Personally, I hope they eat Fuller's lunch. And Supper. And Breakfast. The B. of D. needs to get back on top, relieve themselves of "Vice President's Row" and get back to the roots.
List of Vice presidents:
Three of these:
Katie Pribyl, VP Communications
Keith Mordoff, Sr. VP COMMUNICATIONS
Jeff Myers, VP of Communications
FOUR of these:
Andy Cebula Sr. VP Governmental+Technical Affairs
Julia Kraus VP Legisl. Affairs.
Rob Hackman VP Regulatory Affairs: Mr. Hackman is personally responsible for the organization's misguided "charge of the light brigade" with regard to 3rd class "exemption". IMO he needs to go.
Melissa Rudinger Sr. VP Governmental Affairs
Chris Ward VP New product Dev, interactive marketing: (More promotions!
More junk email!)
Michelle Peterson, VP Member services.
Bill Dunn VP Airports (they used to let Bill do some work).
Greg Pecoraro VP Airports and State Advocacy
Adam Smith Sr. VP Center to Advance the Pilot Community, (yes, what the heck).
Craig Spence VP Operations & International Affairs
Harvey Cohen Sr. VP development
I admit I may have missed a few. Count em, 14. There are about 240 people who work at HQ and 14 are "vice presidents". My view: the organization is crushing itself under its own weight. I realize the beltway pay scale is up there, but some of these are making >250K.
******
Meanwhile, back at EAA, the video, "Nothing says you're unwelcome more than a white picket fence" was taken down from YouTube. Rod is gone; EAA has been reminded of its roots and will soon be munching AOPA's lunch.
Bruce,
I find your post misleading.
I'm not sure what source you are using, but it's wildly out of date. Pribyl, Mordoff, and Myers are all the same position from different eras, not three concurrent positions. Mordoff last worked for AOPA in 2003; Myers in 2008. Pribyl is the current VP of Communications. The responsibilities of her role are quite different from either of the others as the role has changed to support varying organizational structures over time.
Andy Cebula hasn't worked at AOPA since 2010. Melissa Rudinger is his replacement. It's been years and years since Julia Kraus worked at AOPA.
Most of the others are VP-level positions in AOPA's Government Affairs Division. You won't find those people at EAA because they don't have a large advocacy team. They have two people whose titles suggest roles in government affairs--none of them actually based in Washington. We have a full-time team of six in DC and many others who are based in Frederick but are in DC on a daily basis working advocacy and regulatory affairs issues, serving on industry committees, and shaping the future of general aviation from an airspace, navigation, security, and communications standpoint.
As those who work in non-profits know, VP-level positions are common titles in government affairs departments in associations of any types. In one of those uniquely DC situations, getting the attention of the right people on the Hill and in the various agencies requires someone with "vice president" in their titles. A simple "director" doesn't get a call back. Therefore, the ratio of VP positions to total staff is not an effective measure. And, for what it's worth, there are only about 200 people working at HQ--far short of 240.
"Relieving" the association of this list of top talent and its expertise, contacts, and insights would be a serious blow to all of general aviation. While you may not recognize or appreciate their expertise, know that AOPA VPs are freqently recruited away by other aviation associations and the FAA.
BTW, one of the positions you note was eliminated several weeks ago.
There is at most one position on the above list whose salary is in the $250k range. Most of the others are well below that.
