Story ID: 003
People in Aviation
By: Kerry Lynch
Caption: Trent Corcia is CEO of CJP, Anna Galoni is CEO of Marsh Brothers Aviation, Ryan Scott president of jetAviva, and Vicki Britt to senior v-p of Gulfstream.
Word Count: 1704
The Citation Jet Pilots Owner Pilot Association (CJP) has named Trent Corcia as CEO. Corcia joins CJP after spending nearly a decade with FlightSafety International and he has also held positions with American Airlines and served as a U.S. Air Force C-130 instructor/evaluator, navigator, and mission commander.

Cadence Aerospace appointed Olivier Jarrault as CEO and Brian Bentley CEO of the Cadence Aerostructures segment. Jarrault succeeds Julian Guerra, who will remain on the board of directors focused on future growth strategies. Jarrault has served on the board since June 2020 and has served as president and CEO of Albany International and group president of Alcoa Engineered Products and Solutions. Brian Bentley formerly was general manager of Perfekta and Premier Processing and held management roles at Raytheon Technologies and Bombardier.

Anna Galoni was appointed CEO of bearing and seal specialist Marsh Brothers Aviation. She succeeds Terry McGowan, who stepped down after holding the role for 14 years. Galoni has held a number of senior roles within Marsh including human resources director, new product development, and most recently chair, a position she continues to hold.

Ryan Scott was named president of jetAviva, overseeing the company’s Embraer market activities. Scott brings more than 30 years of experience to his new role including as a founding member of Embraer Executive Jets, where he served as senior v-p of sales.

Gamma Aerospace appointed Donna J. (DJ) Fox as CFO. Fox has held a number of financial leadership positions with companies including Triumph Group, Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman, and The Boeing Company.

Gogo appointed Gustavo Nader as chief strategy officer and Melissa Hale as senior v-p of product and marketing. Nader, a telecommunications executive with 30 years of experience in the terrestrial and satellite communications industries, previously was head of strategy for Thales InFlyt Experience and has held senior positions with Echostar, Inmarsat, Ligado Networks, and T-Mobile (formerly Sprint Nextel). Hale brings 17 years of aviation experience to her new role, previously as director of program avionics at Gulfstream Aerospace.

Gulfstream Aerospace has promoted Vicki Britt to senior v-p of innovation, engineering, and flight. She succeeds Colin Miller, who is retiring after serving with the company for eight years. Britt has more than 30 years of aerospace experience, including the last 25 with Gulfstream and before that with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

The Air Charter Association appointed Patrick Lucy as chair of its Next Generation group formed to promote greater awareness of the air charter industry, particularly among emerging professionals. Lucy is the area sales manager for Avinode.
	
Dassault Aviation’s board of directors has selected Besma Boumaza to serve as an independent director and Thierry Dassault as a director. They take the terms of Catherine Dassault, who departed the board, and the late Olivier Dassault.

Helicopter Association International (HAI) recently elected Brian Jorgenson of Timberline Helicopters and Rick Kenin of Boston MedFlight to three-year terms on the board of directors. Both are serving on the board for the first time. In addition, Randy Rowles of Helicopter Institute was named incoming chair and Jeffery Smith of R.O.P. Aviation vice-chair. Jack Matiasevich of Southern California Edison is treasurer for the upcoming term and B. Adam Hammond of Tennessee Valley Authority is assistant treasurer.

NBAA appointed Kali Hague to a three-year term on the board of directors as the Young Professional director. A pilot and flight instructor who has worked for a Part 135 charter and airport authority, Hague is a partner at Jetlaw, where she advises clients in the U.S. and internationally on all aspects of aviation law and co-presents the firm’s NBAA-approved Professional Development Programs, as well as speaks throughout the country on aviation best practices and compliance.
	
Aerogility added Martin Taylor to its board of directors. Taylor is a 40-year veteran of BAE Systems and currently serves as managing director of future combat air systems.
	
Incora appointed Kevin Erickson chief people and diversity officer. Erickson formerly was chief human resources officer for Signature Aviation.

Luxaviation Group promoted Gary Forster to managing director for ExecuJet Caribbean. Forster joined ExecuJet Middle East in 2012, helping to launch its new FBO in Riyadh, later leading the opening of an FBO in Bali, serving as regional FBO manager for Asia Pacific, and most recently holding the role of global FBO business development manager.

Sage-popovich promoted Shawn Farrington to v-p of flight operations. Farrington, who joined the company in 2016, has held a range of positions, beginning as an aircraft detailer and also including ground/line service, maintenance support, parts distribution, liquidations, and flight coordination roles.

