Laurence Barron, currently Senior Vice President, Head of Asset Management, within Airbus’ Customer Affairs directorate in Toulouse, has been appointed as President of Airbus China, succeeding Guy McLeod who will take over from Mr Barron in Toulouse. The exchange is effective as of the January 1, 2004.
As President of Airbus China, Mr Barron will be responsible for Airbus' overall activities in the PRC, including business development, commercial activities, customer services and industrial cooperation. While as Head of Asset Management in Toulouse, Mr McLeod will lead the Asset Management Group in Toulouse.
Mr Barron, a British Law graduate, became a commercial lawyer in Paris with Clifford Turner (now Clifford Chance) in 1974 before moving to Tokyo as a foreign law consultant with Nakagawa Law Office in 1978. He joined Airbus’ legal department in 1982 before becoming Sales Finance Director North America in charge of financing sales to airlines in 1984. In 1985 he then became Head of Sales Finance with worldwide responsibility for financing sales. Two years later Mr Barron was appointed Vice President Customer Finance in charge of the entire financing team. In 1994, he became Vice President Asset Management with responsibility for setting up the Asset Management Organisation, before being promoted to Senior Vice President in July 2001.
Mr McLeod, a British graduate in Chemical Engineering, attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, in the UK, before being commissioned into Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. On leaving the British Army in 1995 he joined Airbus China in Beijing, firstly as a project manager for joint ventures then as Regional Sales Director based in Hong Kong from 1996 to 1998. Following this in 1998, Mr McLeod became Vice President for Sales for two and a half years where he was responsible for managing commercial activities in the PRC. For the last two and a half years, as President of Airbus China, Mr McLeod has fostered the growth of Airbus in the PRC.

A leading aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, Airbus is a global company with design and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the UK and Spain as well as subsidiaries in the U.S., China and Japan. Headquartered in Toulouse, France, Airbus is an EADS joint Company with BAE SYSTEMS.



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