Our team

Chris’ career in aviation spans over 30 years, with innovation across the entire passenger experience.

He started out with British Airways before joining Virgin Atlantic as general manager of product development, working across aircraft livery, uniforms, business class lounges and seats. Chris’ introduction to aircraft seat manufacturing began when he supported the creation of Virgin’s first lie-flat bed, before becoming the managing director of Reynard Aviation.  

In 2000, Chris became CEO and co-founder of FlightStore, a start-up software business that provided online shopping via seatback TV. After floating the business on AIM in 2003, he founded Acro Aircraft Seating, initially developing electrical actuators for business class seats before moving on to develop economy seats in step with the low-cost carrier revolution.

Acro grew to employ 250 people with a £50 million turnover, winning the Sunday Times: Fast Track 100 Award. The company was also an approved supplier to Airbus and counted many well-known airlines as customers before being sold in 2017.

Chris brings with him the experience, relationships and know-how to build a world class seat manufacturer from the ground up.

Email: chris.brady@unum.aero 

Tania joined Unum in early 2023, with overall responsibility for manufacturing operations, industrialisation strategy, and through life support. A skilled engineer, Tania is a specialist in supply chain development and component support.

 
She started her career within the Alitalia group, before becoming technical manager at AJ Walter Aviation in the UK. Tania was recruited by Chris to join Acro Aircraft Seating to establish the through life support function where she built a global support team, before leading the supply chain function for the growing economy class seatmaker. Prior to Unum, she was component reliability and engineering director for AAR, the commercial aviation services provider, leading a team supporting airline customers across the globe. 

Alan leads business development and sales for Unum, fuelling his passion for building new relationships.

Over the early stages of his career, Alan held the role of head of inflight services for several airlines including Thomas Cook, while also working in operational and commercial roles for cabin supply companies covering inflight services, retail and entertainment.

Prior to joining Unum, Alan worked as VP Business Development at Caeli Nova, implementing the necessary processes and procedures to support a recruited team as the business went to market for the first time. Prior to this Alan was SVP Sales at Acro Aircraft Seating where his team secured several major achievements, managing to double the company’s sales revenue in a three year period, in addition to securing Acro’s first customers in Asia Pacific, China, South America and the Middle East. Alan is goal driven and experienced in establishing new market opportunities.

Call: +44 7816 922130

Email: alan.mcinnes@unum.aero

Mark is responsible for all engineering functions including product development and certification. 

Mark spent the first 8 years of his career at Roll Royce and the next 16 in aircraft interiors rising to engineering leadership roles with two major cabin interiors suppliers: Engineering Director at Collins Interiors (formerly BE Aerospace) and Head of Engineering at Contour Aircraft Seating (latterly Zodiac Seats UK and now Safran Seats GB).  After a 2-year direction change developing robotics for a subsidiary of Amazon, he returned to aircraft interiors in 2016, driving the development of NORDAM as a supplier of composites into the business class seating and interiors industry. 

He has experience of building and subsequently leading engineering teams, first building a stress and certification team from 2 to 17 at Contour and then a general engineering team from 11 to over 75 at Collins; involved in delivering more than 17 business class seat products from initial concept into volume production.  His background in stress analysis and certification provides confident guidance during all stages of product development.

Beata’s career in quality control began in the automotive, rail and aerospace industries, working as a consultant and auditor for environmental and management systems. She later held the role of BMS quality assurance manager at Acro Aircraft Seating.  

Prior to joining Unum, Beata worked on complex projects related to the implementation of management systems, including ISO and EASA standards among others, and served as an auditor and project manager for the Association of Project Management (APM). She has also worked as a lecturer at Poznań University of Business and Economics in Poland and co-authored a book on quality and environmental management. Her research has been published in a variety of respected scientific journals. 

At Unum, Beata is responsible for developing and implementing effective business management and quality systems, providing a resilient platform for business growth within the regulatory aerospace and management frameworks.