Story ID: 
Air Traffic Organization’s Keegan To Leave
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: An announcement is expected imminently that Charles Keegan will be leaving the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) for a senior position at Raytheon.
Word Count: 161
An announcement is expected imminently that Charles Keegan will be leaving the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO) for a senior position at Raytheon. As v-p for operations planning at the ATO, Keegan, 47, has been one of its most visible spokesmen and a strong advocate of system modernization and the application of new technology. A pilot, he joined the FAA in 1979 as an air traffic controller, and subsequently occupied a variety of senior ATC posts. In his current position at the ATO, he has been responsible for the FAA’s Flight Plan, the agency’s operational evolution plan and the joint program development office, in addition to  overseeing other agency functions. "Charlie may have been short in stature," said a  colleague, "but he’s leaving a very large pair of shoes to fill." The ATO was established in February 2004 with the objective of turning ATC services into a "performance-based" organization that operates more like a business with clear lines of accountability.