Hightower Tours EAA Grounds with Paul Poberezny in Red One

Rod Hightower, veteran pilot, EAA member and business executive was introduced Monday as the next CEO and President of EAA.

Hightower, a Texas native, is a vintage aircraft enthusiast, having restored his own Stearman biplane, which he flies out of the Creve Coeur, Missouri airport. Hightower is a director of the National Stearman Foundation and has helped organize the annual Stearman National Fly-in.

His business career spans more than 25 years in management for manufacturing and industrial companies. His duties as EAA president will begin September 7 and include the day-to-day operations as well as direction of EAA programs and strategy. He is only the third president in EAA history and the first outside the Poberezny family.

(Photo by Shahn Sederberg)

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Kim Stevens

Kim Stevens is the publisher of State Aviation Journal, which he founded in 2009. A longtime commercial-rated pilot, he was introduced to state aviation in 1992 as Director of the Nebraska Department of Aeronautics, later serving as Deputy Division Director for the Arizona Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Division. From 2013 to 2018, he was Director of Communications and Operations for the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) in Washington, D.C. Relocating to North Carolina, Kim worked for the Raleigh-Durham International Airport for two years and now concentrates solely on the Journal. Prior to his aviation career, Kim spent a decade in the newspaper and magazine business.