Tue, Oct 18, 2011
Long-Time Rec Pilot Becomes Organization's First Formal
Leader
Following a nationwide search, the Board of Directors of the
Recreational Aviation Foundation (RAF) have announced Carl Hicks,
58 of Gig Harbor Washington, as their first Executive Director.
Truly a recreational pilot, Hicks received his private pilot
license in August, 1975, and has several thousand hours of flight
experience, remaining current ever since.
After retiring from his first career as a combat decorated, U.S.
Army Airborne Ranger Officer, Carl (pictured) pursued a successful
career in business, attaining the COO, CEO positions in diverse
companies from start-up size to nationwide. Using aspects of his
business experience on the non-profit side, he helped build the
Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) from a small little-known
patient organization into one that is revered internationally with
thousands of members around the world. Currently serving as the
immediate past chair of the PHA board, Carl has extensive lobbying
experience on Capitol Hill. A key vote required visiting 115
congressional offices in a 36 hour period which ended with the bill
passing. Carl brings that same passion to the RAF.
“One of my fondest memories in aviation was that of taking
a date for a picnic before the ink was dry on my private ticket to
a beautiful little grass strip alongside Pleasant Hill Reservoir
near my hometown of Mansfield, Ohio” says Carl. “It was
a state-owned strip that now sadly, like so many others, has
vanished forever from the charts. The Recreational Aviation
Foundation exists solely to prevent this from occurring in the
future, preserving, maintaining and creating safe recreational
airfields, and providing recreational opportunities for generations
to come. I am deeply honored to be selected and am deeply committed
to this endeavor,” he said.
Carl is a longtime member of the AOPA, EAA, International Cessna
180 -185 Club, and an active volunteer in the Young Eagles with
several hundred missions flown in his Cessna 180A. He holds both
undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from The Ohio State
University.
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