Marking his return to the aviation industry after two years at the US Department of Energy (DOE), Andrew Falk has joined Wilmington Trust as senior vice president equipment & transportation finance trust & agency services.
A self-professed aviation enthusiast and an even greater aficionado for the financing realm that propels the industry, Falk expressed profound excitement to return to the fold.
“Given the chance to come back to aviation and join an organisation with the reputation, longevity, and market prominence of Wilmington Trust, it was a no-brainer,” explained Falk, speaking to Airline Economics.
Initially aiming to take a brief break between DOE and joining Wilmington Trust, Falk took a trip to Portugal with his wife, Jerri. But he then learned that his soon-to-be team from both Dublin and the US would be together for a week of bank meetings in New York a week before his proposed start date. His wife, clearly seeing the excitement in her husband, encouraged him to grab the opportunity to reunite with his aviation peers.
“I voluntarily started a week earlier, because who wouldn’t want to come back into the club?” he said. “I got to meet everybody again – people that I know well. It was great. I’m beyond excited to be back with people who are consummate professionals; to be part of a team where I can bring relationships and my learning to complement not only what my predecessor did in the past, but what the current team is already doing. For me, it was a match made in heaven.”
In his new role with Wilmington Trust, Falk will focus on expanding the firm’s development initiatives and delivering customised capital market solutions to institutional clients. The firm said his “industry knowledge and leadership will be invaluable” as it grows its business.
Falks will succeed Chris Sponenberg, who is retiring after 31 years at Wilmington Trust.
“I knew I’d be stepping into big shoes – Chris did this for over three decades – but for me, it’s a culmination of everything I’ve done,” he said.
Falk’s background spans both legal and finance leadership roles. He served at the US Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) as vice president of the transportation portfolio management division and senior counsel in the office of general counsel.
“When I joined EXIM Bank as a lawyer, it felt like I’d found heaven,” he said. “I loved it.”
Joining in 2008 during the global financial crisis, Falk said: “It was no longer business as usual, but instead EXIM’s time to help solve the lock-down of the aviation finance market.” Falk commented on the time. “It was awesome being a part of an export credit agency at that time because we jumped in with both feet and filled a vacuum to assist the private sector in getting transactions completed.”
This would lead to him joining Aviation Capital Group in 2018 as managing director, aircraft financing solutions group. His background as a lawyer came into play, supporting his role in carrying out financing transactions as a lender or guarantor.
He would then go to join the DOE where he served as senior loan counsel in the department’s loan programmes office (LPO).
“The LPO role was essentially a return to being a lawyer – a pure deal lawyer – but on totally different transactions,” Falk said. He said that while some of those deals had aviation in the title, they weren’t aircraft asset-based financings but instead large scale infrastructure and advanced US transportation projects.
“It broadened my horizons – I got to experience a lot of project finance in different roles, and I can now bring that perspective into my current role,” he said.
The offer to return to the aviation industry was too hard to resist and Falk jumped at the chance when Wilmington Trust came calling. Falk explained that it was the people in the industry that had drawn him into aviation financing, and drew him back again. He added these people and relationships are what help secure and close deals.
“When you know people, you can bridge divides and work more efficiently – sometimes all it takes is one quick call to find out and solve any issues,” he explained. He added that aviation industry is a small one and – if you’re in it long enough – you meet everyone.
“When unanticipated challenges come, the first thing you do is reach out to colleagues and figure out the right game plan together,” he added.
While the industry faces challenges spanning from supply chain constraints and delivery delays to economic uncertainties and geopolitical tensions, Falk says Wilmington Trust is ready to take on the challenges. He said: “Whatever the world throws our way; we’ll embrace it and find the best way to take care of our clients.”
Falk remains an aviation enthusiast at his core. It was during that trip to Portugal – a country that had been his and his wife’s honeymoon destination 29 years ago – that, upon pulling up to the aircraft, he realised that he would be flying home in the exact aircraft he’d helped finance at Aviation Capital Group.
“I’d been at Airbus on delivery day; I’d sat in the captain’s seat and smelled that new aircraft smell,” he said. “Sitting there on that flight home – I felt like a proud parent.”
That flight home was a reminder of why he fell for the sector, and it all comes full circle with his return to aviation finance – an industry that has become a home for him both professionally and personally in his over three-decade long career.