EXECUTIVE WATCH


President of Airbus Helicopters, North America


Bart Reijnen


You’ve likely heard of famed aviation pioneer Anthony Fokker, “The Flying Dutchman.” Well, Bart Reijnen could too be called that nickname, as the native of the Netherlands has flown and lived all over Europe throughout his aerospace career. He also jumped over the pond late last year to land in Grand Prairie, Texas, where he has taken control as president of Airbus Helicopters Inc.-North America. By “aerospace career,” we mean just that: aero-space. Reijnen has worked in “aero” aircraft aviation both as an engineer and executive. He’s also worked in the “space” space, playing a role in the ambitious Artemis program plan to return humanity to the moon by 2026.


In part, Reijnen’s eventful aerospace career is due to the strategic location of the small Dutch city of his youth: Roermond, located in the southern Netherlands, close to the borders of Belgium and Germany. Being in a border town, young Bart saw many military aircraft soaring overhead and dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot. That dream disappeared by his 17th birthday when he realized he was too tall to fit inside an F-16 fighter jet. “Yet, I still wanted to be


12 Jan/Feb 2024


By Rick Weatherford


involved with aircraft,” he said undeterred. So, he studied aerospace engineering with a specialty in flight dynamics, aircraft stability and control, at one of the world’s top-10 engineering and technology universities: the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology.


This academic decision led to a key internship opportunity that launched his eventful career. Daimler-Benz Aerospace in Germany offered Reijnen an opportunity (along with three other students) to complete his final thesis work in Munich. Reijnen was also placed into Daimler-Benz’s corporate young managers program. He visited different corporate sites and engaged in various assigned projects. “It was a super interesting program that helped me learn about myself and how to effectively communicate at a very young age. It was a fantastic chance to grow,” he says. “In my college studies, it became obvious that I wanted to know a little bit about everything rather than specialize in one topic to its depth. So, when I was placed in that program and got to rub shoulders with executives across many areas, it was a natural fit and set the direction for my career.”


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