Elected as President at the association’s membership meeting on October 5, 2003, Ms. Sheets has served with NARA since it was founded in 1991, offering continuity to the then-fledgling organization. The association has grown from five to 72 members under her direction and is the recognized voice in Washington for the aircraft resale market. Combined with former positions held at Aerospatiale, Inc. (now EADS), she has more than 20 years’ experience in the aviation industry. Sheets holds an M.B.A. in International Business from George Washington University.

Walt Wakefield, Vice President of Aircraft Sales of Jet Aviation, has over 19 years sales experience in aircraft brokerage. Walt began his career in 1981 as a loan officer in aircraft finance with Mercantile National Bank in Dallas, Texas. In 1984 he joined one of the nation’s leading brokerage firms, Jack Prewitt & Associates, where he remained until 1998. A graduate from Southern Methodist University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Walt is also a commercial and instrument rated pilot. His contributions to NARA include serving as the association’s Treasurer, Vice Chairman and President.

Dean Rush has accumulated more that 10,000 hours of flying time over a 40 year career in aviation including more than 1,200 combat hours in Vietnam. He now operates American Business Aviation Associates which provides sales and consulting services for corporate aviation. Dean first joined the board of NARA in 1992 and has been a strong supporter of the principles on which the association has been built.
drush@americanbusinessaviation.net

Nick Cerretani has enjoyed a successful career in general aviation, spanning close to 30 years. In 2001, Mr. Cerretani started his own company, bringing a unique experience that includes sales, maintenance, management and flight operations of a wide variety of aircraft, both in whole and fractional ownership scenarios. He has been a member of NARA since 1995, served on its executive committee since 1997, was president 1998-1999 and Chairman in 2000. He holds an Airline Transport License with Citation Type Rating and has over 5000 hours flight time and continues flying today.

John Foster, a retired Navy fighter pilot in Vietnam, began his business aircraft sales career with Atlantic Aviation in 1973. In 1980, Foster and a former Navy squadron mate, Edward O’Gara, formed O’Gara Aviation Company, now one of the world’s leading business aircraft trading companies based in Atlanta, Georgia. John is one of the founding members of NARA, serving the organization first as its Treasurer and then as President in 1997.

Matt Huff entered the aviation industry initially as a sales representative for A/C Flyer magazine in 1975. In 1988, he joined Tyler Jet Aircraft Sales, handling sales, directing company marketing efforts and eventually becoming Vice President and General Manager of the company in 1995. As a founding member of NARA, Matt drafted the association’s original by-laws and served on the Executive Committee for two years as Secretary before his tenure as President from 1995 to 1996. Huff joined O’Gara Aviation’s heavy jet sales division in 2002, opening a regional office for the company in Tyler, Texas.

Dan Dickinson, a commercial pilot with over 10,000 flight hours, founded G.A.S. Capital, Inc. 32 years ago and is a majority shareholder of General Aviation Services, LLC based in Lake Zurich, Illinois. The G.A.S. Capital group is involved in the purchase, sale, lease and brokerage of business and commercial aircraft, engines and parts. The development and expansion of businesses has always been through the nurturing of win/win partnerships resulting in the creation of an organization that has surpassed $75M in annual sales. The company is considered dominate in the markets it serves and has the reputation for operating at a very high degree of integrity. Dan currently serves as Chairman of NARA.

Incorporated in 1971, Gantt Aviation was founded to set high standards for aircraft sales and to serve customers in the acquisition and sale of used aircraft. As the industry began to grow, Gantt, with several other industry leaders, created the National Aircraft Resale Association, NARA, to uphold high ethical standards for the industry's top companies. The integrity, market expertise, and outstanding inventory that mark decades of success for Gantt still apply to making its customers successful today.