For 21 years, Assistant Manager PRS (Parts & Rotables Sales) Hannah Bodenstab watched her father, Finish Master Specialist Mike Masek, build a career at Duncan Aviation’s Cabinet Shop. With a long list of relatives who also worked here, she grew up hearing what a great place it was to work—but she never imagined a future in aviation. Her passion was graphic design.
After graduating from Doane University in 2012 with a degree in Graphic Design, Hannah struggled to find the right opportunity. Then one day, her dad came home with news: there was a Graphic Design internship open at Duncan Aviation.
“I was thrilled,” Hannah says. “I didn’t get that role, but I was offered an internship in the Calibration Lab instead. I was just happy to get my foot in the door.”
Hannah was able to complete that three-month internship—updating manuals—in just two weeks! Determined not to lose her, shops and departments in the area found ways to keep her busy. For Facilities, she painted curbs in the intense heat of a Nebraska July. She also helped in Purchasing and Accounts Receivable. It wasn’t glamorous—but it was foundational.
“I wasn’t doing graphic design, but I was learning the company, meeting incredible people, and building relationships,” she says.
When a team member in Accounts Receivable went on maternity leave, Hannah stepped in. After that assignment ended, Harry Frye, who was Facilities Manager at the time, and Maira Sherman, who was Assistant Manager and now serves as Facilities Manager, created a full-time opportunity for her. She learned to manage Safety Data Sheets, worked with asset-management software, and soaked up knowledge everywhere she could.
“I was Maira’s shadow,” Hannah says. “I asked questions constantly.”
Along the way, mentors like Maira encouraged her, wrote recommendation letters, and pushed her to keep applying for new roles.
“The leadership here saw something in me before I saw it in myself,” Hannah says. “I never considered leaving Duncan Aviation. People kept saying, ‘We need to make sure Duncan Aviation keeps you!’ That gave me confidence.”
In 2014, Hannah applied for a Sales Rep I role in Parts & Rotables Sales—something she never imagined for herself.
“If you look at my Emergenetics profile, I’m mostly yellow—conceptual,” she laughs. “Sales wasn’t on my radar. I love serving people, but cold calls? That didn’t sound like me.”
Still, someone recognized her potential. Once again, she found herself surrounded by strong mentors who helped prepare her for success in PRS, including taking on the international side of parts sales.
From there, her growth accelerated:
Each step built on the last.
As temporary Crew Lead, filling in for a team member who was on maternity leave, Hannah tackled one of PRS’s biggest frustrations: an outdated email system that dumped 300 unorganized, untracked messages per day into inboxes, resulting in 1–3 day response times and low morale.
“With fresh eyes, I started researching solutions,” she says.
She introduced a platform called Front, which created shared inboxes, routing rules, visibility in responses, and accountability across the team. It also retained the ability for team members who had long-standing relationships with customers to maintain them.
The results were immediate. Response times dropped from 1–3 days to just 52 minutes.
“It leveled the playing field,” Hannah says. “We could see who responded to what. It changed everything.”
Looking back, Hannah sees value in every role—even the difficult ones.
“It’s hard early on to see how it all fits together,” she says. “But Duncan Aviation promotes from within. Every experience becomes part of your skill set. And even when skills don’t transfer, relationships always do.”
Today, as Assistant Manager of the 40-person PRS team, Hannah is focused on growth—both personal and organizational.
“In the past, we sometimes had a ‘maintain the status quo’ mindset,” she says. “I’m about growth. Growth in leadership. Growth in sales. Growth in ideas.”
She encourages her team to bring solutions, not just problems.
“There will always be challenges,” she says. “Let’s throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks—like the cooked spaghetti analogy. My door is open. I want people to feel empowered to improve what we do.”
Her goal is simple: Inspire every team member to perform at their highest capacity.
“I’ve worked alongside them. I trust them. And I want them to grow just like I did.”
While building her career, Hannah has also built a full life at home. She and her husband, Devon—an analyst for the Nebraska State Patrol—met in college and share a love of travel and food. Their home features a world map marked with pushpins: Devon’s blue pins span Brazil; Hannah’s red ones mark Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. Soon, they’ll add another pin to the map when they travel to Amsterdam for the MRO Europe Conference.
They’re also raising their three children—Lucas (6), Jack (3), and Evelyn (1)—cheering on the Huskers, Chiefs, and Royals, cooking together, and teaching their kids to take a “No Thank You Bite” of everything.
“You can’t know you don’t like something until you try it,” Hannah says.
It’s a philosophy that has served her well—from painting curbs in July to leading one of Duncan Aviation’s largest teams.
And she’s still just getting started.