Matthew Sheehan, AERO Specialties, Wins Team Leader Award

Matthew Sheehan, AERO Specialties, was named Team Leader of the Year, during Ground Support Worldwide’s annual trade show, GSE Expo Worldwide, March 10-11, Las Vegas.

The award honors an “individual who has taken a leadership role with personnel.”

Sheehan started AERO Specialties in 1987 from his attic with just $1,000 and a passion for aircraft.

AERO has become the premier full-service supplier of GSE to a wide array of corporate, FBO, military and commercial air carriers.

The company currently operates with 50 employees and 30,000-plus sq. ft. of manufacturing space selling to more than 16,000 customers.

Ground Support Worldwide also announced two more honors at the show:

• WASP Inc. was named Product Leader of the Year for its “New Standard Dolly”

Due to many types and combinations of containers and pallets it can handle, the dolly can replace multiple dollies for greater fleet efficiency.  The New Standard Dolly handles all standard container and pallet base sizes to 96-by-125 inches (244-by-318 centimeters).

• Gerald (Jerry) Eberle was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, which goes “to the person who has demonstrated commitment to the industry through numerous years of dedicated service.”

Eberle invented, engineered, manufactured and marketed products through PAGE Industries, which he founded in 1976, or through an outside marketing firm. Many of these product advancements are now considered common place, such as the baggage chute, slot filled designed PCA adapters and180 kVA reactive load banks – the most used gate park systems in the world.During the award festivities, the magazine also congratulated LEKTRO on celebrating 70 years this year. LEKTRO was founded in 1945 and has been located in Oregon the entire time, with Eric Paulson as president and a second-generation owner of this family business. LEKTRO built their first electric towbarless aircraft tug in 1967 which they named the AirPorter. LEKTRO’s tugs have always been and still are today all electric and can tow an aircraft ranging from piston engine to narrow-body airliners.

The magazine started the Leaders awards in 2005 as actually one award, "Ground Support Leader of the Year." The award was created to spotlight an individual or company that had made a significant contribution to the industry.

Our first winner was Jim Houck with Continental Airlines.