NBAA appoints interim COO as Bolen takes cancer treatment leave

The National Business Aviation Association has appointed Dan Hubbard to serve as interim chief operating officer, covering for president and CEO Ed Bolen while he steps away from the role for cancer treatment.

Hubbard has worked at the association for 22 years and has led its communications division as a senior vice president since 2008. In the interim post he will handle daily operations and act as the organization's day-to-day leader for the duration of Bolen's absence.

NBAA also moved Heidi Williams up to senior vice president of operations. She had been vice president of air traffic services and infrastructure, a role in which she handled the association's work with the FAA and other government and industry groups. Williams will now head the operations team, and her earlier work covered emerging technologies along with airspace and air traffic modernization.

The group's board chair, John Witzig, said Hubbard would have an experienced leadership team behind him while Bolen is away.

The announcement comes as NBAA prepares for its yearly convention, set for 20 to 22 October at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Henderson Executive Airport in Nevada. Bolen has run the association since 2004 and has been a prominent voice on business aviation and wider general aviation matters. The Experimental Aircraft Association's CEO and chairman, Jack Pelton, said he hoped Bolen would recover fully and described the association as being in good hands with its current leadership. AOPA acting co-president Katie Pribyl, who said she has known Bolen since 2005, also praised his leadership.