Leadership at MD Helicopters

Meet the committed team earning your trust daily

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

President and CEO

Brad Pedersen

Chief Financial Officer

Chris Vandersteen

Chief Operating officer

Harvey Ticlo

Chief Pilot

Dennis Banks

Vice President, Sales & Marketing

Jason Lindauer

Vice President, Aftermarket Sales & Support

Ryan Weeks

Vice President, Global Human Resources

Cheryl Bazzell

Vice President, Quality Assurance

Rick Caplette

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman of the Board

Edward Dolanski

Board Member

GEN (ret.) Gustave Perna

Board Member

Paul "Flip" Huffard

Board Member

Anthony McKiernan

Board Member

Daniel Avitabile

Board Member

John Greene

We are committed to our customers.

“MD has always done an amazing job at helping me learn, answering all my questions, and providing great training! Great people here!”

Sales and Marketing Leadership Team

Director, Marketing & Communications

Ashley Sanchez

Senior Director, Sales – Middle-East

Stephen Suttles

Howard Berry

Senior Director, Sales – Asia-Pacific

Howard M. Berry

Director, Sales – Asia-Pacific

Justin Texeira

Director, Sales – North America, Western Region

Jack Harris

Director, Sales – North America, Eastern Region

Patrick Crippen

Director, Sales – Central & South America

Bill Morales

President and CEO

Brad Pedersen

Brad has more than 40 years of industry experience delivering accelerated growth and financial performance in leadership positions at Boeing Rotorcraft, Sikorsky Aircraft, Breeze-Eastern, and other aerospace and defense companies. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer of Breeze-Eastern, Director of Advanced Programs R&D, Canadian Maritime Helicopter Project, and UH-60M Program Manager at Sikorsky. He has also held leadership positions at Boeing including Director of International Apache Programs, Ordinance Programs, Advanced Programs and Flight Test Engineer. He began his career at Hughes Helicopters and has almost 20 years of direct experience with the MD Helicopter product lines. Brad has led the turnaround of several private and publicly-owned companies in his career. He holds an MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.


“MD Helicopters has been an iconic name in the rotorcraft industry, and we will build on this rich heritage to serve and support our customers worldwide. Our immediate focus is to dramatically improve customer support, foster strong supplier relationships, and implement an aggressive aircraft sales plan.”

Chief Financial Officer

Chris Vandersteen

Chris has more than 30 years of experience as a strategic, financial, and operational business leader for global companies. Before joining MD Helicopters, he was the Sr. Vice President for Finance and acting CFO at Micross Components and spent nearly 10 years in various broad-based executive finance and IT roles at TransDigm Group Incorporated. Chris also spent four years in senior finance management positions at Microsoft and held leadership roles at GE, Bombardier, and Honeywell before that. Chris has led finance and IT functions for large multinational teams, strengthening controls, cleaning up balance sheets, reducing risk, and increasing operational efficiencies. He holds an MBA degree from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Chief Operating Officer

Harvey Ticlo

Harvey began his career as a mechanic and has over 35 years of experience working in the aerospace industry. He quickly worked his way to hold leadership positions across several organizations, including Midway Commuter Airlines, United Express, Falcon Express, StandardAero, Yankee Pacific Aerospace, and Dynamo Aviation. Harvey has a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics, a Master’s in Management Information Systems, and a Six Sigma Black Belt with lean manufacturing experience. He is also a licensed A&P mechanic and holds a private pilot certification.

Chief Pilot

Dennis Banks

Dennis has over 37 years of aviation experience of aviation service. His passion for helicopters started with the U.S. Army, Where he served for 25 years and retired as a Chief Warrant Officer 5 (CW5) as a Standardization Instructor Pilot. After retirement, he performed duties overseas as a Lead Pilot and Country Standardization officer with DynCorp on the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) contract for five years. Dennis was the Chief Pilot for a 133 operator in Texas for a few years before starting his tenure at M.D. Helicopters as an Instructor Pilot. He developed and implemented the M.D. Helicopters military training program for training within the U.S. and overseas, and now brings his passion and dedication to training for both commercial and military customers as the Chief Pilot.

