - 9:45 am	An overview of WestJet operations Inside Canada’s aviation and aerospace industry Speaker: Gandeephan Ganeshalingam, Vice President of Technical Operations, WestJet
9:45 am – 10:30 am	Exhibit Floor & Breakout Sessions Use these 45 minutes to speak with exhibitors or join your breakout sessions BREAKOUT SESSIONS AME pilot fixed-wing, regional & specialty pilot fixed-wing, majors aerospace engineering airport operations military post-secondary education & training
10:30 am – 11:15 am	Main Stage Presentation #2 (open to all) Building Your Career as a Fixed-wing Pilot Speaker: TBD
11:15 am – 12:00 am	Exhibit Floor & Breakout Sessions Use these 45 minutes to speak with exhibitors or join your breakout sessions BREAKOUT SESSIONS AME pilot fixed-wing, regional & specialty pilot fixed-wing, majors pilot helicopter airline operations military post-secondary education & training
12:00pm – 12:45 pm	Lunch, Networking, Exhibit Floor Grab some lunch and continue your conversations with some of Canada’s leading aviation organizations exhibiting at Careers in Aviation
12:45 pm – 1:15 pm	Main Stage Presentation #3 (open to all) Building Your Career as an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer Speaker: TBD
1:15 pm – 2:00 pm	Exhibit Floor & Breakout Sessions Use these 45 minutes to speak with exhibitors or join your breakout sessions BREAKOUT SESSIONS AME pilot fixed-wing, regional & specialty pilot fixed-wing, majors aerospace engineering airline operations military post-secondary education & training
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm	Main Stage Presentation #4 (open to all) Building Your Career as a Helicopter Pilot Speaker: TBD
2:30 pm – 3:15 pm	Networking, Exhibit Floor & Breakout Sessions Use these 45 minutes to speak with exhibitors or join your breakout sessions BREAKOUT SESSIONS AME pilot fixed-wing, majors pilot helicopter airline operations military post-secondary education & training
3:14 pm – 3:30 pm	Wrap up and Networking Take the time to find that person you haven't connected with yet. Casual networking will continue until 3:30 pm when venue closes.

Speakers

Gandeephan Ganeshalingam
Vice President of Technical Operations, WestJet

Gandeephan joined WestJet in 2018, transferring from his prior role as General Electric Canada’s Chief Innovation Officer. In his role as GE Canada’s CIO, Gandeephan led GE’s digital industrial innovation platform across all the major industrial verticals in Canada (Aviation, Oil and Gas, Power & Healthcare), growing their new product pipeline value to more than $2 B.

Upon joining WestJet in 2018, Gandeephan assumed the role of WestJet’s business transformation leader taking responsibility for both the global project management office as well as the Lean transformation team. Gandeephan was responsible for the execution of major projects (including introduction of the 787 fleet) and cost efficiency platforms across the enterprise which delivered over $120 M in savings over 2 years.

Gandeephan transitioned to lead the supply chain and procurement organization in Apr of 2020. In this role he was responsible for a team of over 130 professionals across major categories of spend including operations, commercial and IT. As Vice President of Supply Chain and Procurement Gandeephan led the investment of $4.5M in new systems implementations to upgrade inventory management and source to pay processes. He and his team also led cost saving measures across various contracts negotiations ranging from airport labor outsourcing to our Sabre Passenger Service System and all the heavy maintenance contracts (Engine and Airframe) in Technical Operations. These efforts executed over 1.5 years will deliver significant CASM impact to WestJet’s 5-year plan. Gandeephan started his new role as Vice President of Technical Operations on Jan 1st, 2022. He currently manages over 750 AMEs and support staff to ensure the safety and reliability of our fleet of 130 narrow bodies, 47 Qs and 7 wide body aircraft.

Gandeephan is a graduate of the University of Waterloo (Engineering) and University of Toronto (MBA) and now calls Calgary home where he lives with his wife and 2 daughters. Gandeephan is passionate about building learning organizations that display agility and resilience and spends his spare time mentoring local startups on scaling innovative technologies into the right markets.