Nancy Graham

For extraordinary, inspirational leadership of ICAO’s Air Navigation Bureau through a major transformation, broadening its scope to include a full spectrum of Safety and Efficiency programs.   For spearheading strategic development of the Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), the Global Aviation Air Navigation Plan (GANP) and Aviation System Block Upgrades (ASBUs) that defined ICAO’s roadmap for the future.  For her personal commitment and skill that brought together industry and international organizations to enhance air safety through fully transparent sharing of safety information.  And for her personal commitment that fostered excellent cooperation with industry through Regional Aviation Safety Groups (RASGs) and safety agreements with other International Organizations.
Nancy Graham consistently exhibited her intense passion for safety in executing the important duties of her position – a passion that was exhibited over and over again in collaborations she fostered with others.  Notable safety achievements produced by these collaborative efforts demonstrated the power of teamwork and the importance of Nancy Graham’s strong leadership in bringing relevant, key players together.   Her understanding of, and commitment to creating and supporting, an aviation culture of safety has substantively advanced aviation safety on a global basis.  Her superior effort promoting a systems approach to aviation safety culminated in adoption of Annex 19, Safety Management, to the Convention, hastening implementation of Safety Management Systems (SMS) globally and encouraging exchange of critical safety data among ICAO members.  And, in addition to superb execution of her demanding and important duties as director of ICAO’s air navigation branch, she still found time to mentor and teach the next generation by running a robust internship program that exposed the best and brightest young minds to the world of global aviation.
Nancy Graham’s achievements as Director of the Air Navigation Branch have far reaching and permanent benefits to the entire global aviation industry, including the many thousands of workers and the millions of passengers who rely, every day of every year, on leaders like her who are dedicated to ensuring the safety of every flight.