VICE PRESIDENT, SALES & MARKETING​

Jason Lindauer

Jason has over 20 years of experience and got his start on the floor of MD Helicopters as a lead technician and spare parts sales representative after serving for five years in the U.S. Marine Corps as a helicopter mechanic. He went on to hold leadership positions in operations and business development and sales at Pratt and Whitney, DynCorp, Textron, and Able Engineering before returning to MD Helicopters in 2020 as Director of Commercial Sales. Jason now oversees sales, business development, and marketing, and is focused on accelerating revenue through new and existing geographies and channels and by creating customized solutions that align with customer needs. He holds a B.S. in Aeronautics and MBA in International Business from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.

Vice President, Aftermarket Sales & Support

Ryan Weeks

Ryan came to MD Helicopters after working for Bell/Textron for more than 25 years in various roles, including as the leader of aftermarket product support and aftermarket business optimization for Bell Helicopter and as Chief Engineer for all Bell Commercial Products. Most recently, he led Honeywell Aerospace’s Marketing and Product Management, Avionics for the past three years. Ryan holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University and an MBA from Wayne State University.

Vice President, Global Human Resources

Cheryl Bazzell

Cheryl joined MD Helicopters in 2014 with more than 30 years of aerospace experience and a proven track record in leading human resources initiatives. She worked her way up the leadership ranks at Rockwell Collins first as Vice President of Business Partners, then as Vice President of Human Resources Operations, and finally as Vice President of Total Remuneration – Compensation and Benefits before coming to MD. Cheryl is responsible for setting world-class human capital strategies and overseeing the day-to-day activities of Talent Acquisition, Compensation & Benefits, Employee Relations, Learning & Development, Compliance, and Employee Engagement. She has a BS degree from Montana State University and an MS in Human Resource Management from Chapman University.

Vice President, Quality Assurance

Richard (Rick) Caplette

Rick has more than 35 years of experience in quality assurance and control and mission assurance management in a range of aerospace environments. Prior to joining MD Helicopters, he held positions ranging from Quality Management to Field Service Representative to FAA Aerospace Engineer. Rick spent time in the U.S. Army as a helicopter repairman and worked on a variety of aircraft and space vehicle products over more than 14 years with McDonnell Douglas/Boeing Corporation. He is currently responsible for the day-to-day oversight and strategic direction of MD’s quality programs for both commercial and military production aircraft. Rick holds a BS degree in Professional Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, and he has an FAA Airframe and Power Plant license along with an FAA private pilot fixed wing license and training toward a rotor wing pilot license.

Chairman of the board

Edward Dolanski

Fortune 50 business executive with 30+ years of experience leading organizations through performance turnarounds and into sustained growth. Dolanski’s experience includes President, Boeing Government Services, President & CEO Aviall (a Boeing company), and Vice President, Raytheon Aircraft Company (Hawker Beechcraft Customer Support / Aftermarket).

Board Member

GEN (ret.) Gustave Perna

Board Member (chair, governance & compliance committee): served as Chief Operating Officer for Operation Warp Speed, in which he co-led the partnership of government, academia, and industry to successfully accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics for the Nation. As Commander of U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC), one of the Army’s largest commands with over 190,000 military, civilian and contractor employees, he was responsible for installations, logistics, sustainment, and materiel readiness around the world.

Board Member

Paul "Flip" Huffard

(chair, audit committee): 30+ year restructuring veteran with extensive financial management experience including as Senior Managing Director at Blackstone’s Restructuring and Reorganization Group.

Board Member

Anthony McKiernan

Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of MBIA Insurance Corp.

Board Member

Daniel Avitabile

Board Member: President and Chief Risk Officer of MBIA Corp.

Board Member

John Greene

Partner and Portfolio Manager at Bardin Hill Investment Partners.

Director of Marketing & Communications

Ashley Sanchez

Ashley is a business development, marketing, and communications professional with nearly 10 years of experience unifying sales and marketing strategies in the aerospace and defense industry. She led strategic marketing and sales campaigns for new product lines in the commercial helicopter market at Robertson Fuel Systems for five years before joining MD Helicopters. As an executive at BDN Aerospace Marketing, Ashley enhanced its customer acquisition strategies and helped lead exponential growth in sales. She holds a Masters degree in Applied Leadership Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA from California State University, Fullerton.

