Mark Richards retires from the VATSIM Board of Governors

[Gunnar Lindahl]

Mark Richards retires from VATSIM Board of Governors

It is with bittersweet feeling that the Board of Governors announces the retirement of Mark Richards from VATSIM’s Board of Governors after a long career serving VATSIM in various roles.

Mark has spent the last 24 years as a member of VATSIM and previously SATCO staff with his most recent role as Vice President – Operations; one he has held since 2015. Prior to this appointment, he was the regional director for the former Oceania region and chair of the Executive Committee.

Early in VATSIM’s history, Mark played a vital role in creating new divisions within the Oceania region. In 2001 he was a founding member of the VATPAC division, serving as their first division director. He founded another division six years later in his home country of New Zealand, again serving as the first division director.

Since joining SATCO in 1996 and then VATSIM in 2001, Mark has accumulated over 8,000 hours as a pilot, 1,800 hours as a controller, and 1,600 hours as a supervisor. Over 11,000 hours in total connected to VATSIM!

While Mark is retiring from a long career as a VATSIM staff member, he does not intend to part ways with the network entirely. He is excited to continue to fly and control on the network while remaining a mentor for new staff members in his home division of VATNZ as well as around the world.

Please join us in congratulating Mark on his tremendous career serving VATSIM members and wish him well in his future endeavours on VATSIM!

There will be further news regarding the appointment of a successor in the coming weeks.

There is a thread available here for those who may wish to leave Mark a message.

On behalf of the Board of Governors