Kenneth Ricci has spent over 30 years developing innovative services in the aviation industry. Beginning with the founding of Corporate Wings in 1980, Kenn led the success of many aviation entities including Flight Options, Mercury Air Centers, Inertial Airline Services and Nextant Aerospace. Today, Kenn is the principal of Directional Aviation Capital, a private investment firm whose vision and experience bring a unique understanding to financing and enhancing the value of business aviation assets.
Kenn has been honored as an Ernst & Young Entrepeneur of the Year in 2000 and has been named one of the most influential people in aviation by Aviation International News. In 2010, Kenn received the Harvard Business School's Dively Entrepreneur Award and recently was the youngest recipient of the prestigious William Ong Award for Extraordinary Achievement and extended meritorious service to the general aviation industry.
Kenn is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and the Cleveland Marshall School of Law. He holds an airline transport pilot license with extensive international experience and was Governor William Clinton's pilot when he ran for President in 1992.
Mike Rossi began his aviation career at Corporate Wings in 1984 and has spent the last 25 years developing innovative business strategies within the industry. Mike also served as the President of Inertial Airline Services through 2001.
Today, Mike is a principal at Directional Capital, which invests in and operates various segments of General Aviation: Charter, Management, fractional, Aircraft Maintenance and FBO's. Mike's other business include the accounting firm Rossi, Schlotter & Co., CPA which has assisted many business in the areas of planning and growth.
A graduate of John Carroll University, Mike is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Series 7 license.
Joseph has over 18-years of experience devoted to fuel management in both corporate and commercial aviation. Through the course of his career, Joseph has touched every aspect related to the life cycle of jet fuel: analysis, contract drafting, negotiation, vendor relationship management, invoice reconciliation, and quality assurance.
While working on his undergraduate degree in Aviation Management at The Ohio State University, Joseph began his profession reconciling fuel invoices and was quickly promoted to Fuel Manager. From there, he found his way to United Airlines where he sat on the board of directors for various fuel storage consortia and negotiated into-plane services agreements for United Express. In 2003, Joseph moved to Flight Options and shortly became the Assistant Director of Enterprise Procurement. In addition to fuel purchasing, he was responsible for facility leases, office supplies, travel, express delivery services, and aircraft stock.
In 2009, Joseph decided to attend law school to build on his passion for contracts and negotiations. He graduated from Capital University Law School in 2012 with a Juris Doctor and earned the honor of magna cum laude. Joseph is licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio, and the United States Districted Court, Southern District of Ohio.
Joseph returned to aviation in 2013 with a large operator where he developed and executed fuel procurement strategies and negotiated contracts worth in excess of $100 million annually. Afterward, he left the operator side of the industry to work for a major jet fuel supplier to help them expand their network and implement best practices. Joseph joined Everest Fuel as its President in July, 2017.
