Tue, Nov 10, 2009
Its been a trial by fire for First Year AOPA Boss, Craig
Fuller... not only did he follow a leader (the irrepressible Phil
Boyer) who was much beloved by the membership, but he stepped into
the mess that 2009 made of the aviation business (much less the
rest of the world).
We've been getting mixed signals about how folks are judging his
first year and are not quite sure if the pro-Phil folks are still
simply missing the long-time leader or whether some genuinely
have some grief with the new leadership. Questions put to attendees
on the floor of the 2009 AOPA event were met with a somewhat more
pro-Fuller response, but we decided that checking with the guy at
the center of the storm was the most appropriate way to gauge where
he was as his first year at the helm of AOPA was coming to a
close.
ANN broke the news of Boyer's retirement and Fuller's selection
several days before any other news organization and before the
official AOPA announcements, in the summer of 2008. Fuller left his
native California in 1981 to be Assistant to the President for
Cabinet Affairs in the Reagan White House. In 1985, he became chief
of staff for Vice President George H.W. Bush, traveling with the
vice president to every state and 60 nations overseas.
Later, after working with international public affairs
organizations in Washington and Philip Morris Companies Inc. in New
York, he became president and CEO of the National Association of
Chain Drug Stores (NACDS) linking retailers, manufacturers and
suppliers in that industry. He left his last post as executive
vice-president at global public affairs and strategic
communications company APCO Worldwide in Washington to become AOPA
president.
Fuller learned to fly at Buchanan Field in Concord, CA while
still in high school and flew with the UCLA flying club at Van Nuys
while earning a B.A. in political science. He has a Master's degree
in urban studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles, where
business travel in his early public affairs career fostered
purchase of a Cessna 172RG Cutlass based at Santa Monica. He was
(then) logging some 200+ hours a year in his Beech Bonanza A36 and
has been enjoying a few more hours in the AOPA fleet, of late. He
was a director of the US Chamber of Commerce, active in The Aspen
Institute and a former trustee of The John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing Arts and the George (H.W.) Bush Presidential Library
Foundation.
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