Aviation for Women is the flagship member publication of Women in Aviation International. Articles feature women who have made aviation history, professional development ideas, and current-topic articles.
Issue link: https://afwdigital.epubxp.com/i/813603
M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 7 Aviation forWomen 21 Kerry Frank WAI 55269 Chief Executive Officer Comply365 Comply365 played an instrumental role in the FAA's approval of replacing pilots' traditional heavy, paper-based flight bags with tablets in the flight decks. While this revolutionized the flight deck of airlines around the globe with Comply365's avia- tion software, the company has replicat- ed that success with years of innovative software development with more than 525,000 users in aviation, transportation, energy, and education. The best part of being an entrepre- neur is… having no limitations placed on my ability to solve problems for peo- ple. It's a very rewarding experience to look at the world from a perspec- tive where I have the freedom to have a great impact. But there is also great risk that goes along with this. You need to have some risk tolerance to be an entre- preneur, but the satisfaction of seeing smiles on my clients' faces makes it ab- solutely worth it. An ideal day at work is... one that is different from the day before and that's what I love about it. I can walk into the office in the morning with a plan and within two minutes, my day has taken a totally different course than what I ex- pected. It's fun to work in an environ- ment where you can never get bored— there is no typical Monday or Friday. It's always a thrill to see what will hap- pen each day, or week, and it makes my days fly by. On women as entrepreneurs: Women are known to be great commu- nicators. And I think that communica- tion is a key to success in any company. As a female CEO and co-founder, I think that a strong ability to drive a great culture of communication and collaboration gives my company an ad- vantage over other companies. One mistake I made along the way… The nature of an entrepreneur's jour- ney is to make a lot of mistakes. But you learn to iterate quickly and recover fast. So, I have probably made a hundred mistakes along the way. One that stands out, though, was putting too much trust in someone's intentions. I trusted that a potential client was truly interested in what I was selling them instead of their being interested in stealing it. I learned quickly that the world is not full of honest people with integrity, and that I needed to guard my company from those types of situations in the future. My best advice for aspiring entrepre- neurs is… you have to be totally in, 100 percent. You must persevere and nev- er give up. If you're not in 100 percent at the beginning, you're never going to be all in. Passion and perseverance are what will always get you through. And you're going to need it because you'll live on a crazy roller coaster for the rest of your life. Lillian Tamm WAI 4097 President Avicor Aviation Inc. Avicor undertakes a wide variety of custom-tailored projects, ranging from confidential market research studies for aircraft manufacturers, to surveys for in- vestment firms evaluating opportunities in aviation, to developing business plans and financing proposals for new air charter operators, and aircraft needs as- sessment, planning, and acquisition for corporations. In addition, the company conducts aircraft appraisals and certified valuations of aviation businesses. My ideal day… starts with a good cup of coffee! In my ideal day, I am able to con- nect with a number of clients and move projects forward—we appraise aviation businesses, provide advisory services and also undertake market research, carry out feasibility studies, and the like. Our clients include small, new avi- ation firms in all sectors except defense, all the way up through aircraft manu- facturers, as well as banks and investors that finance businesses in the aviation You need to have some risk tolerance to be an entrepreneur, but the satisfaction of seeing smiles on my clients' faces makes it absolutely worth it. —Kerry Frank Kerry Frank Sheryl Barden Alyssa Connell