A seasoned C-suite executive and international leader, Laura Heltebran has 30 years of global experience in technology, outsourcing, hospitality, franchising, travel and aviation. She is a highly collaborative and trusted business advisor to Fortune 500 public companies with worldwide operations as well as smaller entrepreneurial companies. She has spent years in the board room as an executive presenter and corporate secretary and has operational experience in top issues boards face today, including M&A, cyber/privacy protection, ESG, DE&I, enterprise risk management, compliance and governance. She has expertise in high-growth, transitional and turnaround environments, including all stages of human capital management. She has significant experience with integration, understands multi-stakeholder situations and can strategically imagine a company’s future state options and design the plan to execute. She has lived in the Middle East and has managed sizable global teams, giving her a unique personal and professional global perspective.
Ms. Heltebran currently serves as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Wheels Up Experience Inc. (NYSE: UP), a global private aviation and technology company with $1.2B in revenue. She holds a key role on the 6-person CEO Leadership Team, and successfully led the company’s 2021 SPAC IPO and several acquisitions including the key 2022 acquisition of Air Partner, a UK Public Company (LSE: AIR). She is a strategic advisor to the Wheels Up Board of Directors and leads the planning for and attends all board and committee meetings. She is the executive lead to the Nominating and ESG Committee and works closely with the Audit, Compensation, and Safety, Security & Operations committees.
Ms. Heltebran’s Fortune 500 public company experience includes Hilton Worldwide (NYSE: HLT), where she developed the crisis management protocol for critical reputational risk issues such as properties used for sex trafficking and alleged racial profiling, led the team responding to a significant data breach and launched the GDPR/CCPA and records retention programs; Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE), managing global legal for the $20B Enterprise Services line of business and managing the spin-off of Enterprise Services to merge with CSC to form DXC Technologies (NYSE: DXC); and Computer Sciences Corporation (now NYSE: DXC), where she worked on the spin-off of CSC’s public sector business as well as all legal matters for the Americas Region and Global HR teams.
Ms. Heltebran was named one of 2022’s “Top Women in Travel and Hospitality” by Women Leading Travel & Hospitality and is a member of their Advisory Board. She is a frequent speaker at industry, legal and women’s conferences, with topics including leadership, cyber security, privacy and litigation. She is an alum of the 2022 DirectWomen Board Institute.
Ms. Heltebran holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from George Mason University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.