Charles Tooley joined Savannah, Ga.-based Palmer & Cay, an insurance brokerage and consulting firm, as senior v-p for the aviation division. Tooley joined the company from an insurance broker in Kansas City.

Norwell, Mass.-based Sentient Jet named Jill Kremins as v-p of marketing. Kremins was most recently senior v-p of wealth segment strategy at Fleet Boston Financial.

Stephen Taylor has joined Savannah Air Center as v-p of sales, responsible for all of the company’s sales activities, including maintenance, completions and exterior paint. Taylor joined the company from Pentastar Aviation in Waterford, Mich.

Suzanne Scharton was promoted to general manager at Signature Flight Support’s Santa Barbara, Calif. facility. Scharton was client-service manager at Signature’s Orlando, Fla. headquarters. Jeffrey Magnus was named general manager at Signature’s Palm Springs, Calif. facility. Magnus was previously the largest shareholder and president of Magnus Aviation, a Wisconsin-based company that owned and operated FBOs.

Thomas Falco is the new director of maintenance for Teterboro, N.J.-based Atlantic Aviation.

McKinney Aerospace announced the addition of Jim McDonough as the Southeast sales manager. He joined the company from Garrett Aviation Services.

Australia-based Hawker Pacific named Peter Crook as sales manager for rotary-wing aircraft and John King to lead the company’s MRO activities in Australia.

At Keystone Helicopters, Chuck Hurdleston was promoted to director of program development for government programs. Hurdleston was sales manager for Keystone’s helicopter engine services division.

Amy Brown joined St. Louis-based Bob Ludlum Aircraft Sales as market analyst with responsibilities for acquisition, sales and consulting worldwide.

Ac-U-Kwik, a directory of FBO data published by Primedia Business Directories and Books, has introduced Ac-U-Kwik Aircraft Appraisals. Company employee Carl Janssens recently received his designation as accredited senior appraiser from the American Society of Appraisers.

Addison, Texas-based Aero Insurance promoted Bill Kingsley to v-p of operations, Matthew Miller to sales executive and Lisa Guest and Trish Hunter to account executives.

Pilot and actor Harrison Ford was named chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program. He replaced aviation legend Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager (ret.), who has served as chairman since 1994.

Jim Scott was named director for government programs for FlightSafety International. He is continuing to work from the FlightSafety center in Tulsa, Okla.

Regis Masson was named a regional engine manager for Dallas Airmotive. Masson is based in France and is working with customers in that country, as well as French-speaking aircraft operators in Africa. He was most recently engine aftermarket programs manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Honeywell Aerospace.

Raytheon Aircraft Service named Corey Hoover as manager of avionics engineering. Hoover is responsible for all engineering project management at Raytheon Aircraft Services’ FBOs in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as coordinating factory support at the facilities.

Zurich, Switzerland-based ExecuJet named Juliette Serrurier as charter sales manager for the UK and Ireland. She has more than 20 years experience in both the aviation and sales and operations fields.

Andrew Priester was named president and COO of Wheeling, Ill.-based Priester Aviation. He is the third generation of the Priester family to run the corporation. He succeeds his father, Charles Priester, who left his position after serving the company for more than 30 years. Andrew was previously director of charter operations at the company.

Dallas, Texas-based SevenBar Enterprises named Steve Pitt as general manager of SevenBar Aviation in Albuquerque, N.M. Pitt recently served as v-p and chief of operations for Swift Aviation in Phoenix, Ariz.

James Cox is the new director of operations of Waukegan, Ill.-based DB Aviation. He previously held the same post with Sunset Aviation in Novato, Calif.

Piedmont Hawthorne announced the appointment of John Williams as the manager in charge of property and development, with responsibilities for all real-estate issues, including airport negotiations, facility improvements and construction.

Nashville, Tenn.-based Averitt Air has promoted Robert “Bob” Vollmuth to director of sales. Since 2000, Vollmuth held the positions of jet captain and first officer, helicopter captain and project manager for quality, communications and automation.

Randy Raedlein joined Aero Air of Hillsboro, Ore., as the northwest regional sales manager. Raedlein is overseeing sales to customers in the Northwest U.S. and Canada.

The National Air Transportation Association nominated the following three people to its board of directors: Dean Harton, president and CEO of Piedmont Hawthorne Holdings; Jim Spinder, president and COO of Atlantic Aero; and Bill Koch, COO of SevenBar Enterprises.

In late March, Kenneth Gazzola, executive vice president/publisher of McGraw-Hill’s Aviation Week Group–the division that includes Aviation Week & Space Technology and Business & Commercial Aviation, among others–was elected as president of The Wings Club. The club’s mission is to preserve the history and perpetuate the traditions of aviation, while providing a forum for discussion and debate on aeronautical and aerospace issues. Gazzola, a seven-year member of
the club’s board, took office immediately after the election.

Awards & Honors

Henry Toby, the East Coast marketing manager for Securaplane, received the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The winners of the 2004 General Aviation Awards Program, a cooperative effort between the FAA and numerous industry sponsors, were recently announced. Keith Lewis, avionics service manager at Stevens Aviation at Greenville-Donaldson Center Airport in South Carolina, was named National Avionics Technician of the Year. Gary Goodpaster, chief of aircraft maintenance for Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., was named National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year.

Walter Schamel, a training manager for the Airline Transport Professionals at Craig Airport in Jacksonville, Fla., was named National Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year. Douglas Stewart, a CFI and owner of a flight school located at Kline Kill Airport in Ghent, N.Y., was named National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year.

Final Flights

Guy Hill Sr., the founder of FBO Hill Aircraft, died in February. He was 83. Hill is survived by his wife, Ann, five children and 10 grandchildren.

Aviation veteran Harlan Jost, 85, died at the end of March from a heart condition. Jost, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, was a maintenance officer in North Africa and Italy during World War II. He remained in the USAF Reserves for 31 years. After World War II he rejoined American Airlines in Southern California as a manager of cargo service, air mail, express and freight. He later served as regional director for Air Cargo, a firm owned by domestic airlines to handle air-freight details. Jost was active in the Aero Club of Southern California, now the Southern California Aeronautic Association, for 20 years. He is survived by his wife, Jean, four children and four grandchildren.

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