Management Team
WENDY TAYLER –
President – CEO/CFO
Wendy has spent over 30 years in the Yukon Territory. She is a Certified Management Accountant and has extensive experience with various businesses and industries in the North. She first joined Alkan Air in 1993 and quickly gained a passion for the aviation industry while working in accounting, dispatch and flight operations. Wendy became a partner in Alkan Air in 2007 while serving as general manager and became President in 2012.
ADAM SCHECK –
Director, Remote Aviation Operations
Adam was born and raised in the Yukon. Adam started his flight training in Whitehorse in 2001. Adam’s ambition was to fly in the bush and he flew for local operators in the Yukon including Alkan Air. In 2008 he moved south after an opportunity arose to fly floatplanes on the West Coast, making Nanaimo his new home. Since then he’s remained connected to the North spending several years flying seasonally in the Yukon. He has thousands of hours of experience safely operating a variety of aircraft on the Coast and in the North. Adam rejoined Alkan Air in 2015 and became an operating partner in 2017.
Lance Appleford –
Chief Flight Instructor
Prior to aviation, Lance was an “English as a Second Language” teacher, which he did for 13 years; teaching all over the world. His aviation career to date is a mix of instructing and charter/medevac flying. He is the Chief Flight Instructor of Alkan Air, a Class 1 instructor that teaches the instructor, and multi-engine instrument rating as well as a Pilot Examiner for Private and Commercial Licences.
Rodney Millie –
Director of Maintenance
Rodney was born in France and moved to Canada at an early age, where he continued his education and discovered his passion for aviation. For more than 45 years he trained and worked in the aviation industry gaining experience in the military, the air ambulance world, scheduled service and the charter sector. His aviation knowledge covers jets, turboprops and radial engines and his knowledge encompasses aircraft operating on wheels, floats and skis. In 2005, Rodney moved to Nanaimo BC where he worked and consulted with West Coast Air and SeaLand Aviation until 2010. Prior to joining Alkan Air in 2022, he spent 12 years as the Director of Maintenance at Seair Seaplanes ensuring that the fleet was maintained to the strictest of standards. As Alkan Air’s Director of Maintenance, Rodney’s knowledge and wealth of experience allows him to lead and manage his team of skilled engineers to ensure that the Alkan fleet meets the company’s exacting standards of excellence and guarantees the safety and well-being of those passengers who trust in our service.
Mark Douglas, CD –
Safety Manager
Mark is originally from Victoria, B.C. but being in a military family he moved to Halifax, N.S. where he joined the Canadian Armed forces in 1990 after High School. Having spent 28 years in the Canadian Forces, Mark was employed in many roles such as a driver, naval weapons technician and finally as a Sensor Operator in the air force. During that time, he has acquired technical diplomas from the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Camosun College, approximately 2400 hours flying in CH-124 Sea King helicopters, as well being on numerous deployments around the world. In May 2017 Mark retired from the Canadian Forces in Victoria B.C. and was hired on with the City of Victoria in the Parks Department. In the summer of 2020, taking a family vacation to the Yukon he checked off a bucket list item of visiting Dawson City. After that vacation Mark and his family were looking for a change and decided that the Yukon was the place to make that change, moving up to Whitehorse in the spring of 2021. Mark has been employed with Alkan Air since June 2021 starting as a quality assurance auditor and now the Regulatory Compliance and Safety Manager position.
JEFF FAULKNER –
Chief Aviation Officer / Chief Pilot
Jeff Faulkner has lived in the Yukon for the past 25 years and comes from a family of aviators and wilderness enthusiasts. Jeff started flying in 1997, completed his flight training with Coastal Pacific Aviation and joined Alkan Air in 2002. Jeff has a wide range of flight experience on wheel, float and ski aircraft. He has flown throughout Western and Northern Canada operating bush, charter and medevac flights. In 2012, Jeff became an operating partner and transitioned from Assistant Chief Pilot overseeing bush operations to Chief Pilot. Jeff continues to oversee the bush operation as the company’s Vice President.
Lacia Kinnear –
Chief Operating Officer
Lacia has lived and worked in Canada’s north for 14 years. Lacia joined the Alkan Air team in early 2022 as Chief Operating Officer after holding a variety of senior leadership positions at Yukon University. Most notably, Lacia led most of the college-to-university transition files as Yukon College transitioned to become Canada’s first Northern University in 2020 including legislation development, development of university governance, external relations, communications, marketing, strategic initiatives and advancement. Lacia has a reputation for designing strong processes, taking a collaborative approach, and maintaining vision and perspective when things get challenging. In her role as COO at Alkan Air, Lacia is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company and ensuring that all of the systems, resources, and people are in place to achieve the goals of the company.
Allison Mauro –
Vice President, People
Allison has been visiting the Yukon since 2013 and decided to make the move permanent in 2018. Originally from Ontario, she earned her Honours Degree in Science, specialization in Kinesiology, prior to working as a RMT on the East Coast. She first started at Alkan as the Executive Assistant , prior to taking on Human Resources in 2019, and then advancing to Vice-President, People in 2022. Allison has successfully challenged the National Knowledge Exam and is currently a Chartered Professionals in Human Resources of BC & Yukon Candidate. She is responsible for all HR functions within the company and is passionate in her approach to help Alkan be the employer of choice.
Nina Bukovac –
Nanaimo Client Relations Base Manager
Nina is no stranger to aviation, having spent 20+ years in the industry as a dispatcher and Base Manager. Prior to joining Alkan Air in Nanaimo, Nina had worked for a variety of companies over the years, including Harbour Air Seaplanes, Pacific Coastal Airlines as well as Vancouver Island Helicopters. Nina has a passion for aviation and for helping people. She takes great pride in managing the logistics of Medevac’s within BC, Canada, US and Mexico. When she is not in the office you will find her at the farm with her daughter Melia, where they enjoy barrel racing, trail riding and cattle sorting.
Darryl Laliberte, CD –
Operations Manager
Darryl was born and raised in Manitoba and moved to the Yukon in 2008. He is married with one child. He has 13+ years military service and has served in various capacities as an Officer. His aviation experience includes 8+ years in Yukon, primarily in back country and remote operations on Floats, Skis and off strip wheels. Through his aviation tenure, Darryl has held roles as Training Officer, Safey Manager and PRM. In addition to being the Operations Manager with Alkan Air, he continues to explore the skies as a line pilot. Darryl has experience working with a variety of aviation clients including, tourism and outfitting, medevac operations, mining and exploration operations, aerial survey and wildlife telemetry, government enforcement air operations and general charter operations.
Tayler Mitchell –
Whitehorse Client Relations Base Manager
Tayler was born and raised in the Yukon and is passionate about the territory and the people who live there. Tayler was always keen to find ways to help people and her career path took her to Ontario where she graduated nursing school in 2019 and spent 2 years caring for infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Tayler returned to the Yukon in early 2022, joining the Alkan team in February as the Executive Assistant, where she worked closely with the COO and the senior management team, running the governance model for the organization. In January 2023, Tayler took on the role of the Whitehorse Client Relations Base Manager where she successfully coordinates the logistical planning of all flights at the base, interacts with clients and stakeholders, manages a 24/7 dispatch team and oversees the movement of hundreds of medevac patients each year. Tayler is proud to utilize her healthcare knowledge to continue Alkan’s tradition of saving lives in the Yukon.