Roger Whyte was born in Watford, England and educated in schools near Cambridge and at the University of Greenwich from where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree with honors in Business Studies. He has attended advanced management courses at Babson College Massachusetts, The Ohio State University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Creative Leadership.

He worked for the automobile manufacturer Rover in Solihull near Birmingham, England, for Deutsche Rover in Frankfurt, Germany and for British Leyland Austria in Salzburg.

He joined ÖFAG, a member of a privately held Austrian group of companies in automotive and aviation businesses, in 1974 and became General Manager of OEFAG Aviation Services, a fixed base operator and with locations in Salzburg, Graz and Klagenfurt. During this time he work closely with Austrian Airlines on the establishment of Austrian Air Service regional airline, the predecessor of Austrian Arrows.

In 1982 Cessna Aircraft Company appointed Roger Whyte as Citation Regional Sales Manager for German Speaking Europe. He was promoted to Director Europe, Middle East and Africa and later to Director of International Citation Sales. After a brief period with Raytheon Aircraft Company in 1994 as Vice President International Sales, Roger Whyte returned to Cessna as Vice President Worldwide Citation Sales moving from Germany to Wichita, Kansas USA, in the process. In 1997 he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Cessna Sales and Marketing responsible for all aircraft product lines, a position which he held until his retirement at the end of 2010.

Roger Whyte served as the Chairman of the Associate Member Advisory Committee of the NBAA, and as a Board member of the NBAA. During his tenure he was Chairman of the Board Members Nominating Committee He was also a founding board member of the Air Charter Safety Foundation. He served on the boards of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Grand Opera, on Duncan Aviation’s Advisory Board, on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the United States Chamber of Commerce and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States National Aviation Hall of Fame.

In 2011 he lived for several months in Shanghai, China and travelled extensively in South East Asia on a special assignment for the NBAA to help lay the groundwork for The Asian Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition, ABACE which has become the premier business aviation forum for that region and was held annually until the outbreak of COVID.

At NBAA BACE in November 2016 in Orlando he received the prestigious John Winart award to his life-time contribution to business aviation.

He represented Gulfstream Aerospace in Austria from 2014 to 2022. Currently he serves on the Boards of Duncan Aviation, Avconjet AG, Vulcan Aviation and Pie Aeronefs.

He holds an Airline Transport Pilot’s License with multiple jet ratings and is a certified Six Sigma Green Belt.

Roger has three grown children and six grandchildren. His son is an Airbus captain for Qatar Airlines.  In 2013 he and his now deceased wife, Ingrid moved to Laufen Germany, just across the border from Salzburg. 

Interests include flying, horse riding, music, skiing, biking, hiking, art, geology, boating and travel.