Mike Gerdes

Mike began his career in aviation in 2004 working at Silverhawk’s front desk while also learning how to fly.

In 2006, he helped launch a local flight school as a Certified Flight Instructor before returning to Silverhawk as a charter pilot in 2007. In 2008, Mike became a King Air and Citation Captain and company flight instructor, later adding accounting duties as the company Controller. He became Chief Pilot in 2010 and was promoted to Director of Operations/CFO and a Check Airman in 2011.

Mike became President and co-owner of Silverhawk in 2015 and currently serves as the Chairman. His vision for Silverhawk is to elevate each customer’s experience by offering great flexibility, extensive experience, and remarkable service. Mike enjoys snorkeling, scuba diving, biking, and spending time with his daughter Bree, and son Cam.

John Geary

John started flying in 2007 when he earned his Private Pilot’s Certificate in Bakersfield, California. He then attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to receive his Bachelor’s Degree in Aeronautical Science. After a couple of years as a flight instructor at Embry-Riddle, he went to work at an international flight school where he trained European pilots to EASA standards.

With over 2,000 hours of instruction time, John decided he was ready for his next adventure. He left the Sunshine State and moved to McCook, NE to become an air ambulance pilot, flying the King Air 90. John eventually earned the title of training captain and became the base lead pilot at McCook. After almost two years with Lifeteam, he joined Silverhawk in January 2015. Since then, he has been involved as the training officer, the Chief Pilot, the Director of Operations, and now the Chief Executive Officer. When he isn’t sitting behind a desk or flying, he enjoys spending time outdoors and traveling with his wife Kelsey.

Mark Rodgers

P.S. (pre-script) – writing in the 3^rd person never gets less weird or more comfortable.  Alas, here we are.

Mark joined Silverhawk Aviation in February of 2023 as the main hand-rubber and elbow-shaker (Business Development) for Silverhawk’s fractional ownership program and is currently responsible for all things revenue generation, customer relationship management, experience, and sales process related (Chief Revenue Officer). Along with the occasional witticism, banger marketing emails, and being the oddest duck in the office…..

Prior to Silverhawk, Mark spent too many years in banking doing all things relationship management and business development.  Prior to his departure, he was voted in the yearbook superlatives as having “the softest hands in banking, west of the Mississippi”.  He still doesn’t know what that means, but says it felt like a testament to his ability to get deals done at the time.

Mark currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska with his wife of 11 years Haylie, sons Callum and Archer, and Ghita, the dumbest dog you’ve never met.  In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, golfing, building shelves in his garage, using his leaf blower, changing lightbulbs, golfing, and is an avid consumer of all things written.

By the time you finish reading this, he’ll have forgotten he wrote this so be sure to quiz him on his bio when you talk with him.

Dave Stanley

Dave Stanley joined Silverhawk Aviation in October of 2017 as the Director of Sales & Marketing. He is responsible for business development and marketing, including managing sales processes, customer relationship management, branding, advertising, social media, sponsorship, and web development efforts.  With more than 20 years of marketing experience, he is obsessed with analytics and optimizing sales and marketing processes to deliver positive measurable results.

Before working at Silverhawk, he was the VP of Sales and Marketing at HobbyTown Unlimited. During that time, he was responsible for providing a clear vision of the HobbyTown brand while overseeing all national and local marketing efforts for an omnichannel, multi-unit, retail franchise operation.

Dave currently resides in beautiful Hickman, Nebraska, and shares a home with his wife of 20 years Diana, son Benjamin, and two Boston Terriers, Pete and Daisy. In his spare time, he enjoys BBQ, movies, and is an avid motorcycle enthusiast.