Avionics News August 2014 - 32

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Robert Clare of

How long have you
worked at Universal
Avionics?
I've been here a little more
than 20 years, and I am the
director of sales. Basically,
this entails the overall
responsibility for the sales
of our products to all our
authorized dealers and OEMs
worldwide. I'm responsible for
managing our sales staff - 12
people all over the world, as
well as some staff assistants
here in Tucson and Wichita.
d his family
Robert Clare an

.
bing and surfing
enjoy fishing, tu

U

niversal Avionics Systems
Corp. is one of the
leading manufacturers of
innovative avionics systems for
business jets, turboprop aircraft,
transport aircraft, helicopters,
regional and commercial airliners
used by corporate, military and
airline operators. The company
offers advanced avionics as a
retrofit solution for the largest
diversification of aircraft types in
the industry.
Recently, Patricia Luebke,
Avionics News contributor, spoke
with Robert Clare, director of sales,
to learn more about his work and
life outside of the office.
32

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2014

With...

What's a typical
day for you?

Since I'm at corporate headquarters,
I come in earlier than most to clear
my inbox. I have a day full of meetings
and am involved in corporate decisionmaking - everything from strategic
product-development meetings to
sales goals. I travel about half the time
all over the world to support trade
shows and sales meetings; in fact, I
just returned home from Geneva for
EBACE.

What do you like best
about your job?

I like the social side of it, meeting
and working with people in general.
Working on airplanes and avionics
is a very rewarding career because
it's fast-paced and the technology

Universal Avionics

is always changing. With an
innovative company like Universal,
it never gets boring.

When you first worked
for Universal, what was
your job?

I was hired at Universal out of
college as a satellite repair station
technician. I am originally from
Wichita, and Universal always had a
presence there because of the OEMs.
I stumbled across Universal, and
they were looking for an extension
of their repair station. So I was hired
to repair components and oversee
the shop. The responsibility was
shared with a team of field service
engineers, but I was the first person
to fill a full-time position for the
Wichita repair station.

That's a lot of
responsibility for
someone just out
of college.

Yes, and that appealed to me. I
was so fortunate the leadership at
Universal allowed me to embrace
the responsibility. I reorganized the
shop and learned to repair avionics.
Looking back, it was an incredible
opportunity. I did that for three
years.
I was intrigued by aircraft - I
had no aviation background; it
was all electrical engineering. But I
was taken under their wing at my
request, and I learned about how to
work on airplanes. The field service
engineers would take me on flight
testing and installations at the OEMs.
Avionics News August 2014

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