Cirrus Elevates Simmons, Waddick to President Roles

Cirrus Aircraft promoted two key executives to senior level roles as the company readies for certification and deliveries of its single-engine Vision SF50 jet. Todd Simmons, who had been executive vice president and chief customer officer, was named president of customer experience. Pat Waddick, who was executive vice president and COO, is now president of innovation and operations. Both report to co-founder and CEO Dale Klapmeier.

Simmons will direct all customer-related activities, including sales, marketing, delivery, service and support, flight training and flight operations. He also will oversee the opening of the company’s new Vision Center in Knoxville, Tenn., where he will be based. “With first customer deliveries of the Vision Jet just ahead, we are taking advantage of this inflection point to expand the depth and breadth of our customer organization,” Simmons said.

Waddick, who will lead operations from the Cirrus Duluth, Minn. headquarters, will steer research and development, engineering, program management, manufacturing operations, global supply chain and quality.