PROFILE I
f it weren’t for the trees and the water towers, and for a small hill about fi ve miles to the east, you could see the tall buildings of Dal- las. From this vantage point, Sammy Pence hangs his hat (literally) at work at Airbus Helicopters’ U.S. headquarters at Municipal Airport in Grand Prairie, TX. For the past 15 years, this one-time steer wrestler has been a key player — and arguably an indispensable one — in Airbus Helicopters’ success as the leading supplier of helicopters to law enforcement, air medical, tourist and VIP markets. He also played a pivotal role in American Eurocopter (as Airbus Helicopters was known until this year) winning its fi rst big U.S. defense contract for the manufactuer of the Army’s new UH-72A Lakota light utility chopper. Pence is a large, gregarious man.
His cowboy boots and his big black cowboy hat make him an imposing and somewhat incongruent fi gure as he walks corporate hallways where one would expect to fi nd suited-up MBAs and earnestly serious engineers. Don’t be fooled by the hat, the boots, the western- cut shirts, the huge silver buckle on his hand-tooled belt or his down- home Texas drawl. Pence might be an authentic Texas cowboy, but he’s no hayseed when it comes to managing one of the nation’s largest helicopter repair and assembly operations. “I’m in sort of a buff er or fi lter position here. There’s just as much barnyard material fl owing up to me from the shop fl oors as there is corporate barnyard material fl owing down from the executive offi ces up front,” says Pence, using
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01.02 2014
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Note: Eurocopter and its North American unit, American Eurocopters, will offi cially change its name to Airbus Helicopters on Feb. 1, 2014, as part of a reorganization and rebranding of EADS and Airbus SAS, which will be known simply as Airbus Group.
Photos by Jay Miller/Airbus Helicopters By Dan Reed
SammyPence
Vice President of Commercial Programs and MRO AIRBUS HELICOPTERS
DOMmagazine
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