CEO Deborah Aharon Awarded Sapphire Pegasus Award for Outstanding Woman in Aviation at Caribavia Conference in St. Maarten

Provo Air Center announced today that CEO Deborah Aharon is the first Caribbean-based recipient of the annual Pegasus Sapphire Award for Outstanding Woman in Aviation.

The award dinner was held at the Sonesta Majo Beach Resort in St. Maarten on the first night of the CaribAvia Aviation Conference in St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles. Other award winners were Adam Twidell of PrivateFly for Outstanding Online Networker, the Bahamas Islands for Outstanding Country Promotion, and Graham Stephenson for Outstanding Lifetime Achievement. Cdr. Bud Slaebbert, conference organizer for the CaribAvia meeting, presented the awards in St. Maarten. The event is hosted annually by Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten.

While accepting the award, Aharon told a story about her early days in the company when, during a company meeting in the male-dominated organization, one manager stopped her from speaking mid-sentence, saying that she could not express an opinion because she was a woman and would therefore know nothing about aviation. Holding up the heavy sapphire blue crystal award, Aharon joked that she now had “incontrovertible proof” that she knew what she was talking about.

A native of Philadelphia, with a background in travel and meeting planning, Aharon originally joined the company’s airline division (now called interCaribbean Airways) in 1999 to help it meet the needs of the American tourism market. In 2001, she helped the company found the first FBO in the Turks and Caicos and took primary responsibility for expanding and upgrading the business. Under her stewardship, Provo Air Center has been named Best Caribbean FBO in the AIN annual FBO survey for the past two years. Speaking about the award, Aharon said “As managers, we seek recognition for our companies, but not, if we're good leaders, for ourselves. We understand it's not really about us. It's about the team pulling together. But when our efforts to lead are noticed and rewarded by our peers, that's truly the best feeling in the world.”