EAA's President, Rod Hightower, resigns

[flyingcheesehead]

This press release just hit my inbox:

HIGHTOWER RESIGNS AS EAA PRESIDENT/CEO

EAA AVIATION CENTER, Oshkosh, Wis. – October 22, 2012 – The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Board of Directors accepted the resignation of President and CEO Rod Hightower today. Hightower will be returning to St. Louis to reunite with his family.

“Maura and I have five children ranging in age from pre-school to college freshman,” Hightower said. “When I accepted the position two years ago I believed that we could as a family relocate to the Oshkosh area. But our family and school involvement have increased as our children advance in the schools they, and we as their parents, love. It would simply be too great a hardship on my family to move them to the Oshkosh area.”

Jack Pelton, recently retired Chairman, president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft, has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of EAA. In his role as EAA Chair, Pelton will guide the organization through the leadership transition.

“I will be working closely with the EAA Board of Directors to ensure a seamless transition to a new leader,” Pelton said.

“The directors of EAA and I thank Rod for his service. We understand how difficult it is to relocate a family of school-age children,” Pelton said.

“EAA, as all of aviation, faces many challenges with the continuing economic slump and the decrease in personal aviation participation. As an association we must remain focused on the original mission of our founder, Paul H. Poberezny, to welcome all members no matter what they fly, celebrate our volunteers, and treat our employees fairly,” Pelton added.

 

[Jim Logajan]

I find it odd, with all the back and forth between Wayne and Nate that Jack presented Textron and Cessna a fraudulant resume that contained a Aeronautical Engineering Degree from a diploma mill / defunct hotel in Po Dunk Wyoming didn't get a bit of traction from Wayne.

Since he actually got the diploma he wasn't engaging in fraud when he claimed he had it. So the issue wasn't fraud, it was that the college wasn't accredited.

The federal government doesn't accredit post secondary education institutions; that is done entirely by private agencies.

 

[Jim Logajan]

That might be so, but then why did Jack mail a big check to a diploma mill, attend NO classes and receive a degree that he then added to his resume while appling for the CEO job at Cessna ?

Probably because he felt credentialism was keeping him from the job or jobs he thought he could otherwise do. Using a diploma mill allowed him to claim credentials without actually lying. The more telling question is why Cessna didn't do a better job of vetting the candidates for CEO.

The irony here is that you earlier posted a link to Aero News web site, which happens to be owned and run by someone who has been known to lie, including claiming to be a doctor and a parachute rigger when he was neither.

You may counter with "But the info comes from another source and it is accurate," but that seems to be no different than a defender of Jack Pelton saying "But he still successfully ran other companies, including Cessna."