Story ID: 003 People
People in Aviaton
By: Kait Wilson
Caption: A look at industry job title updates, leadership changes, and awards and at aviation VIPs who have taken their final flight.
Word Count: 1530
Hawthorne Global Aviation Services has appointed Tyson Goetz as CEO. Goetz most recently served as co-founder and president for Lynx FBO Network and previously held leadership positions at Landmark Aviation and Atlantic Aviation. Hawthorne also hired Lance Allen as CFO, Leslie McIntyre as chief human resources officer, and Joe Hansen as executive v-p of business development. Allen previously served as CFO for Ross Aviation; McIntyre joined Hawthorne after having held HR positions with Lynx FBO Network and Landmark Aviation; and Hansen came to Hawthorne from Sacramento Jet Center.
Greg Principato, the president and CEO of the National Aeronautic Association, has announced plans to retire in September after serving the organization for seven years. Principato has worked for more than 40 years in Washington, D.C., in aviation and public service. He previously headed the National Association of State Aviation Officials and Airports Council International—North America.
Denzil White has been appointed by Phenix Jet Cayman to serve as COO. White has more than three decades of leadership experience at several aviation companies in Hong Kong and around the world.
Blade Air Mobility has expanded its board with the appointment of two new directors, Andrew Lauck and John Borthwick. Lauck is a partner at RedBird Capital Partners and leads the firm's consumer unit, which includes investments in Blade, Jet Linx, Beta Technologies, Aero Centers, Equipment Share, and RedBird QSR. He will serve on Blade’s audit committee. Borthwick is the CEO and founder of Betaworks, a technology investment and incubation company based in New York City. He had served on the board when Blade was private and will now join the nominating and corporate governance committee.
Citadel Completions has appointed Neil Boyle as senior v-p of operations and GM. Boyle has four decades of experience in aircraft maintenance, business aviation, and completions centers. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a T-38A mechanic and retired 20 years later as an F-15E Fighter Squadrons production superintendent. From there, he went to work for Gulfstream Aerospace in production and operations, and he recently retired from Jet Aviation after serving as senior v-p and GM. 
Aircraft interiors and maintenance services provider Latitude Aero has appointed Garrett Wishon as v-p of operations and promoted Emma Reno to director of marketing. Wishon joins Latitude with more than 10 years of experience in the industry, having held leadership positions in engineering, production management, and program management. Reno joined the company in January 2022, having previously served as marketing coordinator. 
Kellie Roby has been promoted by Polaris Aero to v-p of the company's new safety services division. Roby, a certified aviation manager, has experience as a safety manager at Part 91 and 135 operations. She joined Polaris in 2021 as the firm’s Midwest sales executive and was promoted to v-p in January. She is a member of the NBAA Professional Development Program Committee, NBAA Young Professionals in Business Aviation Council, and Bombardier Safety Standdown Advisory Council.
Leviate Air Group has promoted Zach Goldberg to regional v-p of aircraft sales. Goldberg has been with Leviate as an aircraft sales director since the company’s founding in 2014 and is an IADA-certified broker as well as a pilot for a major airline. 
Nick Brown has been named director of workforce development for the Aircraft Electronics Association. Brown is a U.S. Air Force veteran who previously worked as a radar avionics journeyman and later became a supervisor. He is the avionics instructor for Kent Career Technical Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and owns and operates Ace Avionics Training, where he helps active-duty military members transition to civilian careers by earning avionics certifications. He will assume his new role on June 15, following the completion of the school year.
Industry veteran Simon Williams has been hired by Avidyne as director of international sales. Williams’s experience in aviation includes aftermarket and OEM sales management in Asia-Pacific at Honeywell/Bendix/King, product management and technical business development at Airwork, and maintenance and operations positions in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Air charter specialist Chapman Freeborn has promoted Catriona Taylor to global supplier relations director and Jenny van Wyk to country manager for South Africa. Taylor has worked with Chapman Freeborn for 18 years, most recently as group passenger operations director. Van Wyk has served the company for more than nine years as a member of the passenger team in South Africa.
Mark Daniels has joined Jet East as Citation product director at the company's Dallas facility. Daniels served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a mechanic and later as a helicopter crew chief. Following his military service, he held maintenance roles with the National Guard, Dee Howard, Lockheed Martin, and most recently Cessna, where he spent 23 years. Jet East has also hired Mike Hamilton as regional sales director of the Great Lakes region. Hamilton has more than 30 years of aviation maintenance, operations, and sales leadership experience. He most recently served as a regional sales manager with Constant Aviation and previously was maintenance manager for flight operations and director of maintenance at Great Lakes Aviation, director of maintenance procurement at Travel Management Company, and v-p of operations at Jet East Trenton.
Cabin audio specialist Alto Aviation has hired Mark Reeves as operations project manager. He previously served as director of operations at Andover Audio, procurement operations manager at Nuance Communications, and director of engineering and operations at Cambridge SoundWorks.
Duncan Aviation has promoted Bob Cornett to airframe manager at the company's Provo, Utah facility. Cornett joined Duncan in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1999 as a line service representative after having performed similar duties in the U.S. Navy. He transferred to the Provo facility in 2018 to build the location’s FBO services as its manager and served in that capacity until January 2021, when he added the role of accessories shop manager.
Piet Buys has joined C&L Aerospace as a technical representative specializing in ATR 42/72, ERJ-135/145/170/175/190/195, and Bombardier Q400 and Challenger aircraft. Buys has decades of experience in aviation engineering and maintenance at Cemair, Solenta Aviation, The Airplane Factory, Astra Operations, and S.A. Express Airways, among other companies.
Adler Aviation has hired FAA-licensed aircraft maintenance technician Glenn Introcaso. Introcaso has more than 35 years of maintenance experience in the industry. His past titles include director of maintenance for Part 91 and 135 operations at Capital Aviation Services.
Maintenance controller and CASA delegate Nicole Zhou has been hired by Jet Diligence, a provider of aircraft airworthiness management and maintenance support. Zhou has more than 10 years of experience as a maintenance controller with Hawker Pacific and Jet Aviation in Australia.
Awards and Honors
Bill Ross, v-p of product support at Superior Air Parts, has been named the 2023 National Aviation Technician of the Year by General Aviation Awards. Ross is an FAA A&P I/A mechanic, commercial pilot, and CFII. He also serves on the board of Western Michigan University College of Aviation.
Final Flights
Business aviation advocate David Bell passed away on March 21 at age 77.
Bell, who began his aviation career in the 1960s as a cadet with Hawker de Havilland, later transitioned to sales and then became aviation marketing director for Hawker Pacific, where he was also a member of the board. He served as CEO of the Australia Business Aviation Association and as a member of the International Business Aviation Council governing board from 2003 to 2021. In 2017, Bell was awarded the Medal of Order of Australia in recognition of his outstanding achievement and service to aviation.
He is survived by his wife Lynne, as well as his children and grandchildren.
European Business Aviation Association secretary-general Athar Husain Khan passed away unexpectedly on March 26.
Husain Khan was involved in European and international aviation for more than 30 years, leading the EBAA secretariat since July 2018. He worked closely with NBAA on many issues and events, most notably the European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, which NBAA and EBAA co-host each year.
Husain Khan graduated from the University of Leiden with a degree in European law, human rights law, and international law, and specialized in air and space law. He previously held roles with the Dutch Ministries of Education and Transport, where he served as a senior policy advisor and negotiator on aero-political affairs. He also served as director of government and industry affairs for KLM and as CEO of the Association of European Airlines. 
He leaves behind a wife and son.