Warbird Information Exchange

Tom Poberezny, who was the Convention Chairman and EAA Chairman resigned (retired?)during the convention without any build-up or fanfare. The timing and lack of ceremony give the impression that something unexpected happened behind the EAA veil.

eh? Poberezny went on stage, announced it and had a big introduction and fanfare at the concert on monday

I think it was announced under the Airventure Arch. Generally, when an icon retires there is a little more build-up and fanfare than a brief news conference at airshow center. Therefore the suspicion that something unusual happened behind the scenes. For instance, if this had been a planned retirement, I think you'd have seen several follow-up articles quoting Tom saying "I've been planning this for a while, and picked a date 6 months ago, we just decided to keep it quiet and announce it at Airventure."

I (and others) could be imagining things, but the public story doesn't exactly ring true.

It has been brought up at the EAA board meetings for years about succession planning for when Tom reached retirement age. He's a completely different personality type from his dad's charismatic persona. I know Tom told the board at least 5 years ago he intended to retire by age 65.
Don't know anything about the new president other than he has a strong background as a businessman. My initial impression of his aviation background is it's a little weak. The "needs of the EAA come first" so maybe he is the best guy for the job. I know at the time Tom took over from his dad there was tremendous doubt from some people, but he was exactly what the EAA needed at that time.

I dont know about any press release, but i was definetly at the concert, and he announced this would be his last airventure, he'd be done by the 1st, and mr. hightower would be taking over all of his responsibilities. Weird that all the press releases say the announcement was tuesday, because he definetly said it monday at the big concert. I'm not an eaa member and dont know much about the organization, so I did not know this was a big deal.

My impression of Mr. Hightower is that he is a capable and competant person with an upbeat personality.
At AirVenture 2010, he happened to give me a ride in his golf cart on 2 separate occasions and went out of his way to make sure I got to where I was headed (once early in the morning and the other late at night). We had a good conversation each time.
I wish him the best.

And honestly, it may not have been a big deal at all. It just came as a surprise. So those of us with a bit of skepticism in our outlook start wondering if there is more to this story than has come out.