Story ID: 003
People in Aviation
By: James Careless
Caption: Patrick Shanahan is interim president for Spirit AeroSystems, Alain-Jory Barthe senior v-p of industry for Daher
Word Count: 1302
ITP Aero has chosen Eva Azoulay as the company’s group CEO and Carlos Alzola as managing director, while current CFO Javier Lázaro has been appointed to its board. Azoulay was previously an aviation advisor at Bain Capital, while Alzola was ITP Aero’s general manager.
Spirit AeroSystems has named Patrick Shanahan, a member of the company's board of directors, as interim president and CEO. He succeeds Thomas Gentile III while Spirit searches for a permanent replacement. Shanahan was acting U.S. Secretary of Defense from January to June 2019.
Daher Group has selected Alain-Jory Barthe as senior v-p of industry and Julie de Cevins as sustainable development director, effective Jan. 1. Prior to this, Barthe was CEO of Thales Avionics Electrical System. De Cevins is currently Daher Group’s acting senior v-p of industry.
Devin Golden has been hired as JetNet’s chief revenue officer. He was previously senior v-p of sales at IntelyCare.
The Aircraft Electronics Association has named Kevin Bruce as its director of engineering and certification. He has served as the association’s Canadian region regulatory consultant since 2013 and as the director of airworthiness and quality for Diamond Aircraft since 2006.
Tradewind Aviation has appointed Jen Lozada as v-p of finance and Crist Stilianos as v-p of human resources and people. Lozada was previously senior v-p of XO Shared. Stilianos was senior director of human resources at Calvin Klein.
King Aerospace has hired Pete Schneider as v-p of program management and special projects. He has 35 years of project management experience, including 15 involving VVIP aircraft.
ExecuJet MRO Services Africa's maintenance supervisor for engines, Frank Oberholzer, has attained the title of master technician after successfully completing advanced training on engines at Honeywell in the U.S. According to ExecuJet, only ten engineers in the world have earned this certification from Honeywell.
Tom Owen was appointed general manager for the Big Island Jet Center. Owen has 18 years of experience in business aviation operations, including being a part of the Avfuel Corporation’s FBO management team and acting as general manager for Sonoma Jet Center in Santa Rosa, California.
West Star Aviation has promoted Sean Ertz to technical sales manager—Textron at its Chattanooga, Tennessee location. His last position was project manager for the Textron program.
Air Charter Service (ACS) has promoted James Royds-Jones to regional director for the company’s newly defined Greater China region and Wanny Wu as deputy regional director. Royds-Jones was previously the company’s CEO and Hong Kong/regional director for Greater China, while Wu was managing director of ACS’ Beijing office.
Glyn Tookey has joined Duncan Aviation as its regional manager in Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA). He was formerly sales director with ACC Columbia Jet Service.
Priester Aviation has hired Victor Schaefer to be national director of charter sales. He was formerly in a similar position at Mayo Aviation.
Bent Wing Flight Services has appointed Nathan Coyle as executive director and general manager. Coyle comes to Bent Wing from the Georgia Department of Transportation, where he served as aviation planning manager.
Alfredo Garcia has joined ACI Jet as director of sales and business development for the company’s MRO division. He was formerly Duncan Aviation’s regional manager for the southwest U.S.
Elit'Avia Americas has appointed Renee Skiles as director of charter sales and client experience and Justin Warren as director of maintenance. Skiles was previously director of charter sales at Four Corners Aviation. Warren was CAM/MX supervisor at Solairus Aviation.
Marc Pos has been appointed as Reliable Robotics’ lead of radar design, having been a senior fellow at the company since July 2023. Pos was previously an engineering fellow at Honeywell.
Precision Aviation Group has promoted David Scarbrough to director of repair station safety and compliance. Brandon Yarbrough also was promoted to accountable manager. He was previously the repair station manager. Bryce English was elevated to repair station manager. English has been a quality monitor and engineering assistant at the company.
Duncan Aviation named Drew Heginbotham as Bombardier airframe sales rep at the company’s facility in Provo, Utah. Heginbotham came from the natural gas firm Oneok, where he was director of maintenance.
MRO Jet East has hired Rick Mutschler as the company’s Avionics and Electrical Systems technical instructor. He was previously Embraer product director at Constant Aviation.
West Star Aviation has named Eric Valdes as program director for Embraer, accessories, and nondestructive testing. Valdes was director of Gulfstream and accessories at West Star for the past 16 years. The MRO provider also promoted Ryan Gibbs to director of Falcon business development at its East Alton, Illinois location. He previously served as the company’s Falcon technical sales manager at West Star Aviation St. Louis Regional Airport. In addition, West Star promoted Corey Boardman to Bombardier team lead at its Chattanooga, Tennessee location. Boardman has been with West Star for 14 years in various positions and was Challenger crew lead before being promoted.
Awards and Honors
Electric aircraft manufacturer Eviation Aircraft has announced that test pilot Steve Crane has won the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for the first flight of the company’s twin electric engine Alice. The award was presented by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP), recognizing outstanding accomplishment by a test pilot in conducting a test flight. Crane flew the nine-seater Alice aircraft on Sept. 22, 2022, for eight minutes at an altitude of 3,500 feet. This made Alice the world’s first flight-tested all-electric commuter aircraft.
The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) has presented Max Motschmann with the François Chavatte Award. This special award honors Motschmann, former CEO of International Jet Management Asia and founder of the Philippines chapter of the Asia Business Aviation Association, for his passion for and leadership in expanding business aviation over his aviation career of 50-plus years.
Garmin co-founders Min Kao and the late Gary Burrell have been named to the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) in recognition of their lifetime achievements and contributions to the aviation and aerospace industry. Both men founded Garmin in 1989 with the goal of bringing GPS technology to a broad range of markets, with an emphasis on aviation.
Final Flight
Graham Stephenson, 84, whose aviation career spanned 60 years from British Airways to ExecuJet, died on October 19. Stephenson became known for his efforts to develop high standards of operations and safety at FBOs globally.
He had a lifelong passion for aviation, obtaining his pilot’s license at age 17—before he passed his driving test. Through an RAF scholarship, he had learned to fly the de Havilland Tiger Moth, according to obituary information from the Emerald Network.
Stephenson later spent 21 years with British Airways, a career that led him to Moscow as traffic manager and then back to London as traffic manager for British Airtours.
He also held stints with London Luton Airport and Saudi Arabian Airlines before moving into business aviation operations as v-p and COO of Jet Aviation Saudi Arabia. In that role, he helped establish an FBO in Jeddah.
Ultimately, he returned to the UK for a role in deputy operations management with Jersey European Airways and then helped in the development of London City Airport’s Jet Centre. By the mid-2000s, he became head of FBOs for ExecuJet Aviation Group, where he helped expand the chain of FBOs globally. He remained active in helping establish FBOs and building FBO standards with his own consultancy after retiring from ExecuJet. This included serving as an IS-BAH auditor for the International Business Aircraft Council.