Mark McIntyre '78 will receive the CMC Psychology Department's Distinguished Alumnus Award at the annual Psi Chi honor society dinner on May 4 at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum. Based on faculty recommendations, the award recognizes alumni who were actively involved with department activities and joint faculty research as students, and who have since distinguished themselves in their chosen fields. McIntyre is the fourth recipient of the award since its establishment in 1994.
McIntyre was nominated by Harvey Wichman, professor emeritus of psychology, who described McIntyre in his nomination letter as someone who, "in his work as a corporate aviator, mentor, educator and safety expert, has exercised all of the talents, energy and discipline that he showed here as a CMC psychology student."
As an undergraduate, McIntyre worked in the Claremont Autism Center and conducted his senior thesis project on immediate and delayed feedback in the treatment of echolalia. He also worked extensively with Wichman in the physiological psychology laboratory and the College's Aviation Psychology Laboratory; together they published in the journal of the Aerospace Medical Association a study on the physiological toll that high noise levels in cockpits has on pilots.
After CMC, McIntyre worked as a co-pilot at Nordstrom, and was promoted to chief pilot in 1990. Gaining stature in the business flying community, he founded the Northwest Business Aviation Association in 1997 and served as its president for three years. In 1995, he was appointed to the Customer Advisory Board of Flight Safety International, a premier flight training company, where he worked to raise the safety standards of business flight crews to exceed those of airlines.
A member of the Chief Pilot's Roundtable (of the International Operators Committee), McIntyre also serves on the customer advisory board of Bombardier Aircraft, makers of long range corporate jet aircraft.
In 2002, McIntyre became director of aviation and chief pilot for Mente, the flight arm of the Gates Foundation, where he continues to contribute to the success of corporate aviation, which reportedly has become over the past two decades one of the safest transportation systems in the world.