NBAA president and CEO Ed Bolen, who stepped aside in September as he continued cancer treatment, is retiring, the association announced today. The organization named Dan Hubbard, who had been serving as interim COO, as acting CEO and senior v-p of communications.
“It is the privilege of a lifetime to have served NBAA and the aviation community. I am incredibly proud of everything NBAA is, and of what we have accomplished together over the years,” Bolen said in the announcement of his decision to retire. “I regret having to step down because of my health, and I have been touched by the outpouring of your support. Business aviation is at its best when we come together, and I have never been more confident in NBAA’s brilliant future.”
NBAA board vice chair and Hillwood Aviation CEO Matt Byrd is chairing a special executive search committee for a new CEO of the organization.
“Business aviation is an immeasurably stronger, safer, more dynamic industry because of Ed’s unwavering commitment,” said John Witzig, chair of NBAA’s board of directors. “We have all soared higher and gone farther, driven by the power of his vision.”
Bolen had steered the association since 2004 and before that was president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. A native of Kansas and a pilot, Bolen was a driver in the passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994 while he was a legislative director for the late Kansas Sen. Nancy Kassebaum.
Over the decades, his leadership extended far beyond NBAA. He helped to shape critical policy on a range of issues and served on the FAA’s Management Advisory Council, the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, and the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry.
He initially took leave from NBAA ahead of NBAA-BACE. While he did not attend, convention-goers honored him with sunflower pins in recognition of his Kansas upbringing as well as upcoming enshrinement in the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the San Diego Air & Space Museum’s International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2021.
In announcing his retirement on Friday, NBAA said that it “hails the pioneering legacy of Ed Bolen, an industry trailblazer” and called him “a tireless and singularly effective advocate for business aviation…Bolen has been one of the industry’s most inspiring champions for more than 40 years, leading on key priorities including safety, airport and airspace access, workforce development, and air traffic control modernization.”
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