Graham Newby joined the Light Aircraft Association in the late 1970s and has built 3 kit aircraft. He served very successfully as the Association’s first Chief Executive from 1999 to 2008. He handed over his CE role to look after his partner who’d been seriously injured in an aircraft accident, but has continued to give advice and assistance to his successors and has served as the LAA’s representative on an EASA Working Group set up to examine the possibilities for greater proportionality in EASA Regulations which ultimately led to the introduction of the European Light Aircraft 1 (aircraft up to 1200 kg) and ELA2 (aircraft of 1201kg to 2000kg) processes. This Working Group also recommended the introduction of the LSA category in Europe.