Piper Aircraft's board of directors has appointed John Calcagno as the new acting president and CEO of the company.

Calcagno brings a wealth of experience to this role, having most recently served as the company's CFO responsible for all financial reporting, treasury and company cash management functions, as well as information technology and enterprise resource planning. He replaces Simon Caldecott, who recently announced his retirement as president and CEO of Piper Aircraft after serving in the role for more than 10 years.

“I know that I speak for everyone at Piper Aircraft in thanking Simon for his leadership and tireless dedication to the company,” says Calcagno. “I am incredibly excited to assume this new role and for the future of the company. We have an exceptionally talented team at Piper that is focused on taking decisive actions to transform the business, continuing to innovate our products in new and diverse ways, and unlocking future growth opportunities. I look forward to leading the company and continuing our great tradition of precision manufacturing and delivering best-in-class aircraft.”

Calcagno is a seasoned and successful executive with extensive experience in the finance, operations, distribution and sales areas. He has served as the long tenured chief financial officer of Piper, having been on the Piper team for the past 11 years. He has also had roles of increasing responsibility throughout his career at The Acerra Consortium, Alltel (Supply) Communications Products, Coca-Cola and C.R. Bard. Calcagno began his career in the audit practice of PriceWaterhouseCoopers.