Several prolific aviation professionals are to be recognized by Living Legends of Aviation during its 14th Annual Awards event on Jan. 20 in California. Included in the program for are Kenn Ricci and Phebe Novakovic. Ricci has received the Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur Award, and Novakovic is the Aviation Industry Leader of the Year Award winner.
Ricci currently serves as principal of Directional Aviation Capital and has more than 30 years of experience in the aviation industry. An entrepreneur from the beginning, he founded Corporate Wings, an aircraft management and charter operation, in 1980. A decade later he founded Inertial Airline Services and then Flight Options in 1998, which merged with Raytheon Travel Air in 2002. This isn’t Ricci’s only entrepreneurship award. He has been awarded Ernst & Young and Harvard Business School honors, among others.
Some might recognize Novakovic from Forbes‘ 2016 World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. The General Dynamics Chair and CEO is No. 54, with Forbes citing General Dynamics’ $31.5 billion 2015 revenue. The aerospace and defense company is best known for the M1 Abrams tank, nuclear submarines and Gulfstream jets. Fortune has also recognized her Novakovic as a “Most Powerful Woman.” She got involved in defense right away, Fortune reported, analyzing weapons systems for a contractor right out of college, then joining the CIA in the 1980s.