Farhad Azima ('66) named 2025 Distinguished Alumni
Chanute , Kan. — May 13, 2025
Chanute, Kan. – The Neosho County Community College (NCCC) Foundation and Alumni is pleased to announce Farhad Azima, Class of 1966, has been selected as the 2025 NCCC Distinguished Alumni. Azima will be the guest speaker at the 2025 NCCC Commencement Ceremony on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. in Panther Gymnasium.
Azima is an internationally recognized entrepreneur and business leader. He currently serves as the Chairman and CEO of Aviation Leasing Group and Chairman of the Ponticor Group. For more than four decades, he has demonstrated his leadership in a wide spectrum of businesses in the aviation, logistics, and transportation industries. He has played a significant role in shaping the modern international cargo and passenger aviation industries.
Azima has served in positions of trust and honor under three presidents and provided advice to congressional leaders and heads of state. President Bill Clinton appointed Azima to the United States Economic Development Commission. During his 1996 presidential campaign, Azima advised Clinton on public policy and aggregated campaign finances.
He has helped and assisted many charitable, humanitarian, and relief organizations, and has partnered with global charities to transport relief goods to vulnerable children and communities in need such as Operation Christmas Child in the Middle East and Africa. He is currently leading an important initiative to provide rare earth minerals vital to U.S. national security.
Azima’s airlines have provided transportation support for U.S. military and allied operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to exclusively providing air transportation to carry out the transportation for the Camp David Accord. He served as Chairman and CEO of three U.S. airlines and various passenger and cargo airlines in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Azima is credited with building turnkey airlines around the world as well as a pilot training academy. He commercialized Ukrainian and Russian-manufactured aircraft after the fall of the Soviet Union. He owned and managed two large aviation Maintenance and Repair Organizations (MRO’s) in Smyrna, Tennessee, and Southend, England, employing over 4,000 employees.
He is a recipient of the 1998 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the William Jewell University Lifetime Achievement Award, an Honorary Doctorate degree from the American University of Afghanistan, and various recognitions and awards from the U.S. Department of Defense. He is a champion of education and has established scholarship programs to benefit students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and William Jewell University.
Mr. Azima served as a Commercial Advisor to Rolls Royce Plc, Bombardier, and Cleveland Bridge. He is presently serving on the U.S. Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University of Afghanistan and the U.S. Command and General Staff College Foundation. He is a member of Conquistadores Del Cielo, the Wings Club, and the Carlton Club.