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.

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The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has selected James Viola, currently president and CEO of Vertical Aviation International (VAI), to succeed Pete Bunce at the helm of the association. As part of a transition plan, Viola will step into his new role as GAMA president and CEO in March after the conclusion of VAI’s biggest event of the year, Verticon, while Bunce will retire in April after leading the association for nearly 20 years. In the interim, both will work closely together.
Bunce joined GAMA in April 2005 after retiring from a 26-year career with the U.S. Air Force, where he flew F-15s and A-10s; his last assignment was as the director of the Air Force Congressional Budget and Appropriations liaison. While with GAMA, Bunce expanded the association with the growth of the advanced air mobility sector as well as built up its office in Brussels, tying GAMA in more closely with international leaders. A fierce advocate for the general and business aviation community, Bunce played an integral role in the fight against user fees and privatization, as well as obtaining resources for the industry during the Covid pandemic as well as seeking key certification reforms within the FAA.
His plans to retire have been widely known in Washington circles this year, and the GAMA board formed a selection committee, which has been searching for a successor for months.
In a note to directors, GAMA’s immediate past chairman, Chuck Wiplinger, said: “We are confident that Jim will very quickly assimilate into GAMA and keep us running on the very strong trajectory we have been on under Pete Bunce’s leadership.”
Viola brings a strong operational background as a helicopter pilot and regulator expertise as a former FAA official to his new role. Joining VAI in 2020, he succeeded Matt Zuccaro, who had been the long-serving president of what was then known as Helicopter Association International. His introduction in that role came at the association’s Heli-Expo (now Verticon) convention in Anaheim, California, but he immediately faced his first crisis with the high-profile crash of a Sikorsky S-76B in nearby Calabasas that killed nine people, including iconic basketball star Kobe Bryant. And Viola's transition period was truncated by the unexpected death of Zuccaro less than a month later.
However, he steered the rotorcraft community through that process and undertook a broad agenda to elevate the association’s international reach as well as its presence before global regulatory authorities, such as the International Civil Aviation Organization, and to help streamline and build on the many helicopter safety organizations.
Perhaps among the most notable efforts in his relatively short tenure has been to broaden VAI’s reach further into vertical mobility, recognizing the compatible roles of the rotorcraft industry with advanced air mobility. Thus, this resulted in the rebranding of the association.
Before joining VAI, Viola was already well-known in the rotorcraft and general aviation sectors from his role as director of general aviation safety assurance for the FAA. In that capacity, he was responsible for consistency and standardization of safety oversight activities surrounding general aviation. He also served as the government representative on the International Helicopter Safety Team and the United States Helicopter Safety Team.
As a fixed-wing and rotorcraft pilot, Viola’s aviation career began as a U.S. Army aviator, flying special operations as an MH-6 and MH-47 helicopter pilot. Achieving the rank of colonel, he ultimately became division chief for Army Aviation Current Operations in the Pentagon.

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VAI's James Viola To Succeed Pete Bunce at GAMA Helm

Bunce will retire in April and Viola will join GAMA after VAI's Verticon

GAMA has selected the head of Vertical Association International, James Viola, to succeed Pete Bunce as president and CEO.

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