Michael Small

President & CEO

Michael Small, a 29-year veteran of the communications industry, was named president and CEO of Gogo on February 16, 2010.

Prior to joining Gogo, Mr. Small served as the chief executive officer and director of Centennial Communications Corporation.

From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Small served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of 360 Degrees Communications Company. Prior to 1995, he served as president of Lynch Corporation, a diversified acquisition-oriented company with operations in telecommunications, manufacturing and transportation services.

Mr. Small received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from University of Chicago and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University.

Mr. Small serves on the board of First Midwest Bank. He also serves as chairman of the board for PAX, a non-profit organization providing solutions to prevent gun violence.

Anand Chari

Senior Vice President of Engineering & Chief Technology Officer

In July 2011, Anand Chari, was named Senior Vice President of Engineering, and Chief Technology Officer of Gogo. He brings over twenty years of experience in the wireless communications and telecom industry with him to this position.

Mr. Chari has been with Gogo since 2003 playing a critical role in the design and development of air-to-ground broadband connectivity concept and technology. He served as a consultant to Aircell from 2003 to 2006, and was hired as Vice President of Engineering in July 2006.

Prior to joining Aircell, Mr. Chari held various business and technology management positions in companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500. He founded and served as President of Simma Technologies Inc., a technology and management consulting company. He also served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development at ISCO International, Director of Business Development at 3Com, Director of Advanced Technology at Ameritech, and Manager at Telephone and Data Systems.

He received his MBA from University of Chicago, his MS in Computer Engineering from Iowa State University, and a BS in Electronics and Communications Engineering from National Institutes of Technology, Trichy, India.

Ash ElDifrawi

Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer

Ash ElDifrawi joined Gogo on October 25, 2010 as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. Ash is responsible for all customer-facing functions, including sales, marketing, product, creative, airline relations, and marketing operations. In addition, he will lead Gogo’s media initiatives, including in inflight ecommerce, content, and advertising. Ash is an accomplished marketer and general manager with more than 17 years of experience working with world-class organizations.

Ash joined Gogo from Hayneedle Inc, a leading online mass merchant retailer where he led the rebranding of the company and development of a revolutionary online shopping experience. Prior to Hayneedle, Ash was the Google executive responsible for all CPM-based revenue for Google and YouTube. Before joining Google, Ash was a managing director at Wrigley, where he oversaw a $1+ billion portfolio of brands across four continents. Ash came to Wrigley from McKinsey, where as a management consultant he worked with the world’s leading companies in solving a multitude of problems in the areas of operations, marketing, and strategy.

Ash earned both his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology and Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Chicago, and went on to gain his doctorate in Clinical Psychology.

Norman Smagley

Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer

Norman Smagley joined Aircell in September 2010, further strengthening Aircell’s management team. Mr. Smagley is responsible for Aircell’s financial strategy and operations, optimizing the company’s capital structure based upon business plans and needs, as well as ensuring a strong finance organization and a strong control and compliance environment.

Mr. Smagley brings sixteen years of broad-based CFO experience across many industries, including technology, financial services, pharmaceutical, retail, industrial and publishing companies, ranging in size from Fortune 25 to pre-IPO. Smagley has operated as CFO within both public and private-equity owned companies and has successfully managed bank, Wall Street, rating agency, auditor and board relationships. Most recently, Norm was with Rand McNally as SVP and chief financial officer.

Mr. Smagley received both his Master’s Degree in Finance and his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Rama Prasad

Senior Vice President & CIO

Rama Prasad joined Gogo in June 2010, and has recently assumed the position of Senior Vice President and CIO.

Since joining Gogo, Rama has taken the IT team to a new level by reorganizing and reprioritizing that department to reflect and support critical business goals.

Rama joined Gogo with over twenty years of experience leading IT functions. He has delivered impressive results with such companies as US Cellular, Orbitz, Ameritech and Sprint. Throughout Rama’s career, he has been a visionary, developing and executing strategies that have added value and positioned the companies to be market leaders.

