Vincent Buffa
Data Device Corp. (DDC), of Bohemia, N.Y., appointed Vincent Buffa to president.
Buffa has held leadership positions in engineering, sales, marketing, operations and program management. Prior to joining DDC, he was president of Crane Company’s Energy Flow Solutions, business group president at Rexnord Aerospace, general manager at Honeywell Fuel Systems and vice president of Operations/Aftermarket for Smiths/GE Aerospace.
Bill McLeod, Christopher Ellender
Gulfstream Aerospace named Bill McLeod as vice president, North American Sales, Central Division. His territory includes Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin, as well as Ontario, Canada. He is based in Washington, D.C.
McLeod has been part of the Gulfstream team for 30 years, beginning his career as an industrial engineering co-op student. He has worked in a number of positions since then including senior industrial engineer, business development manager, marketing programs manager, sales director, regional sales manager and division vice president, Mid-Size Accounts. Most recently, he worked as sales director for the Mid-Atlantic region.
Gulfstream also named Christopher Ellender senior regional sales manager for Product Support Sales, based at the Gulfstream facility in Luton, England. In this role, he is responsible for maintenance sales to Gulfstream operators in Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
Prior to this, Ellender led the Global Aircraft Sales and Acquisitions division for FirstFlight, an aircraft charter, management and aviation services company in Naples, Fla. He has also served as a sales engineer for Gulfstream in Savannah, Ga., providing technical support for Gulfstream sales personnel.
Bart LaGrone
Northrop Grumman appointed Bart LaGrone vice president, airborne early warning and battle management command and control (AEW/BMC2) programs. LaGrone will be responsible for the continued development and production of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye supporting the U.S. Navy’s future AEW/BMC2 requirements, in addition to managing the support and sustainment of the E-2C Hawkeye currently flown by the U.S. Navy, France, Japan, Taiwan, Egypt and Singapore, and the support and sustainment of the C-2 Greyhound, the U.S. Navy’s carrier-onboard-delivery system.
LaGrone joined Northrop Grumman 15 years ago as a weapon system operator responsible for conducting the flight test program for the E-2C Hawkeye 2000 and the Cooperative Engagement Capability. Most recently, he was the deputy integrated project team leader for the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance program. Prior to working for Northrop Grumman, LaGrone was a Naval Flight Officer with the U.S. Navy.
Briand Greer
Honeywell appointed Briand Greer president of Aerospace Asia Pacific, based in Shanghai. In this position, Greer will oversee direct Honeywell operations across six countries and broader field operations across a network of 14 countries in the region.
Greer was most recently vice president of China growth at Honeywell, in which he was responsible for all strategic growth initiatives with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China and other entities across the region. Previously at Honeywell, Greer was vice president of global sales and business development for the Defense & Space business unit and as vice president of airline sales. Greer has traveled and done business in Asia for the past 15 years and has led aerospace business development in China for the last seven years.
David Russell
Gogo appointed David Russell senior vice president and general manager of Europe and the Middle East for commercial aviation. He will be responsible for growing and managing Gogo’s international business as the company begins to distribute Inmarsat’s Global Xpress satellite connectivity service and expand Gogo’s wireless in-flight entertainment solution globally.
Russell brings with him more than 20 years of management experience at aviation IT services and telecommunications companies. Most recently he was vice president of strategic programs for SITA Group in London. Prior to that, Russell served as COO of OnAir.
Carlos Graziani
Landmark Aviation, based in Houston, named Carlos Graziani general manager of its Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport location in Florida.
Previously, Graziani served as operations manager for Atlantic Aviation’s Tucson, Ariz., location. He has also held management roles at Atlantic Aviation’s El Paso, Texas, facility as well as at Jet Direct Aviation.
Anastasios (Tasos) Lyrintzis
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University appointed Anastasios (Tasos) Lyrintzis professor and chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, beginning spring semester 2012. He replaces acting chair Howard Curtis following Habib Eslami, who led the Aerospace Engineering Department for eight years.
Lyrintzis previously worked for Purdue University’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics as a professor and the associate head of graduate education, as well as the director of the computational science and engineering interdisciplinary program. He has authored or co-authored 150 journal and conference articles and has guided many doctoral dissertations and master’s theses.