Columbia Helicopters is pleased to announce the promotion of Matt Long to Vice President of Finance. The promotion is effective January 2, 2015.

Long replaces Stan Wilson, who held the titles of company President and Vice President of Finance. Wilson was recently promoted to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors.

“Matt has outstanding financial skills, great CHI business knowledge and a strong back- ground in accounting and financial analysis,” said Jim Rankin, current company President and Chief Executive Officer. “I’m excited to have Matt as a member of my direct staff and am confident he will lead our various Finance departments well in the years to come.”

Matt has worked at Columbia Helicopters for seven years starting as an Assistant Controller, later assuming the Interim Controller role and, most recently, the Assistant VP of Finance position.

“Matt has done an exceptional job of managing much of Columbia’s financial work over the last 2 years that Stan Wilson held both positions of President and Vice President of Finance”, added Rankin.

Columbia Helicopters owns, operates and maintains the world’s largest privately-held fleet of heavy-lift helicopters. Today, Columbia Helicopters uses its aircraft to fight wildland fires, support petroleum exploration operations in remote parts of the world, conducts flights in support of the U.S. military and coalition forces in Afghanistan, provides aerial crane services to the construction industry, and conducts logging operations in the United States and Canada. The company’s fleet includes six active Columbia Model 234 Chinook helicopters, and 14 active Columbia Vertol 107-II aircraft. Columbia Helicopters has also recently acquired five surplus CH-47D helicopters from the U.S. government.

Equally, the company has expanded its own internal FAA-certified maintenance program into providing external customer maintenance for military helicopter operators around the world.