Charles Priester
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Affiliated with Aviation since the early 1950’s, Charles (Charlie) Priester helped develop and grow George J. Priester Aviation Service and Palwaukee Airport into one of the Midwest’s leading aviation organizations and airport. George J. Priester Aviation Service was founded in 1945 and purchased Palwaukee Airport in 1953. From that point George, and soon to follow son Charlie developed much of Palwaukee Airport into what it is today. Throughout the storied history of Palwaukee, George and Charlie constructed five paved and lighted runways, one of which was built to be over 5000 feet recognizing the coming jet age. They also constructed several paved taxiways, a paved ramp, and several hangars. Charlie was instrumental in developing a full service Fixed Base Operation (FBO), full service maintenance facility, and a corporate aircraft management and charter department. In 1984, Charlie negotiated the sale of Palwaukee Airport to the municipalities of Wheeling and Prospect Heights. At that time, Charlie was instrumental in coordinating a smooth transition from a private to a public airport with local, state, and federal officials. Throughout its history, George J. Priester Aviation Service grew into an organization of 120 aviation professionals as a direct result of the foresight and vision of George and Charlie. Furthermore at the direction of Charlie, Palwaukee Airport developed into one of the nation’s leading general aviation airports generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in economic benefit to the local community and state. Priester Aviation continues to prosper and in October 2001 the FBO and Maintenance Divisions were sold to Signature Flight Support.

Currently, Charlie is Chairman and CEO of the new Priester Aviation, LLC, located at Chicago Executive Airport, Wheeling, Illinois. The rapidly growing Priester Aviation, LLC manages and charters corporate jet aircraft globally and provides a variety of aircraft administrative and management services. These services range from representing buyers and/or sellers during the purchase or sale of aircraft, aircraft charter and flight department management and aviation consulting.

Charlie Priester, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana and an Honorary Doctorate from St. Norbert College, DePere, Wisconsin. As a Maintenance Chief in the United States Marine Corps Reserve, he supervised a staff of 23 mechanics servicing and maintaining 12 aircraft, and was awarded the Marine Air Reservist Award for Leadership.

Andrew Priester
President/COO

Andrew Priester has aviation in his blood. He is the third generation in the Priester family, which has been involved in aviation since 1945. At family gatherings Andy who was an 8th grade science teacher for five years, always found himself pursuing his interest in the family aviation business—Priester Aviation. Thus Andy decided to join Priester Aviation in 1997 and soon was managing the Aircraft Charter area. When Priester sold their FBO operation in 2001, Charter and Aircraft Administration became the main focus of the company, with Andy’s father Charlie as President and Andy as Director of Charter Operations. Andy was appointed President on April 1, 2004. He has been instrumental in growing the business taking Priester Aviation from a regional to a national and now an international operation. Andy was responsible for establishing Priester Aviation’s International Support & Management program in Hong Kong and Bangkok.

Andy has a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education from the University of Dayton, Ohio and a Masters degree in school administration from Concordia University. He is a private pilot and is the immediate past President of Illinois Aviation Trades Association (IATA), former Chairman of the Air Charter Committee of the National Aviation Transportation Association (NATA) and former Chairman of the NATA Charter Industry Audit Standards Working Group.  He is also active with Southern Illinois University School of Aviation.

Richard Peterson
CFO

Prior to joining Priester Aviation in 2000, he served as CFO at several other leading Chicagoland businesses, including: American Louver Company and Research Technology International. Furthermore, he has worked as controller at Hargo Health Care Packaging and Stylemaster. Richard brings over 30 years of financial experience to Priester Aviation. His significant experience in mergers and acquisitions was critical during the sale of the FBO and Maintenance Divisions in 2001, thus enabling Priester Aviation to focus all efforts on aircraft charters, administration and management services.