Mark van Berkel to Succeed Jim Ferrier

The Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) has named Mark van Berkel its new Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. van Berkel, who succeeds interim CEO Jim Ferrier, commands a wealth of aviation business and management expertise by which he stands to aid Canada’s largest aviation association in carrying out its stated mission “To promote, advance and inspire general aviation, and to preserve the Canadian freedom to fly.”

A Calgary native, van Berkel currently resides in Ottawa—where COPA is headquartered. Mr. van Berkel earned his Private Pilot License shortly after completing college. He remains an active, Instrument-rated aviator who, over his twenty-years of COPA membership, has owned and operated no fewer than five aircraft.

Mr. van Berkel’s aviation career began in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he worked as an avionics Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME). Thereafter, he moved to Ottawa, taking a position with Transport Canada Aircraft Services and steadily working his way up the company’s hierarchy until he’d earned the Chief Avionics Specialist job. van Berkel then transitioned into the Canadian aviation industry’s private sector, ultimately founding TrueNorth avionics, an Ottawa-based avionics concern specializing in the design and manufacture of communications and data connectivity systems for business aircraft. After growing TrueNorth to more than fifty-employees over a span of ten-years, van Berkel sold the company to Satcom Direct.

Over the course of his career, van Berkel garnered significant experience advocating before and interfacing with government agencies the likes of Transport Canada and NAV Canada. COPA characterizes its incoming CEO as an “incisive and thoughtful person with a proven track record of capably leading a team and an organization to success.” van Berkel is passionate about general aviation and enthusiastic about plying his experience and skills to the advancement of COPA’s Mission and Vision.

COPA’s board recently concluded an extensive and successful strategic planning campaign by which van Berkel has been provided clear strategic objectives. So informed, COPA’s new CEO is well-prepared to get effectively about the business of plotting the association’s course leading it ever and productively forward.

While announcing van Berkel’s appointment, COPA’s Board of Directors expressed gratitude to Mr. Ferrier, who assumed responsibility for leading the association on a temporary basis and bought the board time in which to vet and recruit a strong candidate for the CEO position. Upon stepping down, Mr. Ferrier intends to return to his former role in Aviation Operations.

FMI: www.copanational.org