Board of Directors

The 2024-26 Board of Directors:

• President (1) - Jeff Canclini
• Vice-President (1) - Ben Povall
• Secretary (1) - Kevin Welch
  
• Treasurer (1) - Ken Katz
  
• At-Large Directors (4) - Rachel McFalls-Brown, Tiziano Bernard, Robert Brock, Jesus Javier Fernando Orio
• Past President (1) - Jennifer Uchida

Learn about Previous Boards.

President

Jeff Canclini

North Texas Chapter
Retired

• SFTE Director/Treasurer 2016-2024
• SFTE Fellow
• NTPS Board of Trustees
• Lockheed Martin FTE Tech Fellow (emeritus)
• USAF TPS Distinguished Graduate (R. L. Jones Recipient)
• ME and BS, Mechanical Engineering, BA Economics, UC Davis
• 41 Years T&E (Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, USAF, NASA)
  • F-35 Flight Ops Manager (Italy & Japan)
  • F-16 Flight Test WSO
  • FTE on F-16, A-12, EC-18B programs
  • Automated Test Equipment Design Engineer 
  • NASA Design Engineer
  • Flight Test Reporting & Tracking Database Creator (FTRT)
• 2-Tour NAVAIR Reserve Commanding Officer
• F-14 NFO, F-4 WSO
• Commercial Pilot MEL
• 3,300 hours in 27 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft

Vice President

Ben Povall

Wichita Chapter
Bombardier

• MEng from University of Liverpool
• International Board Secretary and Membership Committee Chair 2022-24
• Secretary / Treasurer for Wichita Chapter 2018-22
• Member of Website Committee responsible for website overhaul 2020-22
• Presently Chief Flight Test Engineer and Flight Test Manager for Global 8000 at Bombardier Flight Test Center
• Lead FTE during C-Series, Global 7500 programs, and lead for Global 8000
• Test Conductor & Test Director for F-35 ITF Flight Sciences testing at Pax River
• FTE for Nimrod MRA4,Harrier GR9 and Typhoon test programs based at Warton, UK

Treasurer

Ken Katz

Retired

• SFTE Senior Member
  
• Currently retired and preparing to become a Certified Flight Instructor
• Flight test engineer and US Air Force officer, 6519th Test Squadron, Air Force Flight Test Center
• Senior flight test engineer, Boeing, V-22 Osprey Full Scale Development
• Principal engineer, project engineering for Digital Controls, Collins Aerospace
  
• Author of three books about military aircraft
• Podcast host focusing on military aviation, aerospace engineering, and flight testing
  
• Project Management Professional certification
• Flight test engineer/observer flight experience in 25 types of military aircraft
• Commercial Pilot ASEL/AMEL with Instrument Rating and 1600 pilot flight hours
  

Secretary

Kevin Welch

Seattle Chapter
Boeing

• SFTE Secretary, 2024-present
• SFTE At-Large Director, 2020-2024
• SFTE Vice President, 2018-2020
• SFTE At-Large Director, 2016-2018
• SFTE Website Committee, Chairman
• Test Director/Conductor, Test Engineer, FTE Trainer
• Major test programs: 747-8, 767-2C, 787-9, 737 MAX, 777-9
• SFTE International Symposium Planning Committee, 2024
• Event Chairman, Seattle SFTE 50th Anniversary Celebration, 2018
• BS Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2003
• MBA, Seattle University, 2009

Past President

Jennifer Uchida

• B.S. and M.S. from University of Colorado in Aerospace Engineering
• NAVAIR as a civilian flight test engineer for the Marine Corps in Patuxent River, MD
• Supported experimental flight testing of the V-22 Osprey and CH-53K
• Attended USN TPS Class 140 in 2011. Logged 100 flight hours of special crew time over 16 different types of military aircraft
• One of the top 50 selected for NASA's Astronaut Program in 2013
• Flight Test Coordinator for Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation  for the G500 and G600 FAA certification efforts
• Founding president of the SFTE Coastal Empire Chapter
• Chief Systems Engineer for the RQ-21A Blackjack program at Insitu, Inc.
• Manager of Test and Evaluation at AeroTEC
  
• Member of the External Advisory Board for the University of Colorado's Aerospace Department
• Brooke Owens Executive Mentor
• SFTE Vice President 2020-2022
• Currently the senior Test Program Manager for Product Development for Boeing Test & Evaluation

At-Large Directors

Rachel McFalls-Brown

Antelope Valley Chapter
USAF

• Board of Directors, Chapter Liaison, SFTE 2022-Present
• F-22 Flight Test Engineer at 411FLTS at Edwards AFB, CA
• Civilian Flight Test Engineer at 40FLTS at Eglin AFB, FL
• Supported developmental flight testing of the A-10, F-16, & F-15C/E and targeting pod integration
• Secretary of Emerald Coast Chapter, SFTE
• Lead Aerospace Engineer for Air Force Subscale Aerial Targets Program Office, lead major modification technical evaluation
• USAF S&E Career Field Team 2024-Present
• Hosted 2017 SFTE Symposium in Destin, FL
• Board of Directors, Theta Tau Professional Engineering Fraternity 2012-2014, 2018-2021
• B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Mississippi State University, 2014
• M.S., Aerospace Engineering with Engineering Education, Mississippi State University, 2016

Tiziano "Tizi" Bernard

Coastal Empire Chapter
Gulfstream

• Experimental Flight Test Engineer, Gulfstream Aerospace
• Adjunct Professor, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
• FAA Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor, Savannah Aviation (1800+ hrs)
• Contract Pilot & Instructor, Galileo Aerospace
• Aviation Systems & Human Factors Engineer, Garmin International
• Flight Test Engineer, Human-Centered Design Institute
• SFTE Board of Directors (2022-present)
  
• SFTE Director for Safety, Publicity, Standards & Recommended Practices
• Scientific Advisory Board, Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics
• Fellow, European Academy for Economic and Cultural Relations
• Ph.D. Human-Centered Design, M.S. Flight Test Engineering, Florida Tech
• Forbes Italy Under 30
• Garmin Innovation Award
• Officer, Order of Merit of the Royal House of Italy
• National Best Flight Instructor, AOPA (2025)

Chaska Moon

Coastal Empire Chapter
Gulfstream

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2019, Aerospace Engineering.
• President of the Virginia Tech SFTE student chapter.
• Columbia Helicopters, Inc. (CHI)
  • CH-47D, Columbia-Vertol (former Boeing-Vertol) Model 234, 107-II helicopters
  • Managed pilot operating documentation
    
• National Test Pilot School
  • Professional Course (Class 23B)
  • MS, Flight Test Engineering
• Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
  • Avionics Flight Test Engineer
    
• Commercial fixed wing and Private rotary wing pilot with over 600 hours
• Played football for Virginia Tech
• Chair of the 56th SFTE Symposium in Savannah, GA

Jesus Javier Fernandez Orio

European Chapter
INTA

• INTA National Institute for Aerospace Technology. Spanish MoD.
• Project Engineer at Energy and Environment Department since September 2020.
• Head of Military Transport Aircraft Section, Certification Department, From 2009 till September 2020.
• FTE at INTA 1991 - 2009. working in EF2000 and military Transport Aircraft.
• SFTE member since 2005
• European Chapter President 2015 - 19
• Aeronautic Engineer by Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain
• FTE at INTA 1991 – 2009. Involved in EF2000 and Military Transport Aircraft.
• Since 2004, a member of FT3 (Flight Test Technical Team) from STO in NATO