People of the Industry

William Borgsmiller, President/CEO, ACI Jet

How long have you been at your current organization?

I founded the company in 1998 so ACI Jet has been around for 19 years and I was there at the start.

What are your responsibilities within your organization?

I am the President and CEO. My main focus is to ensure that we are providing integrity, professionalism, and top notch customer service and overall excellence in all phases of operations.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

I spend most of my week at our headquarters in San Luis Obispo working with the leaders of each of ACI’s Business Units (Flight Operations, Maintenance, and FBOs). I also spend 1-2 days each week at our new FBO Facility in Orange County at John Wayne Airport.

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Chad Anderson, President – Jetcraft
Location: Minneapolis, MN

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

I started at Jetcraft on April 1, 2005 as a sales person, so I’ve been with the company over 12 years. I remember the date because John Ames (my boss) came in on my first day and advised me the job offer was an April Fool’s Joke. I was newly married and we had our first born (Max) on the way, so my heart skipped a beat! I eventually became the Sr. VP of Sales, and am now President.

When I first started in 2005 the market was booming. This lasted until late 2008 when Jetcraft and the entire industry was challenged with the crash of our economy. We emerged in early 2009 as current day Jetcraft with the addition of Jahid as a shareholder and a move toward globalization. I became President shortly thereafter.

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

I oversee management and continuous development of our Sales, Transaction Management, Finance, Marketing, Administration, and Aircraft Operations teams worldwide. And, just as important, I focus on continuous development of our valued clientele, both the existing group and those to come in the future. I see myself as the Business Development Officer for whoever needs help regardless of their role in our company.

Describe a typical day or week in your role

My day is always different, but it really varies whether I’m on the road or in the office. If I’m on the road, the focus is on the client or key vendor that I am traveling to see. Most travel is based around a client or organizational objective, so I stay focused on that during my time away. If I am in the office, I start my day in Salesforce.com, which gives me a barometer of deals that are pending and maturing, offers being made, etc. From there I see where my focus ought to be for the day and what is needed. In the evenings I head home for some time with my wife and kids (Max is 12, Ava is 10). They are young enough that they still think I’m cool so they like to hang out with us in the evenings. My son is learning to play lacrosse so I like to practice with him, and my daughter loves to dance so we get a lot of evening dance recitals in our living room.

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Dan Kilkeary, Sales Director – Northeast US, Jetcraft
[email protected]
Location: New Jersey

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

I started with Jetcraft on October 31, 2016. I immediately attended NBAA and was able to meet much of the Jetcraft team.

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

I am a Sales Director and cover the Northeast US – essentially Ohio moving east to Virginia and north to Maine.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

I start around 5:15am and check any e-mails that may come in from colleagues in Europe or other parts of the Globe. Then I go to the gym at 6am. From there I come home and trade a few other e-mails while I help get my 3 kids organized for the day. Around 8-8:30 I head to my office where I spend most of the day either on the phone or visiting clients in any given area – either looking for new opportunities or supporting existing clients.

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Daniel Cheung, Owner & CPA, Aviation Tax Consultants

How long have you been at your current organization?

My business partner and I started Aviation Tax Consultants in the fall of 2003.

What are your responsibilities within your organization?

Working with my colleagues at ATC, I am ultimately responsible for all of our clients’ tax compliance matters, handling IRS and state sales tax audits. In addition, I am the traveling / marketing face of the firm, attending numerous industry functions and speaking at aviation conferences.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

Whether I am in the office or on the road, I spend most of my time on the phone speaking or corresponding on emails with clients, CPA’s, prospects and aircraft salespersons. I spend a significant amount of time traveling and networking with business aviation professionals around the country.

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Aoife O’Sullivan, Partner, The Air Law Firm

How long have you been at your current organization?

We set up the firm in November 2015 as a boutique aviation law firm mainly to focus only on aviation and be more flexible in terms of client needs such as fixed fees. Clients we had been working with for many years agreed to support us and we haven’t looked back since.

What are your responsibilities within your organization?

