SAFA Skysailor Magazine

20 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2026 Meet SAFA’s CEO: Gavin Hanlon on flying, leadership, and keeping pilots in the air by Carol Liang When I sat down with Gavin Hanlon, he was only a little over two weeks into his new role as SAFA’s CEO. I wanted to give SAFA members a chance to get to know Gavin a little more, both as a pilot, and as our new CEO. Gavin first learned to paraglide in the early 1990s. He later became an instructor and tandem pilot, travelled and competed, then stepped away from regular flying while career and family took priority. Over the past decade, he has found his way back into the air. His professional career followed a similarly varied path through catchment management, water utilities, government and finance, leading organisations respon- sible for major infrastructure, managing multi-billion-dollar asset bases through drought, fire and flood, and working within complex regulatory environments.