Kerry Lynch stepped into the role of editor of the&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;monthly magazine in May 2022 after serving with&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;for eight years. She joined&nbsp;AIN&nbsp;in December 2014 as a senior editor covering Washington and business aviation news. She has also served on Convention News teams, including as editor of&nbsp;HAI Convention News. Lynch previously spent 25 years with Aviation Week. During her time there, she reported for and later steered&nbsp;The Weekly of Business Aviation, oversaw business aviation content on the&nbsp;Aviation Week Intelligence Network, served on the&nbsp;Show News&nbsp;staff, and held roles as the Washington columnist for&nbsp;Business &amp; Commercial Aviation&nbsp;and&nbsp;Overhaul &amp; Maintenance&nbsp;monthly magazines. In 2021 she was honored with the National Business Aviation Association Platinum Wing Award for lifetime achievement in journalism and was the 2004 recipient of the National Air Transportation Association’s Aviation Journalism Excellence Award. She also has been a recipient of an Aerospace Media Award for business aviation (2022) and NBAA Gold Wing Award (2003, 2024). Lynch graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of arts in journalism.

Editor, AIN monthly magazine

Kerry Lynch

&nbsp;JetAviva named Tim White president. White, a managing partner, has previously served as senior v-p of sales for the Americas for Cessna and as a senior sales executive for Bombardier.&nbsp;The company also promoted&nbsp;Rene Changtin&nbsp;to vice president, Latin America and Learjet markets. Changtin has 20 years of aviation industry experience, previously holding positions with Eclipse Aviation, Diamond Aircraft and Bombardier Aerospace.


Harrods Aviation promoted Dawn Wyatt to head of Air Harrods. Wyatt has served with Harrods for 29 years, most recently as head of operations. She has held a number of roles with Westland Helicopters in Battersea over her aviation career.


Nordam has restructured its organization, placing responsibility for the firm’s UK repair facility under the purview of Hastings Siegfried and the repairs division in Tulsa, Okla., under Phil Marshall. In addition to overseeing the Welsh facility, Siegfried remains vice chairman of the Nordam board of directors, COO of its transparency group and sales development leader for Asia-Pacific. Marshall, vice president and general manager of the Nordam Interiors &amp; Structures Division, adds the responsibility for the Tulsa unit that repairs a range of aerospace parts. The moves were made after Basil Barimo, former Nordam Repair Group executive v-p, announced plans to leave the company to pursue another opportunity with a non-competing company based in Florida.


AHS International, the Vertical Flight Technical Society, elected Dave Koopersmith chairman and Daniele Romiti president. Koopersmith, who was previously AHS president, is vice president and general manager of Boeing Vertical Lift. Romiti, previously secretary/treasurer, is managing director of Leonardo Helicopters. Also elected was Glenn Isbell, who is executive v-p of Bell Helicopter Textron, as secretary/treasurer.


The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association named John Goglia chairman. Goglia, who was the first and only airframe and powerplant mechanic to serve on the National Transportation Safety Board, has 40 years of aviation experience and is currently an industry consultant, adjunct professor and AIN columnist.


Jet Aviation appointed David Best head of global business development. Best joins the company from Claymore Hill Advisory, and before that he held a number of roles with BBA, including president of BBA Aviation Asia-Pacific and chief commercial officer of Signature Flight Support.


Christian Moreno was appointed chief of airport operations at Van Nuys Airport (VNY). Moreno, with 28 years in aviation, has held a number of senior roles with Los Angeles World Airports, including airport superintendent of operations and terminal manager. He has also served with Portland International Airport and an international carrier.

 


Tom Myers, former director of global marketing at Gogo Business Aviation, is founding a virtual marketing firm, Exponent Group. Myers, who will serve as chief strategist and managing director of the new entity, brings a long background in aerospace and aviation marketing, having previously worked on the Pilatus Business Aircraft, Embraer, FlightSafety International&nbsp;and Elliott Aviation brands, and serving with fd2s and Elliott Aviation. Joining Myers in the new venture is Scott Meyer&nbsp;as executive creative director. Meyer formerly served with the Chicago advertising agencies FCB (Foote, Cone and Belding) and Y&amp;R (Young &amp; Rubicam), as well as the Integer Group in Denver.


Global Jet Capital COO Dave Labrozzi was appointed to the board of the National Aircraft Finance Association (NAFA). Labrozzi joined Global Jet Capital in 2015 after spending nearly 35 years with GE, 15 of them as president of GE Capital, Corporate Aircraft.


Curt Castagna, president and CEO of the Aeroplex/Aerolease Group, was appointed to the Los Angeles County Airport Commission, a 10-member organization that advises on the county’s five-airport system. Castagna manages business aviation centers located at Long Beach Airport (LGB) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY) and is president of both the LGB and VNY tenant associations.


Air BP named Irene Lores global general aviation sales and marketing manager. Lores has 17 years of experience with Air BP and parent company BP, most recently as West Mediterranean cluster general manager.


Traxxall Technologies added an office in Wichita that will be staffed by existing employees and Wichita residents Jeff Rians and Robert Peterson. Joining them will be James Carter, a U.S. Air Force veteran who has 14 years of aviation experience; Christopher Mercer, formerly a logistics analyst with Boeing who served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years; and Coby Smith, another U.S. Air Force veteran who spent 10 years at Cessna and most recently was a supervisor with Hawker Beechcraft. In addition, Elija Stepp joined the firm. Stepp, who will be based in Las Vegas, has 35 years of industry experience, including stints with Satcom Direct and Camp Systems.


