Michael Thacker currently serves as Executive Vice President of Commercial Programs and is responsible for all commercial aircraft programs and new product development, Bell 525 entry-into-service, and type certification efforts.

During his time at Bell, Michael has also led Commercial Business global sales and customer support as well as Bell’s Technology and Innovation function. He has directed Bell’s core engineering team and provided strategic direction for designing, developing and integrating technologies for use in Bell’s current and next generation products.

Michael was previously the senior vice president of Engineering at Textron Aviation, where he was responsible for the engineering efforts of Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker product lines. This included new aircraft development, certification, compliance, experimental fabrication, technical publications and product safety, as well as engineering product support for all aircraft in production and legacy models.

He joined Cessna in 1993 as an engineer in propulsion integration. During his tenure at Cessna and Textron Aviation, Michael contributed to the successful development, fielding and support of numerous general and business aviation aircraft.

Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in science from Kansas University. He also has an MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.