A lifelong aviation enthusiast who joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in 2007, Curt came to&nbsp;the publication&nbsp;from the broadcast industry where he was a national science and technology television reporter and producer. He writes on the FBO field, aviation finance, and sustainable aviation and occasionally contributes to&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;sister publication&nbsp;Business Jet Traveler. Curt was a member of the AINtv reporting staff that won the 2008 Aerospace Journalist of the Year award for Best Airshow Daily. That same year, he was a finalist for another AJOYA award. He earned an AJOYA for Best Business Aviation Submission in 2018 and was a finalist in that category in 2021. He received the National Air Transportation Association’s&nbsp; Aviation Journalist Award in 2012 and won a Pegasus Sapphire Business Aviation Award for outstanding journalism in 2021.
Before joining AIN, Curt worked with&nbsp;Consumer Reports’ television division, CRTV, and for several local television news staffs. An honors graduate of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he earned a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University in 1995. Curt lives in New York State with his wife and two young sons.

Senior Editor

Curt Epstein

The board of directors of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association has elected Robert Wilson, president of Honeywell Business and General Aviation, the association’s new chairman. John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet, was elected the association’s vice chairman. Rosanvallon will also continue to serve as chairman of the Security Issues Committee throughout the coming year.&nbsp; 
UK-based parts and repair company AJ Walter Aviation has promoted Boris Wolstenholme to chief executive. 
Montreal-based CMC Electronics has appointed Sylvie Desjardins vice president for finance. 
Industry veteran Lynn Brubaker has been elected chair of the Flight Safety Foundation’s board of governors, succeeding Ambassador Ed Stimpson, who resigned.
Guy Joannes has been appointed president and CEO of Eurocopter Canada, replacing Marie-Agnès Vève. 
Dallas-based parts supplier and component repair specialist Aviall announced a series of anticipated changes to its senior leadership. Chairman, president and CEO Paul Fulchino will retire early next year and will be succeeded by Dan Komnenovich, currently executive v-p and president and COO of Aviall Services. Ed Dolanski, currently the senior v-p of operations at the Boeing subsidiary, will assume Komnenovich’s roles. Jim Zarvos has been appointed the v-p of sales and marketing, Western Hemisphere, for Dassault Aircraft Services. In addition, Dassault Falcon promoted Dean Fagaly from deputy and group leader of the customer completion administration group to director of customer completion administration at its Little Rock, Ark. facility, replacing John Peapples, who retired in June. The company also named Giovanni Luciolli sales and marketing manager for its FalconCare program in the Western Hemisphere.
Greg Renna, previously senior v-p with Center Capital, has joined aircraft solutions provider Axis Jet as a sales director. The Sacramento, Calif.-based company also added business development specialist Ken Lux in the same capacity.
The National Air Transportation Association has named Timothy Heck its new v-p for financial operations. He takes over from Alan Darrow, who recently retired.
Scott Taylor has joined StandardAero as its new senior v-p for business aviation. The MRO specialist also appointed Rob Cords, formerly an associate partner with the Oliver Wyman Group, to the position of senior v-p of strategy, business development and customer support; and tapped Joe Brady, previously the director of customer and field support for Honeywell’s process solutions division, to head up its business aviation mobile services team. In addition, the Tempe, Ariz.-based company has chosen Pat Conroy as regional sales manager for Southern California and named Jason Miller, previously an instructor, pilot and air operations officer with the U.S. military, as the general manager of its Houston Intercontinental (George Bush) Airport facility.
John Tary, previously a member of Toyota’s corporate flight department, has been named general manager of fixed-base operations for Toyota-owned Long Beach Airport service provider AirFlite.
ExecuJet has appointed Quintin Cairncross its Middle East operations director. 
Gulfstream has named two new representatives to its field service organization. Mohammed Alghanim will assist the airframer’s Middle East customers, while David Perez will support customers in southern Europe and northern Africa. 
Charlotte, N.C.-based aviation services provider Jetpool has promoted Scott Voglesonger to chief pilot.&nbsp; 
Universal Weather &amp; Aviation has hired Ian Spreadbury to be its new account manager for the Middle East and Africa, while Azadeh Golestan was tapped as Universal’s manager for fuel and supply for the region. The flight services provider has also named Donna Pierson a senior client acquisition specialist.
Sensor manufacturer and simulation specialist Sensis has named John Jarrell v-p and general manager of its air traffic systems division.
Crane Aerospace &amp; Electronics, based in Lynnwood, Wash., has appointed Kaveh Shamloo v-p of quality assurance for the aerospace group. 
Aviation services provider FirstFlight has hired Lisa Schmitt, formerly with customer service trainer ServiceElements, as its new outside sales director.
Chuck Dirks, previously principal marketing manager for Rockwell Collins, has joined Naples, Fla. and Boise, Idaho-based EastWest Aircraft Sales as sales and marketing director. 

<h3>Final Flights</h3>
Walter Attebery, 87, a former chairman of the Helicopter Association International, died October 23 in Lompoc, Calif. Attebery was a pioneer in California’s commercial helicopter industry and served as chairman of HAI in 1964. Following a career as a Marine Corps aviator in World War II, he joined ERA Helicopters in 1959 as v-p of marketing and administration. In 1964 he founded Condor Helicopters, a diversified company engaged in pest control, offshore missile recovery, survey and external-load services. From 1979 to 1981, Attebery also operated one of California’s first helicopter EMS programs, “Airlift for Life.” Attebery received the HAI’s Lawrence D. Bell Memorial Award for excellence in civilian helicopter management in 2001. Harold Hoepf, 87, the former longtime aviation manager and chief pilot for Valeron, died on November 3 after a brief illness in Clinton Township, Mich. He oversaw Valeron’s entry into the business jet era, flying and managing the company’s Learjet 25s and 35s at their Detroit City Airport base. A Navy pilot during WWII, he flew F6F Hellcats and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. Hoepf became one of the early Navy fighter jet pilots during the Korean Conflict. 
Robert (Bob) Cameron, 72, StandardAero’s former director of regional operations for Canada and the Northeast U.S., died on November 10 in Winnipeg, Canada, after a five-year battle with cancer.&nbsp;A 37-year company veteran, he was a recipient of the Helicopter Association of Canada’s Carl Agar/Alf Stringer award, which honors those who have made an outstanding contribution to the Canadian helicopter industry. n

<h3>Awards &amp; Honors</h3>
NBAA has presented its inaugural John H. Winant Awards to board members Phil Roberts, former director of corporate travel for Ford Motor and ex-NBAA chairman, and David Vornholt, president of the Ohio Regional Business Aviation Association.
The award recognizes NBAA directors whose service to business aviation extends well beyond their tenure on the board, and was named after the organization’s first president, who died in January. Steve Bergner, flight department manager and chief pilot for Cableair and the founding chairman of NBAA’s FMS/charting subcommittee, was honored by the FAA with a plaque featuring a replica of the Rnav (GPS) Rwy 33 approach chart for his home base airport, KMSV (Monticello, N.Y.). In addition, the final approach fix for the revised KMSV Rnav (GPS) Rwy 33 approach will be re-named “BRGNR”. Bergner announced he will retire at the end of the year.
Greg Arnold, president and CEO of the TAC Air chain of FBOs, has been inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame.

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