John LaValle
Row 44, of Westlake Village, Calif., promoted John LaValle, the company’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, to CEO. Co-founder and former CEO John Guidon will assume the chief technology officer role and remain on the company’s board of directors.
Gregg Fialcowitz, Row 44’s co-founder and former president, has left the company to pursue a private aviation endeavor.
LaValle, a longtime technology executive who has led several companies to IPOs, secondary offerings and high-value acquisitions, will leverage his business and investment-community expertise to introduce Row 44 to new markets, partners and investors around the world. He will also help Row 44 raise the capital to expand the company’s operations both geographically and into new industries.
Bernd Munzenmayer
Pro Star Aviation, based in Londonderry, N.H., named Bernd Munzenmayer senior sales advisor. He is one of the company’s founders and had to divest his shares to take the position.
Munzenmayer has been in the aviation the industry for more than 40 years, starting out in the U.S. Air Force and then holding sales poitions at Stead Aviation and Duncan Aviation before founding Pro Star Aviation.
Mike Sammartino
Metron Aviation, based in Dulles, Va., appointed Michael Sammartino vice president of government affairs.
Sammartino has 30 years of aviation experience in development, implementation and oversight of policies addressing Air Traffic Flow Management, airport scheduling limits and air traffic procedures.
He joins Metron Aviation from FAA where he was the director of Systems Operations. Previously, Sammartino held additional positions at FAA including acting vice president of System Operations Services and acting vice president of Terminal Services.
Greg Diognardi
StandardAero named Greg Diognardi Falcon 900 Technical sales manager. Diognardi has more than 20 years of experience in the aviation industry. Previously, he was regional sales manager for Landmark Aviation.
Diognardi has also served as vice president of Sales and Operations at Flightdocs and as a maintenance analyst at Camp Systems International. He began his career as a technician in the U.S. Air Force.
Eric Stuck
Gulfstream Aerospace named Eric Stuck senior manager, new business development, within the Gulfstream Product Support organization. He will be responsible for overseeing the development of aftermarket avionics and cabin electronics modification programs for Gulfstream aircraft.
Stuck has 28 years of experience in the aviation industry, including 15 in product support sales and program management. Previously, he worked for Hawker Beechcraft, Bombardier, Banyan Air Services and AMR Combs. Stuck was also an avionics technician/repair supervisor in the U.S. Air Force.
Larry A. Lawson
Lockheed Martin appointed Larry A. Lawson executive vice president of the Aeronautics business area.
Lawson was most recently vice president and general manager of the F-35 program and has held a range of positions in his career of more than 32 years in aerospace. Prior to leading the F-35 program, he was vice president and general manager of the F-22 Raptor program, and vice president of business development for Lockheed Martin’s Electronic Systems business area. Lawson started his career with McDonnell Douglas, and in 1986 joined Martin Marietta, where he served in various technical and managerial roles in capturing, developing and producing air-to-air and air-to-ground weapon systems.
Mike Fetcko
Elliott Aviation, based in Moline, Ill., named Mike Fetcko avionics manager.
Fetcko brings nearly 20 years of avionics experience to Elliott Aviation. Most recently he was a systems design engineer with Great Lakes Aviation and as a private contractor. Before that, he was an avionics installation technician and systems engineer for Duncan Aviation as well as an avionics technician working on F18s for the U.S. Navy.
Mark W. Smith
Mid-Continent Instruments, based in Wichita, Kan., appointed Mark W. Smith quality assurance manager. Smith has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and will be responsible for quality control, inspection, maintenance of technical data and regulatory compliance with federal, state and international agencies.
Most recently, Smith was quality manager for Hawker Beechcraft on the Hawker 4000 business jet. He also served as customer quality engineer for Honeywell as well as crew supervisor and electronics technician for the U.S. Marine Corps.
Floyd Roney
Becker Avionics, of Miramar, Fla., added Floyd Roney to its sales team as sales account manager. Roney will develop and execute a comprehensive sales and marketing strategy to expand and capture the fixed-wing market, as well as focus on strengthening existing and future Becker Avionics dealer relationships.
Roney has more than 30 years of aviation experience and was most recently with EMS Aviation as channel sales manager. Previously he was national sales manager for EDMO Distributors and director of North American sales for Kannad Aviation. Roney is also a retired veteran of the U.S. Air Force.