Aerospace Industries Leader To Retire
John Douglass, who became only the seventh full-time chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association in 1998, plans to retire as the group’s presid

John Douglass, who became only the seventh full-time chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association in 1998, plans to retire as the group’s president and CEO on December 31. The AIA was founded in 1919 and counts Orville Wright and Glen Curtiss as early members.

Douglass, 66, is a nationally recognized expert in systems acquisition. He guided AIA through the up and down cycles of the aerospace industry for nearly a decade and dealt with the considerable challenges posed by 9/11 and the dramatic economic slowdown in the civil aviation sector.