Interview with an Aviator: Ron Silverman

In the latest installment of Interview with an Aviator, we set our sights on a well-respected veteran of the private aviation industry with more than 30 years of experience – Jet Linx Chief Commercial Officer Ron Silverman.

While Silverman may not have the same flight hours or type ratings as previous aviators, he possesses rare skills and knowledge gained from his executive and leadership roles at some of the most well-known and successful companies in the industry. Silverman also holds a pilot’s license, but his invaluable expertise on the ins and outs of the industry is what brings him in the fold. Growing up in New Jersey, Silverman had the opportunity to fly along with his roomate’s father, a private pilot that flew a Gulfstream G3. After this experience, Silverman caught the aviation bug and never looked back, signing up to earn his own pilot’s license the very next day.

More than three decades later, Silverman’s mission at Jet Linx is to assist Aircraft Management and Jet Card sales teams. Whether that might be coming up with new strategies or sharing his own recipes for success, Silverman’s greatest talent comes in problem solving. In his own quest to improve organizations and those around him, Silverman has gained unique opportunities that have resulted in unforgettable stories – which we eagerly invite you to read below!

Tell us about your background.

I was born in Jersey City, but grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey. I have also lived in Long Island, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, and more – but I identify most with the Garden State of New Jersey. In terms of education, I spent my first two years of college at Stockton State College studying marine biology. My advisor explained that a career in Marine Biology would mean being a college professor teaching Marine Biology, or feeding fish at Sea World. He also stated that there was only one Jacques Cousteau, and I was not him.

At that point I transferred to Montclair State University where I earned a business degree with a focus on marketing. I was an average student in school, and I’ve always learned from experiences rather than textbooks. My greatest strengths lie in problem solving – my brain likes to be challenged and solving puzzles and complex problems is something I have made a career out of. There are many other people who are smarter than me, but I have a special talent when it comes to solving problems and building working systems in businesses. I’ve just managed to apply this to aviation and formed a career out of it.

Do you have family involved in the aviation industry?

No, none of my relatives were pilots or aviators of any kind. However, my grandfather owned a bus company, and that’s my closest link to the transportation industry. During college and for some time afterwards I worked for my grandfather’s business where I handled dispatch and managed logistical issues.

When did you first become interested in aviation and why?

I caught the aviation bug at Montclair State University in 1983. My roommates’ father was a Chief pilot at a company called National Distillers, and he took us for a flight in the Gulfstream G3 that he was flying at the time. My roommate’s father was one of the most talented and knowledgeable pilots I have ever met, and later in life I hired him when I was managing a flight department. He was the very first person to fly the Gulfstream 1 across the ocean, and his company – with sponsorship from Gulfstream – broke the world record for fastest flight around the world in the Gulfstream G3.

At the time that he took us for a flight, the G3 was the crème de la crème of aircraft. So we drove down to Teterboro and got on the jet, and that one experience got me hooked. It’s important for me to say that at this point in my life I didn’t even know what Teterboro Airport was, let alone a private jet. I went into this experience completely blind, but afterwards I just couldn’t stay away from private jets. I signed up for flying lessons the very next day.

Do you have any interesting aviation stories to share?

I don’t really get starstruck by celebrities, but successful businesspeople do really get my attention. One of the favorite aspects of my job is just getting time in front of these individuals – and I know their time is extremely valuable. I always want to know how they got to where they are, and I find it endlessly fascinating to hear these stories. One brilliant businessperson I met and am now dear friends with, started her career in the Peace Corps in a remote village in Botswana where she had to build her own mud hut and retrieve water from a nearby river while avoiding crocodiles – and after this experience she went straight to Wall Street and became extremely successful. She’s now a regular private flyer and provides me with all kinds of insights on the industry from her perspective as a user.

Private aviation is bursting with influential people and their stories always fascinate me.

Where did your career in aviation begin?

