Nova have announced that Ferdinand “Ferdi” Vogel will be their new managing director from July 2024.
Ferdi is a well-known German PWC pilot and flight instructor as well as being race director for the Red Bull X-Alps since 2023. Nova say he brings “extensive experience” from his success as a paraglider pilot, and “deep knowledge” from both inside and outside the company.
Ferdi has been closely associated with Nova since 2009.
He said: “Over the past 15 years, I have got to know and appreciate Nova from different perspectives: in service, in sales and in development. Thanks to my business training, I now have the ideal opportunity to combine all these aspects as managing director. I am very much looking forward to the new challenge and to shaping the future together with the existing Nova team.”
Nova said: “Under Vogel’s leadership, Nova will continue to focus on innovation and quality. We are looking forward to this new chapter.”
Ferdi was German national champion in 2015 and has regularly competed for German in international completion. Most recently he was at the European Paragliding Championships in Spain, where he finished eighth overall helping Germany come fourth in the Nations category.
Born on new year’s day in 1991 Ferdi grew up in a flying family and first caught the “flying bug” when he still a child.
“At the age of 12, I pulled on the A-risers of my father’s old paraglider for the first time. Since then, I’ve been gripped by the flying bug! Whenever I had a free minute and the wind was at least somewhat suitable, I spent my free time on the practice slope,” he explains on his website.
“When I was 14, I was finally allowed to go to Andelsbuch for training. The air was my element from the very first takeoff. The fifth high-altitude flight lasted over three hours! After a year I had my pilot’s license in my pocket and was allowed to fly alone and freely, at least in Austria.”
A cross country coach he regularly guides in the Alps and further afield.
