Gareth Lau

Turning turbulence into trust — one customer relationship at a time.

The story so far

Strategic and adaptable Customer Experience professional with a proven track record of driving customer value, retention, and growth across global aviation and SaaS portfolios. Leads global escalation and service recovery, Continual Service Improvement, and customer health governance across AMER, EMEA, and APAC.

Currently leading CS strategy and operations at Jeppesen ForeFlight, after building $60M+ in strategic airline relationships globally across Aircraft Leasing, Flight Deck, and Flight Operations at Boeing Digital Aviation Solutions. Committed to delivering results, enabling customer experience at scale, and fostering a culture of operational excellence. Based in Toronto, Ontario.

My path started in aviation operations — keeping crews compliant and flights moving across the Norwegian Airlines network — before moving into the commercial department at CitySwift, shaping growth strategy. That same discipline carried into customer success: managing strategic airline accounts at Boeing Digital Aviation Solutions, and now leading global CS strategy and operations at Jeppesen ForeFlight.

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Working

Senior Program Customer Strategy & Operations Manager

Owning global CS strategy, escalation management, and service recovery at Jeppesen ForeFlight.

Based

Toronto, Ontario

Settled in after relocating from Montréal, QC.

Building

A tiered service scorecard

SLA adherence, case volume, and severity trends — scored and thresholded by service tier to catch issues before they escalate.

The journey

From the Emerald Isle to the Great White North.

I grew up in Ireland, made Montréal home, then headed west to Toronto. New city, same curiosity.

10+Years in aviation customer success

$60M+Strategic airline contract value

55+Team members across AMER, EMEA, APAC

1,220+CA accounts supported

Core Competencies

Regional CX Leadership

Owning the customer experience across time zones and cultures.

Escalation & Service Recovery

Turning at-risk accounts into renewed trust.

Continual Service Improvement

Finding the process fix before the next fire.

Renewal & Expansion Strategy

Growing accounts by proving value, not just asking.

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Management

Aligning Product, Support, and Sales around the customer.

Global Team Leadership

Leading specialists across AMER, EMEA, and APAC.

Career journey

My Flight Path

A decade in aviation experience — from operations support to leading a global team in SaaS.

Work experience

Senior Program Customer Strategy & Operations Manager · Jeppesen ForeFlight

Oct 2025 – Present

Toronto, ON

55+Team members in scope

90%Adoption rate of internal CS systems

~25%Reduction in reactive escalations

1,220+CA accounts supported

Lead a team of 5 Customer Success specialists supporting a 55+ person organization across AMER, EMEA, and APAC.
Own global escalation and service recovery — a RAG health framework cut reactive escalations by ~25%.
Led the global Gainsight rollout with Salesforce, creating one view of customer health and service performance.
Leading AI adoption for Customer Success, building automated business-review and status-reporting tools with reach to C-Suite.
Driving delivery of "One Front Door," a unified customer self-service portal, alongside internal tools that streamline the global team's workflows.

Senior Customer Success Manager · Boeing Digital Aviation Solutions

Sep 2021 – Sep 2025

Dublin, Ireland

$60M+Contract value managed

~35%Reduction in time-to-resolution

Primary contact for strategic airline customers representing $60M+ in contract value, building loyalty and advocacy.
Owned escalations from initial inquiry to resolution, reducing average time-to-resolution by ~35% through cross-functional coordination.
Conducted regular on-site airline visits to build executive alignment, surface renewal risks, and identify expansion opportunities.
Oversaw large-scale digital implementation projects, ensuring alignment with customer goals, delivery milestones, and post-go-live success metrics.
Developed tailored customer success plans and adoption roadmaps, tracking performance through structured business reviews and stakeholder reporting.

Commercial Manager · CitySwift

Oct 2020 – Sep 2021

Galway, Ireland

~25%Workflow efficiency improvement

10+Board reports delivered

Strategised ways to build market share and increase revenue through innovative developments in organizational structure.
Captured and improved new and existing workflow processes within the commercial department by ~25% through process redesign.
Designed and implemented a CRM rollout that improved pipeline visibility and customer lifecycle management.
Supported CitySwift's customer engagement, retention, and development strategy across all key stakeholders.
Prepared and presented monthly and quarterly board reports to C-level executives and senior managers, providing visibility into commercial performance and strategic priorities.

Crew Tracker & Operations Support · Norwegian Air International

Sep 2019 – Mar 2020

Dublin, Ireland

8Operating bases supported for safety oversight

50+Aircraft compliant under Irish AOC

Supported operations across 8 bases and 50+ aircraft under the Irish AOC.
Made time-critical crewing decisions during disruption, protecting safety and on-time performance at the lowest operational cost.
Coordinated with flight operations controllers to maintain a continuous flight watch across the NAI network.

Contracts Intern, Flight Hour Services · Airbus

Jun 2018 – Sep 2018

Dublin, Ireland

Supported the contracts team in reviewing customer agreements and inputting contractual terms into Airbus's internal systems.
Reconciled flight-hour data against invoices to ensure financial accuracy across high-volume billing cycles.
Reviewed invoice and purchase order information to ensure timely parts delivery to OSS/Pools.

Tools, systems, and platforms.

Customer & CRM

Gainsight
Salesforce
HubSpot
Copper

Productivity

Slack
Microsoft Office
Google Workspace
Zoom

Enablement

Seismic

AI Workspace

Claude
ChatGPT

Product & Delivery

Jira
Loom

Knowledge

Confluence
iCertis

Identity & IT

Okta

Education

Institute of Project Management

Professional Diploma, IPMA Certified Project Management Associate, Project Management

2023 – 2024

Law Society of Ireland

Diploma, Aviation Leasing & Finance

2022

South East Technological University

Bachelor of Business (Hons) in Aviation Management

2018 – 2020

Dundalk Institute of Technology

Bachelor of Business in Business & Management

2015 – 2018

Volunteering

Irish Aviation Students' Association

7-year progressive board leadership journey: Chairperson to Non-Executive strategic advisor.

Non-Executive Board Member

Oct 2019 – Sep 2025

Provided strategic direction and advised the incoming executive on governance and finance.

Chairperson

Sep 2018 – Oct 2019

23Committee members led

+30%Sponsorship revenue growth

1,800+Attendees across events

Represented IASA's mission across Ireland's aviation industry, building relationships with universities, airlines, and industry partners both nationally and internationally.