US-headquartered FlightSafety International has appointed Daniel MacLellan senior vice president and Edward Kohalik vice president, to jointly lead a company-wide transformation team. MacLellan most recently served as senior vice president, operations and Koharik was general manager of FlightSafety's visual systems.

Since joining the company in 1994, MacLellan has served as worldwide sales director at the former FlightSafety Boeing Company; regional marketing manager; assistant manager of the Wilmington Center; manager of the Dallas Center; regional operations manager with responsibility for six locations; vice president, operations; and most recently, senior vice president, operations.

He was responsible for FlightSafety's global learning centre operations, providing guidance and support as well as development, management and delivery of training programmes and interaction with aviation regulatory agencies worldwide. His responsibilities also included customer service and the entry into service of flight simulators and other advanced training devices.

MacLellan received an Associate's degree in Psychology from Quincy College, and a Bachelor's degree in Marketing from Suffolk University. He also completed a Marketing Certification Programme at the University of Pennsylvania-Wharton Business School as well as additional training for Entrepreneurship at Southern Methodist University. He holds a commercial pilot licence with single and multi-engine ratings, as well as a private glider rating.

In his most recent role of general manager visual systems, Kohalik led a team of over 200 engineers, systems specialists and service and support professionals based in St Louis, Missouri; Austin, Texas; and Salt Lake City, Utah. Together they have developed many innovative products including the new VITAL 1100 visual system, CrewView glass mirror display, Mixed Reality Training System and Evolution 360 Dome display.

Prior to joining the company in 2015, Kohalik served in the US Air Force for 23 years. In addition to his operations experience, his positions included a Senior Service Fellowship at the Naval Postgraduate School and staff assignments at Air Mobility Command and US Transportation Command. He served as the Chief of US Transportation Command’s Enterprise Readiness Center prior to retiring from the Air Force.

Kohalik graduated from the US Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He also holds a Masters in Computer Resources and Information Management from Webster University and a Masters in Military Operational Art and Science from the Air University. He has more than 3,300 hours of flying experience on a variety of aircraft and was the first Air Force pilot qualified to operate the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle.

A third appointment was that of Michelle Dodson, who has been promoted to assistant manager of the Wichita East Learning Center. She joins Chad Raney who also serves as assistant manager of the centre.

Dodson joined the company in 2001 at the DFW North learning centre. She started as a Dassault Falcon 20 instructor and was recognised as one of FlightSafety's Best of the Best Instructors. She then became a Falcon 900EX instructor prior to being promoted to programme manager for that aircraft programme. She was then promoted to assistant director of standards for the DFW North centre in 2015, and again to her most recent position as director of standards in 2017.

Prior to joining FlightSafety, Dodson flew for Scenic Airlines, Trans States Airlines and United Express. She holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, is an FAA Training Center Evaluator and check airman. She has more than 4,000 hours flying a wide variety of aircraft and 5,200 hours as an instructor. She is type rated in the British Aerospace BAE-3100, Beechcraft 1900, Boeing 737, Dassault Falcon 10, Falcon 20 and Falcon 50 aircraft.

FlightSafety has also promoted Dann Runik to senior VP of operations. He assumes responsibility for operations at FlightSafety’s worldwide network of Learning Centers from Daniel MacLellan.

Runik will oversee the operational aspects of FlightSafety’s global Learning Center network. He will provide guidance and support for Center operations, the development, management and delivery of training programmes and interaction with aviation regulatory agencies worldwide. Runik's responsibilities at the Learning Centers will also include customer service and satisfaction initiatives, business development and the entry into service of flight simulators and other advanced training devices. He joined FlightSafety in 2004 at FlightSafety Academy and was named manager of OEM and customer relations at the Savannah Learning Center in 2008.

FInally, FlightSafety has promoted Jim Wheeler to general manager of visual systems. He assumes this responsibility from Ed Koharik.

Wheeler joined FlightSafety in 1993 as a production engineer and was promoted to manager, quality assurance later that year. He became manager, production in 1995 and was named manager, operations in 1999. He was promoted to director, programmes and operations in 2009.