Lewis Liebert

Performance Flight was founded by Lewis Liebert, a serial entrepreneur, who at the time wasn’t even a pilot.

Mr. Liebert began his business background while attending Clark University. He joined with a friend launching a computer software company that was later sold to Microsoft. From there he started several small companies, all of which followed personal interests.

After several years working as an Emergency Medical Technician while in college, Liebert earned his B.S. from Rutgers University and in 1996 joined Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, a company Lewis’ mother founded in 1980, which has pioneered several areas of medical publishing and biotechnology. After a few short years he assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer of the company and took responsibility for much of the company’s direction. During his tenure, the company doubled in size and went from typewriters to an award-winning leader in electronic publishing.

While serving as COO of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., Mr. Liebert launched several other companies, both small and large. This included another publishing company, Liebert Enterprises, who founded and published RINK Magazine and launched the North American RINK Conference and Expo, all of which were later sold to USA Hockey after 10 years as the industry leader.

Among many other companies started during this period, Mr. Liebert launched High Technology, LLC in 1998. Starting as a computer networking company the focus was quickly shifted into web-based application development. High Technology pioneered several technologies offering new capabilities yet to be developed.

Lewis decided to give up his active role as COO of Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. and accepted a position as General Manager of Television USA where he launched the Forbes Enterprise Awards, sponsored by Verizon. As GM, Lewis was responsible for establishing relationships with large companies including American Express, FedEx, CBS, Staples, and several others, as well as overseeing a televised awards ceremony at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

As his contract was coming to an end and Mr. Liebert had a decision to renew, he opted to go back to his entrepreneurial roots and launch another company, Performance Flight. He still maintains ownership in other enterprises and is frequently engaged in freelance business consulting.

Outside of business, Lewis maintains an active life. Married with two young boys, Lewis grew up in the New York area and now resides in Westchester County. Other favorite activities include automobile racing, motorcycling, and photography.

Learn More:

Nick Gregory
Michael Siegel

Nick Gregory

Nick Gregory has been instructing at Performance Flight since October 2008 and became the Chief Pilot in May 2010. As Chief Pilot, he oversees the training program and is responsible for course development. Nick has been a flight instructor for 17 years and has taught in many types of aircraft.

Flying and weather have been a passion for Nick since he was a little boy. By the age of 7 he had gained a collection of toy and model airplanes and was building airports in the backyard. At the same time, Nick had developed a love and fascination of weather and was awed by nor’easters, hurricanes, and thunderstorms. As he moved into his teen years, he knew that meteorology and aviation would play a significant role in his life.

Nick went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from Lyndon State College, in Lyndonville, Vermont and at the age 21 was hired to be the morning on-air meteorologist for CNN in Atlanta, GA. Later that same year, Nick would earn his Private Pilot Certificate at the Cobb County Airport in Kennesaw, GA. In 1986, Nick left CNN and joined WNYW TV Fox 5 in New York City and became their Chief Meteorologist, a position that he currently still holds. For many years he was heard giving weather forecasts every weekday morning on WLTW 106.7 Lite FM. He has been named “New York’s Most Accurate Meteorologist” numerous times by The Daily News, The New York Post, and Newsday. Nick has also received numerous awards including the New York City Comptroller’s award for outstanding community service.

He is a member of the American Meteorological Society and holds the AMS Seal of Approval for excellence in television weathercasting. He has served as a member of the society’s Board of Broadcast Meteorologists and was Chairman of the Board in 1992.

Given his love for flying, Nick wanted to become a better pilot and achieve higher goals. He continued his flight training obtaining his instrument rating in 1990 and not longer after a Commercial Certificate followed by a multi-engine rating. Nick wanted to be able to share his love of flying with others which lead to him become a flight instructor. Another big part of his aviation life has been flying missions as a volunteer pilot for the last 15 years for Angel Flight Northeast and he recently became a member of their Board of Directors.

Over a period of 20 years, Nick has owned and flown several types of single and multi-engine aircraft and has accumulated thousands of flight hours flying across the country, into Canada, Mexico, and Central America. This has helped him develop real world scenarios for implementation into the flight school curriculum.

Nick resides in Westchester, NY with his wife and three daughters.

Michael Siegel

Michael became a part of the Performance Flight management team in 2010. He is a Commercial Pilot and Gold Seal Flight Instructor with experience flying and teaching in a large variety of aircraft.

While growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, Michael constantly dreamed of learning to fly. His grandfather, Sam Siegel, was a US Army Air Force pilot during World War Two. Michael grew up with the stories of his grandfather’s flight experience, which set the stage for his yearning to fly.

After graduating from Drake University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Biology in 2001, Michael entered the MARC En Route Air Traffic Control program in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was during his initial air traffic management classes that he realized his destiny was not behind a radar scope, but in the sky.

Michael started flight training at the Ankeny, Iowa airport in August 2001. The date of his initial solo would have been 9/11/2001. When walking out to his aircraft, he was informed by the State Police that all aircraft were grounded due to a national emergency. The non flyable weeks following our national tragedy remain the longest period Michael has not flown since he commenced flying. Michael received his Private Pilot Certificate in October 2001, Instrument Rating in May of 2002, and his Commercial Certificate January of 2003.

After a brief stint as a pilot flying emergency blood supplies to hospitals around the state of Iowa, Michael moved to Kansas City. It was there in 2003 that he realized his dream of becoming a Certified Flight Instructor. Michael rapidly built his flight hours as an instructor. His reputation as a thorough instructor attracted a large number of students who enjoyed his fresh approach to aviation education.

In 2004, Michael participated in the Part 141 Certification of his employer. He was promoted to Assistant Chief Flight Instructor and was responsible for liaising with the local FAA offices. As a part of this position, he was introduced to turbine aircraft flight while acting as Second in Command while flying a Citation Bravo and Citation Encore.

During 2004, Michael saw the opportunity to found a FAA Part 135 Certified Air Charter Operation . It was at this time Siegel Aviation was formed. The company managed a fleet of aircraft ranging from Cessna 152’s to a Piper Seneca II. Beside air charter, the company specialized in accelerated flight training, aircraft management, and aircraft sales.

With Siegel Aviation moving happily along at a steady growth rate, Michael was bombarded with requests for training by clients who intended to make a career change and fly for an airline. With the airline industry booming and expanding at never-before-seen rate, Michael formed a FAA Part 141 Certified Flight school, Career Pilot School. This company specialized in not only accelerated training, but training that would prepare students for professional airline, corporate, and charter flight. Using multi engine aircraft and a CRJ-200 flight training device, the company was quite successful and gained a reputation for high training standards.

In 2008, Michael had the opportunity to sell both businesses. With the looming economic slowdown, this proved to be a wise decision. He remained at Career Pilot School as the Vice President of Flight Operations and Chief Flight Instructor until being hired as Director of Operations by Performance flight in 2010.

When he is not managing Performance Flight’s fleet of aircraft and pilot group, Michael enjoys photography, hiking, guitar, piano, and spending time with his family. He lives in New York with his wife and two children.