
NBAA Recognizes 2020 Kern Professionalism Award Winners

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) recognizes nine recipients of its annual Dr. Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award, which honors individuals in the business-aviation industry for outstanding professionalism and leadership in support of aviation safety.
The 2020 Kern Award winners are:
- Erika Armstrong
- Chris Bing
- Sean Breen
- Sheryl Clarke
- Jeff Duncan
- Terry Ickes
- Mitch Launius
- Brett Palmiero
- Nicholas Treglia
“This year’s Kern Professionalism Award winners are committed to excellence in all areas and point to a strong future in the business-aviation industry,” says Mark Larsen, NBAA senior manager of safety and flight operations. “We are proud to honor these nine individuals from all sectors of the industry for representing the high level of professionalism championed by Dr. Kern.”
Created in 2015 to honor Dr. Tony Kern, co-founder of Convergent Performance and a distinguished U.S. Air Force veteran and author of five books on human performance, this peer-nominated award recognizes individual pilots, maintenance technicians, flight attendants, dispatchers and other aviation professionals who excel in leadership in the following areas:
- professional ethics
- vocational excellence
- continuous improvement
- professional engagement
- professional image
- selflessness.
The nominations are vetted by a panel of NBAA Safety Committee Professionalism Working Group members.
NBAA will begin accepting nominations for the 2021 awards in January.
To learn more about the Dr. Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award, visit https://nbaa.org/about/awards/nbaa-dr-tony-kern-professionalism-in-aviation-award.
To learn more about NBAA’s efforts to promote professionalism in business aviation, visit https://nbaa.org/aircraft-operations/safety/professionalism-in-business-aviation.