[Avionics Magazine 09-02-2016] Jim Eck, the FAA’s Assistant Administrator for NextGen, and Neil Planzer, vice president of air traffic management at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, have been confirmed as keynote speakers for the upcoming
Avionics for NextGen conference. Eck has been confirmed as the opening keynote speaker for the first day, and Planzer for the second and final day of the conference.
Top to Bottom: Jim Eck, Assistant Administrator for NextGen, FAA. Neil Planzer, Vice President, Boeing Air Traffic Management. Photos: Boeing, FAA.
Eck assumed the position of the FAA’s Assistant Administrator for NextGen earlier this year. He previously served as the vice president of the program management organization responsible for all NextGen program activity, infrastructure modernization programs, and service to legacy National Airspace System (NAS) infrastructure. Eck leads a federal workforce of about 900 employees and manages the $1 billion annual budget of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). His office also oversees a leading aviation research complex at the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He is the FAA’s third appointed assistant administrator for NextGen since 2011.
Planzer’s career in aviation goes back to his earliest days with the U.S. Air Force between 1966 and 1972, before joining the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller in 1973, where he spent more than 25 years with the agency in progressively responsible positions. While at the FAA, Planzer’s notable accomplishments include formulating and implementing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) Regional Airspace Initiatives in 28 countries; successfully establishing and managing startup departments within the FAA; authoring the DOD’s policy on air traffic control and air traffic management for China, Korea, Central Asia and Eastern Europe; and advising the National Security Council on restoring civil access to national airspace after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Planzer joined The Boeing Company’s Air Traffic Management organization in 2003 as vice president of stakeholder solutions. Today, as vice president of global ATM solutions, he leads the company’s air traffic management pursuits, oversees a cross-enterprise approach in the execution of the FAA-awarded SE-2020 project, and develops and tests advanced air traffic management concepts and technologies.