Corporate Angel Network, the organization based at Westchester County Airport that arranges free flights for cancer patients to treatment centers using empty seats on corporate jets, announced that Peter H. Fleiss will resign as its executive director this month.
Dick Koenig, former publisher of Flying magazine, will succeed Fleiss, who as director emeritus will remain actively involved during the leadership transition.
“For 14 years, Peter”™s leadership has been key to CAN”™s growth,” Corporate Angel Network Chairman Randall Greene said in a press release. “During his tenure, CAN has tripled the annual number of cancer patients flown, expanded corporate participation and increased financial contributions.”
A 21-year Army and Air Guard veteran with combat tours as an aviator in Viet Nam and Korea, Koenig joins CAN after 37 years with Flying magazine, including 26 years as its vice president and publisher. He has served on the boards of all of the aviation industry”™s learn-to-fly programs and currently is on the boards of Women in Aviation, Sun-n-Fun, the Lindbergh Foundation and the National Aeronautic Association. He is a former Corporate Angel Network board member.
“My involvement with Corporate Angel Network has been extremely rewarding from both a humanitarian and business standpoint,” said Fleiss, whose retirement takes effect Jan. 20. “I continue to be impressed by the generosity of business aviation and by the ever-increasing number of cancer patients we fly who, after their treatment, become cancer-free.”
Since its first flight in 1981, the charitable organization has provided nearly 45,000 flights to adults and children whose best treatment options are often hundreds or even thousands of miles from home. Volunteers and a small office staff coordinate the medical travel needs of patients with the scheduled flight activity of more than 500 participating corporations, resulting in about 250 patient flights each month.
