Key Personnel
Fred J. Klein
Fred Klein, President and co-founder of Aviation Specialists Group, Inc., has been involved in the asset based finance industry since the mid-1970s with special emphasis on aircraft financing. He has extensive experience with projects involving asset valuations, residual value forecasting, operating and finance lease negotiations, risk assessment, problem deal workouts and equipment sales. He is a frequent industry speaker, has published articles in publications including Commercial Aviation Report, Commuter/Regional Airline News, Aircraft Economics and the Handbook of Airline Marketing and wrote a regular column for the Equipment Financing Journal. Mr. Klein holds a Senior Appraiser certification from the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading (ISTAT). He has served on ISTAT’s Board of Directors since 1998 and is also the Chairman of the ISTAT International Appraisers Board of Governors. He was the Chairman of ISTAT’s annual North American conferences in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Prior to founding Aviation Specialists Group, Mr. Klein spent seven years with aviation consulting firm Avitas. As Vice President - Valuations, he headed the team which performed aircraft, engine and aviation asset appraisals, undertook special studies and projects and provided lease/loan analysis and negotiation expertise. Before that, Mr. Klein was Vice President - Marketing in which capacity he headed the company’s sales and marketing group, performed special projects for clients and made frequent industry presentations.
He began his finance career with Greyhound Leasing & Financial Corporation in 1974 where he worked in all phases of the asset finance business including asset management, credit, marketing and problem deal workouts both in the U.S. and abroad. From 1976 to 1980, Mr. Klein worked in Tokyo as Managing Director of Century Greyhound Leasing, an aircraft and ship finance joint venture with DKB, C. Itoh, Bank of Tokyo and LTCB. In 1984, he undertook a special assignment as Shipping Director of Greyhound's European subsidiary where he handled all aspects of the company's ship finance portfolio and headed the company’s offices in Zug and Piraeus. Upon returning to Greyhound Financial in Phoenix, he was appointed Vice President - Asset Marketing. As head of the Asset Management Group, Mr. Klein was responsible for all asset valuations, equipment sales and field inspection programs as well as marketing the company's transportation finance products. He was also frequently involved in problem transaction workouts.
Mr. Klein holds a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Stuart J. Rubin
Stuart Rubin joined Aviation Specialists Group in February 1999 and is Manager, Valuations. His responsibilities at ASG include performing aircraft valuations, future value forecasting, market research, database analysis and management, assisting clients with lease language and return provision analysis, aircraft condition as it relates to market value and aircraft inspections. Mr. Rubin is a member of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading and is an ISTAT Certified Appraiser.
Prior to joining Aviation Specialists Group, Mr. Rubin spent over four years with GRA, Inc. as a research analyst. Mr. Rubin’s experience for both private and public sector clients includes the following:
- Unit cost analysis for a major U.S. airline in an effort to restore the struggling carrier's financial viability.
- Collected and presented data on ownership and operations for the top 50 U.S. regional air carriers.
- Creation of a financial forecasting model that projected landing fees for a major U.S. airport; responsible for ensuring that all forecasts were financially sound.
- Creating a tax forecasting model to evaluate current and future aviation tax scenarios for the Federal Aviation Administration Office of Policy and Plans.
- Updating Economic/Critical Values for the Federal Aviation Administration for use in regulatory impact assessments.
- Developing an aircraft operating cost model for a European regional airline.
- Writing for and editing GRA’s newsletter, the Transportation Advisor.
Mr. Rubin holds a B.S. in Economics from The Pennsylvania State University.
Fletcher D. Arrington
Since 1998 Fletcher Arrington has handled ASG’s technical activities including consulting on engine and maintenance matters, aircraft inspections, aircraft documents and maintenance records audits, asset monitoring, repossessions assistance and ongoing fleet inspection programs. Mr. Arrington began his career with Eastern Airlines in 1968 where he was involved in all aspects of aircraft maintenance. As an aircraft mechanic he was assigned to airframe and engine heavy maintenance and line maintenance. From 1977 -1989 Mr. Arrington served as Manager of Component Repair Shops. Prior to joining ASG, Mr. Arrington spent five years as Vice President of Technical Services and Chief Operating Officer with AvSolutions and four years as Director of Technical Services for Avitas, Inc.
His experience includes the following:
- Assisted clients with aircraft lease returns and established the financial base necessary to assess compensations for noncompliance lease issues.
- Selected and supervised vendors on behalf of a client in order to accomplish specific projects that entailed work on aircraft and engines with budgets in excess of $1,000,000.
- Accomplished off-lease aircraft returns and delivery of aircraft to new operators.
- Acted as expert witness during court hearings, prepurchase evaluations of aircraft and other aviation related assets.
- Providing portfolio management for clients with extensive aircraft holdings.
- Reviewed the physical condition of various aircraft and aircraft records to determine and ensure the asset complied with the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulation.
- For a government agency, performed technical inspections on a fleet of freighters under consideration as loan guarantee collateral.
Mr. Arrington holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Florida International University and an Airframe and Powerplant
License from the Alabama Institute of Aviation Technology.