Maverick Leadership Team
Bob Hoover
US Legendary Pilot
“Jim, you have surrounded yourself with such wonderful talent and that’s what it’s all about…and I was also impressed that your management team and especially you, are motivated to provide the safest and the best airplane that one can buy.”
James McCotter
President
James was an entrepreneur since his grade school days when he bought candy bars from Wal-Mart and went out and resold them. When James was still in his late teens he became the youngest ski resort Mountain Manager of all Rocky Mountain ski resorts, at Big Horn Ski Resort in Wyoming. Later, he also worked for one of the largest ski resorts in the word, Vail Ski Resorts in Vail, Colorado.
Later James got into the transportation business developing his own transportation company, Rocky Mountain Transportation. In the early 2000’s James was with his father in helping build the original Maverick Jets company, which went on to build and sell the world’s first personal jet, the LeaderJET. James gained much aircraft company experience in the early days of the very-light-weight personal jet industry. He helped lead the Maverick mobile team at all the major U.S. air shows: Oshkosh, Sun & Fun, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and National Business Aviation Association etc, putting the Maverick LeaderJET on display to the world, explaining its distinctiveness and uniqueness to pilots around the world.
James is more experienced than most in the lightweight personal jet industry, but he knows firsthand that no one person, regardless of how much experience they may have, could ever build Maverick’s first personal jet, the LeaderJET, much less today’s MaverickONE Jet, alone. He knows it takes a large and very experienced team, and Maverick Jets has become the best for lightweight carbon fiber personal jets.
President Teddy Roosevelt once said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” James and the Maverick Team have chosen to emulate that philosophy. They prefer to speak softly or not even at all, and let the LeaderJET and now the MaverickONE Jet do all the speaking.
Larry Parry
Vice President General Counsel
Larry Parry has been practicing law for over 40 years. He regularly practices before the FAA, FCC and other federal agencies. He is a former military pilot with over 2000 hours of flying time and is a registered Professional Electrical Engineer. Larry is a nationally recognized wildlife photographer, having traveled into 107 countries in the world. He is an adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee and a frequent lecturer at other universities. Perry has authored 26 books on Business and Communications and in his career as an attorney he has negotiated and handled high-profile, multi-million dollar business deals.
Aaron Duncan
Vice President Operations
Aaron Duncan brings with him over two decades of composites and aviation experience. He has been a leader in composites manufacturing, previously contracting for strategic work on the Javelin Jet tooling project for the Aircraft Technology Group, the Four Winds Aircraft tooling and manufacturing start-up, as well as the design, tooling, and international manufacturing of the Sword Marine Technologies new JetPacC marine propulsion unit, the production of the MySky MS-1 a two seat light sport aircraft, the development and integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems. Aaron has achieved significant presence in the aerospace, marine, and performance composites manufacturing industry.
Aaron previously worked 17 years with United Airlines as their Team Leader in the composites and sheet metal fabrication shop at their Indianapolis Maintenance Center. Aaron has also worked as a United Airlines Aircraft Inspector and Maintenance Supervisor in San Francisco, Honolulu, and Chicago O’Hare airports. He is a graduate of Rock Valley College’s aviation science program and holds a private pilot’s license with over 25 years of flying experience.
Bruce Gillit
Vice President Engineering
Mr. Gillit is an experienced engineering manager in program and project management with an expert knowledge of aircraft structures certification with the FAA. He specializes in engineering, design, manufacturing, materials and processing of composite aircraft structures. Mr. Gillit’s duties include engineering design and respective project planning.
Recently, Mr. Gillit was Director of Engineering Services with AAI Acquisition, Inc. (formerly Adam Aircraft Industries) responsible for Stress Engineering, Materials and Processes Engineering, Liaison Engineering and Mass Properties. Prior to that, he was Manager of Advanced Structures Research in Product Development for Hawker Beechcraft, Inc., leading a team focusing on composite structures technology research for business aircraft. Previously at Aviation Technology Group Bruce’s responsibilities included structures certification planning for 14 CFR Part 23 Javelin aircraft and project engineer for fuselage, wings and empennage.
Mr. Gillit worked for Alliant Techsystems (ATK) as a process and project engineer for aerospace and space structures manufacturing. He was also a Program Implementation Manager responsible for program budget, schedule, contract changes and manpower planning. While employed by ATK (formerly Hercules Aerospace), Mr. Gillit worked on several composite rocket motor structures programs including C4 (Trident I), D5 (Trident II), A-3R (Polaris), FWC (composite replacement SRMs for the Space Shuttle), Delta II, III and IV solid rocket strap-on motors, Atlas V solid rocket strap-on motors and Pegasus air launch vehicle (ALV) motors and derivatives. Motor cases were manufactured using wet winding, automated fiber placement and hand lay-up or a combination of these processes. Mr. Gillit holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Utah.
Ed Hooper
Vice President Certifications
During a career spanning more than three decades, Ed has worked as Chief Engineer for Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. (building an engineering staff of 35 while leading the design and manufacturing technology development of a single-engine, 4-place, all composite aircraft). He also served as a Systems Engineer for AGATE National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), and in various engineering capacities at Raytheon Aircraft (Beech), Rockwell and Lockheed.
Ed has a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MS in Aeronautical Engineering from Wichita State University. Ed has the distinction of receiving the NASA AGATE top award for contributions to revitalization of general aviation industry, the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) William T. Piper Award for contributions to General Aviation, the Wichita (Kansas) Engineer of the Year award by AIAA and the Raytheon Excellence in Technology Award.
Lorenzo Amaya
Vice President Sales
Lorenzo Amaya, a Boston native, has business leadership experience in several industries. He has been the Director of Operations in Nutraceuticals and the Director of Sales & Leasing in High Luxury Transportation. He is now the President of Amaya Financial Group, a personal and business Theft Prevention Company. Since 2001, Lorenzo has specialized in credit and mortgage banking and has continued to expand his company into a variety of financial centers. In October 2004, he relocated his mortgage banking business to Dallas, Texas, where he primarily consulted within the National Football League.
In the late 1990’s, Maverick Jets showcased its cutting edge design and manufacturing with the LeaderJET, the world’s first personal VLJ. In his varied business pursuits, Lorenzo is propelled by the motto that “our business in life is no longer getting ahead of others, but getting ahead of ourselves — to break our own record, to outstrip our yesterday by today.”