At the Bombardier annual Safety Standdown event long-time leader Andy Nureddin has been honoured, as he plans to retire towards the end of 2022. Chris Milligan, vice president or pre-owned aircraft services and flight operations, was announced as his replacement to take the reins of organising the safety event.

Nureddin is currently focusing on completing a smooth transition of Safety Standdown leadership to Milligan and Anthony Cox has been promoted to vice president of customer support to succeed Nureddin in his customer-facing capacities.

“I am very pleased to introduce Chris Milligan as the new leader of the Safety Standdown team and I want to sincerely thank Andy for his steadfast commitment and hard work in fostering the growth of this invaluable industry event,” says Jean-Christophe Gallagher, executive vice president of services and support, and corporate strategy. “For 25 years, Bombardier has led the industry in providing aviation professionals with critical knowledge-based aviation training in many key areas, and Andy has been front and centre in that growth. I am confident that under Chris's direction we will continue to provide aviation professionals with more lifelong learning opportunities and focus on disseminating higher standards of safety and professionalism throughout the industry.”

The Bombardier Learjet flight operations team created the Safety Standdown event in 1996 as a human-factors safety training seminar. Over 25 years have passed and its purpose remains the same, to foster a community of aviation professionals who are committed to lifelong learning and to establishing higher standards of safety and professionalism throughout the industry.

In addition, Nick Verdea has been named the 2021 winner of the Bombardier Safety Standdown Award, as selected by the Safety Standdown Advisory Council members. Verdea, director of aviation and corporate travel for The Williams Companies, is a long-time supporter and advocate of the event.

Verdea was nominated for his leadership in aviation safety management over the course of his 25-year aviation career by Richard Westmoreland, director of aviation for First Horizon. At The Williams Companies Verdea oversees the daily operations and priorities of a team of 13 that operates corporate aircraft. A key part of his responsibilities is to execute and manage the annual travel services budget with a compliance concentration on travel experience and cost containment.

“On behalf of Bombardier, I wish to congratulate Nick Verdea for his outstanding career and unwavering commitment to Safety Standdown and to promoting aviation safety and professionalism at all levels of our industry for a quarter of a century,” says Nureddin.