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Bryan Bedford, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Bryan Bedford has more than 24 years of experience in the airline industry. He joined Republic in July 1999 as president and CEO. Previously, he served as President and CEO of Mesaba Holdings, Inc. in Minneapolis, MN, and Business Express Airlines, Inc. in Boston, MA. During his 14 years at the helm of Republic, the airline has grown from $85 million in revenues and 36 turboprop aircraft to more than $2.8 billion in revenues and an operating fleet of 280 aircraft.
In 1997 and again in 2004, Regional Airline World named him Airline Executive of the Year. In 2009, he was given the same honor by Airline Business. In 1998, the Minneapolis Business Journal named Mr. Bedford to its 40 under 40 list and in 2000 The Indianapolis Business Journal again named him to their 40 under 40 list. Mr. Bedford earned his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance from Florida State University and is a certified public accountant. Mr. Bedford holds a commercial, multi-engine and instrument pilot rating.
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Wayne Heller, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Wayne Heller provides executive operational leadership for the subsidiaries of Republic Airways Holdings and has more than 30 years’ experience in the airline industry. He joined Chautauqua Airlines as Vice President of Flight Operations and, in February of 2002, became Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. In Addition to flight operations he also has responsibility for all maintenance and engineering. Mr. Heller has his commercial pilot license and is a licensed dispatcher.
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Tim Dooley, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Tim Dooley joined Chautauqua Airlines, one of Republic Airways Holdings’ subsidiaries in November of 1998 as Manager, Financial Planning and Analysis. He was promoted to Director, Financial Planning and Analysis for Republic Airways in January of 2001 and was promoted to the office of Vice President, Financial Planning and Analysis for the holding company in June of 2006. Before joining Chautauqua, he was a senior auditor for Ernst & Young, LLP.
Mr. Dooley received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington. He resides in Indianapolis with his wife and three children.
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Lars-Eric Arnell, Senior Vice President - Corporate Development
Lars-Erik Arnell joined Republic Airways Holdings Inc. in September of 2002 as Vice President of Corporate Development. Prior to joining the Company he held various financial positions in the transportation industry, including the regional airline, air medical transportation, truckload and global manufacturing industries. Lars has deep knowledge and experience from financial management, restructuring, business development and mergers and acquisitions.
Lars has held CFO positions in several large transportation companies including Burlington Motor Carriers, Inc., a large international trucking company based in Indiana and Business Express Airlines, Inc., a large regional airline based in the Northeastern US. He was earlier employed as the financial advisor to the Board of Directors of Rocky Mountain Helicopters, Inc. the largest helicopter air medical transportation company in the US.
Lars also has received invaluable global experience from his employment within ABB and SAAB, where he held various financial management positions in Sweden, England and in the USA. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Finance from Linkoping University combined with an eighteen-month Management Trainee Program within SAAB.
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Joe Allman, Treasurer and Vice President Financial Planning & Analysis
Joe Allman joined Republic Airways in July of 2007 as Director of Finance. In June of 2009, he was promoted to the position of Vice President and Controller.
Before joining the Company, Mr. Allman, who is a certified public accountant, gained extensive experience applying his finance, accounting and audit expertise to the airline and utilities sectors at managing positions with London Witte Group LLC and Deloitte and Touche LLP.
Mr. Allman is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he earned a B.S. in Management and subsequently achieved the rank of Lieutenant. Mr. Allman resides in Indianapolis with his wife and three children.
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Jerry Balsano, Vice President - Customer Service
Jerry Balsano has 35 years’ experience in the regional airline industry. He joined Chautauqua Airlines in April of 1979 as a Customer Service manager and was later promoted to Director of Stations. Mr. Balsano was appointed Vice President of Customer Service in June of 1998. He is a 1979 graduate of the Boyd School.
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Ethan Blank, Vice President and Corporate Counsel
Ethan Blank joined Republic Airways in February 2012 as Vice President and Corporate Counsel. Mr. Blank comes to Republic with 20 years of legal experience, most recently as a partner in the law firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver, P.C. in Baltimore, Maryland. He has participated in all aspects of complex transactions for major financial institutions, public companies, transportation carriers and international investors. His background includes a variety of airline industry transactions including loans, leases, and leveraged leases of aircraft; private placements with aircraft and equipment collateral; securitizations of aircraft lease receivables and airline working capital financings.
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Rose Doria, Vice President - Labor Relations
Rose Doria joined Republic Airways Holdings in January 2013. She has more than 30 years of aviation/airline experience with carriers including Business Express Airlines, Midway Airlines, American Eagle, American Airlines and NetJets.
Rose’s aviation/airline experience includes 18 years concentrating on Labor and Employee Relations Management. Most recently, Rose served as the Managing Partner at Barrett Doria Partners, a Labor Relations and Human Resources Consulting Practice working exclusively with American Airlines.
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Thomas Duffy, Vice President - Technical Services
Thomas Duffy has over 27 years experience in the airline industry and is a licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic. He joined Chautauqua Airlines in March of 2002 as Director Quality Assurance and Engineering. He was promoted to Vice President Technical Services for Republic Airways Holdings in September of 2006. Prior to joining Chautauqua Airlines, Mr. Duffy held senior management positions at several companies including Midway Airlines, Braniff Airlines and most recently Flight Options Inc.
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Scott Durgin, Vice President - Administration and Lean Methods
Scott Durgin has more than 30 years’ experience in the regional airline industry. He joined Republic Airways Holdings in May of 2005. Prior to joining Republic, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Shuttle America Corporation, a regional airline headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Scott served as Vice President – Customer Service for Mesaba Holdings, Inc. the parent company of Mesaba Airlines from 1996 to 2001. He has held various other senior management positions at Mokulele Airlines, Business Express Airlines, Express Airlines I, Inc. and Pilgrim Airlines.
