By CJP Chairman Mark Aloe

The next several months promise to be a busy and exciting time for CJP, particularly as we look towards what promises to be a fantastic, fun, and informative annual meeting up in Colorado Springs in September.

Although officially CJP refers to our once-a-year gathering as the CJP Annual Convention, I prefer to think of it as a meeting. First and foremost, it represents the chance for members to get together for some fun and camaraderie in a beautiful setting; all while learning about the latest developments from your Association and gaining valuable information about Citation flying.

This year’s Conv– Meeting! – promises to continue that trend. Our Executive Committee is planning another exciting presentation this year, with some great announcements about a number of highly anticipated programs. That includes a new fuel program for CJP Members, and the rollout of the long-awaited Russ Meyer Citation Library (RMCL).

CJP President David Miller and CJP Director Russell Boyd have already teased some of these announcements in the wonderful and creative promotional videos, and you’ll see more of these inspired presentations as we move closer to the Sept. 9 start of CJP 2015.

Also at the convention, we will recognize aviation powerplant innovator and Williams International founder Dr. Sam Williams, with his posthumous induction into the CJP Hall of Honor. I recently had the honor of visiting with Gregg Williams, CEO of Williams International and Sam’s son, when CJP Executive Director Jon “Huggy” Huggins and I traveled to the Williams facility in Walled Lake, MI. I was grateful for opportunity to thank Gregg personally for allowing us to honor his father.

Speaking of Huggy, as always he’s been extremely busy lately in his travels to meet with CJP Members. That includes Member dinners so far this year in Naples, FL; Newburgh, NY; and San Diego, with the next planned for Milwaukee, WI next month. As always, Huggy has continued to take the reins in helping to shape the future of CJP, and I thank him for his seemingly boundless enthusiasm for engaging with our Members.

I’d also like to thank Steve Vollum, Marc Dulude, Cheryl Hardy, and Tracy Forrest for their tireless efforts in resolving the issues we experienced during the recent transition with our web platform. Above all, I thank our Members for bearing with us as we slowly but surely worked through these difficulties.

CJP Members attending the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI later this month are also invited to attend our quarterly Board of Directors meeting, taking place Wednesday, July 22 at 12:00 pm at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oshkosh. Please let Huggy and Cheryl know you’ll be attending, so we’ll know how many chairs to set out.

Lastly, I’d like to acknowledge Textron Aviation president and CEO Scott Ernest and his team for the wonderful treatment that I, along with Stuart Fred, received when we each recently took delivery of our new Citation CJ4s (below). Our experiences were excellent examples of some of what makes Citation ownership such a special occasion.

Dena and I look forward to greeting everyone later this year in Colorado Springs. Our team has put together another fantastic CJP annual meeting, and if you haven’t signed up yet to attend, do so soon – you won’t regret it!