Tobias Kleff has joined CFS Jets as v-p of aircraft sales. Kleff brings an extensive background in complex private and commercial aircraft domestic and international transactions to his new role, previously serving with Jetcraft, Icon Aircraft, Clay Lacy, and Worldwide Aeros.
	
Bluetail hired Roy Gioconda to serve as v-p of customer success. Gioconda brings 35 years of experience to the role, including leadership positions with Camp Systems, Traxxall, IBM, American Airlines, and Flight Options.
	
RTCA appointed Vipul Gupta, v-p and general manager of Honeywell Aerospace Avionics, to its board of directors.  Gupta succeeds Michael Ingram, who recently left Honeywell.
	
Arjun Garg has joined Hogan Lovells’s Transportation regulatory practice as a partner based in Washington D.C. Garg formerly was chief counsel and acting deputy administrator at the FAA and also has served as a U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division.

Baker Aviation appointed Harry Mitchel v-p of operations. Mitchel has more than 35 years of experience in operational leadership and consulting roles, most recently as COO of Executive AirShare and also as v-p of operations for Colgan Air.
	
Bryan Dunn has joined Leading Edge Aviation Solutions as v-p of aircraft sales. Dunn formerly served with StandardAero for seven years as Northeast regional sales manager.

USAIG announced several promotions: Douglas Bosworth was named v-p and underwriting branch manager in Seattle; Kathleen McCoy, a risk and compliance analyst in the customer care department, was appointed v-p;  Brenda Riech, the customer care department’s policy language analyst is now a v-p; and Casey Hudson is assistant v-p and quality assurance coordinator in the customer care department.

Donald Synborski has joined Avpro as managing director of finance. Synborski has more than 30 years of equipment finance experience to Avpro, most recently managing corporate aircraft and capital market teams Citizens Asset Finance.

Deloitte named John Coykendall to lead its U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) sector within the U.S. industrial products and construction practice. Coykendall has served as the consulting leader for Deloitte’s global industrial products and construction practice and has worked with global companies with highly engineered products in the A&D, industrial products, and automotive industries.

Precise Flight promoted Bill Hoback to general manager. Hoback has served with Precise Flight for nine years, most recently as senior director of business development, and also has spent six years with Cessna in assembly, quality, flight line, customer service, and special projects.
	
Airspace security specialist Dedrone named former FAA deputy and acting administrator Daniel Elwell to its advisory board. Elwell, who left the agency late last year, has also served with the U.S. Air Force, American Airlines, and the Aerospace Industries Association, in addition to multiple roles within the FAA and Department of Transportation.

Avidyne has made a number of changes to its sales organization, including the addition of Dan Reida as director of business aviation sales. Also, Bryan Kahl was promoted to senior director of North American sales, support, and customer experience; Jorge Hernandez was promoted to director of international and government sales;  Steve Lawson is leading Avidyne’s turbine and helicopter fleet sales; Dale Ferrer is covering sales in the West region of North America, and Macie Dann now handles sales in the East region of North America.

Duncan Aviation promoted Leon Holloway to director of human resources for the enterprise. Holloway, who has spent nearly 10 years with Duncan Aviation, has 18 years of human resources leadership experience including as director of human resources for a St. Croix manufacturer and serves on several advisory boards such as the NBAA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Working Group.
	
Don Milum was appointed director of sales for Universal Avionics. Milum, who joined Universal in February of 2019 as regional sales manager, has more than 25 years of aviation industry experience that also has included roles with Honeywell, Textron, and StandardAero.

Ashley Udick was appointed general manager of Aero Center Lakeland, SAR Trilogy Management’s FBO complex at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Udick brings more than 10 years of aviation experience to her new role, including holding leadership positions at Sonoma Jet Center, Winter Haven Airport, and Sheltair.

Awards and Honors

NBAA has selected Dr. Martine Rothblatt as this year’s recipient of its highest honor, the Meritorious Service to Aviation Award. A fixed-wing and rotorcraft pilot, she helped to revolutionize the satellite radio industry by co-founding the company that has become SiriusXM. To be presented during NBAA-BACE October 12 to 14 in Las Vegas, the Meritorious Service to Aviation Award recognizes “extraordinary lifelong professional contributions" to the field.

NBAA called Rothblatt a trailblazer in aviation and other industries whose work “fostered the availability of satellite weather information and Nexrad graphics on the flight deck.”  Rothblatt also has played a role in the emergence of electric helicopters and is an integral player in advanced air mobility (AAM) companies, including Beta Technologies, which has won contracts from the U.S. Air Force, Blade Urban Air Mobility, and United Parcel Service. Her work has focused on the use of new eVTOL aircraft for organ delivery, among other purposes.

She is considered an early visionary in biotechnology as well. After her daughter was diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension, she founded United Therapeutics in 1994 to develop drugs to treat that condition and other rare diseases.