Dear NAFA Member:
During the Fall of 2022, at the NAFA Board of Directors’ Meeting, which took place in Miami just before the start of the annual Corporate Jet Investor Conference, the members of your Board made a strategic change with respect to the beneficiaries of the fundraising efforts on behalf of the NAFA Foundation.
The Board unanimously agreed to have the Foundation depart from awarding traditional individual scholarships to students who qualified under the criteria that had been previously set forth and move to a close affiliation with an aviation-focused college or university that also contained a business component that incorporated the financing and leasing of business and general aviation aircraft as part of their curricula.
Your Foundation’s Board of Directors took that as an action item, and I am proud to announce that on September 25, we signed a 10-year agreement between the NAFA Foundation and The David B. O’Maley College of Business at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, to create the National Aircraft Finance Association Award for Faculty Excellence.
The fully executed agreement pledges a $10,000 annual honorarium to the College for a total of 10 years, totaling $100,000 for the initial commitment.
These funds will be used to support faculty excellence in the David B. O’Maley College of Business as it builds outstanding departments and programs. This includes faculty recognition awards for teaching and research, faculty recruitment and retention, and faculty enrichment, such as participation in national conferences, equipment purchases, and research support.
The program is intended to grow faculty and student engagement and learning related to the business of general and business aviation financing and leasing. As a part of our developing relationship, NAFA membership will be able to coordinate with the Dean to host an annual NAFA panel for faculty and students. Additionally, it is the intent to have NAFA members serve as class speakers and subject-matter experts with faculty. The College will continue its annual NAFA membership and participate in the Annual Spring Meeting, which will include fund recipients.
Your Foundation Board selected Embry-Riddle as the unanimous first choice. The institution has been an active NAFA member for the past 15 years. Embry-Riddle has always attended our annual Spring meetings since becoming a member and has supported our Aircraft Appraisal program since 2017. The O’Maley College of Business currently offers a master’s degree in finance, among other related academic offerings. Part of the Foundation Board’s due diligence was an interview with College Dean Dr. Shanan Gibson, which I personally conducted. Dr. Gibson joined the College on April 1, 2020, and as Dean, has attended the annual Spring meetings ever since. I truly believe she shares our vision for this initiative.
With workforce development being front and center these days as one of the biggest challenges facing our industry, I believe this relationship will help develop very qualified young men and women whom we can look forward to fulfilling important roles within our respective companies for the next decade and beyond.
There is an opportunity for individual NAFA members to join the Foundation in supporting the endowment online.
For those of you attending NBAA-BACE next week, I invite you to stop in at the Embry-Riddle booth at North Hall, N2915, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, at 1:30 p.m. for a special ceremony announcing the launch of this historic initiative.
Lou Seno, President
National Aircraft Finance Association Foundation Board of Directors