May 2019 - Page 10 of 10 - Recreational Aviation Foundation

CODY WELLONS

Graphic Design Volunteer Cody Wellons has had a lifelong interest in aviation, although he didn’t actually start flying until 2014 after being inspired while taking a scenic floatplane flight while visiting Alaska. Since then, he has obtained his private pilot certificate and a few endorsements (tailwheel, high performance and complex), and is slowly working toward…

ERIN WHITE

Volunteer Coordinator Erin’s appetite for adventure began in college. After a tame suburban upbringing in Silicon Valley, she headed north to Chico State University, where she began signing up for adventure outings. After a few burly hikes and sweaty mountain biking adventures, she was officially hooked on outdoor recreation. Since then, she’s tallied up many…

STEVE TAYLOR

Director Steve Taylor grew up in and around airplanes. He soloed a Super Cub on this 16th birthday and got his pilot’s license on his 17th. His career at Boeing included assignments as the President of Boeing Business Jets, and Chief Pilot for Commercial Airplanes, giving him the distinction of having flown on all seven…

TODD SIMMONS

Director Aviation is in Todd’s DNA. His father was a U.S. Army flight surgeon; one grandfather a B-26 pilot during WWII, the other a crop duster. An uncle flew A-4’s in Vietnam; another uncle hunted enemy submarines in a Sea King for the Navy; yet another served as Beechcraft’s chief structures engineer for the Starship, the…

R. PETER BURWELL

Director Emeritus Peter is President and CEO of Burwell Enterprises, Inc., based in Minneapolis. Burwell’s holdings include the Madison Concourse Hotel and Governor’s Club, a 367-room hotel adjacent to Wisconsin’s Capitol building; Country Springs Hotel and Water Park in Waukesha, WI; Echo Mountain ski area just outside of Denver in Idaho Springs, CO; and C…

PETER BUNCE

Director In April 2005, Peter (Pete) Bunce became President and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) which is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with additional offices in Brussels, Belgium. He and the GAMA staff travel worldwide engaging regulators, policy makers and elected officials to promote general aviation and advance the interests of GAMA’s international…

MIKE PERKINS

Treasurer and Secretary Mike was born and raised in New Hampshire (hometown is North Conway), where his interest in aviation began early. His grandfather (Transport Pilot’s License #3926) started flying in 1913 after building his first airplane. Later he became a barnstormer where he met Mike’s grandmother Freda. Deciding it was time to settle down,…

JACK TYLER

Former Director Jack was introduced to flying in 1989 by son Devin, who began washing planes for flight time at age 13. Before long, Jack, his wife Patricia, and Devin were all licensed and flying as one another’s co-pilots on weekends, vacations and then college shopping. When Devin began flying for the Navy, Jack and…

BILL MCGLYNN

President Bill McGlynn has been a part of the RAF since 2010 and President since 2018. He retired from a career in the computer industry in 2013, where he worked for Hewlett-Packard for 24 years. He became a pilot in 1995 and currently flies a backcountry 182. He and his wife Julie live in Leavenworth,…

JOHN J. MCKENNA, JR.

Chairman Aloft above the Mining City of Butte, a kid seeing the grandeur of Montana’s Rockies for the first time is destined to become passionate about aviation. Those early flights in a neighbor’s Bonanza motivated young John McKenna to obtain his private pilot license at the age of 16. For forty years, he’s rarely traveled…