Senior Director, Sales - Middle-East & Africa

Stephen (Steve) Suttles

Steve has an extensive record of military and commercial service, including 26 years as a fixed and rotary-wing pilot in the U.S. Army. He has accumulated over 18 years of military and corporate international assignments, 11 of which were spent in the Middle East and Asia. Steve held executive leadership positions at Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation and Bell Helicopter before joining MD Helicopters. 

Howard Berry

Senior Director, Sales - Asia-Pacific

Howard M. Berry

Howard M. Berry, MD Helicopters’ Senior Sales Director for Asia-Pacific, boasts almost 40 years of aerospace and aviation industry experience. He most recently served as Raytheon’s India and South Asia Regional Sales Executive from 2019-2023. Berry started his career at General Dynamics in 1985, later joining McDonnell Douglas, where he excelled in various roles – from a flight test technology integrator to managing both the Direct Attack international programs and JDAM derivative programs. Notably, in 2007, he led the Next Fighter II Sales Team securing a $2.1B sale of 21 F-15K aircraft to the Republic of Korea. Berry also oversaw Boeing’s defense portfolio in Israel and Turkey, pursuing an additional 60 F-15K aircraft sale to the ROK from 2012 to 2013. His roles at Boeing included Tactical Aircraft International Sales & Marketing Director and International Sales Director for BDS Israel Programs. Berry, a summa cum laude graduate in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois, holds a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University.

DIRECTOR, SALES – ASIA-PACIFIC

Justin Texeira

Justin comes to MD with more than 15 years of experience in a variety of roles at Able Aerospace Services. He started his career there as a Lead Mechanic and left as a Regional Sales Manager, working his way up through customer service roles along the way. Justin is now responsible for MD rotorcraft sales in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania regions, driving revenue and collaborating with engineering to develop new products and support options for customers. He holds a BS degree in Business Management from Western Governors University.

Director, Sales - North America, Western Region

JACK Harris

Jack is a decorated retired law enforcement veteran with more than 33 years of experience climbing the ranks of the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police – the largest police department in the state of Ohio. Jack is a Commercially rated helicopter pilot and holds a Private pilot rating in single-engine airplanes. He flew MD 500E and 530F as a law enforcement officer and served as a Tactical Flight Officer while assigned to the Aviation Section where his last assignment was Unit Commander. Jack is responsible for sales, market expansion, and revenues for the Public Safety and Commercial segments of the MD business in North America. He holds both a BA and MBA degree from Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

DIRECTOR, SALES – North America, Eastern Region

Patrick Crippen

Patrick is a seasoned aviation sales and business development professional with a background that includes nearly 20 years of Law Enforcement Pilot service in the state of Florida. Before joining MD Helicopters, he held executive management positions at General Dynamics, Airbus, and Bell Helicopter-Textron. Patrick has logged several thousand hours in the MD 500 series helicopter and is an FAA-Certified Instrument Helicopter Instructor and Airplane Instructor. He holds a BS in Aeronautics from Embry Riddle Aeronautics University and is pursuing his MBA. Patrick brings a unique, hands-on user perspective to his role and is a firm believer that the MD 500 series is the safest and most fun-to-fly helicopter in the industry.

Director, Sales - Central & South America

Bill Morales

Mr. Morales boasts 25+ years of global experience in marketing, sales, and product development – spanning satellite subsystems, aircraft avionics, logistics, aftermarket, training systems, and components for fixed-wing and rotorcraft platforms. He’s held roles at notable companies such as Honeywell Defense & Space Electronics, ITT Exelis, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Northstar Aerospace, and Aero Turbine. His expertise extends across Europe, Asia, South America, and the Middle East. Mr. Morales holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and a Master’s Degree from Columbia University. He has four years of service in the United States Air Force, where he worked as a Crew Chief on C-130 aircraft and as a flight crew member with the 16th Special Operations Spectre Squadron. He currently holds the position of Sales Director at MD Helicopters and is responsible for Central & South America region.