John Yegerlehner has become president of Spectra Jet, in addition to serving as chief inspector. Yegerlehner, who co-found the repair station in 1998, is taking over for Mike Catherwood, who retired. James (Jim) Major, meanwhile, was promoted to vice president. He will also continue as logistics manager.
Mente Group promoted Dan Dunn to executive vice president of transactions. Previously v-p of transactions, Dunn has 23 years of business aviation experience, having held roles with larger international brokerage and charter and management firms.
Aireon appointed Peter Cabooter v-p of customer affairs. Cabooter joins Aireon with 17 years of sales and air traffic management experience, holding executive positions at Navblue (previously Airbus ProSky) and Barco Orthogon (now a part of Harris Corporation).
Stuart Locke is joining Oriens Aviation as general manager of maintenance at the London Biggin Hill Airport facility. Locke formerly was head of maintenance for TAG Aviation Farnborough and also spent 19 years with Flybe.
National Airways Corp. (NAC) appointed Jannie de Klerk to the board as executive director of flight operations. De Klerk, who became general manager of flight operations after NAC acquired his former firm Naturelink Aviation, has a 27-year aviation career that also included serving as operations manager for Avia Air Charter, Tropair Charter, and Debonair Tours.
Aspen Avionics promoted Sam Wallace to v-p of operations. Wallace, who has 13 years of experience beginning as a manufacturing engineer, joined Aspen in 2015 and was most recently director of quality.
Asian Sky Group named Matthieu Guisolphe rotary program sales manager for the Southeast Asia market. Over the past five years, Guisolphe, who most recently has served in the Malaysian office of Airbus Helicopters, also served with Thales.
Walkers added Sarah Humpleby and Richard Williams as senior counsel for its Finance & Corporate Group in the Cayman Islands office and Aaron Bennett as vice president at Walkers Fiduciary Ltd. in Dubai. Humpleby brings an aviation financing background to Walkers from Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman in London, where she was counsel in the Asset Finance practice. Williams, who also has an aviation finance background, formerly was with Dentons in London, where he was counsel in the Banking & Finance practice. Bennett has five years of experience in fiduciary services in Dubai with a background in Sharia-compliant Islamic finance transactions, conventional finance structures, and asset finance transactions.
Aircraft Specialties hired Russell Wilbanks to oversee inside sales and purchasing. Wilbanks brings 38 years of experience to his new role, previously steering sales for Professional Aviation Associates.
Donaldson Aerospace & Defense appointed Vince Testa as senior account executive for rotorcraft. Testa, previously a logistics program manager for Pratt & Whitney, has 30 years of aerospace experience that included helicopter flight-testing and international commercial and military business development.
Mac Swindell joined the aircraft sales team of WildBlue. Swindell, a corporate pilot for Johnston Seed Company, began his career with Boeing and Gulfstream before moving into roles in the healthcare and oil-and-gas fields.
David Chamberlain joined The Air Law Firm as senior associate. Chamberlain previously served with the law firm Watson Farley and Williams, where he specialized in transactional work involving commercial airliners, business jets, and helicopters.
Pattonair hired Jason Rance to be the company’s first group innovation director. Rance formerly was global head of product innovation and global v-p of marketing and e-commerce for Speedo and led its Global Innovation Team Aqualab.
Presidential Aviation named Leon Knight director of maintenance and Sean Anthony chief inspector. Knight has more than 23 years of experience in aviation management, maintenance planning, quality control, and FAA auditing, most recently serving as chief inspector at Thrust Aviation and before that as vice president of quality control and director of maintenance for Gulfstream International Airlines. Anthony has more 34 years of aviation experience, including 24 in maintenance, serving as vice president of maintenance, general manager, director of maintenance, and director of quality.
Metrojet Limited appointed Janet Chen as regional sales manager, MRO. Chen, who has more than 14 years of experience in the aviation industry in a range of disciplines from sales and marketing to supply chain and business development, most recently was commercial manager for Haeco Private Jet Solutions.
