The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has announced that Wilson Air Center founder and longtime business aviation advocate Robert A. Wilson will receive the 2019 John P. “Jack” Doswell Award during NBAA’s 2019 Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), set for Oct. 22-24 in Las Vegas, NV.
Wilson is a member of the NBAA Security Council and president of Wilson Air Center, LLC. Founded in 1996, the company has grown from a single location in Memphis, TN, to additional FBOs in Charlotte, NC; Chattanooga, TN; and Houston, TX.
A retired lieutenant colonel with the Tennessee Air National Guard, Wilson frequently donates his time and aircraft for flights with Make-A-Wish Mid-South Foundation and the Veterans Airlift Command (VAC), an all-volunteer organization offering free air transportation to post-9/11 combat wounded and their families for medical travel and other related purposes.
He also has served on boards of directors for the Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Inc., as well as the Pilatus Owners and Pilots Association, and is an active member of the Citation Jet Pilots Association. In 2006, Wilson was enshrined in the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame, and in 2012 inducted into the San Diego Air and Space Museum in recognition of his numerous accomplishments.
Through the Robert A. and Susan C. Wilson Foundation, he funded the original and renovation of the Wilson Timeless Voices of Aviation Theater, which curates and preserves firsthand accounts of aviation history and makes them available as an educational resource. The theater is located in Oshkosh, WI, at the Experimental Aviation Association (EAA) Education Center.
Additionally, Wilson serves as the executive vice president of Kemmons Wilson, Inc. and on the executive board of the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University (SMU). He is a graduate of SMU, as well as the Harvard Business School’s Small Company Management Program.
“NBAA is proud to recognize Bob Wilson, whose outstanding contributions to the business aviation community reflect Jack Doswell’s legacy of lifelong commitment to the industry,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “He has also demonstrated a tireless commitment to promoting safety and security throughout our industry, as well as devotion to giving back, through his involvement in a number of philanthropic initiatives.”
Established in 1987, the Doswell Award is granted for lifelong individual achievement on behalf of and in support of the aims, goals and objectives of business aviation. It is named in honor of Jack Doswell, whose gifts inspired a high standard of involvement in the business aviation community. Read more about the award. https://nbaa.org/about/awards/john-p-jack-doswell-award/