Rama received his MBA from Rockhurst University, his MS in Computer Science from University of Missouri, and his BS in Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India.

Jim Berrien

Chief Revenue Officer

Jim Berrien currently serves as Chief Revenue Officer for Aircell. In this position, he manages overall responsibility for revenue generation and partnerships including e-commerce, content, sponsorship advertising and enterprise sales.

Prior to joining Aircell, Jim was President and COO of Mother Nature Network. Launched in January of 2009, MNN has become one of the fastest growing environmental news and information sites on the web.

From 1998 to 2008, Jim served as Chairman, President and Publisher, of the Forbes Magazine Group. In this role, he had operating responsibility for advertising sales, marketing, promotion and circulation for Forbes magazine and ForbesLife.

Before joining Forbes, Jim held a succession of key management posts at American Express in the company’s financial and publishing divisions, including President of the Travelers Check Group Worldwide.

He is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Connecticut College, a board member of Share our Strength and Community Wealth Ventures, and a member of the board of advisors of Archimedes One, a mobile solutions technology company. He is a graduate of Connecticut College and has studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. He lives with his wife, Mary Jane, and their two daughters in Westport, Connecticut.

John Happ

Executive Vice President, Airlines

John Happ joined Gogo in April 2008 as the company’s executive vice president, airlines. In this role designed to accelerate and strengthen Gogo’s penetration into the commercial airline industry, Mr. Happ leads the group that serves as the company’s primary airline interface for sales and support.

Mr. Happ has more than 20 years of airline industry experience, and has worked in executive capacities at Frontier, ATA, Hawaiian, Continental, and Singapore Airlines. He has played key marketing, strategic planning, and operations roles, and has developed a keen understanding of airline business models, strategic direction and needs. He has more than a decade of executive committee representation experience and adds additional senior-level customer insight to the company.

John Happ earned a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University.

Mr. Happ has particular expertise in commercial and product strategy within the airline industry, with proven experience in creating a differentiated customer experience and new revenue streams.

John Wade

Executive Vice President and General Manager, Business Aviation Services

John Wade joined Gogo in November 2008 and acts as the executive vice president and general manager for Aircell, Gogo’s Business Aviation division. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the success and overall direction of this rapidly growing division, with all functions reporting to him. He also assists CEO Michael Small in developing and meeting Aircell’s corporate and financial goals.

Prior to Gogo, Mr. Wade served as chief technical officer and general manager at inflight mobile phone and Internet provider OnAir. He was responsible for all of OnAir’s Internet business, including sales, strategy, customer relationship management and product development.

Mr. Wade has more than 20 years of experience in the avionics and inflight communications industries, having also held positions at inflight Internet and connectivity services provider Tenzing Communications, as well as PRIMEX Aerospace Company, GEC Marconi In-Flight Systems and others.

Mr. Wade received his education at the University of Brighton, U.K., where he earned a First Class B Engineering Honors Degree in Electronic Engineering and graduated at the top of his class.

He is the co-author of two patents and throughout his career has been widely quoted across business publications, as well as chosen to speak at international conferences and conventions.

Jon Cobin

Senior Vice President, Project and Operations Management

Jon Cobin joined Gogo on April 12, 2010 as senior vice President of project and operations management. With 15 years of business and project management experience, Mr. Cobin is responsible for overseeing the overall success of Gogo’s organizational and operational effectiveness.

Prior to joining Gogo, Mr. Cobin served as the vice president of strategic planning at Centennial Communications and was instrumental in formulating the company’s overall strategy as well as planning and executing major growth initiatives and milestone transactions. Prior to Centennial, Mr. Cobin held positions of increasing responsibility as a strategy consultant at Dean & Company, and in investment banking at J.P. Morgan.

He received his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from Dartmouth College.

