So let me get this straight AOPA just hired a guy to run the organization who could run his own company without it going into bankruptcy and will still be being paid as a consultant by Lowes who bought out his bankrupt company which he will be doing while being paid wages and benefits from AOPA funds to run it but will not be available full time because of his paid obligation to Lowes. He is however really in tune with GA as he flies a super-cub(anyone can fly a super-cub) and has 7500 hours of flight time(probably not all in super-cubs and probably inflated along with his other qualifications). No wonder this organization has no clue what is needed in a president, This choice is another example of why I dropped my membership in this organization about 5 years ago. R.C. Wecker ---Wyoming flyer

The invisible, unaccountable, and all-powerful have spoken: What AOPA needs is a guy who was unsuccessful in his last three jobs. That should take care of the cash hoard problem.

I am not optimistic, though I truly want to be.

I really wonder how many people the board of trustees actually interviewed and if Mr. Baker has a relationship with any of the board members. It seems like AOPA keeps getting Presidents which have little to no experience running a membership-based, not-for-profit company. You can have a million hours, but if you can't manage a membership-based company then AOPA will continue heading the direction is has headed in the past 5 years or so.

Mr. Baker does have a Super Cub so that's a plus, but I'll be waiting to hear him speak on his vision for the organization to see if he "walks the walk".

One piece of advice...PLEASE stop competiting with other organizations for apps, etc. AOPA shoud support, not develop.

Good Luck Mr. Baker...you're going to need it.

AOPA's Trimble and others had the opportunity to choose from one of the many very talented, better known, better trained, in-house staff or others in the GA industry. A known and GA industry related leader who would instill new trust. Going from drug stores to leaky faucets does not project much confidence to the disgruntled AOPA membership. It just does not look like a clean decision. In December of 2010, during a much discussed AOPA review, AVweb asked; Do we get our money's worth? Does the association spend the money wisely? And has it trimmed its balance sheet and expenses to reflect the severe contraction in the industry it advocates? These and other questions were not answered. The loss of trust in the AOPA board and disappointments continue.

Mark Baker appears to have a nuts-and-bolts excutive background, being presented with the public facade that he would work at the grass roots level, a common aviator. A financial wizard that flies. He also appears to have done very well, just ask the 5400 Orchard Hardware employees in California.

They just don't get it!

I looked up "peripatetic" on my trusty iPhone dictionary app. It says, "traveling especially on foot" or "a person who walks from place to place". I'm wondering if this is the word you meant to use? Or am I missing something obvious.

John, the word peripatetic is a word used in a nonliteral sense to add rhetorical force to a spoken or written passage. It means that the sucker has ants up his butt and can't stay in one place for long.

I got a grin from that one, Rafael. Wasn't thinking of the ants!

Here's the definition I had in mind: "traveling from place to place, esp. working or based in various places for relatively short periods."

"It means that the sucker has ants up his butt" No, in this case it means that he left his last two jobs involuntarily because he was unsuccessful. A little research into Gander Mountain would probably show that he left there under similar circumstances. The company has been a poor performer relative to Its peers for a decade or more.

Like all but a few AOPA members, I am passive about the organization. However, I would like to vote on the board of directors selection, but we can't. It's a closed club, just like USAA and so many others. That is a real shame and should be illegal. If you don't trust your members, who do you trust? Incidentally, USAA informed me that if I revoked my proxy, USAA would terminate my insurance policy, so much for transparency.

It seems the AOPA BOD is trying to run a business. It's not a business, it's a society, a club. Phil Boyer was an enthusiastic cheerleader for aviation and AOPA. He had good financial people behind him. It seemed to work. Craig Fuller is a man with talent and connections, and his task was lead AOPA through some challenging years of government intrusion. I hope Mark is watching Pelton's turn around at EAA and learning.

Nice article. I know that the best surgeons often have worse stats because they attempt the harder jobs. Maybe this guy took a few hospital passes and was seen to conduct himself well, despite the outcome. AOPA wouldn't hire a complete numpty.

Some people manage the numbers and then see what can be achieved. Others focus on the outcomes and then make the numbers fit. Unless there is serious financial trouble already, I prefer the second approach, especially for charities and organisations like whatever AOPA actually is. More gets done.

Congratulations and good luck Mr Baker.

I'm going to try to use peripatetic in a sentence this week :-)

Well at least the "lawn retail" skillset should help in advocating for more grass strips!

I don't know anything about Mr. Baker, but I hope he has the right stuff to stand up for GA. Every time I see Craig Fuller's name I remember his introductory blog where he got all gushy over the presidential inauguration. If that's what we are getting again, heaven help us...

To peripatetic you could add vampiric. The ants are in AOPA's sugar jar. AOPA - a member financed, lucrative merchandise marketing business for the top brass, while paying lip service to it's primary mission - lobbying(If AOPA were serious, they would hire a lobbyist to head the org.). Maybe I'm wrong and AOPA hasn't a become home to scheming, overpaid, underachievers but then they are hiring someone who apparently majored in sinking, sinking ships. Alas, if the past is an indicator of the future, this is going to be a handsomely payed exec offering the membership the duplicitous guarantees of telemarketers and the nebulous hopes of tele-evangelists. I bet he can speak Stengelese. Dropped my membership in this once terrific organization three years ago.