Lease Corporation International (LCI), the aviation division of the Libra Group, has further strengthened its operation with the appointments of John Gumulak as technical director and Eric Sherlock as legal counsel.

These senior hires reinforce LCI's position as a full-service leasing platform with the capacity to manage assets efficiently across the globe and across multiple operators and end-users.

John Gumulak joins LCI from Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service in Australia, where he oversaw the continued airworthiness of Westpac's fleet of AW139 helicopters, and was the chief point of liaison for original equipment manufacturers including Leonardo Helicopters on all technical matters. As technical director based at LCI's Singapore office, Gumulak will augment the existing technical team to support LCI and its customers in the region.

Eric Sherlock joins LCI from Elix Aviation Capital, where he managed the legal team on behalf of the turboprop lessor. Prior, Sherlock worked as a capital markets and corporate finance associate at Arthur Cox and Clifford Chance LLP. He joins a highly-experienced legal team at LCI's HQ in Dublin and will work across all aspects of aircraft leasing, purchasing and financing.

Crispin Maunder, executive chairman of LCI, says: “We are delighted to welcome John and Eric to our team, whose appointments form part of our wider strategy to recruit world-class expertise to every area of the business.

“They bring extensive, international industry experience to their roles, which will prove invaluable as LCI continues to transact across a wide range of markets.”

In the past year LCI has leased fixed wing aircraft and helicopters to operators in the UK, China, Turkey and Italy and New York, and has also managed a number of assets on behalf of third-party investors.