Contact: Cassandra Bosco
Washington, DC, November 2, 2001 – The Voting Membership of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) elected five Directors to three-year terms during its Annual Meeting on October 31 at the Association’s Washington Headquarters: Jon D. Ellis of Sprint Corp., Jeffrey W. Lee of IBM Corporation, John H. Ratcliff of Ford Motor Co., Philip A. Roberts of PAR Travel Tech, Inc. and George A. Saling of Philip Morris Management Corp.
Jon D. Ellis, director of Sprint Flight Operations, joined the Board earlier this year when he was appointed to fill a position vacated by Allan Lane upon his retirement from BP Amoco in 2000. Ellis has managed Sprint Corp.’s Flight Operations Department since 1990. He began his career with Sprint’s predecessor company United Telecommunications, Inc. in 1984 as a Learjet copilot. Before joining Sprint, Ellis was public affairs officer for the FAA Central Region and also served as an aviation safety inspector in Kansas City. He served three years in the U.S. Army as a combat air traffic controller with one tour of duty in Vietnam. A graduate of the University of Tulsa with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism, Ellis attended graduate school at Central Missouri State University, where he studied aviation safety management.
Jeffrey W. Lee, the NBAA Board’s newest Member, is the director of flight operations for IBM Corporation, which he joined in 1980 as a copilot. He earned a B.S. in engineering from the United States Air Force Academy and was a USAF flight instructor from 1974 to 1980. Prior to joining the NBAA Board, he served first as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of NBAA’s Corporate Aviation Management Committee.
John H. Ratcliff of Ford Motor Company was appointed to the NBAA Board earlier this year to fill the unexpired term of past Director Kenneth Peartree of Hewlett Packard, who resigned from the Board. Ratcliff currently serves as Ford Motor Company’s chief pilot and aviation director. Since joining Ford in 1973, he also has held positions as pilot, supervisor of flight operations and chief pilot, respectively. From 1967 to 1971, Ratcliff was a U.S. Air Force active-duty pilot, and he was a member of the Michigan Air National Guard through 1982. In 1966, Ratcliff graduated from the University of North Texas with a B.A. in mathematics, and in 1979, he earned an M.S. in accounting from Eastern Michigan University.
New NBAA Chairman George Saling assumed his current position as Philip Morris Management Corp.’s vice president, aviation and travel services in October 2000. He is responsible for providing worldwide aviation and commercial travel support for all of the Philip Morris operating divisions. Prior to joining Philip Morris in 1991, Saling spent more than 17 years in various management positions with FlightSafety International, GTE Service Corp and Tenneco Inc. Following his graduation from Ohio University in 1968, he began active duty in the U.S. Army. During 1970 and 1971, he served as a combat flight platoon leader in Vietnam flying O-1 Birdogs. He first was elected to the Board in 1994 and also has served on the NBAA Corporate Aviation Management Committee.
NBAA’s Immediate Past Chairman Phil Roberts, a retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, is president and CEO of PAR Travel Tech, Inc., which he founded in 1999. He previously was director of corporate travel for Ford Motor Co., which he joined in 1989 as manager of advanced strategic planning. Roberts earned a B.S. in engineering sciences from the Air Force Academy, an M.S. in astronautics and a Ph.D. in aeronautics from Purdue. He first was elected to the NBAA Board in 1995 and also has served on the Association’s Industry Affairs Committee.
These Directors’ terms will conclude at the NBAA 57th Annual Meeting & Convention, scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, NV from October 12 to 14, 2004.
NBAA also announces the Board of Directors Committees as of October 31:
- Executive Committee – George Saling, Board Chairman; Don Baldwin, Board Vice Chairman; Ken Emerick, Board Treasurer; Phil Roberts, Board Past Chairman; and Jack Olcott, Board President
- Nominating Committee – Committee Chairman Sylvia Jennings, Don Baldwin, Jon Ellis, Jeff Lee, Jack Olcott
- Industry Affairs Committee – Committee Chairman Paul Stinebring, Tom Davis, Jon Ellis, Jack Kuss, John Ratcliff, David Vornholt, Staff Liaisons Bob Blouin and Pete West
- Membership Committee – Committee Chairman Jim Cooling, George Hunyadi, Jeff Lee, Bill Wagner, Staff Liaison Joe Ponte
- Strategic Review Committee – Committee Chairman Jack Kuss, Ken Emerick, Jack Olcott, John Ratcliff, Phil Roberts, David Vornholt, Jim Waugh, Staff Liaison David Almy.
To review the current NBAA Board roster, visit www.nbaa.org/board.
NBAA represents the aviation interests of nearly 7,000 companies which own or operate general aviation aircraft as an aid to the conduct of their business, or are involved with business aviation. NBAA Member Companies earn annual revenues approaching $5 trillion — a number that is about half the gross domestic product — and employ more than 19 million people worldwide. The NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention is the world’s largest display of civil aviation products and services.
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.