Kirsten Bartok

Managing Partner, AirFinance

Kirsten Bartok Touw is the founder and Managing Partner of AirFinance, a firm that specializes structured finance, leasing and the financing of aircraft and aviation assets. AirFinance’s fleet of financed aircraft ranges from small turbo prop aircraft, to the largest cabin business jets and also includes simulators, spare parts and heavy equipment.

Bartok is also an active technology investor, especially focused on the aero-mobility space (eVTOL, UTM, electric propulsion, battery technology). She co-founded FlyFunder, the first online aircraft financing marketplace, which innovates the way aircraft buyers connect with financiers. Bartok was a seed investor and early advisor to Stellar, the cloud based platform for business aviation charter, and to Portside, which has developed an innovative suite of SAAS products for aircraft owners and management companies.

Prior to AirFinance, was Vice President, Strategy, Structured Finance & Corporate Development at Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC). There she help lead the company’s expansion into Asia, specifically China, as well as JV, strategic sourcing relationships, mergers and acquisitions.

Before AirFinance, Bartok was a co-founder, board member and CFO of XOJET. Bartok was part of the original core executive team that built XOJET and as CFO, she oversaw financial and strategic initiatives including aircraft purchasing and financing for XOJET’s rapidly growing fleet.

Prior to joining XOJET, was a partner at the private equity firm, Alpine Investors. Before Alpine, Bartok was with JPMorgan Partners, the investment arm of JPMorgan Chase which acquired Hambrecht & Quist’s technology venture fund where Bartok was a partner. Bartok began her career at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where she was an analyst in the corporate finance group in Goldman’s investment banking division and also in fixed income capital markets.

Bartok received a BA, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She also serves on Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Management Board, which provides the Dean with an external perspective and feedback on a broad range of issues.

Last updated Jan. 8, 2019