New Positions, Promotions, Honors And Elections, April 10, 2023

Aliette Quint has been appointed CEO of Hensoldt Nexeya France, an aerospace and defense services company. She was vice president for governmental business development, political affairs and innovation at Hensoldt France.

Sabre has named Kurt Ekert CEO, adding to his position as president. He also has been nominated for the board of directors. Current CEO and board chair Sean Menke will become solely an executive chair, effective April 27.

Tim Driscoll has been promoted to CEO of Triman Holdings, a military aftermarket supply chain management company. He joined as president in 2022, before which he was vice president and general manager of OEM solutions at AAR Corp.

Carlos Smith has been named chief financial officer at Paragon. He held the same position at Dawson and before that at Israel Aerospace Industries North America. He also worked at Leonardo and L3 Technologies.

Alan O’Rourke has been appointed chief financial officer at LCI. He was senior vice president for finance in LCI’s London office.

Cloud enterprise software provider IFS has appointed Matthias Heiden chief financial officer. He held the same role at Software AG, as well as serving as executive director.

Franck Zoungrana has been appointed chief financial officer at Barfield, a U.S. subsidiary of Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance. He was Air France-KLM manager of the order to cash finance and accounting for the Air France home market.

Boeing has named Howard McKenzie chief engineer and executive vice president of engineering, test and technology. He succeeds Greg Hyslop, who is retiring while keeping an advisory role to the CEO. McKenzie was top engineer at Boeing Commercial Airplanes and before that was vice president and chief engineer at Boeing Global Services.

Jochen Klink has been named chief operating officer at Diehl Aviation. He also joins the company’s division board and assumes the duties of the company’s cabin interiors unit CEO.

David Saint-Germain has joined NorthStar Earth & Space as chief operating officer. He brings senior leadership and sustainability experience, most recently at hydroelectric startup Hilo.

Eric Gillenwater has been appointed chief commercial officer at Sidus Space. He was vice president and business head for global carrier and enterprise at OneWeb.

Moog is shaking up its executive leadership. Mark Trabert has been named executive vice president and chief operating officer, replacing Pat Roche, who is now CEO. Joseph Alfieri has been elected vice president and president of space and defense, replacing Maureen Athoe, who is retiring; Mark Graczyk is now vice president and president for military aircraft; and Michael Schaff has become vice president and president of commercial aircraft.

Christine Fox Harbison has been named executive vice president and chief growth officer at Mercury Systems. She was vice president and general manager of the combat systems and mission readiness division at Northrop Grumman’s Defense Systems sector.

Sanjiv Dabee and Steve Liang have been named vice presidents of engineering teams at Aether Fuels, leading projects in the Americas and Asia, respectively. Dabee was a fellow and director of process engineering at Fluor, while Liang has led gasification--to-fuel projects.

The National Air Transportation Association has promoted Ken Thompson to managing director of regulatory affairs from senior advisor for regulatory affairs (maintenance). Paige Kroner also joins as senior advisor for industry relations.

Cathy Press will lead Parallel Flight Technologies’ Canadian operations. She brings 40 years of aviation experience, including as CEO of Chinook Helicopters and the first female flight instructor in Canada.

The Vertical Flight Society has named aerospace engineer Angelo Collins executive director.

General (ret.) John E. Hyten joins C3 AI as special advisor to the CEO. He has served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and led U.S. Strategic Command and Air Force Space Command.

Kenny Chan has taken on the position of director of maintenance at Storm Aviation. He was head of line maintenance at Cathay Pacific Group.

Engine and power systems company LiquidPiston has hired Peter Hartman as vice president of engineering. He was executive director of engineering at VIA Motors.

John Kelly is now president of Rolls-Royce’s Middle East, Turkey and Africa sector. He was senior vice president of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Rolls’ civil aerospace business.

Honors and Elections

Deneen DeFiore and Patrick Morrissey were presented the inaugural Aerospace Cybersecurity Excellence Award at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Expert Symposium. DeFiore is vice president and chief information security officer for United Airlines, in charge of the cybersecurity and digital risk organization. Morrissey, a senior technical fellow in the avionics division of Collins Aerospace, holds five patents for defensive security technologies and has been on multiple advisory councils, including at the FAA.