The Air Care Alliance, which acts as an umbrella organization for Public Benefit Flying organizations, has hired its first-ever executive director.
According to Jim Hesseman, president of the Air Care Alliance, the organization’s board developed a new vision for the future of the organization in 2019: “The Air Care Alliance will maximize charitable aviation through organizations and pilots flying to serve the needs of humanity.”
“This new vision leads to new strategies for ACA and a support model that ensures those strategies are successfully executed,” he said in a letter to members. “Our first step was to create a new position of executive director and we are thrilled to announce that Kristinia Luke has accepted this key leadership role, the first of its kind at ACA.”
Luke has been a “champion of charitable aviation for nearly a decade and brings extensive experience in public benefit flying and non-profits,” he noted.
A private pilot, she has served as mission coordinator for Angel Flight East and pilot coordinator for Patient AirLift Services. Most recently, she served as volunteer administrative director for ACA.
“This key leadership role will help us provide even more support to our member organizations and become a better resource to the thousands of individual pilots flying to help others,” Hesseman said. “Importantly, this change also allows our dedicated founder, Rol Morrow, to take a well-earned reprieve from daily operations.”
For the past 30 years, government agencies, large aviation associations, and the public have looked to the Air Care Alliance as the comprehensive source regarding issues affecting charitable aviation, he continued.
“Our mission is to continue fulfilling that role and to promote and support our member groups and the thousands of volunteer pilots who fly for the outstanding organizations that we represent,” he said. “Together we can maximize charitable aviation and the benefits it brings in serving the needs of humanity.”