Company Focus

AvMet assists its government and commercial customers in managing the complexity of their evolving missions, enabling them to continuously improve their mission performance. AvMet identifies and provides innovative and effective solutions to the most complex challenges facing our customers by performing requirements analyses, business process reengineering, Enterprise Architecture development, training, and program and project management, as well as assisting in improving customer service, improving processes, enhancing performance, increasing quality, and resolving technical issues.

AvMet also assists its customers in the areas of problem solving, strategic planning, and management. AvMet provides these services to commercial companies, the Federal Government, state and local governments, and associations including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), National Weather Service, Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA). AvMet manages every project to produce the highest quality results on schedule and within budget.

• Sadegh Kavoussi, President
• Mark Phaneuf, Vice President
• Richard Klein, Vice President



• Bill Failor, Senior Systems Analyst
• Raymond Graff, Senior Systems Engineer
• Mark Gunzelman, Senior Systems Analyst
• Tom Helms, Director, Aviation Weather Policy
• Dave Hickman, Senior Systems Analyst
• Robert Lee, Senior Systems Analyst
• Eric Mandel, Project Manager
• Jordan Mechanic, Senior Systems Analyst/Meteorologist
• Butch Quallich, Senior Systems Analyst
• John Warburton, PhD, Senior Systems Engineer, Manager Business Development
• Mark Weadon, Chief Scientist

Sadegh Kavoussi has over 25 years of overall professional experience in aviation and Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems with over 20 years concentrated in aviation weather. Close to half of Mr. Kavoussi’s professional experience has involved project/program management. Mr. Kavoussi has had two separate one-year assignments, as Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA), with the FAA. Mr. Kavoussi has extensive knowledge and expertise in all aspects of aviation and ATC in general, and aviation weather system in particular. Mr. Kavoussi has Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Computer Science from Texas A&M University and a Masters of Science in Operations Research from Stanford University.

Mark Phaneuf is the Technical Lead and a program manager at AvMet and has led several projects in support of FAA's NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group (ATO-P). He supports many ICAO working groups and RTCA working groups. He has led many Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP) analysis projects. Mark also led the transition of the Aviation Weather Assets Database (AWAD) from Microsoft Access to the Internet using Adobe Cold Fusion package. He developed Internet weather policy strategies for the FAA, and led the development of the criteria standards for the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) in support of the FAA and the National Weather Service (NWS) initiatives. He has over 24 years of aviation experience and holds a BA in Aviation Management from The Ohio State University. He is a commercially licensed and instrument rated pilot, and a retired military flight crewmember with over 5000 hrs combined military and civilian time.

Richard Klein has over 30 years professional experience including contract support to the FAA and DoD. His background has covered both engineering services and air traffic control. Mr. Klein has extensive experience in system engineering and program management. His support included system engineering lead for the definition of requirements and weather system architecture under the NAS system engineering and integration contract. This included technical lead for a study which provided the FAA’s strategy for deployment of wind shear detection systems. He has also been a technical lead supporting 3 major FAA weather acquisition programs. Mr. Klein supports the FAA’s NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group in the definition of concept and requirement activities for the Next Generation weather aviation system. Mr Klein has a baccalaureate in chemistry and an MBA.

Bill Failor is a Senior Systems Analyst with 30 years of air traffic control and traffic flow management experience. Bill has been providing support to the Traffic Flow Management Weather Programs Office in the area of CCFP/ECF verification and analysis. He also provides support for the FAA's NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group (ATO-P) activities for the Next Generation weather aviation system. As a National Traffic Management Officer at the Air Traffic Control System Command Center Bill was an active member of CDM involved in the development of CCFP, FEA/FCA, Weather Evaluations team and Future Concept Team. Bill holds a Bachelors degree from Eastern Michigan University in Business.

Ray Graff has over 30 year’s professional experience including system engineering and acquisition support to the FAA and DoD. Mr. Graff has extensive experience in all phases of system engineering and program management. His support included 15 years of system engineering and technical lead in all domains of the FAA, with the last 10 in aviation weather. Dod support included digital signal processing systems development for the U.S. Navy. Mr. Graff supported the start-up of the System Management Process for ATO-E, and supported Enterprise Architecture input to several OMB 300 programs. He has also supported a joint FAA-NASA Program to coordinate FAA-related research as applied to Air Traffic support tools. Mr. Graff now supports the FAA’s NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group in the definition of concept and requirement activities for the Next Generation weather aviation system. Mr. Graff has a baccalaureate in aerospace engineering and post-graduate work in system engineering.

Mr. Mark J. Gunzelman joined the AvMet team of growing expertise recently in August 2008 as a Senior System Analysts after spending 20 months as a Senior Staff Scientist for the Science and Technology Corporation at the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorological Services and Research (OFCM), where he was the Executive Secretary for the National Space Weather Program (NSWP) Council and the Committee for Space Weather (CSW). Mark retired from the Navy with over 26 years of military service devoted mostly to project management and technical assistance work that included 5 years of operational U.S. Navy Sea Duty experience. He has spent the previous 7 years focused in the space weather arena, an important component to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen), and an area of expertise he brings to strengthen the capabilities of the already multifaceted knowledgeable AvMet Team. Mark’s initial assignment with AvMet is to support the Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP). His education includes a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from the Florida State University and a Master Degree in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Tom Helms has over a decade of experience in aviation. Prior to rejoining AvMet Applications, Mr. Helms worked for the Center for Transportation Studies (CTS) at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus. As a Program Coordinator at CTS, Mr. Helms coordinated and managed a variety of research, education, and outreach projects, including the Minnesota Airport Technical Assistance Program (AirTAP) and a project for the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) of the National Academies. Mr. Helms also provided staff support for CTS projects that utilized planning and advisory committees. In addition to his previous experience as a Systems Analyst with AvMet Applications, Mr. Helms also worked as an Aviation Analyst for Phaneuf Associates, Inc, where he provided contract support to the FAA’s Office of Rulemaking. Mr. Helms received his BA in history from Princeton University and his MBA in finance from Boston College.