John Langford, chairman, founder and CEO of Aurora Flight Sciences, was elected to a two-year term as president for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Langford, who has bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also co-founded Athena Technologies, worked for the Institute for Defense Analyses, served with Lockheed and led a series of human-powered aircraft projects that culminated in the world distance and endurance record-setting Daedalus Project.


Dassault Falcon appointed Chris Hancock regional sales manager for metropolitan New York and Robert Friedlander regional sales manager for New England, which includes upstate New York and Eastern Pennsylvania. Most recently regional sales manager for New England, Hancock served with Bombardier and Hawker Beechcraft before joining Dassault Falcon in 2013. Friedlander, who previously held sales roles at Cessna, joined Dassault Falcon in 2014 and most recently was inside sales manager for the Western U.S.


Dan Ryba joined the in-house aircraft interior and paint design team at Duncan Aviation’s facility in Lincoln, Neb. Ryba has extensive experience in computer graphics and design, producing animation, illustration and motion graphics for a local video company for 11 years and 3D designs for various aviation companies.&nbsp;David Coleman&nbsp;has joined&nbsp;Duncan Aviation’s&nbsp;aircraft sales and acquisitions team. Coleman brings 27 years of aviation experience to his new role, previously serving with Epic Aviation, Eclipse Aerospace and General Aviation Services.


Cutter Aviation appointed Kasey Dixon HondaJet Southwest customer support for the facility in San Antonio, Texas, and Neil Simon avionics manager for the facility at Phoenix Sky Harbor. Dixon, an airframe and powerplant mechanic, fixed-wing and remote pilot, has experience working on the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter for the U.S. Army and also has served with SynapseMX. Previously Simon was avionics technical sales and business development manager at Banyan Air Services.


Sasha Khounani was named marketing specialist for Guardian Jet. Khounani previously held international finance and sales and marketing positions at Boeing and also worked in his family’s luxury automobile sales business.


Western Aircraft promoted Rocky Boisvert to regional sales manager. Boisvert joined Western Aircraft in 2006 as a maintenance technician and most recently was Falcon job lead.


GlobalParts.aero appointed George Canale and Bill Vickers to rotorcraft sales and business development positions. Canale has held technician and sales and marketing roles with West Florida Helicopters, National Flight Sales and Parker. Vickers has served with National Flight Sales, in addition to working as a maintenance technician for Tampa North Maintenance Center.


Universal Weather&nbsp;and&nbsp;Aviation appointed Sarah Kalmeta Asia-Pacific regional operations director. Kalmeta, formerly head of flight services with Hongkong Jet, also joined the Board of Governors of the Asian Business Aviation Association&nbsp;(AsBAA).

 


Victoria Brown has joined Million Air Dallas as aircraft acquisitions and marketing associate.&nbsp;A former risk analyst for Black Knight Financial Services, Brown&nbsp;has a bachelor’s of science in aviation management and master's of business administration in finance.


Executive AirShare promoted Trevor Hall to assistant chief pilot. Hall joined Executive AirShare in 2013 as a Phenom 100 and 300 pilot and formerly was a flight instructor and contract pilot at Tubreaux Aviation in Shreveport, La.


ExcelAire named Chris Curtin senior director of charter operations. Curtin joins ExcelAire with 12 years of aviation industry experience, having previously served as a corporate account manager (Northeast U.S.) for Jetex Flight Support, executive v-p for Talon Air and as a ground services coordinator for NetJets.


<h2>Awards &amp; Honors</h2>


Katie Gray, a technical supervisor at Vector Aerospace’s Component Services unit&nbsp;in Almondbank, Perth, in the UK, was named Technician of the Year at the 2017 Semta Skills Awards. Semta (the Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering engineering skills in the UK.


As a technical supervisor, Gray helped set up Vector’s repair and overhaul capabilities for dynamic components on the Airbus Ecureuil series and has also been involved in the company’s continuous improvement initiatives. She is a member of Vector’s Apprentice Support Group and has mentored numerous apprentices. Gray also volunteers at Stem events, to work with schoolchildren in engineering-related activities.


The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) named Margaret (Peggy) Gilligan, who recently retired as FAA associate administrator for aviation safety, the recipient of the association’s 2017 Leo Weston Award. Gilligan began her career with the FAA as an attorney in the Eastern Regional Counsel’s office, served as chief of staff for four different administrators and spent 20 years in the Aviation Safety organization. She was appointed associate administrator in January 2009, responsible for the oversight and enforcement of safety standards for the aviation industry.


“She has always been an honest, forthright broker unstintingly serving her country and the flying public through shifting political crosswinds,” said ARSA executive director Sarah MacLeod. “She earned the respect of the international aviation community and certainly has mine.”


The Weston award recognizes individuals who embody commitment to the aviation maintenance industry’s safety and success.

People In Aviation: June 2017

Nordam restructures, Tim White to lead JetAviva as president and John Goglia becomes chairman of PAMA.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

AIN Products

SUBSCRIPTIONS

RESOURCES

ABOUT AIN