I worked as a dispatcher for my grandfather’s bus company during college and for a period afterward, and it’s actually how I put myself through school. I learned a lot there, but it just wasn’t really what I wanted to do for a career. So, one day I opened the yellow pages and sent my resume to every aircraft charter company in the New York and New Jersey area. A week later I called those companies back, and my second or third phone call was to East Coast Airways in Farmingdale, Long Island, at Republic Airport. My timing was lucky because they had just lost an employee and they hired me on the spot that day. I can still remember asking the owner if it was okay if I went and looked around the hangar, and how excited I was to be able to work with airplanes. I wandered around their hangar for at least two hours looking at the propellor aircraft. Those days as a charter sales and dispatch representative were some of my favorite times because everything was new and exciting. I was living in a new place, learning new skills and making headway into a career that I was very thrilled about. Our version of flight following back then consisted of a big glass board with magnets showing which tail numbers were flying that day. In this role I was also sometimes allowed to join pilots if there were an extra seat in the cockpit. Back in these days you didn’t need to be a rated pilot, so I would put on a pilot’s uniform and fill an empty seat, and if there was an empty leg, I would sometimes be allowed to fly the planes. I got to fly some cool aircraft and gained some real experience flying airplanes in that role.

What are some of the more important duties at Chief Commercial Officer?

My role as Chief Commercial Officer includes managing and growing the Aircraft Management sales teams and Jet Card sales teams. When I say that I ‘run’ these teams I mean that I come up with strategies to grow the fleet and come up with sales strategies to grow the business and sell our services.

The way that I manage is to flip the organizational chart upside down. My team is not here to support me, I am here to support them and find strategies that will help them succeed. I consider myself a coach, I make myself available to people and I love interacting and supporting people. Being in this business for so long, I always try to share with people what has worked for me and what has not. Providing different perspectives and surrounding myself with people that have a different skillset has made me successful. I allow my team to think of new solutions to problems and I do not subscribe to the idea that just because something has always been done a certain way, it needs to be done like that forever. If anyone on my team has a better way to do something, I always want to hear it. In my humble opinion, that’s how you solve problems and stay successful.

What do you have to say about the Jet Linx commitment to safety?

Every large private aviation company invests in safety and goes beyond what the FAA requires, but Jet Linx does a few things that separate us from the rest. We really focus on duty time and we have a dedicated safety officer that holds real power to make changes, and we also hold the annual Safety Summit, something that no operator of our same size does. I have worked at a lot of companies that value safety, but I do know that there are companies that aren’t safe, and I wouldn’t want my name associated with them.

For example, I often joke that there is no client that can kick and scream loud enough for us to do something that’s not safe. Our clients can demand that we fly them into Aspen at night or in bad weather, but we will simply not do it. We may lose the client, but we won’t risk their safety when they choose to fly with us. As a management company, it’s part of our job to tell our clients ‘no’ when conditions aren’t safe.

What do you have to say about the people, culture and direction of Jet Linx?

I know some people from the outside looking in might scratch their heads as to why I moved to Omaha from my position with VistaJet in New Jersey, but you have to understand just how much I believe in this company and where we’re going. I had two homes that I sold in order to move here – I packed up and moved across the country for this opportunity. I see a company with so much potential and that’s all because of the people. I have so much respect for everyone on the executive team – not only because of their knowledge and expertise, but also because of their character. I would not associate myself with just any business, and Jet Linx passed all of the test. The core values here truly mean something, they are not just fixtures on the wall.

While Jet Linx is truly one of the largest Aircraft Management and Jet Card companies in the U.S., we never want our clients to know that. What I mean by that is – despite our size and level of success – our CEO makes himself available to clients and his own team members. If you were to fly with another operator and asked to speak to the CEO, you likely would never speak to them. At Jet Linx, our clients and team members always have access to Jamie Walker. We’re not owned by another larger company or traded publicly. If you want access to me or someone else – you can get it. That’s a big differentiator and it all plays in the core values and the quality of the people that we have here. We’re truly committed to helping people and listening to their problems. As part of the executive team, I am privy to conversations that clients or other team members won’t ever hear and our dedication to our core values is not smoke and mirrors. Those values run up all the way to the top and I can say that in all honesty.

Do you have any predictions to share on the industry?

I believe we will see a lot more consolidation because there’s still a lot of fragmentation with small operators that just cannot offer the same level of safety and service that we do, so I would expect a lot more acquisitions and mergers. I would also expect technology to improve. Whether that means autonomous planes or flying taxis, I am not sure, but I just look back 20 years ago and compare it to today and expect more change. Perhaps in 30 years we will have electric, autonomous airplanes. That might sound unbelievable, but think about elevators, for example. Those used to be operated by a human, and now they’re all automatic. When I look at manufacturers like Embraer, who are fully embracing the future, I think we could see things like that. Overall, I could see private aviation become more democratized and more affordable.