Names New CEO And Vice President Of Engineering

Sandel Avionics’s Board of Directors has appointed Steve Jackson as president and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Jackson replaces founder Gerry Block, who announced his retirement in September 2019.

Mr. Jackson joined Sandel Avionics in 2016 as the Chief Financial Officer. As CEO, Mr. Jackson will assume day-to-day leadership of the Company ensuring that Sandel’s long-awaited integrated avionics platform achieves certification, and further positioning the Company as an innovator in NextGen capabilities. “We have an amazingly skilled and dedicated team of engineers here at Sandel and I am honored to be leading the Company forward with the focus on bringing our integrated flight deck to the market in 2020.” Jackson said.

Jackson has more than 25 years of finance and operations experience in both large and small company environments, with over 10 years of experience as a CFO for several venture/private equity-financed companies including Verdezyene and FluxPower. He was previously a Vice President at SAIC, where he held several significant financial management positions. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Science degree in Accountancy from San Diego State University.

Replacing Gerry Block as the head of engineering is David Lanning, vice president of Engineering. Mr. Lanning has more than 35 years of experience in avionics development beginning in 1984 at King Radio and stayed with King Radio through various mergers and acquisitions. He was involved in several research projects, eventually becoming the lead hardware engineer for the Apex Integrated Cockpit before his promotion to Chief Technology Officer for the Bendix/King product line under Honeywell’s Business, Regional, and General Aviation division. David joined Sandel Avionics in 2005 leading a small team in the development of the SA4550 Primary Attitude Display and contributed to the early research, which eventually became the Avilon Flight Deck project. In 2008, he went to Butler National Corporation to develop custom aircraft modifications for special mission applications before rejoining Sandel in 2017. David has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and extensive experience in all aspects of avionics systems, hardware, and software development acquired over his career.

“The Sandel engineering team is a uniquely talented group of individuals,” said David Lanning, VP of Engineering for Sandel. “I’m excited to be stepping into this new role to continue our record of excellence and guide the team to the finish line.”

Sandel’s investment firm, Pacific Growth Investors, is fully committed to support both Jackson and Lanning’s main objective, bring the integrated flight deck to the market and grow the company.

(Source: Sandel Avionics news release)

FMI: www.sandel.com