Knight Named Sun ‘n Fun Board Chair Succeeding Eickhoff
he chairmanship, vacated by the retirement of Bill Eickhoff, who served for the past 28 years as steward of the Sun ‘n Fun organization and its development as a highly respected not-for-profit enterprise within both the greater Lakeland area and the national and international general aviation communitThe Sun ‘n Fun Board of Directors elected Bob Knight, President of Knight Industrial Equipment, Inc. of Lakeland, Fla., as its chairman at their January board meeting. Bob assumes t
Bob Knight assumes the Sun ‘n Fun chairmanship after serving on the board for the past 10 years and most recently as its vice-chairman. He has been a highly engaged member of the board serving, among many duties, as the chairman of the board’s Master Site Planning Committee. The committee has overseen significant development in Sun ‘n Fun’s educational mission culminating last year in the dedication of the Central Florida Aerospace Academy (high school) on its year-round campus and the current construction of the Piedmont Aerospace & Technology Laboratory addition to its Florida Air Museum’s Tom Davis Educational Center.
“The entire Sun ‘n Fun organization,” says incoming chairman Knight, “is eternally grateful to Bill Eickhoff for his remarkable dedication to the vision and potential of Sun ‘n Fun and the role it plays in the economy of Central Florida and in its mission to inspire and educate people of all ages through involvement in aviation. Bill and Suzy Eickhoff were among the Sun ‘n Fun pioneers who cleared the Florida wilderness on the south side of Lakeland airport starting in 1978, driven by a common passion for aviation and a commitment to share the sense of achievement and inspiration that comes from taking control of an airplane.”
Bob Knight, as chairman of the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In, Inc. board, will immediately assume the key leadership role of the board and its newly elected executive officers consisting of Bob Beaty, vice-chairman; Pat Phillips, secretary; and Ed Cooley, treasurer.
Board Chairman Knight will also serve as board contact for Sun ‘n Fun’s new President & CEO, John R. “Lites” Leenhouts who was selected by the board this past July to lead the year-round staff and extensive volunteer base of the Sun ‘n Fun organization. Lites Leenhouts filled the leadership position of Sun ‘n Fun vacated by John Burton who assumed the role of President of Sun ‘n Fun’s Florida Air Museum and its education programs.
