James Gilson

Background

About James Gilson

My career background has remained within the aerospace engineering industry. I was employed as an FAA Certification Engineer where my job entailed identifying the affected FAA rules, regulations, policies, and guidance material as they apply to a variety of different aircraft modifications. From there, I moved into the Chief of Test role at Sikorsky. The Chief of Test role is a leadership position where I manage a matrix organization of 50+ people in different skill sets and technical expertise to accomplish complex engineering and test initiatives, while being responsible for the budget and Earned Value management. I am currently employed by Sikorsky as the Chief of Test of all Naval Hawk programs, MH-60R and MH-60S aircraft models, for domestic and international customers. Additionally, I was evaluated and selected to become an FAA Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) Unit Member. In this role as an FAA ODA Unit Member my technical acumen and ethical decision making was evaluated to grant me the authorization from my company and the FAA to approve designs and data on their behalf. I believe that my experiences working as an FAA Certification Engineer and ODA Unit Member, effective team leadership and business management, as well as my technical and ethical leadership skills are strong attributes I bring to everything strive to achieve.