People In Aviation: July 2017

Rudy Toering, president and CEO of the Canadian Business Aviation Association, plans to retire in February next year. Toering, who has 40 years of industry experience, has led the association since 2013, and before that held roles with FlightPath International, CAE, FlightSafety International, Air Canada and Innotech Aviation. CBAA has launched the search for a successor.

Bruce Byerly has returned as an owner of Byerly Aviation, the longtime Commander service center founded by his grandfather, Millard Byerly. Scott Welch, who acquired Byerly Aviation in 2010 from Aviation Facilities, will retain 50-percent ownership and will stay on as CEO to oversee day-to-day management. Byerly will focus on sales and new-business development.

SR Technics named Jean-Marc Lenz chief operating officer and accountable manager and Michael Sattler chief commercial officer. Lenz succeeds Frank Walschot, who has joined HNA Group. Lenz has 30 years of aviation experience, beginning as an aircraft maintenance technician and holding roles with SR Technics as head of line maintenance, head of aircraft services and most recently head of engine services. Sattler joined SR Technics in 2015 and has 25 years of aircraft maintenance and repair experience with Ruag Aviation and Jet Aviation.

Premium Jet appointed Daniel Kunz managing partner and director of aircraft sales. Kunz has 20 years of business aviation experience in various roles with ExecuJet, Pilatus Aircraft and most recently Indigo Lyon Switzerland.

Lufthansa Technik named Kai-Stefan Roepke and Thomas Decher to lead its VIP and special-mission aircraft services operations. They take over from Walter Heerdt, who recently retired. Roepke is vice president commercial and Decher vice president operations.

Nordam named Raegen Siegfried vice president of HushWorks, the company’s advanced-development projects effort. Siegfried had held the position of director of the program since 2015 and before that had served with Goodrich, United Technologies and Nordam in Singapore.

Global Jet Capital appointed Andrew Farrant chief marketing officer. Farrant has 25 years of experience working in the business, commercial and military aviation markets, most recently as vice president of marketing, strategy and communications for Sequa and Chromalloy.

FlightSafety International chairman, president and CEO Bruce Whitman was elected to a three-year term as chairman of the board of directors for the USO of Metropolitan New York. Whitman, who has been a director of the USO since 2010 and most recently was vice chairman, has served with FlightSafety since 1961 and took on the role of CEO in 2003.

 Jenner & Block hired Paul Alp, Amna Arshad and Steven Seiden as special counsel in its recently formed Aviation and Aerospace practice in Washington, D.C. The three lawyers had previously worked with practice co-chair Marc Warren, while he was associated with Crowell & Moring. Alp has a background in government enforcement actions, liability litigation and commercial arbitrations, working with aircraft operators, manufacturers, repair stations and trade associations. Arshad has 10 years of experience working with major U.S. and foreign air carriers, airports, aerospace manufacturers, travel distribution clients, drone operators and corporations. Seiden focuses on aviation regulatory counseling and commercial aviation transactions for aviation clients, ranging from major U.S. and foreign airlines to corporate aircraft owners and trade associations.

Cutter Aviation promoted Tara Creel-Cesena to general manager of the FBO at Phoenix Deer Valley Airport. Creel-Cesena joined Cutter Aviation in 2011 as a customer service representative after spending five years with Mesa Airlines as a buyer of heavy maintenance. Cutter named Sylvia Graebe as charter sales and aircraft acquisitions manager for its charter and flight management department in Phoenix. Previously Graebe was COO of Eascor, and she has also served with World Jet and America West Airlines. Cutter also appointed Bob Boudreau regional sales manager based at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Boudreau joins Cutter Aviation from Phoenix Aircraft, where he provided pilot services, aircraft brokerage and aircraft management.

Comair Flight Services appointed Kerry Searle client services director. Searle joined CFS in 2011 and most recently was client services manager.

ACASS hired Trisha Lakatos as sales director, Eastern U.S. and Canada. Lakatos joins ACASS from Gulfstream Aerospace, where she was a sales development manager.

Carlos Ordonez joined C&L Aerospace as director of business development for Latin America. Ordonez, who has two decades of aerospace experience in the region, formerly was vice president of sales for Aeronautical Investments.

Eastern Aviation Fuels named Rhonda Bernthal director of marketing. Bernthal has a 15-year background in marketing strategies, branding and resource development.

Andrew Pearce was appointed international sales manager for Innotech Aviation. Pearce, who will be responsible for sales in all of Europe, has 20 years of business aircraft experience.

Keystone Aviation promoted Charlie Chamberlain to managed aircraft sales director based in Salt Lake City and hired R.D. Wooten as sales director of Piper aircraft for Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico. Chamberlain, who has spent seven years with Keystone, previously was an aircraft charter sales representative. Wooten has 30 years of aviation industry sales experience and began his career flying Piper aircraft.

