CDB Aviation Lease Finance, the aircraft leasing unit of China Development Bank Financial Leasing, added three new members to its executive team. Rob Murphy will join the company as general counsel and chief operating officer, Pat Hannigan will assume the role of chief commercial officer and John Cunningham will take the position of senior vice president Asia Pacific. All three executives will be tasked with supporting the next stage of expansion and growth, focusing on strengthening the company’s aircraft portfolio and expanding its market reach beyond China.

“We are very pleased to have the caliber of dynamic leaders joining our company,” said CDBALF President and CEO Peter Chang. “Rob, Pat and John’s contributions — both individually and as a team — will enable us to build a global leadership team with the most capable professionals and deliver on our strategy to reinvent our approach with a more western, customer centric focus, offering airline customers in all markets the comprehensive leasing services they need to meet the increasing demand for air travel. The addition of these leaders will soon be complemented by more top-tier talent as we focus on meeting the needs of our customers.”

Murphy joined from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, an international law firm, where he led the global aviation and asset finance team and the global aviation sector group focused on aviation clients. Murphy led a number of projects at Freshfields, including advising on the formation of Avolon and advising Avolon on a variety of strategic projects including the acquisition of the aircraft leasing business of CIT Group. He also advised AerCap on the $8 billion acquisition of International Lease Finance from American International Group.

Hannigan is an executive with three decades of experience in finance, marketing, sales and P&L oversight. Prior to CDBALF, he was head of EMEA for Avolon, where he led the EMEA origination team, coordinating placement and remarketing of aircraft within the region. He also was a founding shareholder of Avolon in 2010 and served as CEO of Avolon’s leasing joint venture with Wells Fargo. Previously, Hannigan served as senior vice president of Marketing for RBS Aviation Capital (now SMBC), where he was responsible for managing airline relationships within the EMEA region and OEM manufacturer relationships. He also held the role of vice president of Marketing at GE Capital Aviation Services, where he managed the pricing and marketing support function, as well as led the development of the company’s operations in the Middle East and Africa.

Cunningham was most recently chief investment officer designate of a Private Aviation Investment Fund. Previously, Cunningham spent more than 20 years with GE Capital Aviation Services, where he served as CEO of Aircraft Capital Trust Management., a standalone aircraft lessor structured as a Singapore Business Trust, as well as managing director of Shannon Engine Support, a wholly owned subsidiary of CFM International, a joint company between GE and Safran Aircraft Engines. In addition, Cunningham held other executive positions at GECAS including SVP of Sales and Marketing Europe and the roles of vice president in Sales and Marketing, Structured Finance and Portfolio Management. Cunningham started his aviation finance career with Guinness Peat Aviation and KPMG Ireland.