Executive Director - General Manager

Job Description

Job Description

About Legacy Aviation Learning Center

Legacy Aviation Learning Center (LALC) is a nonprofit, FAA-certified Part 147 Aviation Maintenance Technician school at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. In an intensive twelve-month program, our students earn their FAA Airframe and Powerplant certification and learn to carry themselves as professionals in a demanding, high-standards industry. These credentials open high-skill, high-demand careers across commercial aviation, general aviation, and aerospace manufacturing, a field facing a national workforce shortage.

We measure our work by our students’ success: the ones who finish, earn their certification, and go on to real careers, ready to do the job well. We are a small, ambitious organization in a meaningful chapter of growth, building enrollment, pursuing accreditation, and laying the foundation to serve students well in the long term.

The Opportunity

Legacy Aviation Learning Center is small, and that is the opportunity. A capable team is already in place. What the school needs now is a seasoned business leader to give it direction, put it on durable financial footing, and grow it. The stakes are real: the leader who takes this on will secure the school’s future. It is a rare chance to make an outsized difference at a place where strong leadership changes everything. And the mission is real: a stronger school means more students who finish, earn their certification, and go to work as professionals in the field.

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Executive Director runs the school day-to-day. The Board governs and sets policy; the Executive Director leads the organization. Together they set the school’s direction, annual budget, and policy, with a clear and healthy line between governance and management.

You do not need to come from aviation or education. Our instructors and technical staff hold the specialized knowledge. Your job is to lead them, set the standards, and deliver on the school’s goals and its commitments to students. What the role requires is a proven business leader and a skilled leader of people. In the first year, that means putting the finances on solid ground, securing the school’s accreditations, and steadying and growing enrollment.

Responsibilities

Business Leadership and Operations

• Deliver on the school’s goals and its commitments to students.

• Drive operational excellence and FAA Part 147 compliance within the school’s established safety-first culture.

• Ensure the school earns its accreditations on schedule, VA education-benefit approval and COE accreditation, resourcing the staff who lead the work and removing roadblocks as they arise.

• Put the technology, systems, and processes in place that make a small team’s work easier and operations smoother, with secure, reliable data capture and storage.

Financial Sustainability

• Own the operating budget and cash flow and bring the school to sustainable profitability.

• Keep a clear view of the numbers, cash on hand, budget versus actual, and forecast, and report them to the Board.

• Tie enrollment forecasts to the financial plan, and find the cost improvements that protect net operating income.

• Keep the school current on its nonprofit tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations.

People Leadership and Team

• Lead the team from respect and experience, and bring the best out of people.

• Set clear expectations, hold a steady rhythm of feedback, and help people grow.

• Hire, develop, and retain a strong team, and build enough depth that a small organization is never exposed when one person is out.

• Earn the confidence of skilled technical staff as their leader.

Growth: Enrollment, Retention, and Placement

• Own enrollment and revenue growth. This is the school’s growth engine.

• Know what drives enrollment and hold the team to the numbers that matter: conversion, completion, pass rates, and job placement.

• Strengthen the student experience so more students finish and succeed.

• Build the employer relationships that create demand for graduates, and give the Board a clear, evidence-based growth plan.

Partnerships and Public Presence

• Develop and deepen industry, employer, and community partnerships.

• Turn those partnerships into new revenue streams, so the school does not depend on tuition alone.

• Be the credible public face of the school with partners, employers, media, and the community.

• Lead with transparency, surfacing issues early and bringing solutions.

Qualifications

The Executive Director will be an accomplished business leader and a skilled leader of people. These are the attributes it takes to deliver:

• A proven business leader. You have run an organization and carried the weight of its results. You are comfortable owning the outcome and making the call.

• Financially fluent. You read a budget and a cash-flow statement with ease, and you know what it takes to run an organization that earns every dollar.

• A developer of people. You get the best from people through respect and high standards, not control. You build trust with experts whose craft you do not share, and you make feedback and honest mistakes part of how the team learns.

• A builder. You have grown something before, and you are drawn to the challenge of growing something again.

• Relationship-driven. You open doors, and you represent an organization well in front of partners, employers, and the community.

• Disciplined and systems-minded. You bring order: clear roles, sound processes, and decisions that hold.

• Honest and self-aware. You say “I don’t know” and “I was wrong” out loud, and you set that tone for the team.

• Credentialed by experience. A bachelor’s degree, or an equivalent combination of education and progressively responsible leadership.

This is an on-site position at Legacy Aviation Learning Center at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan. Consistently ranked among the best small cities in the United States, Traverse City offers world-class outdoor recreation on the shores of Lake Michigan, a vibrant local economy, and a strong sense of community.

Legacy Aviation Learning Center is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.