Margee Elias

Senior Vice President and General Counsel

Serving as senior vice president and general counsel for Gogo, Ms. Elias is responsible for the company’s legal and regulatory affairs and manages its human resources function. Prior to joining Gogo, Ms. Elias served as senior vice president and general counsel of eCollege.com, a publicly-traded company, where she represented the company in a number of significant matters including its acquisition by Pearson Education. Ms. Elias was previously employed as senior vice president and general counsel of Centerprise Advisors, Inc. At both eCollege and Centerprise, she was responsible for all legal and compliance issues, managed the human resources function, and as a member of senior management, was a key participant in business and strategic planning decisions.

Ms. Elias was in private practice for more than a decade at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Katten Muchin Rosenman, where she specialized in federal securities law, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions for clients across a broad spectrum of industries.

Ms. Elias received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude, from Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Ms. Elias has in-depth expertise in federal securities and general corporate law.

Andrew E. Geist

Senior Vice President, Business Aviation Solutions

Andrew E. Geist is senior vice president of Aircell, Gogo’s Business Aviation division. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of sales, marketing, and customer support for this division, and is working to further its growth and success.

Mr. Geist has more than 25 years of experience in the airline and corporate aviation markets. In his over decade-long career with Gogo, he has been instrumental in helping the company to attain industry leadership positions.

Prior to working at Gogo, Mr. Geist held roles in flight operations and management at People Express Airlines, Continental/GP Express Airlines, Jeppesen and USAIG. He has launched several new businesses within the private aerospace sector, and was co-founder and general manager of an FAA-Certified Repair Station that pioneered a revolutionary ultrasonic aircraft inspection program used throughout the industry today.

Mr. Geist is a current licensed commercial pilot and flight instructor with more than 2,500 hours of flight time in a variety of aircraft. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aerospace Science with a minor in Business Management from the Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado.

He is an expert in the business and government aviation industries, with specific focus on ground- and satellite-based airborne communications.

Mark Malosh

Senior Vice President, ABS Operations

Mark Malosh serves as Gogo’s Senior Vice President ABS Operations.

Since joining Gogo in 2006, Mark has been responsible for all operational infrastructure, building and maintaining the network of cell sites, aircraft installations and maintenance, technical support, as well as manufacturing and supply chain.

Along with his tenure at Gogo, Mark has twenty years of wireless experience, including work with Sprint-Nextel and Nortel.

Mark received his MBA from the University of Chicago, MSEE from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his BSEE from Michigan Technological University.

Fran Phillips

Senior Vice President, Airline Solutions

Fran Phillips brings Gogo nearly 20 years of experience within the aviation and inflight entertainment industries. As senior vice president for airline solutions, Ms. Phillips leads airline sales, program management, and airline relationship management. Prior to joining Gogo, Ms. Phillips served as a consultant with Connexion by Boeing, where she identified customer requirements and directed the development of the Connexion system, including web portals, content and web alliances.

Ms. Phillips’ background includes serving as both an executive and consultant while developing the inflight customer experience for major commercial airlines. While with American Airlines, she successfully launched its first full aircraft, in-seat video system and also introduced the first generation of portable entertainment devices. In addition, she has been involved in the development of inflight products and programs with companies such as Rockwell Collins and Sony.

Ms. Phillips holds an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and Advertising from the University of Maryland.

Ms. Phillips is an expert on inflight entertainment and communications, airline revenue management, consumer research, and the customer travel experience.

Joe Cruz

Chief Scientist

Joe Cruz serves as Gogo’s Chief Scientist, and will focus on development of our next generation technologies. He has been with the Gogo team since 2003.

Prior to joining Gogo, Joe was responsible for leading Gogo's engineering and technology group, which designed Gogo's Broadband service. Joe’s experience includes senior executive roles in the aviation, satellite and terrestrial communications industries, with companies including Ameritech Cellular and LG Electronics.

Joe co-founded several technology development companies including Airfone, Railfone, Personal Guardian, Med-Net and Intelli-Sens. He has contributed directly to the development of CDMA technology, CDMA 3G enhancements for broadband data communications, and network capacity for mobile voice and data communications. In addition, he is one of the founding partners of the CDMA Development Group (CDG) and the CDPD Consortium of companies.

Joe earned his degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines.