Daniel Godin takes helm as Peter Rettaliata steps down as Air Industries Group chief

Peter D. Rettaliata is stepping down as president and chief executive of aerospace contractor Air Industries Group effective Jan. 1, the company announced Wednesday.

Succeeding the retiring Rettaliata, 64, who held those jobs with the Bay Shore company since November 2005, will be Daniel Godin, 53. Godin has been an executive at Merex Group of Camarillo, California, and Circor Aerospace Inc. of Hauppauge.

Jamie Moore, president of the Aerospace and Defense Diversification Alliance in Peacetime Transition, an industry advocacy group, said Rettaliata, a veteran of Bethpage-based Grumman Corp., had carried that company's customs to Air Industries.

"Pete instilled a very Grumman culture, a very caring, family-oriented culture at Air Industries," he said. At Grumman, which was acquired in 1994 by Northrop Corp. to form Northrop Grumman, Rettaliata was director of procurement for 25 years.

Michael Taglich, chairman of the board at Air Industries, said Rettaliata will remain a board member.

"Pete, through a few difficult business cycles, planned and oversaw the transformation of Air from a small, well-run machining company . . . to that of a nicely positioned NYSE market-listed company with a clear strategy and a backlog worth talking about," he said.

Rettaliata recently told development officials in Suffolk County that during his tenure Air Industries' annual sales had grown from about $10 million to between $70 million and $80 million this year.

Air Industries has been an active acquirer of small aerospace machine shops on Long Island and in the Northeast. The company said Godin, who also worked at United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines division, would continue to pursue that strategy.

Moore said Air Industries went through a "strong vetting process" before selecting Godin, who earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern Maine and holds five patents for specialized aircraft and industrial engine coatings and components.

Shares of Air Industries gained 3.53 percent to close at $10.40 Wednesday.

On Friday, Air Industries posted third-quarter net income of $380,000, versus $2.5 million in the year-earlier period. Net sales were $15.2 million.

Moore said Rettaliata has worked actively to promote Long Island's aerospace industry. "He'll definitely be missed."

The announcement of Rettaliata's retirement comes less than a month after he told the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency that he wanted to expand Air Industries on Long Island.

"We're trying to survive, to be a bigger player in the next 10 years" in the aerospace industry, he said at the IDA's Oct. 23 meeting. "We're well financed and we're capable."

The IDA's board of directors last month approved $344,000 in tax breaks over 10 years for one of Air Industries' four locations in Suffolk.