Jeff Roberts is succeeding Udo Rieder as CEO of Erickson. Rieder is retiring after seven years as CEO. Roberts began his career as a pilot and most recently was group president of aviation training company CAE and previously served as CEO of SimuFlite.
Ali Ahmed Al Naqbi, the founding chairman of the Middle East & North Africa Business Aviation Association (MEBAA), is retiring from his government post of vice president of finance and administration at Presidential Flight in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Al Naqbi, who will continue to steer MEBAA, retires after 25 years of service with Presidential, of which he also was a founding member.
Scott Meyer was appointed CEO for Comlux America. Meyer, a 25-year aviation veteran, has served with Comlux America almost since its inception and most recently was COO.
CHC Helicopter appointed Karl Fessenden as CEO and a member of the board of directors. Fessenden joins CHC after spending 20 years with GE, where he led business units at GE Energy and GE Aviation.
Boutsen Aviation named Dominique Trinquet president and Mathieu Pezin executive v-p. Trinquet and Pezin join co-founders Thierry Boutsen (chairman) and Daniela Boutsen as shareholders and board members of the Monaco-based company.
Rectrix Commercial Aviation named Ashley Watts president and Michael Murphy director of business development. Watts has been with Rectrix for seven years, most recently as vice president of administration and finance. Murphy previously was JetBlue’s regional sales manager for the Northeast.
Alpine Aerotech named Jeff Denomme president. He succeeds Jim Campbell, who is retiring after 46 years in the helicopter industry. Denomme previously held leadership roles with Canadian helicopter operators, such as president of Great Slave Helicopters and vice president at Skyline Helicopters.
Clark McGinn is joining Waypoint Leasing as senior vice president of sales. McGinn, currently global head of aviation financing at CHC Leasing, will be responsible for leading the company’s origination, sales and business development operations.
Cristina Scarlata was named director of marketing, communications and public relations for Alto Aviation. Scarlata formerly was a reporter and executive producer of entertainment for Univision Network and has served with Ogilvy & Mather Mexico, Lintas Madrid, Spain and Orci, Los Angeles.
Stephen Foster was appointed director of operations for Sabreliner Aviation. Foster has 15 year of operations and engineering experience with Eaton, Gulfstream Aerospace and Pratt & Whitney.
Leading Edge Aviation Solutions appointed Greg Wedding executive vice president of business development. Wedding, who has a 25-year naval career, previously spent 18 years with FlightSafety International.
International Bureau of Aviation (IBA) added four more analysts: Avni Patel, Youcef Berour Minarro, David Archer and George Lipington. Patel formerly held roles with Cessna and Air India. Minarro has served with Ametek Muirhead Avionics and British Airways Concorde Club. Archer previously was a quality control engineer for GE. Lipington most recently was airfield operations officer at London City Airport.
Field Aviation named Derek Clarke manager of customer support. Clarke has 20 years of experience in customer support, technical sales and marketing, aircraft development, manufacturing, engineering, certification and quality assurance.
Cutter Aviation’s HondaJet Southwest division assigned Phil Scharber and John DeLawyer to represent HondaJet sales exclusively. Scharber joined Cutter Aviation in 2006 after serving with United Beechcraft and then representing Piper. DeLawyer joined Cutter in 1997 after a two-year stint with Diamond Aircraft sales. Also, Shelbey Hooker was named customer relationship manager, serving as the main point of contact for support on maintenance issues for HondaJet customers. In addition, the company appointed Bryant Elliott regional sales manager at the company’s Texas Piper South base in San Antonio, Texas. Elliott formerly served with Piper Aircraft.
The city of Naples Airport Authority board of commissioners re-elected James Rideoutte chair and John Nocera vice chair for 2015. Rideoutte was appointed to the board in 2013 and Nocera joined in 2012.
Navtech added Shawn Mechelke as vice president of SaaS products and business development. He has a combined 20 years of aviation and software industry experience.
RBR Maintenance hired Scott Carter as service manager for the King Air and Citation lines. Carter has 30 years of aviation experience, including more than eight years of service management experience.
Curt Drumm joined Emery Air as director of sales and marketing. Drumm has 21 years of aviation industry experience, including as an FBO owner, charter captain and airshow producer.
Innotech Aviation appointed Richard Shaw manager of North America sales. He will be based in Dorval, Canada.
RBR Maintenance promoted Chris Lesniak to sales and marketing director. Lesniak joined RBR in 2013, previously holding sales, marketing and parts management roles with Arnoni Aviation and Beckett Aviation, among others.
Spirit Aeronautics promoted Michael Bailey to regional sales manager, responsible for a territory that includes Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware and Maryland. Bailey, who has seven years of aviation experience, previously was material control manager for the company.
Dan Moody joined the Duncan Aviation aircraft sales and acquisitions team. Moody previously was a major repair and alteration project coordinator for Duncan Aviation.
Viking Air appointed David Caporali regional sales director for Latin America, including Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. Caporali was previously aircraft general sales manager at Lider Aviacao in SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil.
Global Aerospace named Marilena Sharpell senior vice president, operations and underwriting executive; Frank Turtola senior vice president, underwriting executive; and Christopher Proudlove senior vice president, general aviation team leader.
