Vance Hilderman joins Advisory Board of Avionics Europe annual avionics industry event

NASHUA, N.H., 5 Sept. 2012. The staff of PennWell’s Aerospace & Defense Group--headquartered in Nashua, N.H., and of which Avionics Intelligence and Military & Aerospace Electronics are part--is pleased to announce the appointment of Vance Hilderman, an experienced avionics engineer, entrepreneur, and renowned author and speaker, to the Advisory Board of Avionics Europe, the premier avionics conference and exhibition.

“We are excited and deeply honored to announce the addition of Vance Hilderman to Avionics Europe’s already stellar roster of avionics professionals on the Advisory Board,” admits Courtney E. Howard, Avionics Europe conference director and executive editor of Avionics Intelligence and Military & Aerospace Electronics. “I look forward to working with Vance Hilderman and I applaud his continued contributions and dedication to the global avionics community. I am certain Avionics Europe, including its Advisory Board and proactive attendees, will benefit greatly from his enthusiasm, knowledge, insights, and advice.”

Vance Hilderman is a 25-year embedded avionics engineer/manager with experience developing more than 150 critical embedded avionics and safety-critical systems. Considered one of the world’s leading experts on avionics certification, Hilderman has consulted with 45 of the world’s 50 largest aerospace companies.

With a BSEE, MBA, and MS Computer Engineering from USC (Hughes Fellow), Hilderman has focused on avionics software, systems, and hardware development, as well as products.

In 1990, Hilderman founded what would become the largest independent avionics software services company in the world; his company appeared three consecutive years on Forbes’ Fastest Growing Technical Companies list. Hilderman was the president of this company for all 14 years of its operation, though he performed avionics engineering activities himself on a weekly basis in a very hands-on, technical manner.

Hilderman developed the world’s first DO-178Bavionics software training and commercial avionicssoftware processes, including very technical material on the critical aspects of avionics software design; he personally provided this training to more than 6,000 paying attendees at 200 classes, which is more than all other avionics software trainers/experts in the world combined.

Hilderman worked on most of the commercial aircraft developed in Europe and America over the past two decades.

After retiring upon the sale of his company, Hilderman co-founded, and served as president of, HighRely Inc., one of the largest avionics software/certification companies in the U.S. HighRely was acquired by Atego and Hilderman now serves as president of Atego HighRely.

Today, Hilderman resides in San Diego and works around the world, continually participating in avionics forums. He is the author of dozens of technical white papers and articles on avionics development and is co-author of the world’s first, and only, book on avionics development/certification, published by Avionics Communications: Avionics Certification–A Complete Guide to DO-178B & DO-254.

Hilderman teaches and lectures, attends avionics/aerospace seminars/meetings, teaches avionics software/hardware development and certification, and participates in a variety of other public speaking venues regarding safety-critical systems, software and DO-178. He also provides motivational, technical, and business training using prior ToastMasters International speech training as a motivational speaker. Vance Hilderman was the past president of a ToastMasters group in Seattle.