FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 26, 2000

Silver Spring, MD – William E. Gehman, director of the Michigan Bureau of Aeronautics was elected the 2000-2001 Chairman of the National Association of State Aviation Officials’s (NASAO) Center for Aviation Research and Education during the association’s 69^th Annual Convention and Trade Show in Long Beach, California. Gehman was chairman of the NASAO Board of Directors from October 1998 to September1999.

Other members of the Center Board of Directors are Gary R. Ness, director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, who is currently in his second year of a three year term and is currently Treasurer of the Board. John D. "Mike" Rice, director of the New Mexico Aviation Division is currently in his second year of a two-year term and Maria Muia, manager of the Indiana Aeronautics Section.