Jet Quest named John Walker as director of the company’s Citation CJ/M2 sales and acquisition team. Walker has served with Jet Quest for more than 10 years.
Brenda Miles joined SimCom Training Centers as director of worldwide sales and marketing. Miles previously spent 16 years with FlightSafety International in various marketing, sales and management roles.
Pacific Sky Aviation appointed Mauro Pezzetta as general manager of training and simulation. Pezzetta formerly served with CAE, where he was the technical operations manager in Vancouver.
Ted Delgado joined Wipaire in Leesburg, Fla. Delgado, an airframe and powerplant mechanic with nearly 30 years of aviation experience, brings Viking and de Havilland Canada expertise to his new role.
Executive AirShare named Lukas Delaney assistant chief pilot at its base at Fort Worth Meacham International Airport. Delaney, who has served with Executive AirShare since 2013 and helped launch the company’s operations at San Antonio International Airport, has experience as a flight instructor with FlightSafety Academy, a cargo pilot with FlightExpress, and training captain with Ameriflight and Dynamic Aviation.
United States Aircraft Insurance Group (USAIG) promoted five executives: John Brogan, who had been manager of the general aviation and workers’ compensation departments, was named executive v-p; Derrick Owens became senior v-p, assistant controller; Joan Mirabile was appointed senior v-p and marketing communications director; Andrew Spiegel, the Western regional General Aviation Underwriting manager, was named senior v-p; and Michael Wilhelms, St. Louis claims manager, was appointed vice president.
Awards & Honors
Gary Kelley, former vice president of marketing for Garmin International, was named the 2015 recipient of the Aircraft Electronics Association Lifetime Achievement Award. The award, AEA’s highest honor, will be presented April 8 during the 58th annual AEA International Convention & Trade Show at Marriott’s Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Dallas. Kelley will be recognized for his hours of volunteering for the association, including as a board member. A 19-year Garmin veteran, Kelley retired in 2011 after leading the company’s aviation, marine, outdoor fitness and automotive divisions. He also has served with AlliedSignal/BendixKing and on the boards of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and NBAA.
David Schuster, a quality assurance inspector with Meridian Jet Center, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Teterboro Chapter of the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA). The award was presented January 16 in recognition of Schuster’s continuous support of the PAMA Teterboro chapter. A former crew chief on a KC-135 Stratotanker, Schuster spent 32 years with Becton Dickinson’s corporate flight department at Teterboro Airport before joining Meridian Jet Center last year.
NBAA selected five recipients of the 2015 Leadership Conference Scholarship. Sponsored by United Technologies, the $2,000 scholarships were presented to Freeman Blakney, a Birmingham Flight Center contract pilot and flight instructor; Russell Canter, a Kansas State University full-time student; Jared Hicks, a pilot for Dialysis Clinical; Lee Pelkey, an assistant chief flight instructor at the Birmingham Flight Center; and Scott Reeves, a pilot at QuikTrip.
NBAA named two recipients for its Donald A. Baldwin, Sr. Business Aviation Management Scholarships for people seeking to become NBAA certified aviation managers. The 2015 scholarships were awarded to Stuart Swanson, a flight operations captain with S.C. Johnson in Racine, Wis.; and Anna Irish Price, an aviation manager with Jet Pacific in Amman, Jordan.
NBAA named four recipients of its 2015 International Operators Scholarships: Jonathan Gonzales, a client services executive for Priester Aviation; Kathryn Heckman, a flight attendant with Honeywell in Phoenix; Chase Peters, a freshman attending Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minn.; and Cade Schalla, a card operation analyst with Baseops International. The scholarships, which combine for $20,000 in value, are awarded for international business aviation operations career development.
Women in Corporate Aviation awarded $17,550 in aviation training scholarships to seven business aviation professionals during its annual membership meeting at the 26th Annual Women in Aviation Conference in Dallas. Scholarships were presented to Melinda Hruby, Tinoka Alisa Dean, LaMisha Thompson, Amy Jo George, Gabrielle Palmas, Caitlyn Keogh and Wendy Zimmerman.
Final Flight
Fitzhugh (Fitz) Fulton Jr., who had a four-decade career as a test pilot for the military, NASA and Scaled Composites, died February 4 in California. He was 89. His career ranged from flying support for the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests, to the Douglas B-26 Invader to the Boeing B-29 and B-50, which launched the X-1 and X-2 rocket airplanes. He was the only U.S. Air Force pilot to fly the Convair NB-36H, a bomber with an atomic reactor on board; one of two pilots to fly the Convair XB-60 before the program for that eight-jet bomber was canceled; project pilot on the notoriously treacherous B-58 supersonic bomber; and pilot of the Mach 3 North American XB-70 Valkyrie prototype. As chief pilot with NASA, he tested the X-15, 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and SR-71 Blackbird prototypes. Later he joined Scaled Composites as flight operations director and chief research pilot, where he test flew the Triumph business jet that was powered by the FJ44. Born June 6, 1925, in Blakey, Ga., he entered the Air Force after graduating from Golden Gate University. Fulton is enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame.
