Our Managing Director, Oliver Stone, was named one of Corporate Jet Investor’s Dealmakers of the Year. His knowledge and expertise continues to lead Colibri to success and new business opportunites with full integrity and honesty.
Excerpt from Corporate Jet Investor Magazine Issue 3:
Oliver Stone
Colibri Aircraft, Founder, United Kingdom
Market focus: Entry jets to medium jets
LOTS OF BROKERS decided to start out on their own. But few move thousands of miles away to do it. And even fewer do it in their early 30s. Eight years later, Oliver Stone, who moved from Texas to London has no regrets.
“Moving to London was an adventure and also a way of starting my own business in a clean way,” says Stone. “Fortunately, I had a bunch of clients in Europe and a British passport, so it made a lot of sense.”
Stone and Colibri – named after the hummingbird – has quickly built a strong reputation in this time. “I would use one word to describe Oliver,” says a rival broker, “integrity.”
In 2017, the brokerage was involved in buying and selling 17 aircraft, although 2018 was quieter. “The great thing about this business is just when you think you understand it, something else comes along,” says Stone.
He is also keen to keep growing Colibri. Colibri now consists of four people: Stone and Amanda Westerfield, communications director in London; Marian Jancarik, sales director – Central & Eastern Europe in Slovakia; and Markus Schmitzer sales director – Germany in Frankfurt.
“We have a great team and would like to add more. I know that every company says that people are our greatest asset, but for a brokerage they are your only asset,” says Stone. “We are always on the look-out for experienced, knowledgeable, performers.”
So will he stay in the UK? “Who knows! If 10 years ago you had suggested that I would live in the UK for eight years I would have said it is very unlikely,” says Stone.
The full issue of CJI Quarterly can be found at www.corporatejetinvestor.com
