ROD HIGHTOWER
COMMENTARY / TOWER FREQUENCY
Member Service
AS PART OF EAA’S organizational strengthening, we
have been making slow but steady improvements
in our member services group over the past six
months. These are the people you speak with when
contacting EAA headquarters regarding topics like
membership renewal, advocacy issues, and much
more. These are terrific and hardworking people
who make it happen for our members, so anything
we can do to make their jobs better helps you, our
member. We have been busy with improvement
projects to help them help you, and we wanted to
share some of them.
AUTOMATION
Computers can be great tools to reduce manual
data entry and improve speed and quality. We have
streamlined our membership renewal processes to
eliminate much of the handling of repetitive tasks
and credit card payments. This has freed our member services team from those tasks, enabling them to
spend more quality time engaged with members. In
the planning and designing phase are online tools to
help members “self-serve” their membership
choices anytime and anywhere they have an
Internet connection.
AVIATORS HELPING AVIATORS
It hasn’t always been a requirement for member
services experts to be active pilots, but it is now.
We believe that a solid understanding of aviation
and piloting is essential to providing the best service
to EAA members. All of our newly hired team
members have bachelor’s degrees with aviation
experience and pilot certification.
EAA FUTURE LEADERS
Hiring from within is always a good practice to
ensure commitment and cultural compatibility as
well as managers and leaders whose knowledge of
EAA has breadth and depth. It’s with this in mind
that member services will be the “go-to” part of our
excellent organization when we seek managers and
leaders as EAA continues to grow.
Member services is managed by Vicky Norton, an
educator, CFI, and former flight school owner. Please
feel free to drop her a line at vnorton@eaa.org and
share your member experiences.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY STEVE CUKIERSKI
Margaret Viola is an Oshkosh native who grew up inspired by the aerobatic routines she watched
from her backyard every summer. She began volunteering at EAA AirVenture in 2002, beta-tested the first EAA Young Eagles online ground school programs, and taught courses at the EAA
AirVenture Museum. While in college she continued to intern with EAA, spending the summer of
2008 in France as an EAA Young Eagles intern at the EADS Socata Aircraft headquarters.
After graduating from the University of Chicago in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in physics,
Margaret spent a year teaching math and science at a boarding school in Somaliland. Her passion for flight soon led her from using aviation as a teaching tool in the classroom to exploring
the status of aviation in the de facto republic in the horn of Africa. She began volunteering as a
consultant to Somaliland’s Minister of Aviation and to Daallo Airlines’ executive management
team, creating metrics for fleet performance analysis over routes throughout East Africa and
proposing practical actions to increase safety in daily aviation operations.
Margaret returned from Somaliland to explore aviation professionally, earning her private pilot
certificate and tailwheel endorsement. Convinced of the power of aviation as an inspirational
gateway to achievement in science and technology, and as a regenerative fuel for the can-do
creative spirit, she is excited to help EAAers maximize their aviation experiences by utilizing the
full benefits of membership in the EAA family.