Awards and Honors
Conklin & de Decker, in association with NBAA, named Najla Dorsey of Columbus, Ohio, as the recipient of the annual Al Conklin and Bill de Decker Business Aviation Management Scholarship. The $5,000 scholarship is awarded to an undergraduate student who is enrolled in an aviation management program at a University Aviation Association member school. Dorsey, a senior at Ohio State University is majoring in air transportation with a professional pilot specialization. A former ramp agent for an airline in Philadelphia, she has served as an aerospace education officer for the Civil Air Patrol since 2011, is the current president of the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, OSU Chapter, and a member of the College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Student Advisory Board.
Final Flights
William (Bill) R. Cutter, patriarch of the Cutter Aviation family, passed away December 11 at the age of 86. A lifelong aviation enthusiast, he learned to fly as a boy, on the lap of his father, company founder William P. Cutter, and eventually went on to earn ATP-ratings in fixed-wing, helicopter, and lighter-than-air aircraft. He logged thousands of flight hours during his lifetime, most recently in his 1944 Beech Staggerwing.
Cutter later took over the family FBO, MRO, and aircraft sales business and established its flagship facility at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Along with his son Will, he enlarged the company network to four FBO locations and several maintenance/avionics facilities throughout the Southwest.
He served in the U.S. Army, and during his business career, he was honored by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the New Mexico Military Institute. Cutter further was inducted into the Pima Air and Space Museum’s Hall of Fame. He is survived by his children Will and Kathryn, and four grandchildren.
Anthony "Tony" Broderick, 75, once the top safety regulator in the U.S whose policies helped advance aviation safety globally, died December 30 in Bealton, Virginia. Broderick spent two decades with the FAA, culminating in his position as the associate administrator for regulation and certification (AVR).
Broderick helped spearhead numerous initiatives such as the development of international audit standards for civil aviation agencies and standards for twin-engine operations over oceans and the polar regions. He also is credited as the first in the FAA to recognize the potential of GPS to support Cat III operations and steered the implementation of numerous voluntary compliance programs and safety initiatives such as FOQA, ASAP, and AQP, according to the JDA executives.
Born in New York in 1943, Broderick graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1964 and spent seven years developing optical systems for the private sector. He took a position with the Department of Transportation's Volpe Center in 1971.
This led to his move to the FAA’s Office of Environment and Energy High Altitude Pollution Program in 1976. Two years later, Broderick joined the AVR organization, ultimately leading it until he retired from the agency in 1996.
He subsequently became an advisor to several key aviation companies, including Airbus, Atlas Air, and FedEx, and retired altogether in 2014.
He is survived by wife Sylvia, children Sean and Pia, and two grandchildren. His son Sean followed Broderick into the aviation business, holding association positions and as a long-time aviation writer with Aviation Week, as well as a former contributor to AIN.
William Harwood Juvonen, 81, a long-time aircraft salesman and co-founder of charter and aircraft management firm Flight Services Group, died December 22 at his home in Stamford, Connecticut.
Juvonen had a corporate aviation career that spanned more than 40 years and led him to sales positions involving Pan Am Business Jets, Cessna Citations, and Canadair Challengers. Ultimately, he helped found and became chairman of Flight Services Group, which grew into one of the larger charter and management firms that was later acquired by PrivatAir.
Born in Santa Ana, California, Juvonen joined the U.S. Marine Corps after graduating from Stanford University. He was trained as a carrier-based fighter and helicopter pilot, attending the Replacement Air Group, later known as Top Gun. He flew the supersonic F8-U Crusader.
Later he joined Pan American World Airways as a sales manager for Pan Am Business Jets. He then became a sales manager for Cessna, introducing the Citation series, beginning with the 500. Jumping from the success of the introduction of the venerable Citation line, Juvonen introduced the Canadair Challenger 600 program as vice president of sales. He joined Polaris Aircraft Leasing as v-p of marketing before helping establish Flight Services Group.
He is survived by his wife, Karen Coleman Juvonen, and children Nancy Juvonen Fallon (Jimmy) and Jim Juvonen (Sarah), along with five grandchildren.
