Nominees to the NBAA Board of Directors 2021

Aug. 31, 2021

The following are candidates nominated by the NBAA Nominating & Governance Committee. Board elections will be held during the Annual Meeting of Members to be held on Oct. 13, 2021, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV. Review the NBAA Bylaws for more information on the nomination process.

Bill Ayer

Director, Honeywell

Bill Ayer began his career as a salesperson with the Piper Aircraft Company. After starting Air Olympia, a regional airline in Washington state, in 1981, Ayer joined Horizon Air in 1982. Horizon became a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group in 1986 and he was named chief executive officer of the parent company in 2002. He retired from the company at the end of 2013.

Ayer is the chairperson of the FAA’s Safety Oversight and Certification Advisory Committee. He formerly served on the FAA’s Management Advisory Council and chaired the FAA’s NextGen Advisory Committee. In addition to Honeywell, he serves on the boards of the University of Washington, the Museum of Flight and AOPA.

Ayer received a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Washington. Ayer started flying at the age of 15, holds an ATP certificate and has accumulated more than
5500 hours of flight time.

Monte Koch

Director, Choice Hotels

Monte Koch is a Retired Partner at BDT & Company. He has advised clients and invested in a broad range of industries, including real estate, lodging, aviation and technology, with a diverse background in both institutional and entrepreneurial settings. With more than 25 years of investment banking experience, he served as Chairman of M&A for the Americas and Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at Deutsche Bank. In late 2012, Monte left Deutsche Bank to serve as Co-Founder, Co-CEO and later Vice Chairman of Ten-X/Auction.com, the largest online marketplace for residential and commercial real estate transactions. Monte is a director of publicly-traded Choice Hotels. He holds an ATP license and is type rated in the Falcon 10, G-IV, G-V and Boeing 747-400. He also holds helicopter and seaplane ratings. Mr. Koch graduated from The College of William & Mary with a BBA in management.

Sean Lee

Global Vice President, The Coca-Cola Company

Sean Lee currently serves as global vice president, The Coca-Cola Company, leading the Global Operations and Workplace Services team and is the accountable executive for The Coca-Cola Aviation department. The team is comprised of operations teams spanning aviation, corporate real estate, facilities, travel and other areas.

Lee began his flying career as a United States Air Force Officer, progressing through the rank of Major and was honorably discharged after completing 10 years of service and flying over 40 combat sorties during that period. Post military service, he served in multiple corporate and aviation positions with MassMutual Financial Group and Hewlett Packard.

Lee is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy as well as the USAF Russian Language Area Studies Immersion Program at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia, and has an M.B.A. from Emory University in Atlanta.

In addition to his service with NBAA, Lee currently serves on the boards of the Coca-Cola Federal Credit Union and the New England Air Museum.

John Witzig

Vice President of Corporate Aviation, Pfizer Inc.

Having joined Pfizer in 2011, Witzig is responsible for worldwide transportation of personnel aboard company aircraft and ground vehicles. Witzig is a member of Pfizer’s Human Resources Leadership Team and Senior Leadership Council. He also is a member of the Aviation Director’s Roundtable.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Witzig was the senior vice president of operations for CitationAir, Cessna’s fractional aircraft business, where he held roles of increasing responsibility, beginning as an aircraft captain in 2001. Previous roles ranged from being a line pilot for an overnight freight company, to chief pilot of a business aviation flight department. Witzig is an airline transport pilot with more than 7,000 hours of flight time and several type ratings.

Witzig holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He and his wife Dena have two college-age children.