Pretty much everything! I run the business with my partners and we do everything from ordering the stationary to advising clients on aircraft ownership, finance and trading structures. I guess my main role is to keep the business coming in and make sure we are doing everything we can to help clients and give a fast and professional service.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

There is absolutely nothing typical about this role or the work we do. I split my time working from home or at the office in Mayfair. There seems to have been a swing back to face to face meetings so the work involves a lot of travel, literally to anywhere I am directed to go! Many of our clients are based in or pass through London and our Mayfair office is very central so I tend to walk to meetings where possible. Our client base is very varied and on any given day, I may spend the morning with a HNWI advising on their aircraft purchase, lunch with a financier to agree a financing structure, the afternoon drafting documents and answering emails and then dinner with some industry friends or new clients. The ability to respond to emails and calls on the go is a necessity in this line of work as people tend to expect a quick turnaround. We are lucky to be very busy so delegation is a skill I have had to become very good at without affecting our partner led personal service to the clients.

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Yvonne Kwok, Accounting/Administrative Officer, Jetcraft Asia
Location: Hong Kong

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

I have been working in the Jetcraft Asia office for one year and two months.

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

I am the Accounting/Administrative Officer for the Jetcraft Asia office. My responsibilities within Jetcraft are to provide accounting and administration support to the Asia team. I also assist with coordinating travel plans for anyone on the asia sales team.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

I spend my typical day preparing accounting reports, payroll, and tax filing to Inland Revenue Department. I work closely with the accounting team in our Headquarters in Raleigh, NC, USA. I also assist with the air-tickets and hotel arrangements for the members of the Asia team since they travel often.

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Aaron Kreissler, Director of MRO Sales, Jet Aviation

How long have you been at your current organization?

I have been at Jet Aviation for 26 years.

What are your responsibilities within your organization?

I am responsible for MRO and Completion Sales, Marketing and Customer Care for Jet Aviation in St Louis, which includes a few different groups of people. We have a regional sales force working in the field that is the primary face of Jet Aviation to our customers. The Internal MRO Sales team is made up of highly technical individuals who produce our proposals and advise customers. These are the folks that answer the questions when a customer or industry partner is evaluating modifications to prospective aircraft, and they are also constantly educating me. The Completion Sales team handles project management for all completions and is the customer’s single point of contact throughout the process. Marketing has both a tactical and strategic role. Finally, our Customer Care team ensures that every customer who comes to St Louis feels like they are a member of the Jet Aviation family.

What do you love most about your job? What is a typical day like?

Every week, even every day, is a relay race. We’ll have a different person starting off and even a different anchor, but without the full team we would not win.

I love that no day is a baseline day. We have friends all over the globe, reaching out to us no matter what the hour, sometimes with projects we could not have dreamed up. I love when we work together to come up with an amazingly effective and unique solution.

Why did working in the Business Aviation industry interest you, and how did you get started?

I grew up in a small town and business jets were for the extremely elite, but I did not know much about them. Everything though was a Lear: a Gulfstream, a Challenger, a Jetstar; I thought they were all Learjets. When I began working with Sabreliner I started to learn about other business aircraft, but it was the career move to Midcoast where my eyes were opened to the breadth and benefits of business aviation.

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Ryan Shannon, Corporate Council, Jetcraft
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

Close to 5 years (since June, 2012).

What are your responsibilities within the global Jetcraft team?

I handle most of the day-to-day legal matters for Jetcraft, including internal corporate matters, vendor agreements, employment agreements, etc. I also work on aircraft acquisition and sale matters, with a primary focus on Jetcraft’s owned aircraft inventory and trade transactions.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

I spend the majority of my time working on aircraft transactions. This entails drafting letters of intent, aircraft purchase agreements and ancillary documents, and negotiating the terms with buyers and sellers. I begin a typical day by reviewing emails and prioritizing my workload, and then drafting or revising various agreements related to our pending aircraft transactions. In the run-up to a closing, there is a lot of email and telephone correspondence with my colleagues and other parties as we get everything in place. I also spend a fair amount of time coordinating with Peter Antonenko (COO) and Chad Anderson (President) on deal matters and taking direction from them on which ones need focus.

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Karen Watkins, Jetcraft
Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA

How long have you been at Jetcraft?

I joined the Jetcraft family in September 2014 as an Administrative Assistant. My role is office administration in our Minneapolis office. I directly support the President, COO and transaction team.

Describe a typical day or week in your role.

Part of what I love about my job is that no two days are ever the same. My daily tasks vary each day depending on the needs of the company. I do everything from assisting with processing aircraft closing documents to answering calls to booking company travel.

What do you love most about your job?

The industry as a whole is so interesting and exciting that I find it difficult to pinpoint what I love most. There are so many things about my job that I truly love! One unexpected thing that this job has given me is the opportunity to see parts of the world I had only dreamt about before, which I am truly grateful for.

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