Wyvern Appoints Sonnie G. Bates as New CEO

Yardley, PA:  Wyvern, the global leader in manned and unmanned safety, quality and risk management for aviation is pleased to announce the appointment of Sonnie G. Bates as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) replacing Art Dawley, who is departing the company to pursue other interests.

Sonnie Bates has had an exemplary career in aviation and aviation safety, with experience spanning the United States Air Force, the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), CAE, several corporate flight departments and his own company, and has earned a sterling reputation for his professionalism and integrity; and the Board is confident that he will take Wyvern to the next level and accelerate the introduction of safety and risk management innovations for manned and unmanned flight organizations across the globe.

Prior to forming his own company, Sonnie Bates spent six years at IBAC, including two years providing strong leadership as its Director for the International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO).  Prior to taking on the Director role at IBAC, Sonnie was Operations Manager responsible for leading the successful education and quality programs for IBAC.

Sonnie has been the Chief Pilot, Lead Captain and Safety Program Manager for several corporate flight departments, where he gained thousands of flight hours in the Gulfstream G-IV, the Falcon 900EX and the Hawker 900XP.  He was recruited by Dassault and CAE to build and deliver the Falcon 7X pilot training program prior to aircraft certification, which involved piloting the Falcon 7X experimental aircraft on 15 missions in Europe to provide human factors input on the aircraft and training design.

Sonnie had a meritorious military career, having spent 13 years in the United States Air Force in various leadership roles.  He was Commanding Officer of the 71st Flying Training Detachment at Grissom Air Force Base, C-5 Aircraft Commander and Air Freight Flight Commander at Dover Air Force Base, Safety Systems Program Manager at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in support of the C-17 Acquisition Program and Fight Commander, Supervisor of Flight Operations at Randolph Air Force Base.  He has been recognized at “Top Instructor Pilot” and “Top Officer” among other awards and commendations.  He was responsible for introducing quality and safety best practices throughout his military career.

About Wyvern:

Wyvern is the leader in manned and unmanned aviation risk management, safety, quality and training.  Building on its 26-year reputation for delivering excellence and value in risk management to the aviation community through its flagship Wingman Program, Wyvern has expanded its offerings to include the rapidly emerging UAS industry.  Its EXACT Program is the first comprehensive safety, quality and risk management program for end users and operators of drones.

For many years, Wyvern has been working with the world’s largest flight departments, both corporate and commercial, to enhance their in-house risk management programs with customized support across increasingly difficult to manage global operations.  The Wingman and EXACT Programs and Wyvern’s customized risk management support comprise the company’s “Wyvern Risk Management” suite of services.

Learn more about Wyvern here.