Mike Nichols – CAM Fellow

Mike Nichols, CAM, CAE, IOM is Founder and President of Flieger Strategies, a consulting company serving non-profit organizations, private/business aviation companies and aircraft owners/operators. Flieger Strategies’ primary client is the Piper M-Class Owners & Pilots Association (PMOPA), which Mike Nichols serves as their Chief Executive Officer representing the interests of owners and pilots worldwide who fly Piper PA-46 derivative (Malibu, Mirage, Matrix, Meridian, M-Class, and JetPROP) aircraft. He also is on the board of directors – as independent director, member of the Nominating and Governance Committee, and chair of the Compensation Committee – of Volato, one of the fastest growing companies in private aviation (NYSE American: SOAR). He also serves on the CAM Governing Board and chairs its Marketing Committee.

Nichols is a results-oriented executive with a consistent record of success leading staff and volunteer teams, creating strategy, inspiring innovation and managing complex budgets with a proven capability to turn around under-performing lines of business.

Prior to forming Flieger Strategies, Nichols was a senior executive at NBAA where he worked for 18 years. During his tenure at NBAA, he advocated for the business aviation industry on FAA rule making committees, effectively preventing the implementation of onerous regulations while facilitating those that enhance safety and operations; directed federal and state aviation tax policy and education initiatives; successfully advocated for the industry before state revenue agencies, IRS, Department of Treasury and the U.S. Congress for fair taxation treatment of ownership/operation of business aircraft; generated significant growth in NBAA’s conferences and seminars and regional forums lines of business; and led the team that produced ABACE – the Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition – an annual business aviation trade show in Shanghai, China. Along with other forward-thinking initiatives, he created and was the principal author of the NBAA Sustainable Flight Department Accreditation Program, which was designed to lead business aviation operations towards environmental sustainability objectives.

A life-long learner, Nichols earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) and Institute for Organizational Management (IOM) credentials, in addition to the CAM credential. He is an active instrument-rated private pilot and owns a Grumman Tiger aircraft.