Former NATA president and board member and current director emeritus Martin Hiller has been named as the recipient of the William A. “Bill” Ong Memorial Award, the organization’s highest honor, presented for extraordinary achievement and extended meritorious service to the general aviation industry.

The owner of Marathon Jet Center and Marathon General Aviation in the Florida Keys, Hiller has nearly four decades of industry experience. From 1985 to 2010, he led the Hiller Group’s aviation fuel-distribution activities first as vice president and then as the company’s president and CEO. Under his watch, the company became one of the largest aviation fuel distributors in the U.S., representing Chevron, Texaco, and Phillips 66. In 2010, he sold the Hiller Group to World Fuel Services, where he remained executive vice president until 2013.

In 2016, after six years of service on NATA’s board of directors, Hiller agreed to take on the role of president and steered the organization through concerns such as ATC privatization, workforce shortages, and illegal charter.

“NATA and its membership are proud to recognize Marty Hiller with the Ong Award for his illustrious aviation business career and his devotion to NATA as a former president and long-time member of association and board of directors,” said Gary Dempsey, the association’s current president. “He is a great friend of mine and the entire general aviation community.”