The organization is focusing on its annual July enshrinement ceremony to honor the latest inductees to its ranks, but will step up fund-raising efforts after that, said Phil Roberts, the hall’s president who appeared with Grazel. That will include personal visits to potential corporate and individual donors who could provide money and equipment support, along with efforts to increase the organization’s visibility among top corporate and military officials, Roberts said.
Grazel, 56, of Columbus, most recently was vice president of airline operations for Air Transport Business Development Inc., an aviation services provider. Roberts declined to disclose Grazel’s compensation.
Grazel retired from the Navy in 2006 after 30 years and went into corporate aviation. He has been a vice president of Spirit Airlines, chief pilot for the short-lived startup Skybus Airlines and assistant chief pilot at US Airways. His father and uncle were military aviators.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame did a six-month search before choosing Grazel, a native of Princeton, N.J. He succeeds Ron Kaplan, who continues with the organization as a contract employee to handle the July 15-16 enshrinement weekend events.
Kaplan and other staff were laid off in November 2009 during a financial crunch for the organization, brought on by the slumping economy and a decline in corporate sponsors for the enshrinement. The organization’s annual budget, approximately $800,000 in recent years, is now around $500,000 and the enshrinement costs about $300,000 to produce.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame was founded in 1962. Congress chartered it two years later to honor U.S. aviation and space pioneers, and the hall has since enshrined 207 men and women. The organization receives no federal funding.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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