Regional Administrator, Great Lakes Region

Erik Amend is the Regional Administrator for the Great Lakes Region. Mr. Amend serves as the principal executive representative of the FAA Administrator in the region, providing corporate leadership in cross-organizational matters and represents the FAA with industry, the public, and governmental organizations. The Great Lakes Region encompasses the geographical area of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Previously, Mr. Amend was the Acting Western-Pacific Regional Administrator. As the principle executive representative of the FAA Administrator, Mr. Amend had oversight of the regional office facility and served as the lead FAA representative for industry, congressional, and public interests in the region, such as aircraft noise, advanced air mobility, uncrewed aircraft systems, and aviation policy. The Western-Pacific Region covers over 18.7 million square miles of airspace and includes the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Hawaii as well as the U.S. territories of American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

Mr. Amend also served as the Acting Deputy Manager for the APL Office of Aviation Policy and Plans, Analysis Division. In this role, Mr. Amend created and managed the full life-cycle development process for the FAA 2023 reauthorization proposal, which included project plans, schedules, milestones, and deliverables. He oversaw the development of a new executive level Power BI (data visualization) dashboard, which mapped the reauthorization’s alignment with DOT Strategic Plan goals, Flight Plan 21, and stakeholder concerns.

As the Executive Manager in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Office, Mr. Amend’s key accomplishments were related to strategic outreach and engagement and included the following high-profile initiatives: conception and development of national drone safety awareness week; execution of FAA’s annual UAS symposium; development, negotiation, and execution of the first agreement between the FAA and the “Know Before You Fly” founding partners; development of the UAS Help Desk, providing secretariat support for the Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee; and managing activities for multiple executive level Agency wide meetings to include the UAS board, UAS executive working group, UAS executive committee, and the AAM integration council.

Mr. Amend holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Connecticut. He is a certified Project Management Professional since 2006.