Home | Meet the Team

Steve Hankirk is an accomplished aviation executive with over 40 years of experience in the aviation industry. He began his career as a pilot and soon advanced into the chief pilot role and became a Transport Canada approved check pilot. As Steve’s career progressed, he held various management positions with Canadian Regional Airlines and Canadian North. In 2013, Steve was appointed President of Canada North. Under his leadership, Canadian North grew from a struggling regional airline into a leading, diversified aviation company offering scheduled and charter flying, maintenance and engineering services, and pilot and maintenance training. During his tenure with Canadian North, Steve also sat as the Chairman of the Board for the Air Transport Association of Canada. In July 2019, Steve joined Avmax as their Chief Aviation Strategy Officer and was appointed President of Avmax in April 2020.

Mr. Meyer brings over 22 years of entrepreneurial leadership to Avmax. He holds a Bachelor degree from the University of Calgary and has been instrumental in several business startups.

Mr. Meyer has extensive experience in creating and improving business models; he does this through strategic planning and implementation of financial and operational initiatives. Mr. Meyer has strong negotiation and leadership skills, which allow for close relationships with the executive management team and enable him to execute new business goals to ensure the future success for Avmax.

Mr. Meyer started with Avmax in 2010 as the Vice President and General Manager of the Spares Division. During his time at Avmax he implemented a new software platform that streamlined processes in the Spares Division as well as across all other Avmax Divisions. In 2013, Mr. Meyer left to go back to his entrepreneurial roots for a couple years. In 2015, he returned to Avmax as the Vice President of Corporate Development. In this new role Mr. Meyer is managing Information Technology, Business Process Improvement and Marketing; he will also be accountable for analyzing and implementing strategic changes through all divisions of Avmax to ensure they are providing maximum benefit to the company and meeting organizational objectives.

Mr. Gao worked briefly at Avmax as a Tax Manager in 2014/2015 before becoming the Chief Financial Officer in June of 2018. Mr. Gao left Avmax in early 2015 and started his own consultant company which focused on the M&A advisory business. Mr. Gao has played a very important role in the M&A transactions between Sunward and Avmax.

Prior to joining Avmax in 2014, Mr. Gao was a Tax Manager at BDO Canada LLP, where he worked extensively with clients in a wide range of industries within the public, private and non-profit sectors, with an emphasis on public companies.

Mr. Gao received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Simon Fraser University in 2008. Mr. Gao received his Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) designation in 2011 and Certified Public Accountant designation from the United States in 2013. He also completed his CICA In-depth Tax courses I, II and III in 2013.

As the Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Gao is responsible for overseeing strategic accounting solutions across all company segments including the internal and external financial reporting, taxation, finance, treasury, audit compliance and internal controls. Mr. Gao bringing years of experience in accounting, finance, mergers, acquisitions, strategy and industry experience to his role in the company. He has worked closely with Avmax’s senior leadership on accounting and strategic planning related matters since joining the company.