People In Aviation: January 2016

Nexus appointed Omar Halawani president and CEO. Halawani previously spent five years as president and CEO of Masarat Aviation Consulting and before that held roles with Maz Aviation Consultants, Flynas and NetJets Middle East. He succeeds Abdullah Al-Sayed, who became chairman of the Saudi Arabia-based flight operations services company. Al-Sayed, who had been president and CEO since Nexus was founded in 2010, has also served with NetJets Middle East.

Denis Jubinville was named president of newly launched aircraft acquisitions and sales company The Dow Group. Jubinville has 18 years of aviation sales and marketing experience, with a background in Learjets, Challengers and Globals, as well as with fractional ownership and jet card sales.

Loic Nicolas has founded Aero Market & Business Development, a Paris-based consultancy that will provide business aviation market analysis for prospective aircraft models. Nicolas brings more than 25 years of business aviation experience to his new role, having served as general manager-business aviation market for Snecma (Safran Group), director of business development and strategy for Hispano Suiza, director of marketing and sales-aircraft engines and equipment for Honeywell Aerospace and director of marketing and sales for Thomson-Auxilec (now Thales Group).

Brant Dahlfors is teaming with Mark Bloomer of the business jet transaction consultancy Bloomer deVere Group Avia to create Bloomer deVere Dahlfors. Dahlfors has a 35-year aviation background, having spent more than 19 years with Bombardier Aerospace and also serving with TBM, Mooney and Beech Aircraft. Bloomer, who had been president and founding partner in Bloomer deVere Group Avia, served with Cessna and Tiger Air before co-founding Avtel Services.

Jeffrey Gilley, NBAA’s longtime director of airports and ground infrastructure, retired. Gilley, who joined the association in 1999, has been the association’s expert on airport access and advocacy issues, serving as staff liaison to the NBAA Access Committee and handling high-profile access issues in Burbank, Santa Monica, Naples and Teterboro, among many others.

Steve Foley joined Solairus Aviation as executive v-p. Foley logged a 27-career with the U.S. Navy, where he was the commanding officer/flight leader for the Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Squadron and as wing commander for the Pacific fighter fleet.

Dustin Cordier joined jetAviva as v-p of sales. Cordier has served as an executive for both Cessna and Embraer Executive Jets.

Acropolis Aviation appointed Kuky Salazar v-p for the U.S. and Latin America. Salazar has more than two decades of business aviation experience, holding executive positions at Private Aviation Solutions, Presidential Aviation and NetJets/Executive Jet Aviation.

Wyvern appointed John Meehan v-p of global sales and promoted Tony Ciaravino to East Coast regional director of sales. Meehan has more than 34 years of experience, having served with the largest FBO in the Landmark Aviation portfolio as well as with Textron Aviation, Hawker Beechcraft, BAE Systems and American Airports. Ciaravino has more than 17 years of business aviation experience, having served with Solairus and PrivatAir before holding his most recent position of eastern regional sales manager for Wyvern.

Executive AirShare named Matt Druten CFO and promoted Kyle McCracken to director of scheduling and Lori Harlow to v-p of accounting and controller. Druten has served as president and CFO for Freightquote and CFOfor SPX. McCracken joined Executive AirShare in 2010 as a customer service supervisor and before that was an owner services representative for CitationAir. Harlow joined Executive AirShare in 2009 and before that was an inventory accounting supervisor at Embarq and senior financial analyst at Sprint.

Stellar Labs named Fred Powell v-p of operator systems and Wendy Burton director of operator relations and integration. Powell has 20 years of experience developing flight operations management systems, serving as chief architect, designer and program manager for FOS. Burton has more than 15 years of industry experience, including serving with ACI Jet, Priester Aviation, Wayfarer Aviation and Sentient Jet as well as chair of NBAA’s California division of Schedulers and Dispatchers.

Able Aerospace Services appointed John Celigoy v-p of business generation. Celigoy has more than 25 years of aviation operations and program management experience, most recently as strategic marketing director and senior customer business director for Honeywell Aerospace.

Parker Aerospace promoted members of its leadership team. Guy Martin, who had been with Parker since 1983 and most recently was vice president and general manager of the fluid systems division, was appointed vice president of operations for airframes and actuation. Succeeding Martin at the helm of the fluid systems division isManuel Bajaksouzian, who has served with the company since 1984 and most recently was vice president and general manager of Parker Aerospace’s gas turbine fuel systems division. David Overholt, who had been general manager Parker’s Advanced Atomization Technologies joint venture with GE Aviation, becomes vice president and general manager of the gas turbine fuel systems division. Succeeding Overholt is Steve O’Connor, who has served with Parker since 1983 and most recently was a regional business unit manager for Parker Aerospace’s fluid systems division. Also, Austin Major has been named vice president of Parker Aerospace’s customer support operations. He has served wit the company since 1984 and most recently was general manager of the PGI Division for Parker Hannifin’s Instrumentation Group.

