About AOPA
Meet the AOPA Management Team
Phil Boyer, President
AOPA President Phil Boyer has assembled a team of top executives to oversee all of the association’s core areas, from advocacy to communications and from finance to safety. They are highly experienced in their respective fields and are fully committed to preserving and protecting all aspects of general aviation.
Andrew Cebula, Executive Vice President, Government Affairs
Andy Cebula, with more than 25 years experience in aviation policy, manages AOPA’s advocacy efforts on issues affecting general aviation pilots and aircraft owners. This includes opposing legislation that limits GA pilots’ freedom to fly, protecting and preserving airports and access to the nation's airspace, and fighting proposals on Capitol Hill, state capitols, and regulatory agencies that increase the cost of flying and aircraft ownership.
In addition, Cebula manages AOPA’s Pilot Information Center, whose specialists answer nearly 130,000 technical questions and 50,000 questions about medical certification issues from members each year.
Leading a professional staff of 36 based in Frederick and Washington, D.C., and 13 regional representatives located across the country, Cebula directs AOPA lobbying activities on a national, state, and local level, manages the Political Action Committee for AOPA, and is responsible for more than 1,900 volunteers in the AOPA Airport Support Network.
Cebula’s Washington experience includes 20 years of service as vice president and, earlier, director of government and industry affairs at the National Air Transportation Association. He also served for two year as a senior policy analyst in the FAA’s Office of Civil Aviation Security. He joined AOPA in April 2001.
Cebula holds a degree in aviation management from Auburn University.
Karen Gebhart, Executive Vice President, Communications
Karen Gebhart is responsible for communicating AOPA’s message to members, the media, and the non-flying public. She manages all areas of AOPA’s communications, including AOPA Pilot, the world’s most widely read aviation magazine; AOPA Flight Training, AOPA e-publishing, including AOPA Online and weekly e-mail newsletters; public and media relations; and the creative services group.
Gebhart has been employed by AOPA for nearly 15 years, where she was previously executive vice president of non-dues revenue. In that role she managed publications advertising, AOPA Expo, products, and services for members. Before that she was senior vice president of membership, with responsibility for membership acquisitions and retention as well as member service. Prior to joining AOPA, Gebhart was vice president of Barry Blau & Partners, an advertising agency in Baltimore, Md., where she was account director on Blau’s programs for AOPA. Her previous agency experience included more than nine years in financial services and computer products marketing, managing client relationships with Honeywell, CitiFinance, and First Chicago, among others.
At AOPA, Gebhart has been instrumental in the growth of AOPA membership, expansion of the Member Products and Services programs, the development of AOPA’s Project Pilot program, the industry’s Be A Pilot program, and the assessment and purchase of AOPA Flight Training magazine.
Gebhart is a private pilot and holds a business degree from Iowa State University.
Roger Myers, Executive Vice President, Finance and Administration
Roger Myers, Jr. is responsible for the financial, human resource, membership marketing, and information technology activities of the association. His financial oversight includes financial reporting, budgeting, planning, auditing, regulatory, and tax reporting. Myers is also responsible for risk management, contract management, internal services, and for managing AOPA’s real estate investment property.
Myers manages all aspects of human resources including employee relations, benefit programs, wellness, training and development, compensation, incentive systems, recruiting, and retention. He is also responsible for the Membership Marketing department, which develops marketing channels from direct marketing to e-commerce to maintaining and growing the association’s membership base. The Information Technology group, which Myers oversees, supports AOPA’s initiatives through technology and maintains all member, pilot, and airport data.
An AOPA employee since 1982, Myers began his career in AOPA’s accounting department. Prior to that he was an accountant with Fedders Corporation in Walkersville, Maryland, responsible for financial reporting.
Myers graduated from Mt. St. Mary’s College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, with a degree in accounting and received his MBA from Mt. St. Mary’s College. He is a certified public accountant in the state of Maryland.