Scott holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of New Haven in New Haven, Conn., and has completed the Minnesota Executive Program from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minn. He has undergone formal training in the principles of Lean business practice with a focus on hands-on, rapid and sustainable business improvement, analysis and transformation.
Scott resides in Carmel, Indiana, with his wife Laurie and their two children.
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Bradley Elstad, Vice President - Safety and Regulatory Compliance
Brad Elstad joined Republic Airways Holdings in October 2007 as Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance. He is responsible for the administration of the Company’s Safety department at its corporate headquarters in Indianapolis.
Prior to joining Republic, Brad spent 12 years in various positions at US Airways’ wholly-owned subsidiary PSA Airlines, initially with the airline’s System Operations Control, and concluding with his seven-year tenure as the Company’s Director of Safety and Regulatory Compliance.
On the national level, Brad has represented the regional airline industry by serving as both Chairman and Co-Chairman for the Regional Airline Association’s Safety Council. He has also instructed graduate-level aviation coursework at the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Dayton-area campus in Ohio.
Brad holds a commercial, multi-engine pilot license and is also a certificated aircraft dispatcher. He received his Bachelors Degree from St. Cloud State University and his Masters Degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
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Pat Gannon, Vice President - System Operations Control
Pat Gannon joined Republic with Shuttle America in 2002 and held supervisory and management positions in SOC before moving to Line Pilot and Check Airman. Mr. Gannon also has served as Manager of Standards, Program Manager and Assistant Chief Pilot during his tenure with the Company and has served as Executive Council Chairman for IBT Local 357, which represents the Company’s pilots. Mr. Gannon is responsible for providing guidance and oversight to all three regional subsidiaries Dispatch and Crew Scheduling departments.
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Jeff Jones, Vice President - Market Planning and Development
Jeff Jones has spent his entire working career in the airline industry. He joined Chautauqua Airlines in January of 2000 as the Company’s Vice President, Market Planning and Development. His title has remained the same as the Company grew from a one-code-share turboprop airline to Republic’s current airline operating certificate holdings and marketing relationships.
Jeff is the primary flight scheduling and planning liaison between Republic and its marketing partners: American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways, and Caesars Entertainment Corporation.
Prior to joining the Republic, Jeff was Director of Market Planning for Mesaba Holdings, Inc., and held several planning, scheduling and marketing management positions with Northwest, the earlier Republic, and North Central Airlines.
Jeff received his MBA from the University of St. Thomas, and a B.A. degree from Minnesota State University majoring in Economics and International Relations. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, and enjoys a blessed life with his wife, children and grandchildren.
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Paul Kinstedt, Vice President - Flight Operations
Paul Kinstedt joined Chautauqua Airlines, one of Republic Airways Holdings’ subsidiaries, in January 2002 as Director of Systems Operations Control. He was promoted to Vice President of System Operations Control for the Company’s three wholly owned subsidiaries in September 2006 and served in that capacity until January 2013, when he was named Vice President of Flight Operations. Before joining Chautauqua, Mr. Kinstedt was Vice President of Customer Service and Director of Flight Control for Midway Airlines.
Mr. Kinstedt received his Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Science from Parks College of Saint Louis University in St. Louis Missouri and his Masters of Business Administration from Illinois Benedictine College. He holds an aircraft dispatcher and commercial, multi-engine and instrument pilot rating.
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Richard Meyer, Vice President - Human Resources
Richard Meyer joined Republic Airways Holdings in August of 2011 as Vice President of Human Resources with extensive experience in both Human Resources and Labor Relations. Prior to joining Republic he spent nearly 20 years with ATA Airlines with responsibility for both HR and Labor Relations, preceded by 13 years with Cummins in a variety of HR roles. He is a graduate of Ball State University and attended the executive education Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. Mr. Meyer and his wife, Kathy, reside in Indianapolis.
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Drew Skaff, Vice President - Supply Chain
As Supply Chain vice president, Drew Skaff directs purchasing, material control, repair and warranty, spare parts inventory management, fuel administration, and additional Supply Chain functions across the Republic Airways enterprise. Skaff joined Frontier in August of 2000 as Director of Purchasing. Skaff has over 19 years of industry experience and previous to his leadership position at Frontier he supported AirTran Airways as Director of Purchasing and worked at America West Airlines. He has been published numerous times in several industry and Supply Chain periodicals. He earned an MBA from the Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College in 2000 and Bachelor of Science of Finance from Arizona State University.
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Ryan Willman, Vice President and Controller
Ryan Willman joined Republic Airways Holdings in October 2012. As Vice President and Corporate Controller, he is responsible for the Company’s accounting, financial reporting, tax, and internal audit functions.
Prior to joining Republic, Ryan held a variety finance roles at BrightPoint, Inc. from 2005 to 2012, most recently serving as the Vice President and Controller of BrightPoint Americas. From 2004 to 2005, Ryan worked in a financial reporting role at Guidant Corporation; and from 1999 to 2004, he was an auditor at Ernst and Young LLP in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Ryan earned a B.S. in Accounting from Indiana State University and an M.S. in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. He is a certified public accountant. Ryan resides in Avon, Indiana with his wife and three children.
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Aaron Workman, Vice President - Information Technology
Aaron Workman joined Chautauqua Airlines in 1979 and has over seen the Information Technology department for the past twelve years. During his airline career, Aaron has held management responsibilities, including Customer Service Manager-Florida, Sales Manager & Manager of Inventory Control, and Director of Information Technology.
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