2024-2025 PAASS - SEAF

Dominique Youakim of Charleston, Ill., is the owner and operator of Aerinova Aerial LLC, an aerial application business located in Mattoon, Ill. He also owns a helicopter tour business in St. Louis and Branson, Mo., and is an authorized Robinson helicopter dealer. He has two children, a son and daughter, Aiden and Aubrey.
 
Before finding his niche as an aerial applicator, Dominique worked in corporate America as a vice president of operations for a manufacturing plant. He worked for the manufacturer from 1995 to 2005. During that same period, he earned his commercial pilot certificate. Ready for a less travel-intensive career, Dominique gave up his corporate job for the opportunity to become an agricultural pilot in 2005. His mentor, Rick Reed of Reed’s Fly-on Farming, hired him as a full-time pilot that year. In 2013, Dominique purchased Reed’s Mattoon-based operation, which now operates under the name Aerinova Aerial LLC.
 
In 2006, Dominique completed the NAAA/Syngenta Leadership Training Program, which develops new leaders and advocates for the agricultural aviation industry. He served as secretary/treasurer of the Illinois Agricultural Aviation Association in 2007–2008. He joined NAAA’s board of directors as the Illinois AAA’s state representative in 2009. From 2012 to 2016, Dominique chaired NAAA’s bylaws committee. In 2016, he served as the association’s vice president and was elected president for 2017.

Matt Peed grew up on a small farm in Georgia that raised beef cattle and row crops. Matt’s early professional background is in tree care with experience in both arboriculture and silviculture. While no one in his family has a background in aviation, the urge to fly was instilled in Matt at a young age. The first airplane he ever saw was a Cessna AGtruck flying over a field in Georgia. In 2000 Matt learned to fly, becoming a first-generation pilot in his family. 
 
Matt’s career as an agricultural aviator began in 2008 when he started flying for O’Brien Flying Service in Iowa, Louisiana. He started out as a rice pilot and worked in various parts of the Delta region and the southeast U.S. Eventually he ended up back in Georgia flying for a large farming operation. Matt is a CFI and an A&P with IA. He conducts turbine transition training in a dual cockpit Thrush. Matt has been married 26 years and has three children with his wife.