{"id":12001,"date":"2019-02-18T20:51:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=12001"},"modified":"2019-02-18T20:51:09","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T20:51:09","slug":"andy-richards-named-executive-vp-coo-of-duncan-aviations-battle-creek-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/michigan\/andy-richards-named-executive-vp-coo-of-duncan-aviations-battle-creek-facility\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Andy Richards Named Executive VP & COO of Duncan Aviation\u2019s Battle Creek Facility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Andy Richards<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Duncan Aviation is pleased to announce that Andy Richards, a\n22-year veteran of the company, has been named the new Executive Vice President\nand Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its full-service facility in Battle Creek,\nMichigan. As Vice President of Modifications & Completions for the last\nseven years, Richards will be stepping into his new role on March 8 as current\nExecutive Vice President and COO Tom Burt retires after 40 years with the\ncompany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, with a Bachelor\u2019s Degree from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and a Master\u2019s in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota, Richards was looking for a job to support his young family. His friendship with now Master Cabinet Specialist John Kemp was serendipitous back then as Kemp encouraged Richards to apply for an entry-level tech position in the Cabinet Shop at Kal-Aero in Kalamazoo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duncan Aviation acquired Kal-Aero barely eight months later,\nand Richards remained in his position at the Cabinet Shop. Roughly nine years\nlater, as the Assistant Manager of the Interior Department, Richards had a\nlife-changing experience when he was selected to go through Duncan Aviation\u2019s\nLeadership Dynamics Program (LDP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019d appreciated my job at Duncan Aviation, it was\nduring those LDP classes that I realized how fortunate I was to work for a\ncompany that was willing to invest that amount of time, interest, and money in\nmy development,\u201d says Richards. \u201cIt was then that I knew I was going to stick\naround and go all in for this company. Duncan Aviation recognized my potential\nfor leadership and was willing to partner with me to develop it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards believes that this investment in people is what\nmakes Duncan Aviation so unique in the business aviation industry. The company\nnot only treats its customers extremely well, it believes in its team members\nand is willing to invest in their growth and development. Happy, engaged,\nwell-trained team members make good decisions every day and are able to build\nlasting relationships with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen team members love what they do and look forward to\nwhat they do every single day, that passion is apparent to our customers and\ntranslates into superior-quality work,\u201d says Richards. \u201cI love working around\nthe folks at Duncan Aviation. The planes are cool, and the things we do to and\nfor those aircraft when they\u2019re here are interesting and exciting. But what\ngets me up in the morning is our people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richards and his wife Pam have been married for 26 years.\nThey enjoy spending time with their daughters and going to their cabin on the\nAu Sable River in northern Michigan. Andy practices yoga, bikes to work, and\nexercises in the workout facility at Duncan Aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m incredibly excited to have this opportunity, and I\u2019m\nhonored. Stepping into this role is an invigorating challenge,\u201d says Richards.\n\u201cDuncan Aviation operates at such a high level that I feel compelled to\nmaintain the standard of leadership that I\u2019ve come to expect from people I\u2019ve\nadmired and respected over the years. At the same time, by providing mentors,\nfostering growth through leadership classes, and leading by example, Duncan\nAviation has done a fantastic job of preparing me for this role.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Duncan Aviation is pleased to announce that Andy Richards, a 22-year veteran of the company, has been named the new Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of its full-service facility in Battle Creek, Michigan. As Vice President of Modifications & Completions for the last seven years, Richards will be stepping into his new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-michigan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12003,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12001\/revisions\/12003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}