Our Company
WHAT WE DO
Founded in 1994, CPaT Global is the market leader in Distance Learning solutions for Airlines, Training Organizations, Aircraft Maintenance Companies and Aviation Professionals.
We offer Distance Learning Courses and Learning Management Systems for most of the world’s commercial aircraft; including: Boeing, Airbus, McDonnell Douglas, Embraer, Fokker, and ATR. Our library of Aviation General Subjects and Specialty Courses cover a wide range of Aviation, Airline and Safety Subjects. Our one-of-a-kind, dynamic software platform, CPaT Invent, allows trainers to truly customize their curriculum or CPaT's, quickly and easily.

All of CPaT’s distance learning solutions follow FAA, EASA, ICAO, and DGAC guidelines for developing distance learning courseware for aviation, and meet IOSA standards.





OUR EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP

Dave Rapley joined CPaT Global in February 2023 as President and CEO of the company. With more than 30 years of aviation training experience, Mr. Rapley's extensive background includes founding Aerosim Technologies Inc. and serving as CEO for Aerosim’s Flight Training Acquisitions division. He later served as Vice President of Technology for L3 Commercial Training Systems. Prior to joining CPaT, Mr. Rapley most recently served as the Chief Technology Officer for Britespot Solutions, where he analyzed fit-for-market strategies for companies to help them maximize product sustainability and go-to-market planning. His history in the training market began with Simulation Software Development at Singer Link Miles. Mr. Rapley holds a HNC/OND in Electromechanical Engineering Technology from the Chichester College of Technology.

Tony Vidrick joined CPaT Global in January 2021 as Vice President of Finance and Operations. Mr. Vidrick brings a versatile experience to CPaT in the financial and accounting industry. Previous to CPaT, he worked for KPMG, LLP, as an external auditor before transitioning to KPMG’s Deal Advisory practice, where he managed projects related to corporate bankruptcies, sell side accounting, change accounting, restatements, and on-call accounting advisory for private and public companies primarily within the Energy sector. Mr. Vidrick is a Certified Public Accountant and holds both his Bachelor of Administration in Accounting and Master of Accountancy from Texas State University.

Capt. Gregory Darrow joined CPaT Global in 2014 as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. With over 34 years in sales and marketing experience, including 25 years in flight training sales, Capt. Darrow’s extensive background includes sales management positions with IKON Office Solutions, Flight Training International, International Aviation Training and Services and Pan Am International Flight Academy. As an accomplished sales professional, he has earned numerous awards including seven years as Salesperson of the Year for IKON Office Solutions, Sales and Marketing Professional of the Year for the State of Hawaii and multiple sales management performance awards. As an accomplished professional pilot, Capt. Darrow has a long history of flight operations and pilot training. He has experience as an Airline Captain, Type Rating Instructor, and Type Rating Examiner. With over 25,000 flight hours, Capt. Darrow has flown the B777, B767, B757, B737, DC-10, MD-80/DC-9, Airbus 320, and numerous turboprops.

Frank Vieira Hugger joined CPaT Global in March 2022. He is responsible for creating long-term business relations with our customers worldwide.
Frank has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, sales, and project management, with the last eight years actively supporting global customers in the aviation training industry. As a former pilot, he knows about the advantages and power of modern distance learning for flight and ground crew training. He cooperates very closely with our product management and sales teams, providing the best digital training and distance learning solutions to airline training leaders around the globe.

Natalie Foster joined CPaT Global in August 2020 as International Sales Director with a focus on the North American and Asia Pacific regions. Ms. Foster brings 12 years of Sales and Marketing experience to CPaT, primarily in the industrial manufacturing industry. Previous to CPaT, Ms. Foster worked for Echo Engineering & Production Supplies Inc., where she was the Regional Territory Sales Representative. With a background of working with high profile clients and key accounts, Ms. Foster has focused on creating and maintaining excellent partnerships between CPaT and her clients. With a goal to support Airlines, Flight Schools, Universities, and TRTO’s, Ms. Foster strives to create long-lasting partnerships to best support client training needs. Ms. Foster holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where she attended on an athletic scholarship.