C&L named Calvin Tuitt senior v-p, MRO. Tuitt has a quarter century of experience in sales, marketing and commercial management for Rolls-Royce Canada, Pratt and Whitney Canada, ExelTech Aerospace and Discovery Air Technical Services.

Scott Latino joined English Field Aviation as avionics manager. Field has 30 years of experience as an avionics technician and has owned and operated his own repair station for 10 years.

FlightSafety International appointed Andy Parrish as manager of its learning center in San Antonio, Texas. He succeeds Gil Viera, who became a program manager at FlightSafety’s Orlando center. Parrish first joined FlightSafety in 1995 as a product marketing manager in Savannah, Ga., and most recently was vice president of sales and operations for a company that supports airlines.

FreeFlight Systems named Ashley Kelly inside sales manager and Kyle Williams regional sales manager. Kelly rejoins the company with eight years of experience in the avionics industry. Williams also is rejoining the firm after holding sales positions with Aspen Avionics and Avidyne.

Dumont Aviation promoted Michael Wallace to director of maintenance of Dumont Aviation BMI in Bloomington, Ill. Wallace, who joined Dumont Aviation in 2011, previously spent 10 years with Avcraft Technical Services.

Kevin Gettemeier joined AV8MRO as the company’s technical sales representative. Gettemeier has 40 years of experience in flying, aircraft maintenance, operations and business development.

The Flight Safety Foundation Board of Governors has elected seven new members:

 Warren Christie, senior v-p of safety, security and training at JetBlue Airways; Lisa Brockenbrough Dennis, recently retired as managing director for corporate compliance and quality at Delta Air Lines; Michael Gamlin, manager of air safety investigations for Rolls-Royce; Gretchen Haskins, CEO of HeliOffshore; Tim Jenkins, Qantas Group executive manager of safety and health; Tim Steeds, British Airways director of safety and security; and Peter Stein, director of flight operations at Johnson Controls.

Nikolaus Ludwig has joined the instructor staff of Global Jet Services. Ludwig previously spent 18 years with Bombardier and has served as a Learjet instructor.

Neil Kunycky has joined FlightSafety International as national sales director for Beechcraft training programs. Kunycky has 32 years experience with Beech aircraft, beginning with Elliott Beechcraft in Minneapolis, moving to a factory-owned King Air office in Boston, and then holding multiple sales roles for Beechcraft and Textron Aviation, most recently as Northeast sales director for the King Air and Cessna Caravan.

Guardian Jet named Richard Smith and Earl Kessler regional sales leaders. Smith, who is vice president of sales for the South Central U.S., previously was vice president at Business Aircraft Leasing. Kessler, who serves as sales director, previously spent 20 years as a partner in Resource Management & Development, a Reno-based real estate and development firm.

Meridian appointed MaKayla Hambek as an aviation sales executive at Meridian Air Charter. Hambek previously served with Castle & Cooke Aviation and before that was with Baymark Aviation at Van Nuys Airport.

Gregory Laabs was named director of MRO services for Banyan Air Service. Laabs has 36 years of aviation experience, previously holding positions with Stevens Aviation, Gulfstream, Mayo Aviation, West Star Aviation and Duncan Aviation.

AWARDS AND HONORS

The Wichita Aero Club will present the fifth Wichita Aero Club Trophy to volunteers and members of Doc’s Friends, the organization restoring a Wichita-built B-29 to flying condition. The trophy was established to honor a living person, group or existing organization with a strong relationship to the greater Wichita area that has distinguished itself in the field of aviation or aerospace. The trophy will be presented January 23 at the Aero Club’s annual Trophy Gala. The award recognizes Doc’s Friends “for maintaining a vision and dedication and providing the extraordinarily selfless effort to return the historic B-29 known as Doc to flyable condition as a tribute to the thousands of men and women who built, maintained, flew and sacrificed to produce thousands of airplanes for the defense and freedom of our country and way of life.”

FINAL FLIGHT

Mayo Aviation founder Gwendolyn Lee Olson Mayo died November 20. Born in 1932 in Minneapolis, Mayo earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Minnesota and had served as a research chemist for the University of Colorado before launching Mayo Aviation in 1978.

Under her leadership, Mayo Aviation grew into an established charter and management business that operates aircraft from turboprops to heavy jets and also has a certified repair station. Based at Centennial Airport in Denver, Mayo also has had a 36-year partnership with Flight for Life Colorado.

Mayo was the first woman chair of the National Air Transportation Association and won that organization’s William A. (Bill) Ong Memorial Award in 1978. She was inducted into the Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame and was recognized with NBAA’s Silk Scarf Award.