Dave Hickman has over 19 years of professional experience in database applications, software development, and computer systems. He has a BS in Computer Science from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Dave supports many internal and external projects from website design to database management. Recent projects include: assisting with CCFP analysis year 3, effectiveness of WARP for weather decisions, development of WITI-FA scoring. In his short time at AvMet, he has instituted several new initiatives including a summer intern program, web based time reporting, a new company logo, and web based tracking of US-ICAO initiatives. Dave came to AvMet after 13 years under contract to the Coast Guard. At the Coast Guard, he worked on projects like AAPS, Software Track (SWT), UFS Property, and managed the Coast Guard Web servers. Throughout his career, Dave’s focus has been on automating and improving manual processes to streamline and increase productivity.

Robert Lee has seven years of experience in aviation weather analysis and policy. Mr. Lee previously worked at WeatherNews America Inc. where Mr. Lee managed numerous employees in aviation and marine forecasting and risk communication. As an MBA student, Mr. Lee created WiperWeather.com where the customer requests driving directions for anywhere in the country which are then combined with weather information along the route. Mr. Lee currently supports the FAA’s ATO-P on a number of projects including the FAA's NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group. Mr. Lee received his MBA from Oklahoma City University and Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Texas A&M University.

Eric Mandel has over 35 years professional experience including service with two federal agencies, FAA and NOAA, five years as a consultant, and five years as a naval aviator. Mr. Mandel has extensive experience in project and program management. At FAA he was a manager of a number of weather-related projects. During his service with NOAA he worked in the Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) Joint System Program Office and in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) program office among others. Currently Mr. Mandel is supporting the FAA’s NAS Weather Planning and Requirements Group. Mr. Mandel has a Bachelor of Science from Oregon State University and a Masters of Science from the State University of New York at Albany.

Jordan Mechanic has over seven years of hands-on experience providing weather analysis, forecasting, and risk communication to both the Armed Forces and commercial enterprises. While serving on active duty in the Navy, he provided support for senior level decision makers, acquired expertise in tropical cyclone forecasting, and gave direct operational support to aviation air crew. When working in the private sector, he worked directly with airline dispatchers and generated numerous aviation weather forecast products for a number of different commercial airlines. Recent projects include developing and generating training modules for SysOp’s air traffic managers that teach the benefits and liabilities of different convective weather forecast products and managing the scheduling for a number of different programs within the Aviation Weather Office. Mr. Mechanic received a Bachelor of Arts in Natural Science and Mathematics from Thomas Edison State College, a Master of Arts in Administrative Leadership from the University of Oklahoma, and is currently enrolled in Villanova University’s Project Management program.

Butch Quallich is a Systems Analyst currently supporting the FAA Weather Planning and Requirements Group (ATO-P) in areas of Best Practice managerial development of the NNEW (NextGen Network Enabled Weather) and RWI (Reduced Weather Impact) programs. Mr. Quallich recently retired from the FAA, Terminal Weather Office, after 36 years with the Federal Government. As a Federal employee Mr. Quallich was responsible for managing multiple Terminal Weather programs including JAWS (Juneau Airport Wind System), WSP (Weather System Processor), MIAWS (Medium Intensity Airport Weather System), LLWAS (Low Level Windshear Alert System) program, and managed and was the financial and technical liaison for the FAA, to the National Weather Service for the NEXRAD (Next Generation Radar) program. In prior years with the FAA Mr. Quallich provided engineering support for the ASDE-3/AMASS (Airport Surface Detection Equipment/Airport Movement Area Safety System).

Key contributor to FAA weather programs with focus on the Weather-ATM Integration, the Aviation Weather Research Program (AWRP) and the Weather Technology in the Cockpit (WTIC) program. Develops FAA strategies, analyzes research activities at government and private laboratories, and makes recommendations to FAA decision makers. Developed the strategy for set up and delivery of weather support to a major international airline. Developed and implemented NASA strategy for weather research to operations in support of the Space Shuttle program. Managed the resumption of weather support to the Space Shuttle following the Challenger accident. Led and managed an international research program for the USAF.

Mark Weadon comes to AvMet with over 27 years experience as a career meteorologist in the Air Force, where he led two base weather stations, developed weather policy at the Air Force Headquarters level, served as Air Force liaison to Federal weather programs, and commanded a weather squadron. He was the DoD representative to the Joint Planning and Development Office’s Weather Integrated Process Team, developing R&D milestones for NextGen weather capabilities. He also led inter-agency planning for the Multi-function Phased Array Radar risk reduction program under the auspices of the Office of the Federal Coordinator for Meteorology. Dr. Weadon provides technical assistance to FAA’s Aviation Weather Office in the Concept Requirements Definition for the NextGen Aviation Weather portfolio. Dr. Weadon holds an M.S. in Meteorology from Penn State University, and a PhD in English from the University of Michigan.