Simon Newcombe joined CPaT in January 2023 as International Sales Director with a focus on the Europe and Middle East region.
Simon brings with him 17 years of Sales and Business Development experience, predominantly in the Commercial Aviation industry. Most recently he worked as a lecturer for a technical college in the South of England. Prior to that, he built his career in Aviation Technology Sales as Commercial Director for the EMEA region for Global Simulation Manufacturers. His primary focus is to provide Airlines and Training Organizations with solutions to support their training needs as well as deliver high levels of customer care and relationship development.

Angelica Baron joined the CPaT Global sales team in January 2022 as an Account Executive and as of July 2022 was promoted to International Sales Director. Ms. Baron began her career with CPaT in June of 2020 as a Customer Service Representative and brings with her extensive knowledge working directly with clients around the world and assisting them with our products, specifically CPaT's Access LMS. With a background in Customer Service in various industries, her goal is to assist Airlines, Flight Schools, Universities and TRTO’s in the African and South American regions to find the best training solutions that CPaT has to offer. She prides herself on her excellent customer service and making sure all of her client’s needs are met and supported.

Stephen Gatlin joined CPaT Global in November 2022 as Cabin Crew Training Program Director. With over 30 years of experience in both the airline and general aviation industry, Mr. Gatlin’s extensive background includes teaching pilots and cabin crews as an aviation instructor. Mr. Gatlin’s experience comes from many years as a systems ground instructor teaching and developing training programs for the Airbus A320, A330 and Boeing 737 aircraft as well as cabin crew training programs and instructor for a major airline and has several years as the Manager of Courseware development for a Part 142 training center in Miami.
Mr. Gatlin is a graduate of The Ohio State University and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the College of Aviation and is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a lifetime member of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and the National Association of Flight Instructors. He holds several FAA pilot certificates including the Advanced Instrument Ground Instructor, and Remote Pilot certificate.

Victoria Rduch joined CPaT Global in 2015 as a Customer Support Representative. Ms. Rduch has grown throughout her tenure with CPaT and now serves as the Client Success Manager. Ms. Rduch leads all customer engagement and service for our clients, including onboarding, customer service inquiries, curriculum conversion, and more. Previous to CPaT, Ms. Rduch spent five years in Education as a substitute teacher for Spanish, a one-on-one teacher at the Alternative Education Center, and an English Teacher in Chile for the Chilean Ministry of Education. Ms. Rduch holds a B.A. in Spanish from Amherst College.

Amie Smith joined CPaT Global in August of 2020 as the Director of Marketing. Mrs. Smith brings more than 15 years’ marketing and communications experience to CPaT, primarily in the Oil and Gas industry. Previous to CPaT, she was the Marketing Manager for GeoTree, an acquisition division of Clockspring|NRI, where she was responsible for rebranding the business and bringing the division to market through strategic and tactical marketing. Prior to GeoTree, Ms. Smith has held various mid-senior level Communications and Marketing positions in the Energy sector, ranging from small to midsized, and Fortune 500 companies.

Kris Wadenpfuhl joined CPaT in 2017 and is currently serving as the Director of Curriculum Development. Mr. Wadenpfuhl started his aviation career in the US Air Force as aircrew onboard the E-3 AWACS. He was an Honor Graduate, two-time Top Graduate, and a Distinguished Graduate throughout his Professional Military Education. He served as an instructor, evaluator, and training program manager during his 11-year career. He also spent over 2,000 classroom hours as an instructor for the Community College of the Air Force. He joined Continental Airlines in 2007 as a B737 ground school instructor where he was handpicked to develop several aircraft systems curricula and syllabi for the Continental and United Airlines flight training departments. During this time, Mr. Wadenpfuhl earned his Master of Science degree in Educational Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University where he specialized in training development and adult education.

