Executive Management

Kenny Dichter is the founder of the Company and has been the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Company since its inception in August 2013. Mr. Dichter has long been recognized as an entrepreneur with expertise in branding, marketing, public relations and advertising. Prior to founding the Company, Mr. Dichter founded Marquis Jet in 2001 and pioneered the first ever fractional jet card program. Mr. Dichter served as Chief Executive Officer and as Chairman of the board of directors of Marquis Jet and successfully led Marquis Jet through its sale to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets in November 2010.

Among his other founding credits, in 2010, Mr. Dichter co-founded Tequila Avion, an ultra-premium tequila brand which was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2014. Mr. Dichter is also a founding investor in Juice Press, an organic food and juice company with 86 locations in the United States. Earlier in his career, Mr. Dichter co-founded Alphabet City, a sports marketing and music company that was sold to Robert Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment in 1998.

Mr. Dichter is an active philanthropist and, in 2020, he spearheaded Meals Up with Wheels Up partners and ambassadors to fight food insecurity using the Wheels Up Cares platform to support the efforts of Feeding America. Mr. Dichter is a spirited supporter of his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2019, he partnered with the Office of Admissions and Recruitment to launch the Fly High Fund, which supports outreach to students with diverse backgrounds to encourage them to attend. Mr. Dichter holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Todd Smith is WUP’s Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Smith oversees all aspects of the finance and accounting functions. Prior to WUP, Mr. Smith served as Global Head of Financial Planning and Analysis and Chief Financial Officer for GE Corporate. Over his career, he has served as Chief Financial Officer for several GE business units, including Gas Power Systems, Capital International, Healthcare Life Sciences, Capital Real Estate and Commercial Finance. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Florida.

Lee Applbaum has served as WUP’s Chief Marketing Officer since October 2020. Mr. Applbaum has over 25 years of experience transforming iconic brands such as Patrón, Grey Goose, Target and Coca-Cola. In his role as Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Applbaum leads all strategic marketing, brand positioning, and member experience initiatives. He has been recognized throughout his career as a brand builder and innovative marketer whose work has disrupted industries including his oversight of the successful $5.1 billion sale of Patrón to Bacardi in 2018, where he also previously held the Global Chief Marketing Officer role. Mr. Applbaum holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Mark Briffa is WUP’s EVP and Chief Commercial Officer leading our global salesforce across the company’s full portfolio of products. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing sales strategies and managing the overall commercial and sales operation. Mr. Briffa was the Chief Executive Officer and a board member of Air Partner prior to our acquisition of the company in 2022 and has more than 30 years’ experience in the aviation sector. Previously, Mr. Briffa held commercial roles at Air 2000 and All Leisure. Mr. Briffa was educated in the United Kingdom at Longhill High School and is a frequent speaker on leadership and management topics through the Cranfield School of Management.

Phil Dodyk has served as WUP’s Chief Aircraft Management Officer since September 2021. Mr. Dodyk oversees all Aircraft Management and Aircraft Sales & Acquisition, and serves as General Manager for our Wheels Up Private Jets air carrier certificate. In these capacities, Mr. Dodyk leads all functions related to aircraft owner experience. Previously, Mr. Dodyk served as President & CEO of Travel Management Company (TMC), which – prior to WUP’s acquisition of the business in 2019 – was the largest floating fleet light jet operator in the U.S. Mr. Dodyk also served in various investment, growth, and transformation roles at McKinsey & Company and Parthenon Capital Partners. Mr. Dodyk holds a B.S. from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, an MBA from the Wharton School, and an M.A. from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

Laura Heltebran has served as WUP’s Chief Legal Officer since December 2020. Ms. Heltebran oversees all legal affairs, corporate governance, M&A, privacy, IP, compliance and risk matters. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Hilton Worldwide where she was responsible for worldwide legal operations, litigation, compliance, employment, benefits and technology support. Ms. Heltebran also brings 25 years of experience as a legal executive for Fortune 500 technology companies, including serving as Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Head of Americas Legal for CSC (now DXC Technologies), and Senior Vice President of Legal for Affiliated Computer Services (now Conduent). Ms. Heltebran holds a B.A. from George Mason University and a J.D. from the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.

Stevens J. Sainte-Rose has served as WUP’s Chief People Officer since January 2022. As WUP’s Chief People Officer, Mr. Sainte-Rose leads all aspects of human resources and culture at WUP, including organizational design, talent acquisition, development and retention, as well as diversity and inclusion functions. He previously served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at The Coca-Cola Company International and Chief Human Resources Officer at U.S. Walgreens. Mr. Sainte-Rose holds a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Organizational Dynamics and an undergraduate degree from Cornell University in Industrial & Labor Relations.

Srikanth Satya has served as WUP’s Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer since October 2021. Mr. Satya oversees both the customer-facing and internal WUP technological infrastructure, including security, data science, flight management, fleet optimization, development of the next-generation marketplace, and the WUP app. Previously, as Vice President of Engineering with Dell Technologies, Mr. Satya spearheaded the next generation of Object Storage, reimagined real-time streaming-data analytics, and developed Kubernetes infrastructure for appliances. Under his leadership, Dell’s on-premise Object Storage grew to hold the highest market share in the industry. Prior to his time at Dell, he pioneered several large-scale, popular public-cloud services with AWS and Microsoft Azure. Mr. Satya holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Osmania University and an M.S. in Computer Science from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.