Story ID: 
NATA Evolves Under New Management Structure
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Hiller expects a roll out of a number of new products and services to support the association's advocacy efforts.
Word Count: 1264
NATA’s new management structure, with Marathon Jet Center owner and Hiller Carbon CEO Martin Hiller at the helm as president, will move the association to more of a hands-on member-based organization that will expand its products and services to support its advocacy efforts, Hiller said.

Hiller, an entrepreneur who founded and ran The Hiller Group for nearly 30 years until it was acquired by World Fuel Services 2010, initially agreed to step in as acting president after Tom Hendricks announced his decision to leave the association at the end of August. But, Hiller told AIN, “the board had some great, significant conversation” that led to a new structure under which the day-to-day operations are run by the staff and Hiller becomes president—sans the "acting" precursor—for the “foreseeable future.”

“I love aviation and I love NATA. It’s been a wonderful voice for business aviation,” he said. “For me, it’s not just about the business of the industry. It’s personal. I’ve been in aviation for almost 35 years.”

Hiller had served on the NATA board for five years and had been vice chairman when he decided to move over to president. In doing so, he relinquished his position on the board. “It is unique to go from a board role and turn that into the role of president,” he said, “but having guys like Tim [Obitts] and Bill [Deere] as the leadership team and the wonderful staff at NATA actually makes it fairly easy.”

Key to this transition were the promotions of Obitts to executive v-p of operations and business and general counsel and Deere to executive v-p of government and external affairs. Obitts will have more hands-on control of the association's operations and services while Deere will steer the advocacy efforts. “I am very comfortable with the day-to-day operational side of NATA being managed by Tim and Bill. The interaction between the association and the board is very smooth in this kind of transition. One has views as a board member, but on the inside, NATA is as good as or better than I expected in almost every area. These guys are helping us to do some wonderful work,” said Hiller.

Hiller said his role would be more strategic, working with the board and the committee members on the vision of the association. “My job is to make sure we align our strategic plan to the board initiatives and make sure we’re the most efficient in the way we use our revenue resources.”

At the same time, he will remain involved in his current businesses. But he anticipates he will be spending a substantial amount of time in Washington. “I have been in Washington a significant amount of time…lately, as much as my predecessor. I suspect it doesn’t feel much different from someone based locally.”

But he added, “The role of the president is not just to sitting in the office, but to go out and see the membership.” He goal, he said, is “to bring members closer. You’ll see NATA become more focused on growth of membership and development of products.”

He noted that NATA has four strong committees—air charters, airport business, maintenance and safety—all of which have worked closely with the staff. “There are close to 70 committee members who are the lifeblood of NATA. They do a lot of the heavy lifting,” he said.

The committee members are key, he said, because NATA has such a diverse spectrum of interests, including charter, aircraft management, FBOs, fractional operators, MRO and other industry segments. “We touch virtually every segment of the industry. That construct is a lot to look after. But we have a board of directors whose members come from all segments of industry to help shape our vision.”

The vision of the association is to maintain “fiscal discipline. We really like the value we’re creating,” he said. He pointed to the array of services currently offered by NATA, including the Safety First training programs and Compliance Services that manages the Known Crewmember program for non-scheduled operations, as well as background checks, regulated security programs, drug and alcohol testing and fingerprinting services.

 “We’re not satisfied,” he added. “To me this is just a starting point. We’ve got a lot of exciting opportunities and products coming on board.” He added the pipeline of those products and services in the works “is breathtaking. The staff has been working incredibly hard. The opportunities are significant going forward.”

At the same time, these programs facilitate NATA’s advocacy role, which Hiller sees as a crucial leg of the association’s mission. He stressed the importance of working with the other aviation associations and reaching out to decision-makers directly.

He steps in with a focus on a number of key issues. At the forefront is the airport dispute in Santa Monica, California. He called the city’s attempt to evict Atlantic Aviation and American Flyers an “underhanded approach to strangle the airport” and said these actions are “disappointing on a lot of levels. I don’t think [city officials] have spent enough time thinking of the value of the airport.” He also questioned the ability of the city to follow through on its stated intention of providing its own services within the 30-day eviction time. “It would be challenging for a private operation to come from ground up in 30 days and not have an interruption of service.” While he understands airports have the right to run their own services, the existing businesses at SMO have “done a great job there. They’ve served the aviation industry.”

Hiller also is keeping a close eye on attempts to reform the nation’s air traffic control system, saying he believes the airlines are “reloading” in their efforts to transition ATC to an independent organization. “The airline proposal is bad for aviation and it’s really a bad investment for rural America,” he said. Hiller is hoping that the new Congress will continue to have “appropriate steady hands” on the issue.

He further highlighted the so-called “fuel fraud” issue under which non-commercial fuel is taxed at the highway diesel fuel rate and diverted into the Highway Trust Fund until approved vendors demonstrate the fuel was used for aviation purposes. Recently, the Government Accountability Office estimated that as must as $2 billion has been diverted from aviation use as a result. “In the current budget environment, it is going to be very difficult for us to go back to 2005 [before the fuel fraud provision became law], but we’re going to work hard to get as much of the money that was clearly designed for airport improvements and infrastructure back to the appropriate place,” Hiller said.

Another issue that the association is actively involved in surrounds the tax treatment of aircraft management fees, he said, adding NATA will remain deeply involved.

“We’re going to continue to do the hard work,” he said. “That watchdog role is significant.” Hiller conceded that the NATA structure is not what is traditionally seen in Washington. “It is unique to have someone who has come from industry into the trade association. The board looked at all the models, and we benchmarked other industries and other associations, and we’re fairly comfortable that this is the model that works for NATA and one the provides the appropriate value for our members.”