Kenneth Meyer
ACSS, an L-3 Communications and Thales company based in Phoenix, named Kenneth Meyer vice president of program management and customer support. Meyer will be responsible for overseeing and enhancing customer relationships for ACSS, including all current and future product development programs.
Meyer brings a broad range of experience to ACSS in the areas of program management, engineering and product support. Prior to joining ACSS, he spent more than 15 years at several L-3 organizations, including GCS, Narda Satellite Networks, the L-3 Microwave Group and Communication Systems-West.
Gima Harrell
Thales named Gima Harrell supervisor of the company’s Media Services department. Her focus is on content operations and comes to Thales with a unique background within the in-flight entertainment (IFE) industry. Under Gima’s leadership, Thales will introduce new content management procedures that streamline and automate processes for short lead times.
Harrell’s experience spans several years working as a content service provider, content operations manager involved in portable IFE devices and head of daily integration and distribution operations in support of embedded systems. Prior to her career in IFE, she was a financial planner and stockbroker. She also worked several years as a chemical engineer.
APEX Board of Directors
The Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) elected a new board of directors at its meeting in September.
Chris Babb, senior product manager, customer experience, Delta Air Lines, was elected APEX president. Linda Celestino, general manager, inflight services, commercial department, Oman Air, will serve as vice president.
Newly elected board members include Luay Qunash, director, inflight product, Royal Jordanian; Alfy Veretto, manager, IFE content/partnerships, Virgin America; and Ian Walberg, CEO of Airborne Interactive.
Richard Nordstrom
Richard Nordstrom was named managing director for North America at OnAir, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Nordstrom is a veteran of the satellite communication market for both the air transport and maritime sectors. In maritime, he was sales and marketing director at Connexion by Boeing and a strategic consultant to satellites providers for its aviation market. He was instrumental in the development of underwater wireless communications systems and their integration with surface systems, and managed a national VHF telecoms network buildout for the U.S. Coast Guard and maritime industry.
John Eichten
PATS Aircraft Systems, based in Georgetown, Del., named John Eichten senior vice president for sales and marketing. PATS is a provider of aircraft auxiliary fuel systems, aviation components and VIP aircraft maintenance, modification and interior completion services.
Eichten joins PATS after more than 20 years at TIMCO Aviation Services in various sales, marketing and business development functions.
Scott Neal
Gulfstream promoted Scott Neal, a 17-year Gulfstream veteran and top sales executive in both the Eastern and Central U.S. sales regions, to head of the company’s worldwide sales and marketing organization.
Most recently, Neal served as division vice president for the Central United States, a position he held since 2010. From 1998 until 2010 he had sales and sales management responsibilities in both the South Central United States and Northeast United States. In his earlier years at Gulfstream, Neal served in the pre-owned aircraft sales and sales engineering groups. Prior to joining Gulfstream, Neal held positions of increasing responsibility at Raytheon Corporate Jets and British Aerospace.
West Star Aviation Appointments
West Star Aviation, based in East Alton, Ill., named Julie Anderson and Tim Johnson regional sales managers. Anderson will be responsible for the western states including Arizona, California and Nevada, and Johnson will take charge of the Upper Midwest region.
Anderson was recently employed with Med Air where she held numerous sales positions.
Johnson joins West Star team Dassault Falcon where he was regional sales manager.
West Star Aviation appointed Jeff Messmer operations manager at its newest facility at Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS) in Chesterfield, Mo. He will be responsible for all maintenance, avionics and customer service and support operations at the Chesterfield location.
With more than 20 years of aircraft experience, Messmer began his career as an aircraft structural technician for the U.S. Army. Most recently, he held the position of Bombardier customer support manager for Midcoast Aviation.
Dwayne Williams
Aero Dynamix, of Euless, Texas, appointed Dwayne Williams to its growing team of night vision goggle professionals.
Following a successful career in the U.S. Army flying UH-1 helicopters, Williams has worked as a pilot for Petroleum Helicopter Industries, chief pilot for Heritage Aviation in Grand Prairie, Texas, and for MD Helicopters in Mesa, Ariz.
He has also spent more than 25 years at Bell Helicopter, working as chief pilot for Advanced Flight Training in Esfahan, Iran, an experimental test pilot and later director of flight operations and chief pilot for Bell Helicopter Textron based in Fort Worth, Texas.
Williams holds numerous FAA ratings, including Airline Transport Pilot ratings in Airplane Multi-Engine Land and Rotorcraft-Helicopter and has type ratings in the Bell Helicopter 214, Bell Helicopter 214ST, Bell Helicopter 205, Bell Helicopter 206, Sikorsky S-92 and the Cessna Citation III.