NBAA2009 Keynote Speaker Will Be Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) announces that Forbes magazine publisher and business airplane owner and pilot Rich Karlgaard will be a keynote speaker at the Opening General Session of the Association's 62nd Annual Meeting & Convention (NBAA2009) on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL.

"Rich Karlgaard is an avid pilot, a respected authority on business trends and an outstanding communicator – in short, he is the ideal person to open one of the most important Conventions in the history of business aviation," says NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "We're delighted that Rich has agreed to share his insights with us at the show."

"I look forward to being there on opening day and discussing the trends I’m seeing in business aviation and in the broader financial marketplace," says Karlgaard. "I'm also eager to hear from those in attendance about the measures they're taking to help their flight operations meet the challenges present in this very turbulent economic environment."

Karlgaard's participation in NBAA2009 marks his second appearance at an NBAA Convention. He also spoke at the Opening General Session of NBAA's 2005 Annual Meeting & Convention in Orlando, where his remarks focused on the advantages of business aviation to entrepreneurs in developing stronger customer relationships and improving the efficiency of their operations.

Karlgaard owns and flies a Cirrus SR22 and is the author of Life 2.0, or How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness. His blog on www.forbes.com, "Digital Rules," discusses technology, entrepreneurship, regional economic development, and the future of business and work – and occasionally, small airplanes. He also is a frequent participant on the Fox News Channel's Forbes on Fox.

NBAA2009, the world's premier annual business aviation event and the fifth-largest trade show in the United States, will be held in Orlando from Oct. 20 to 22, 2009. Registration is available at www.nbaa.org/2009.