US MRO specialist West Star Aviation has appointed a new director for Bombardier at its St Louis Regional airport facility in East Alton, Illinois, and an Embraer programme manager at its facility at Lovell Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Todd Pogue will continue to grow West Star's Bombardier Challenger and Global series aircraft maintenance programmes while overseeing hangar operations, including scheduling, safety, quality and customer satisfaction.

Pogue has over 30 years of aviation experience with an extensive background in avionics, maintenance, interiors and operations management. He began his aviation career in the US Air Force as an F-16 Integrated avionics and flight control specialist, while previously serving in a variety of roles in the St Louis metropolitan area including service team manager, project manager and aircraft supervisor on refurbishments.

“We are excited to have Todd on board. He brings a tremendous amount of knowledge, skill set and enthusiasm to this director level position,” says East Alton general manager Brian Bauwens. “Having years of experience in various capacities, there is no doubt Todd will make an immediate impact on this programme.”

Embraer programme manager Anthony Irwin has over 31 years of experience in aviation, previously working at Embraer and on the Embraer NetJets Phenom 300 programme. He served in the US Army for 13 years as a helicopter crew chief on both UH1 and AH1 helicopters and was a Stringer missile operator. He earned his A&P licences from Colorado Aero Tech, along with inspection authorisation and commercial pilot's licence from American Flyers.

“Anthony's extensive knowledge of the Embraer product line will bring another added level of expertise to the team and provide our customers with the best overall service they expect from West Star,” says Chattanooga general manager Steve Goede.