Former FlyExclusive CFO Billy Barnard is returning to that role on an interim basis as the flight provider readies for its IPO.
FlyExclusive CFO Brent Smith has left the private jet flight provider.
Billy Barnard replaced him on an interim basis.
Barnard served as CFO for a family office with retail franchises and real estate investments for 18 years.
He has been an advisor to FlyExclusive since 2014 before joining the company in 2020 as CFO and then Chief Business Officer.
Smith had been CFO at Executive Jet Management and NetJets from 2007 to 2015.
He joined FlyExclusive in September 2022.
“At FlyExclusive, we say all the time that family matters most. I respect Brent’s decision, which he made in early September, to step down to focus on his family. Billy Barnard, who was previously our Chief Financial Officer and most recently our Chief Business Officer, has been named interim CFO. Since September, we made a seamless transition,” Chairman and CEO Jim Segrave tells Private Jet Card Comparisons.
He adds, “Billy is a seasoned CPA with nearly four decades of financial and consulting experience, including five years experience with our company, including as CFO from 2020 to 2022. Billy knows this business inside and out. I am confident that our company’s financial leadership is in good hands with Billy as our interim CFO. I trust his judgment and his experience with FlyExclusive.”
The fifth-largest private jet operator based on charter and fractional flight hours, FlyExclusive is expected to go public next month via a SPAC-merger IPO.
