Page 28 - Volume 17 Number 10

NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION • focusNBAA Welcomes One Aviation Leader, and Bids Farewell to AnotherEarlier this year, as the Aircraft Owners fair share of legends and heroes, but few if anyand Pilots Association (AOPA) andExperimental Aircraft Association (EAA) each marked a significant change, NBAA welcomed a new leader’s arrival at AOPA, and marked the passing of EAA’s founder.On Aug. 20, NBAA welcomed Mark Baker as AOPA’s new president and CEO, stating, “We are pleased to welcome a longtime AOPA member, businessman and pilot to this important leadership position in the general aviation community.“We congratulate the Board of Trustees on their selection, and welcome Mark to his new leadership role,” Bolen added. “Mark has served as an executive with several NBAA Member companies, and we look forward to partnering with him and his colleagues at AOPA to continue building on the extremely close relationship our two associations have long had – a relationship that has involved successful advocacy on behalf of important general aviation issues.”According to AOPA’s announcement about the leadership change, Baker is an aircraft owner and pilot with more than 7,500 hours of flight time and a successful businessman who has served as president and CEO of Orchard Supply Hardware Corporation, president and COO of Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, president and CEO of Gander Mountain Company and COO of The Home Depot.Just two days after AOPA welcomed Baker to his new position at that organization’s helm, NBAA learned that Paul H. Poberezny, acclaimed aviator and founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), passed away on Aug. 22 at the age of 91.“Aviation is an industry with more than itshave had a more visible, significant and lasting impact on the industry as Paul Poberezny,” Bolen said upon learning of Poberezny’s passing. “He started an association in his basement, which became a grassroots movement built on shared passion. Today, that aviation community gathers each year for what has become the world’s greatest air show.“Paul often said that he considered himself a ‘millionaire,’ thanks to the million friends he made throughout his decades of service to aviation,” continued Bolen. “I believe that he significantly understated that number, a reflection of his humble nature. Each of us mourns his passing today, but we also feel gratitude, knowing his profound impact upon general aviation will be felt for decades to come.”One of the most decorated men in the international aviation community, Poberezny taught himself to fly after restoring a damaged WACO glider at the age of 16. He later served as a pilot and test pilot in the United States Army Air Corps and later the U.S. Air Force, serving in World War II and the Korean War. He retired from military service as a lieutenant colonel from the Wisconsin Air National Guard in 1970, having attained all seven of the military’s aviation wings: glider pilot, service pilot, rated pilot, liaison pilot, senior pilot, Army aviator and command pilot.Along with his wife, Audrey, Poberezny founded EAA in their home in Hales Corners, WI in 1953. What started as a loose-knit group of aviators grew into more than 170,000 members worldwide today. Poberezny designed and built more than 15 different airplanes, and accrued more than 30,000 flight hours in approximately 500 aircraft types.26 • TWIN & TURBINE OCTOBER 2013