Story ID: 003 People
People in Aviation
By: Kait Wilson
Caption: A look at recent industry job title updates, leadership changes, awards recognitions, and honoring the memory of those who have taken their final flight.
Word Count: 1503
Columbia Helicopters named executive v-p Michael Tremlett president and CEO, succeeding Steve Bandy who retired. Bandy continues to serve on the board of directors as vice chairman. Tremlett has more than 26 years of military and civilian aviation experience, with nearly 20 years as a strategic business development leader in aviation manufacturing, MRO, and depot sustainment organizations.
André Ebach was appointed CEO of Aero-Dienst after serving at the company for five years as an authorized signatory, head of maintenance, and executive board member. Before joining Aero-Dienst, Ebach held positions with Lufthansa Technik and Ruag Aviation.
Randy McKinney was named president by Elevate Aviation Group. McKinney has most recently served as COO for JSX and before that held the role of COO and executive v-p for DAL Global Services, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. He also has customer service and vendor management experience with NetJets. 
Bristow Group appointed Elizabeth Matthews senior v-p, general counsel, head of government affairs, and corporate secretary. Matthews has more than 25 years of legal experience providing counsel across several different industries, most recently working in the energy sector for the past 21 years. Her legal career includes six years in private practice, 11 years at Chevron, and most recently as deputy managing director, executive v-p, and general counsel at TotalEnergies.
VoltAero appointed Martin Füllenbach as an independent director and Hervé Blanc as an advisory board member. Füllenbach is CEO and chairman of the board of SolydEra. His career includes serving as the CEO of Semperit, as CEO of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum (now Atlas Copco Group), as CEO of Voith Marine Systems, as well as working at DaimlerChrysler Aerospace/EADS (now Airbus) in the defense systems division at Munich and Paris. Blanc is president of Beta Strategy, which provides coaching and guidance for projects in decarbonization, system architecture, and leadership. He formerly held the role of executive v-p and general manager of the Power Division at Safran Electrical and Power.
Jennifer Alessio was appointed to NBAA’s board of directors, where she will serve until the October 2023 annual meeting of members and then be eligible for election by the membership to a full, three-year term. Alessio is the director of aviation for the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) global aviation department. Before joining HPE in April 2015, she spent 16 years at McKesson, where she was the director of finance and analytics for the aviation and corporate security department.		The Naples Airport Authority’s Noise Compatibility Committee (NCC) re-elected Chris Auron as chair and Richard Krawczun as vice-chair for 2023. Appointed to the NCC in March 2019, Auron is a pilot and aircraft mechanic who served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years and later in the Arizona Army National Guard. Appointed to the NCC in March 2020, Krawczun has more than 35 years of experience in local and municipal government service. Appointed to the NCC in March 2020.
Jet Support Services named Serdar Yorgancigil as chief information officer. Yorgancigil has more than 20 years of aviation and technology experience, previously holding senior roles at AAR Corp., including senior v-p of digital enablement.
TJ Spitzmiller returns to aircraft engineering and certification firm Peregrine as v-p of business development and administration. Spizmiller has more than 20 years of experience in the aerospace industry, previously working in supply chain management at Eclipse Aviation and Honeywell, and as general manager of Sarasota Avionics.
Thomas Reese was hired by Unmanned Safety Institute as v-p of operations, succeeding Don Shinnamon who will transition to the role of director of audit programs. Reese has a background in aeronautical science and operational experience in both crewed and remotely piloted aviation.
Luxaviation Group appointed Joachim Krüger as v-p of Northern Europe and managing director of the German entities, and Paul van der Blom as director for commercial development of the Northern European region. Krüger, a former German Air Force officer, has more than 20 years of experience in business aviation previously working as a consultant for the Middle East, serving as an independent cargo/freight broker for VW, and co-founding FairJets, which was acquired by Luxaviaton in 2011. Van der Blom has 30 years of experience in commercial aviation in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, holding aircraft management and sales positions with operators and aircraft manufacturers.
Andrew Fischer was hired by Priester Aviation as v-p of aircraft management. Fischer has nearly 30 years of experience in corporate aviation, having served for 19 years at NetJets in roles including program manager and v-p of sales; at Pentastar Aviation, where he worked as an aircraft management consultant; and most recently at Jet Linx.
Keystone Aviation named David Allen v-p of operations and Colleen McCauley v-p of sales and owner services. Allen joined Keystone in 2018 and most recently served as director of air carrier safety in Salt Lake City. Before that, he ran TAC Air’s Airline Services and held operations and customer service management positions at Delta, Northwest, and US Airways. McCauley has nearly 30 years of aircraft charter and management experience, previously as director of charter sales at an aircraft management company and president and director of flight operations at Jetworks International. She joined the group’s Elevate Jet sales unit last year and will hold similar responsibilities in her new role.		Maximilian Fahr was promoted by Deutsche Aircraft to serve as v-p of supply chain. Before his promotion, Fahr held the role of director of supply chain for two years. He previously held operational and strategic positions at Airbus in China and South Korea. He is also a Form 4 holder with Germany’s Airworthiness Authority.
APP Jet Center promoted Quinn Redden to director of business development. Redden has more than 25 years of general aviation experience, previously working at Titan Fuels as a bulk fuel sales area manager and fuel quality control specialist. He has held various positions with APP, including line technician and general manager of the FBO at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia, where he will continue to serve in that capacity.
Southeast Aerospace hired Michael Roy as business development manager for Latin America. Roy brings more than 12 years of experience developing business and selling aviation technology, parts, and repair services in the Latin American market. He previously held roles with Bose and LATAMCO Consulting.
Pro Star Aviation promoted Jeff Shaw to director of sales and marketing, succeeding Clark Gordon who retired at the end of 2022. Gordon joined Pro Star in 2010 as director of sales. Shaw’s career in aviation spans more than 25 years having previously held the position of director of business development at Pro Star for six years and before that in roles as an ops agent with the airlines. 
Awards and Honors
The French Air and Space Academy honored Eric Trappier, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, with its Grand Prix 2022 award "for his remarkable career as an engineer and manager who has dedicated his career to the development of the French and European aeronautical industry.”
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) announced its 2023 inductees, including pilot and astronaut Fred Haise, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and former director general of Airports Council International Angela Gittens. Posthumously inducted into the 2023 NAHF class are aviation pioneers Velta Benn and Cornelius Coffey and business and general aviation legend Ed Stimpson. Inductees will be honored during a ceremony in Washington in fall 2023.
The 2023 class of Women in Aviation International (WAI) Pioneer Hall of Fame inductees will be recognized on February 25 during the WAI conference. Inductees include Nancy Bird, the first Australian woman to use her commercial license in Australia and founder of the Australian Women Pilots Association; Martha and John King, owners and founders of King Schools, and military trailblazer Col. Merryl Tengesdal USAF (Ret.).
Final Flights
Aviator and journalist Danna Kusianovich Henderson, 88, passed away at her home in Easton, Maryland on Nov. 20, 2022.
Henderson graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1955 with a degree in journalism and minor in archaeology. She then became a reporter for the Albuquerque Journal and learned to fly at the long-gone West Mesa Airport. In the early 1960s, she received her helicopter pilot certificate and joined the Whirly-Girls organization of women helicopter pilots.
Her career as an aviation journalist spanned approximately 50 years having also worked for publications including Aviation Daily as a reporter, managing editor of American Aviation, and as a freelance journalist for AIN and Convention News. She also worked at Transpo ’72 for ALPA and AFA. The majority of her writing career was with Air Transport World, where she continued to contribute until she retired in 2011.