Gunnar Seaburg joined CPaT Global in November 2019 as Software Product Engineer and Architect, and currently leads as Engineering Manager of our CPaT Invent products. Mr. Seaburg’s prior experience includes extensive software development and leadership positions in the computer industry with IBM, Compaq Computers, and Hewlett-Packard, and in the consumer product industry with Goodman Manufacturing. He is co-inventor on numerous U.S. Patents. Mr. Seaburg is an accomplished, commercially rated general aviation pilot and flight instructor, and has also served in various training and leadership positions with the U.S.A.F. Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, and Master of Science in Psychology (Engineering/Human Factors) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Cindy Kirk joined CPaT Global in 2008 in Courseware Development and is currently the Director of Production. Ms. Kirk brings more than 30 years in Aviation Training to CPaT. Prior to joining the company, she held a variety of roles primarily in the aviation training industry and has airline customer service experience.
AVIATION SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS

Michael Shanks started his aviation career as a Naval Aviator in the US Navy flying the SH-60B helicopter and the C-12 transport aircraft. After 11 years in the Navy, Mr. Shanks became a commercial airline pilot with Continental Express/ExpressJet Airlines flying the ATR-42, ATR-72, EMB-145 and ERJ-175. While there, he was a Lead Line Check Airman on the 145 and Line Check Airman on the 175. He left ExpressJet in 2020 and joined CPaT as a full time, in-house Consultant and one of CPaT’s Subject Matter Experts (SME).

Bill Severn started his aviation career in the US Air Force as an instructor where he served for 20 years. After leaving the Air Force, Mr. Severn began his civilian career as a Ground School Instructor, which lasted 30 years and included aircraft such as the B737, B757, B767, B787, L-1011 and A330. During his career he worked as an Instructional Systems Designer for AQP on the B737CL and curriculum developer for an A330 course. Mr. Severn worked as a Ground School Instructor for United Airlines and is now a consultant for CPaT where he brings his rich experience and expertise to the Airbus A320 and A330 CBTs as well as CPaT’s library of Boeing CBTs. Mr. Severn is one of CPaT’s Subject Matter Experts, (SME), that supports the development of our software engineering and courseware development teams with his aviation expertise.

Jim Tucker started his flying career with a 6-year tour as a Navy pilot flying an S3A of the USS America. After leaving the Navy, Mr. Tucker started his career as a commercial airline pilot with Braniff Airways flying a Boeing B727. This began a flying career that spanned three decades on aircraft ranging from the DC9 to the Boeing B777. After his flying career, Mr. Tucker joined the staff of United Airlines training center in Houston where he trained B737 pilots until his departure in 2017. Mr. Tucker augments CPaT’s staff of experts as a consultant with expertise with the B767, B757, B777, B737, and MD-80. Mr. Tucker is one of CPaT’s Subject Matter Experts, (SME), that supports the development of our software engineering and courseware development teams with his aviation expertise.

Paul McDermott attended USAF undergraduate pilot training in 1971. His first assignment after pilot training was Forward Air Controller (FAC) flying the OV-10 Bronco in Southeast Asia. He returned to the USA a year later and flew the KC-135 until 1978. He upgraded to Aircraft Commander, instructor pilot, and Standardization Pilot during those 5 years. He left active duty and was hired by Braniff Airlines in 1978, where he was Flight Engineer and First Officer on the Boeing 727 until 1980. He was hired by the USAF Reserves in 1982 flying the KC-10 tanker until retiring in 1994. During this same period, Paul was hired by Continental Airlines. He was a B727 Captain for 10 years until cross training to the B737 where he was a B737 Captain and Line Check Airman for eleven years until retirement in 2006. Mr. McDermott was hired as a B737 ground school instructor in 2012 on the B737 and joined CPaT’s SME consulting team in 2017. Mr. McDermott is one of CPaT’s Subject Matter Experts, (SME), that supports the development of our software engineering and courseware development teams with his aviation expertise.