CEO Dr. Jerry Chen Confident About The Company's Future

Upon taking the reins of Mooney International, every minute of every day has been busy for CEO, Dr. Jerry Chen. Now, after many dormant years and with great fanfare around the aviation industry, he recently fired up manufacturing and the line is moving. And while systems, technology and manufacturing processes have occupied Dr. Chen’s time, he has been very intent on building out his leadership team that will help take the Company into the future.

“The key players are all finally in place,” said Dr. Chen. “This is among the most experienced leadership teams in general aviation. They bring not only expertise to their roles, but they have tremendous passion for our vision. From here, I feel very confident about building out the rest of the organization around this team.”

The Mooney Leadership Team includes:

Dr. Jerry Chen, Chief Executive Officer
No stranger to aviation, Dr. Jerry Chen possesses two Masters and a Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. Dr. Chen looks forward to providing strategic leadership for Mooney International to establish long-range goals, strategies, plans, and policies to grow the company. Originally from Taiwan, Dr. Chen was an advisor for the USC AeroDesign Team and a frequent lecturer for 10 years at USC.

Dr. Chen's past research and industry work include the Aerodynamic studies and Aircraft Design, Nonlinear Dynamic and Control Systems, Mechoptronics, the KillerBee UAV program, Unmanned Helicopter Autopilot Control System Design, Control of Micro-Satellites, Low-speed Wind Tunnel Testing, Supersonic Shock-tube Experimentation, and 6-Degree-of-Freedom Robotic Arm Dynamics and Control.

Barry Hodkin, Chief Financial Officer
With Mooney since 2003, Mr. Hodkin brings a strong sense of continuity to the organization where, for the past five years, he oversaw all business functions of the Mooney operation. He is a Certified Global Management Accountant. Prior to joining Mooney in 2003, he worked for multi-national companies on a global basis and served in senior financial and general management capacities. Mr. Hodkin will be responsible for all aspects of financial management and reporting together with responsibility for the Human Resource and Information Technology functions.

Tom Bowen, Chief Operating Officer:  Mooney welcomes back Mr. Bowen, who served as the interim Chief Operating Officer in the early 2000’s. As a longtime pilot, mechanic and engineer, Mr. Bowen’s expertise will allow him to cover lots of territory at Mooney, sans the “interim”. He will oversee engineering, quality, sales and marketing and various associated functions.

Mr. Bowen has been in the aircraft industry since starting with Swearingen Aircraft as a Systems Engineer in 1983. Since then, he has worked with a number of aircraft companies focused on small and medium aircraft design, certification and manufacturing including Mooney, Columbia, Cessna and Lancair.

Chad Nelson, Chief Manufacturing Officer
Mr. Nelson, has been with Mooney for the past ten years.  As Vice President of Operations he led the Company lean transformation and was able to increase efficiencies in production by over thirty percent. Serving in his new capacity, Mr. Nelson will continue to oversee all aspects of manufacturing and supply chain. Before joining Mooney in 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps for 22 years, (A6E Bombardier/Navigator, F/A18D WSO, Forward Air Controller).

Dr. Neal Pfeiffer, Chief Technical Officer
With a Ph.D in Aeronautical Engineering, Dr. Pfeiffer brings a vast range of experience to the Mooney management team where he will oversee R & D of new technologies and then help integrate them into the Company. Over the last five years, Dr. Pfeiffer has served as a product development consultant for Cessna, Learjet, Cirrus, Piper and Boeing. Prior to his consultancy, he served as a Principal Engineering Fellow and managed Advanced Design for six years at Beech Aircraft.

“With the line moving and this team in place,” said Chen, “we can now start to make some serious progress toward our goal of building a world-class operation.”

Currently the Company has more than 70 employees working at the Kerrville, TX manufacturing facilitates. While not officially exhibiting at Sun ‘n Fun, Dr. Chen and the leadership team from Mooney will be in attendance at the event. A special reception for invited guests will be held on Friday, April 4th.

FMI: www.mooney.com