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The Banyan leadership team L to R: Charles Amento, Michael O’Keeffe, Don Campion, Melissa Morgan, and Jon Tonko
As the team and its footprint have grown, it has become increasingly important for Don to have a strong leadership team around him. In 1996 Michael O’Keeffe joined Banyan and has served in a variety of managerial positions since, including vice president of aircraft maintenance, general manager and director of operations. Michael is now the company’s senior vice president and is also responsible for all aircraft sales and management. He serves on the execu- tive committee for the Pinnacle Air Network, and in 2009 he was elected to be the chairman of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA). Previously he held roles as secretary, treasurer and vice-chairman at NARA. He is an active pilot and holds an Airline Transport Pilot license
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(ATP), instrument, multi-engine land and seaplane ratings along with type ratings in King Air 300/350 Turboprops, Citation 500 series jets, as well as the HondaJet HA-420. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA from Embry Riddle University.
I asked Michael during a visit in 2021 how the business had adjusted and found success through difficult times. He said, “It has been unbelievable, even during the recent pandemic. Historically, a large portion of our business is from south of the border. During the pandemic, we saw that change to mostly all North American business due to travel restrictions. Even with the restrictions and our customer profile changing, we experienced our biggest