![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/Aaron-Hilkeman-edit.jpg\")
Hilkemann has been with Duncan Aviation since 1996 when he\njoined the company as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and\nwas appointed President in 1997. Prior to joining Duncan Aviation, Hilkemann\nworked in banking and finance. He is a past Chairman and member of the Board of\nDirectors of GAMA (General Aviation Manufacturers Association) and has served\nas Past Chairman of the AMAC (Associate Member Advisory Council) of the NBAA\nand the NBAA Board of Directors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAaron has been a transformative leader for Duncan Aviation\nand leaves a remarkable legacy,\u201d says Todd Duncan, Chairman of Duncan Aviation.\n\u201cHis servant-leadership style and integrity instilled a formal, consistent\nleadership structure that allowed the company\u2019s culture to flourish. He\nincreased professionalism and added a decision-making style that was strategic\nand compassionate. He never altered from the belief my family has that the\npeople of Duncan Aviation are our strongest asset; instead, his style\ncomplemented it perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/lake-jeff.jpg\")
\u201cIn some organizations, change at the top like this would\nbring stress and uncertainty for the organization and its team members,\u201d Duncan\ncontinues. \u201cThat is not the case with Duncan Aviation, though, because through\nthe years, the senior management team formed by Aaron has developed a solid and\nagile succession plan that was supported by our external Board of Advisors.\nThis plan includes semi-retirement positions that let Duncan Aviation tap into\nthe knowledge and experience of its long-term senior leaders while\ntransitioning to new leadership. Being freed from the day-to-day management of\nthe company will allow Aaron to build on to his legacy and concentrate on\nhigh-level opportunities, nurture industry and customer relationships, mentor\nteam members, and take the time to travel and enjoy his family and personal\nhobbies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lake joined Duncan Aviation in 1993 as Controller and soon\nbecame Vice President of Finance. He was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in\n1998 and assumed his current role of Chief Operating Officer for Duncan\nAviation\u2019s Lincoln facility in 2008. Lake has also been active in both aviation\nand non-aviation boards\/committees including United Way, CASA for Children,\nGAMA Maintenance Committee, and the Boeing Customer Advisory Board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDuring my career here, I was provided a wonderful\nopportunity to build the Senior Management Team, and I believe they are the\nfinest team of professionals in the industry,\u201d Hilkemann says. \u201cWith Jeff\u2019s\nexperience on this team, I am confident that Duncan Aviation will continue to\nprovide excellent services for business aircraft operators and be a great place\nto work for our team members. I look forward to a meaningful role as CEO that\nwill continue to assist and guide the organization as needed while spending\ntime at our various facilities and industry events. Duncan Aviation is truly a\nspecial place with a reputation that is unmatched in the industry. I don\u2019t see\nthat changing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Duncan Aviation announced today that Aaron Hilkemann, President of Duncan Aviation, will retire from the President position on July 1 of this year and move to Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Advisors, a newly created part-time position. He will be succeeded by Jeff Lake, the current Chief Operating Officer for Duncan […]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nebraska"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926","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=14926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14929,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14926\/revisions\/14929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}