By Taylor Mershon, IAC 442603, and Mike Ciliberti, IAC 12585
The IAC board of directors has appointed Mike Ciliberti as the new sequence committee chair. This is following the sudden unexpected vacancy of the seat when the former IAC Vice President and sequence chair, Rob Holland, died in an aircraft crash on April 24th, 2025. The IAC expresses its gratitude to Mr. Ciliberti for stepping in quickly to volunteer for our aerobatic community.
About the appointment, Mike Ciliberti stated, “When we lost Rob, we lost more than just a great competitor and friend. He was a fanatical advocate for all things aerobatic as well as the IAC Vice President. He also served other roles in the IAC; he was the current Sequence Committee Chair, responsible for all Contest Unknowns and our yearly Knowns design and approval process. Rob’s loss has left a gap in that position. Having previously served as Sequence Committee Chair and currently serving on the Committee itself I have volunteered to step back in as Chair to try to keep the transition as stable as possible given the almost weekly necessity for Unknowns.”
Mike Ciliberti’s background flying aerobatics began in 1985 and he’s been an active EAA/IAC member ever since. Currently he is Chief Pilot for a private company that he’s been employed with for the last 26 years. He’s spent my whole life in Southeastern Pennsylvania and been members of both IAC 52 and 58 – local area Chapters. He’s flown Sportsman through Unlimited in various aircraft from Pitts to Sukhoi to MXS’s. He has made both the US Advanced and Unlimited Aerobatic Teams, and competed both in the US and in various other hosting nations.
While Ciliberti was appointed the ‘new’ sequence chair, the role is not a new one for him. At the end of 2021, Ciliberti was appointed to fill the sequence committee chair position when its upcoming vacancy was made known to the board and Mike stepped in to help. It was a year later, in November 2022, when Rob Holland stepped into the role.
The head of the sequence committee is a very important role on the IAC board of directors. As its name implies, the sequence committee is where each year’s published aerobatic sequences for competition are generated. And who better to explain how vital the sequence chair role is than the new chair himself? In a submissions request article on the IAC website that he wrote in December 2021 during his last term of service as the sequence chair, Mr Ciliberti said,
“this position is responsible for each year’s known programs as well as all Unknowns to be provided for regional contests as well as some Nationals Unknowns. That's a lot of Unknowns!”
The job also includes maintaining the IAC sequence database and going through the approval process for all Known sequences, which is to create the sequences, submit them to the members for comment, and then submit them to the board for approval. Finally, the sequence chair is also expected to be a subject matter expert who the board can call on when needed. (Source: IAC P&P 229)
Regarding his ability to ‘jump into the deep end’, as the saying goes, and get such a large amount of work done, Ciliberti says, “Having previously been the Sequence Committee Chair and currently serving on the Committee, I understand what is necessary to run the position. Rob’s loss left a void we will do our best to fill. Currently AJ Wilder, Adam Cope, Matt Dunfee, and Shad Coulson serve on the Committee and all are very capable members. With their assistance we will make sure the Sequence Committee work continues without interruption.”
