Contact: Dan Hubbard, (202) 783-9360, dhubbard@nbaa.org
Washington, DC, Nov. 12, 2015 – Jeffrey H. Gilley, longtime director of airports and ground infrastructure for the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), will retire from the association on Nov. 19 after nearly 17 years of service.
Since joining NBAA in 1999, Gilley has been the association’s leading expert on airport access and advocacy issues.
“Jeff’s commitment and dedication to ensuring that NBAA members and the general aviation community have fair and reasonable access to the national system of airports is unmatched,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “He is rightly called ‘Mr. Airports,’ and we are indebted for his efforts on behalf of business aircraft operators in the U.S. and around the world.”
Gilley has served as a staff liaison to the NBAA Access Committee, as well as its predecessor, the Airports/Heliports Committee, to oversee committee engagement on airport issues. In coordination with committee members, he was instrumental in the development of valued resources for members, including NBAA’s Airports Handbook, the Airport Advocate Guide and the newly revised NBAA Noise Abatement Program. Gilley also worked with NBAA regional representatives and outside legal counsel to develop and update airport access strategies.
For more than four decades, Gilley has been a champion for general aviation access to the nation’s airports. During his tenure at NBAA, Gilley was involved in several key airport access challenges, including noise-related issues involving Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in Burbank, CA, Naples Municipal Airport (APF) in Florida, and Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey, as well as current access issues at East Hampton Airport (HTO) in New York and Santa Monica Airport (SMO) in California. He has represented NBAA on many industry groups, including the FAA/Industry Runway Safety Council and various airport advisory committees. He also represented the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) at the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO’s) Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection Working Group, to assist in defining ICAO guidance on airport noise and emissions.
Gilley started flight training at an early age in his hometown of Winston-Salem, NC. Gilley, whose father was Piedmont Airlines’ first pilot, earned his private pilot’s license while he was a junior in high school and continued his flight training throughout his college years at Pfeiffer University, located near Charlotte, NC.
In 1971, Gilley joined the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) as that association’s director of airports, and was the founding director of a formal AOPA airports department. He was a staff member at AOPA until January 1999, for almost 28 years.
He currently holds a commercial license with instrument and multi-engine ratings.
“Jeff Gilley has been the industry’s go-to person for decades when it comes to airport issues,” said Bolen. “We thank Jeff for his countless contributions to NBAA, its members and the business aviation community. We wish him well as he begins a new chapter in his life.”
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Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The Association represents more than 10,000 companies and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, the world’s largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at www.nbaa.org.
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