Welcome Mr. Pelton

[danielfindling]

Wishing you success in you new role as EAA chairman.

Daniel Findling

[martymayes]

As I read it, Jack Pelton is only filling in until the vacancy is permanently filled. Not really a recipe for success.

[Hal Bryan]

Jack was elected by the board as Chairman, which is a 3 year term, with an option for a 3 year extension. He is not the CEO.

[MEdwards]

He is not the CEO.

But Mr. Pelton is acting President and CEO in the interim, is he not? That's what the EAA.org web page says. Some message subject on another board called him "interim chairman" and that's wrong.

Does anybody know how long Mr. Pelton has been on the Board of Directors before it just created the postion of Chairman and elected him to it?
EDIT: Nevermind, I see he was elected last February.

[Hal Bryan]

To the best of my knowledge, there has always been a position on the board titled Chairman. I don't know where you got the idea that it was just created, but that's simply not true.

[MEdwards]

To the best of my knowledge, there has always been a position on the board titled Chairman. I don't know where you got the idea that it was just created, but that's simply not true.

Hal, perhaps I misinterpreted the EAA's press release, but if so it was an honest mistake. The EAA said:

"October 24, 2012 - The EAA board of directors created a new chairman of the board position and on Sunday elected Jack Pelton to fill that role. Jack is the first formally elected non-executive chairman in the history of EAA."

I was surprised to read that, as I interpreted it, but it doesn't matter. It's completely incidental to the issue at hand. And I was attacking no one. From what I have heard it sounds like Mr. Pelton is a good fit as director, chairman of the board of directors, and interim CEO. I wish him well.

[Hal Bryan]

Hal, perhaps I misinterpreted the EAA's press release, but if so it was an honest mistake. The EAA said:

"October 24, 2012 - The EAA board of directors created a new chairman of the board position and on Sunday elected Jack Pelton to fill that role. Jack is the first formally elected non-executive chairman in the history of EAA."

Oh... the answer to my question about where you got "that idea" couldn't be answered any more clearly, could it?

Mea culpa, MEdwards - I hadn't seen that release when I replied to your post last night, so I'm really sorry for the mixed messages! (If we had an emoticon of the little yellow pilot guy falling on a sword, I'd insert that here...)

While I confess to still being a little bit confused by the wording in the release, here's what I know: When Tom P. retired, Louie Andrew was appointed by the board to the position of Chairman, and served in that capacity until his retirement a couple of months ago.

When he retired, the position of Chairman still existed, but it wasn't occupied. This past weekend, Jack was elected to the position - and here's where we start splitting hairs: the position was modified from a governance perspective to encompass a three-year-term, and a two-term limit. That may have meant, technically, creating a new Chairman position, but that goes beyond my layperson's understanding of Robert's Rules and all that.

My comment was based on the fact that Paul, Tom, and Louie all held the title of Chairman of the Board, so I "knew" that this wasn't a newly created position.

While I should have looked around more before posting last night, personally, I think the release we put out is unnecessarily confusing and could have been worded better, and I won't be surprised to see an update at some point.

Regardless, my apologies again for correcting you unnecessarily and prematurely, and to everyone else for the added confusion.

It's just been that kind of week...

[MEdwards]

Yup, I suspect it's been quite a week. No swords, please. As I said, it's really incidental, but I thought it was somewhat interesting. I speculated (that word) to myself only that perhaps Paul and Tom were so obviously the head of the organization, both executive and board, that no formal chairman position was necessary. But now with a change in leadership, and then another change, more explicit leadership was called for. That makes perfect sense to me. But really, I know nothing.

Thanks for keeping us informed.

Mike

[Ron Blum]

EAA is sport aviation, and it started with Paul's "Can Do" attitude. It's an organization that is about aviation education and getting to fly more economically and with more freedoms. If people look at the history of EAA, Paul used his military resources well to meet with people across the nation ... an F-86 is not a homebuilt. Tom was then our leader for many, many years, too. The two men are very different people but both did a great job for the progress of EAA, and both were the right people at the right time.

If WE now spend all of our time wishing for the good old days, we will surely be turned the wrong direction to see where the next generation can take us!

[Jim Clark]

Wishing you success in you new role as EAA chairman.

Daniel Findling

Thank you Daniel for trying to say something positive. We need more positive wishes and support for everyone steering EAA no matter what their titles.