President- Kathleen O’Donnell
Kathleen O’Donnell is the 2022-2023 President and former VP of Public Relations! She is a senior risk management and insurance student and earned her private pilot license when she was 18 after attending a UGA Aviation camp in middle school. This summer, Kathleen worked at a risk management brokerage company in their aviation department. She hopes to work in this industry or pursue flying full-time. She started on her instrument license a month ago! Her favorite flying memory is flying over Lake Nantahala at sunset in the North Carolina mountains in a 1946 Swift this summer.
Vice President- Susannah Hicks
Susannah Hicks is the Co-Vice President of the UGA Aviation Club along with Drew Fiscus! She grew up learning about the aviation world from her dad, but she really formed a love for herself when she joined the club her freshman year! Now, as a junior, she is working towards getting her Private Pilot license as well as working as a Co-op with Delta Air Lines’ Flight Safety team!
Vice President- Drew Fiscus
Drew Fiscus is the Co-Vice President of the UGA Aviation Club along with Susannah Hicks. His interest in aviation started before he can remember. His dad would take he and his brother out to PDK to watch planes take off and land whenever they had time. As he grew and became more invested in engineering, his passion for aviation turned into a passion for aerospace engineering that was fueled by his high school AP Physics teacher. Coming to college Drew became friends with Susannah who invited me to the aviation club freshman year. He started to see all of the opportunities in aviation and learned that becoming a private pilot was more possible than he originally thought. Then at the end of his freshman year, he was awarded the aviation club’s first pilot scholarship. He started training last fall and officially became a private pilot in March! Now he is preparing to start his instrument rating training, and after completing that he plans to continue to obtain ratings as far as his life and career allows him. No matter what happens Drew knows he will continue to fly and share his passion with friends and family!
Treasurer- Warren Jacobson
Warren is a fourth-year Financial Planning major from Canton, Georgia. He works alongside the club’s officers to manage the club’s budget and finances. He also serves to develop a relationship with Synovus, our banking partner, managing our online banking accounts. Warren received his private pilot license at age 19 and looks forward to continuing his aviation journey
Vice President of Public Relations- Hannah Miller
Hannah Miller is a third year Management major at the University of Georgia! She has loved aviation for as long as she can remember. After going on her first flight lesson in third grade she knew she wanted to pursue a career in aviation. She was lucky to receive the AOPA Flight Training Scholarship in high school and obtained her private pilot’s license when she was seventeen. Hannah currently works at the Athens Ben Epps Airport as a line technician and is working on her instrument rating at Dragonfly Aviation in Winder. The general aviation community is unlike any other and she am so thankful for the amazing people she has met throughout her journey!
Flight Coordinator- Pete Thayer
Pete Thayer has been around general aviation ever since he was 10 when his dad bought a Cessna 206! Once he went to college, he began to miss being up regularly in the sky with his dad so he decided to get his license. He am currently working on my Instrument Rating and plans on flying full time once he graduates this summer!
Vice President of Recruitment- Marcus DiBattista
Marcus DiBattista is the VP of Recruitment for the UGA Aviation Club! He is a 4th Year Mechanical Engineering major, and he’s been in the aviation club since his freshman year! He doesn’t have his Private Pilots License, however he’s very interested and hope to get it one day. Outside of the Aviation club he’s in the UGA Innovation Factory, Global Engineering Club, ASHRAE, and ASME! He also enjoys playing Tennis, Golf, and Football in his free time!der. The general aviation community is unlike any other and she am so thankful for the amazing people she has met throughout her journey!
Club Advisor- Dr. John Knox
John is a twentieth-year from Birmingham Alabama, professing Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at UGA during that time. He serves as the faculty advisor of the club, which he’s done since 2009. Mostly this means signing off on some paperwork, attending as many meetings as he can, supporting the officers in their work, and making connections that come from being in Athens and in aviation meteorology for a couple of decades. John is neither an aviation meteorologist per se nor a pilot; he got into the subject of clear-air turbulence forecasting because of a random question from a stranger at a scientific conference during his Ph.D. research in the mid-1990s. Since then he’s helped develop a couple of new CAT forecasting methods, and even won the T. Theodore Fujita Research Achievement Award from the National Weather Association in 2010 for this work. John loves assisting students in extracurricular groups and hopes to stay on as advisor for as long as he’s a help and there aren’t better options for the club. He also teaches a class on Aviation Weather Hazards periodically at UGA; how often depends on student interest and time in his schedule, so let John know (johnknox@uga.edu) if you’re interested!