Greg Sterling, Executive Vice President, Non-Dues Revenue
Greg Sterling is responsible for all areas of AOPA’s non-dues revenue including publications advertising and endorsed programs providing special products benefits and services to AOPA members.
Sterling leads a division spanning three important areas of continuing growth for AOPA. The first includes AOPA publications advertising for AOPA Pilot and AOPA Flight Training magazines, the AOPA Airport Directory, aopa.org, and the ePilot electronic newsletter. Second are the member benefits in special products, services, and discounts for AOPA members including the AOPA WorldPoints Rewards Credit Card, Aircraft Insurance, and Financing. He also oversees the AOPA Expo annual convention, attracting over 10,000 members annually, and the AOPA Fly-In and Open House at AOPA headquarters.
The non-dues revenue from these programs generates more than $35 million or two-thirds of AOPA’s annual income, helping keep AOPA dues low and fund special efforts for the defense and advancement of general aviation.
Prior to joining AOPA, Sterling was the executive vice president and general manager of the AOPA Insurance Agency and senior vice president of Aon Aviation. He has also held positions in airport management with the city of Meadville, Pa., and as a senior underwriter with Global Aerospace.
Sterling has a degree in Aviation Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from DeSales University.
An instrument-rated pilot, Sterling has more than 30 years and 1,300 hours of flight experience.
Bruce Landsberg, Executive Director, AOPA Air Safety Foundation
Bruce Landsberg became the executive director of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation in May 1992. He is responsible for all foundation activities including program development, safety seminars, publications, the Online Safety Center, special educational and research projects, and donor cultivation. During his tenure, ASF has been nationally recognized with numerous awards on aviation safety leadership and educational program excellence. He writes the monthly “Safety Pilot” column in AOPA Pilot magazine and is a regular contributor to AOPA Flight Training magazine. He serves on many committees to represent general aviation safety interests in the FAA, NASA, NTSB, National Weather Service, and various industry groups. ASF has become the leading general aviation safety organization conducting more than 200 free educational seminars annually, recertifying more flight instructors, and averaging more than 20,000 online course completions monthly.
Prior to selection as ASF’s executive director, Landsberg was product marketing manager for FlightSafety International in Wichita, Kan., specializing in transition and instrument proficiency training programs for high-performance singles, light twins, and turboprops, and for airline pilot recruitment programs. Prior to that, he was manager for Cessna Aircraft Company’s Air Age education department involved in fleet sales of aircraft to colleges and universities.
A former U.S. Air Force missile launch officer at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., Landsberg holds a B.A. in Psychology and a master’s degree in industrial technology from the University of Maryland.
Landsberg has logged more than 6,000 hours and holds airline transport pilot (ATP), single-engine, multiengine, and instrument flight instructor certificates. He has been an AOPA member for more than 35 years.
Harvey W. Cohen, Senior Vice President, Philanthropy
Harvey Cohen joined AOPA as the senior vice president in 2002. Philanthropy has had unprecedented growth over the past six years. Cohen oversees all aspects of leadership development, staff management, and program design associated with the ongoing growth in charitable giving.
Before joining AOPA, Cohen was the chief development officer of The Foundation Fighting Blindness in Owings Mills, Md. Under his watch, philanthropy rose from $5 million to nearly $18 million. Over his career, he spent several years in higher education fundraising, including positions at Carnegie Mellon, MIT, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
After college Cohen focused his career administering manpower training centers for the unemployed and then people with intellectual disabilities. Cohen transitioned to fundraising with the State of Israel Bond organization, progressing as a field representative in the Pittsburgh region and then Miami. He went on to direct the Rhode Island/southern Massachusetts office.
A Pittsburgh native, he is a graduate of Duquesne University with a bachelor of science degree in education. He also earned a master’s in human development from Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. Cohen was selected for and completed the Johns Hopkins Program in Change Management.
Updated Monday February 11, 2008