FlightSafety International promoted Rachel Runner to assistant manager of the company’s Cessna learning center in Wichita. Runner joined FlightSafety in 2008 as assistant to the director of quality management systems for Cessna training programs and since has served as operations support and compliance coordinator and director of quality management systems for Cessna programs.

Western Aircraft hired two former employees to key sales positions. Walt Marcy, who had originally served with Western Aircraft from 2012 to 2014, rejoined the company as avionics sales manager. Most recently Marcy was with StandardAero. He has also held roles with AMR Combs, Tulsair Beechcraft and Duncan Aviation Lee Miles, who workedat Western Aircraft from 1999 to 2016, also rejoins the company as a regional sales manager for jet aircraft. Most recently regional sales manager with Dassault Aircraft Services, Miles began his aviation career in 1988 as a storekeeper for AlliedSignal Aerospace and also held roles at McDonnell Douglas and Evergreen Airlines.

Jody Fischer was promoted to director of flight operations for Weather Modification International (WMI). Fischer has served with WMI for 17 years, most recently as chief pilot.

Flightstar appointed Robert Dorsey quality control manager. Dorsey has a 35-year background in the aviation industry, holding positions such as quality control manager, FAA accountable manager, assistant project manager, chief inspector and quality control auditor.

Acropolis Aviation named Tina Ross as a charter sales executive based at Farnborough Airport in the UK. Ross, who has two decades of experience, previously served with Hunt and Palmer, Business Air Centre and JetAir.

Elit’Avia named Wynton Fauré sales director for the UK, Europe and Africa. Fauré has 10 years of experience in the business aviation industry and has held sales positions with TAG Aviation and VistaJet.

Francis Aviation hired Kevin Wickstrom to serve as a charter pilot. Wickstrom brings 26 years of flight and maintenance experience to his new role, including flying Apache helicopters for the U.S. Army and numerous airplanes and helicopters for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Awards & Honors

The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has named L.J. Aviation co-founder Edward Kilkeary, Sr., this year’s recipient of the William A. “Bill” Ong Memorial Award, and selected Duncan Aviation chairman David Todd Duncan to receive the NATA Distinguished Service Award. The awards, considered to be the association’s highest honors, were presented on June 7 at a luncheon held during the 2017 NATA Aviation Business Conference in Washington. The Ong award, named after the association’s co-founder and first president, recognizes “extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service to the general aviation industry.” Kilkeary, a business owner, pilot and former NATA board member, will be honored for an aviation career that spans 40 years. A Vietnam War veteran, Kilkeary co-founded L.J. Aviation in 1980 with his wife, Mary Ann. The company, which has a charter and management firm and an FBO at Arnold Palmer Airport in Latrobe, Penn., operates 30 aircraft. His company was among the early adopters of the NATA Safety 1st Professional Line Service Training and Air Charter Safety Foundation Industry Audit Standard.

The NATA Distinguished Service Award recognizes “outstanding service and ongoing contributions to the general aviation industry.” Duncan leads the FBO and MRO organization founded by his grandfather, David Duncan, in 1956. Todd Duncan joined the family business 30 years ago, beginning in aircraft sales and component services and working his way up to chairman in 2007. Following in the footsteps of his father, Robert, Todd Duncan chaired the NATA board of directors in 2011 and was a founding board member of the Air Charter Safety Foundation. He remains a member of the Presidents Council of NATA.

EBAA honored two supporters of business aviation with its 2017 European Business Aviation Awards presented during EBACE in May. The honors went to Marian-Jean Marinescu, member of the European Parliament from Romania, and Carlo des Dorides, executive director of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA). Marinescu was recognized for his contributions in “promoting the interests of business aviation in the European Parliament,” said EBAA CEO Brandon Mitchener, adding, “Mr. Marinescu helped to make the EBAA’s ‘Meet your MEP’ campaign a reality by hosting an insightful discussion with some of our Romanian members in his hometown of Craiova.” Marinescu is a member of the European Parliament’s Transport Committee. Des Dorides was honored as a strong supporter of EBAA in its talks with the European commission, contributing key input to EBAA’s position paper on Egnos. Mitchener said, “As executive director of the GSA, Mr. des Dorides sets the vision of the agency and ensures Europe’s satellite navigation systems are effectively operated, well maintained and secure.” He has three decades of experience managing space-service-focused teams.

EBAA also presented safety awards to six noteworthy business aviation operators. Cat Aviation received the Silver Safety of Flight Award, bestowed for 30 years or 60,000 hours of accident-free operation. FAI rent-a-jet won the Gold Award for 40 years or 80,000 hours of unblemished safety of flight. PrivatAir took the Platinum level safety award, having recorded at least 50 years or 100,000 hours of accident-free flying. Three companies took Diamond Safety of Flight honors, given for more than 50 years or 100,000 hours of safe aviating. They were DC Aviation, Flying Group and Gama Aviation.