Two long-time, now-retired employees of the National Business Aviation Association are receiving the association’s highest honor for its employees this year: the Pillar of the Association Award (formerly known as the Staff Lifetime Achievement Award). The recipients are Bill Stine, perhaps best known by NBAA members involved in aircraft operations, such as pilots, schedulers, dispatchers and aviation department managers, and Kathleen Blouin, well known by legions of exhibitors at the association’s conventions and other events. Many NBAA members no doubt know them both.

The International Ops Expert

Stine was hired by NBAA in 1979 via a suggestion by John Winant, who was NBAA president at the time. The two had met when Winant was vice president of properties at Sprague Electric and Stine was flying King Airs and Bell Jet Rangers for the company. A couple of years after Winant became the president of NBAA, he suggested to Stine that he apply for a newly established position at the association: manager of international operations and plans. “During the interview process, I asked John what those plans were,” Stine told AIN. “He said to me, ‘You can plan to do what we need you to do.’” Stine was hired, but he knew he faced a big learning curve.

“At that time my experience in international ops was from doing a few flights to the Bahamas and Montreal,” Stine said. “The members of the international operations committee really taught me a lot. I think my skill in the job was more of an organizer than a professional in any of the technical stuff.” But people who know Stine would likely argue he that’s he’s being overly modest about his knowledge.

Ed Bolen, NBAA president and CEO, for example, said, “No one has played a more important role in advancing the technical interests of business aviation worldwide than Bill Stine.”

Stine soon became the association’s resident expert on international business aviation communications, navigation and surveillance issues. He also represented NBAA as a founding officer of the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), which was formed in 1981 and represents the interests of national business aviation organizations on technical issues before ICAO.

This writer first met Bill Stine at an NBAA International Operations Conference in the early 1990s, where during a break between sessions, he patiently answered my questions about flight operations in the North Atlantic airspace. We have met and talked numerous times since then, especially whenever I needed cogent and unbiased information on operational topics.

“The 35 years I spent at NBAA were a time of big changes in business aviation,” Stine remembered. “Operations literally went from GIs to G650s, from mostly domestic operations to a huge increase in international operations. It was an exciting time and a dream come true for me. NBAA was a fantastic place to work.”

He added, “To be part of a team of so many highly motivated and dedicated staff, directors and association members has been, in all senses of the term, a truly life-fulfilling experience. I am humbled by this award, as it has been my honor to be a small part of such a truly great organization.”

Coincidentally, Stine’s first boss at NBAA was Fred McIntosh, one of only two previous recipients of the Pillar of the Association Award, when it was then known as the Staff Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Wizard behind the Stage

It’s hard to imagine an NBAA event without Kathleen Blouin, who was the Association’s senior vice president of conventions and forums when she retired on June 30 this year, although she is staying on as a senior consultant to the association.

“Kathleen was instrumental in the creation and development of the largest business aviation events on four separate continents,” Bolen said. These are the NBAA Convention in the U.S., EBACE in Europe, ABACE in Asia and LABACE (now organized solely by ABAG, the Brazilian business aviation association) in South America.

These shows, Bolen continued, “have unquestionably been premier marketplace events for the industry and they also have helped advance an understanding of the importance and potential of business aviation in all parts of the world. It is a breathtaking record of accomplishment, and for those of us fortunate enough to be in this industry, Kathleen has, quite literally, changed the world.” Blouin also managed NBAA seminars, conferences, workshops and regional forums.

Mary Mahoney, AIN’s long-time production director, often interacted with Blouin before, during and after NBAA’s many conventions. “When Kathleen Hull joined NBAA in 1992 [as senior manager convention services], there wasn’t much, if any, fanfare,” Mahoney recalled. (Sometime later, NBAA hired Bob Blouin, who became vice president of operations. The two met and eventually married.)

“Kathleen quietly began appearing at conventions, often in the background, doing her job,” Mahoney continued. “Then slowly, subtly the conventions began to take a new mature shape. Programs and schedules took form. New staff began to appear–people who could provide information and answer questions from members, convention attendees and the press. If her staff couldn’t help, Kathleen was my ultimate go-to source. No need to tap Jack Olcott, then NBAA president, about minutiae. Often during events, I would see Kathleen standing at the back of a meeting room, quietly watching and listening without any apparent emotion. But now and then a wry grin would cross her face and a gleam appear in her eye. And I would think, ‘Kathleen is pleased. The show is running smoothly. The organization is on track.’”

“I’m truly honored to be receiving this award,” said Blouin, “and am in the best of company, with Fred McIntosh and John Pope receiving it before me, and Bill Stine as my partner this year. NBAA was my home for 22-plus years, and the Association has provided so many great opportunities to me and the convention team. I am proud to have been a part of showcasing business aviation on four continents.”

Before joining NBAA, Blouin worked for Business & Commercial Aviation magazine, then owned by McGraw-Hill, for 12 years, where she managed the publisher’s Show Daily.

Fred McIntosh directed operational services and served as architect of Subpart D of FAR Part 91 (now known as Subpart F). John Pope directed NBAA’s membership and administrative programs and founded the association’s Corporate Aviation Management Committee and Associate Member Advisory Council.