Bill Boyer Jr. is a 50% owner and former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only ...

Mokulele Airlines Southern Airways Express, doing business as Mokulele Airlines, is an American Regional airline, commuter airline operating in Hawaii. The airline operates scheduled inter-island and charter flights among all Hawaiian islands with airports. Mok ...

. In March 2009, he was replaced as the airline's CEO and was put in charge of expanding sales and marketing efforts after

Republic Airways Republic Airways Inc. is a regional airline subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings that operates service as American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express using a fleet of Embraer 170 and Embraer 175 regional jets. It is headquarter ...

became a 50% shareholder. Boyer is a native of

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

Background

Boyer, who dropped out of college, was an

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

ial-minded

baggage handler In the airline industry, a baggage handler is a person who loads and unloads baggage (suitcases or luggage), and other cargo (airfreight, mail, counter-to-counter packages) for transport via aircraft. With most airlines, the formal job title is ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

based

Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines is a major American airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area. It is the sixth largest airline in North America when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and the nu ...

when, in response to information posted about

in-flight entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to the entertainment available to aircraft passengers during a flight. In 1936, the airship ''LZ 129 Hindenburg, Hindenburg'' offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room, and bar during the ...

challenges on the Alaska Airlines employee website, he conceived of a portable

hard-disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magneti ...

based

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of ...

media player that he later named the "

digEplayer The "digEplayer" is a product line of "digEcor." digEplayers are self-contained, portable audio video on demand (AVOD) hard-disk based digital entertainment devices. Similar in size to a portable DVD player, digEplayers are pre-programmed with ...

." On behalf of Aircraft Protective Systems (APS), a

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

corporation he founded earlier to commercialize other products he developed for the aircraft industry, he obtained $2.5 million initial financing from family and an Angel investor to fully develop and market his conceived product, which became the first self-contained portable

(VOD)

in-flight Entertainment In-flight entertainment (IFE) refers to the entertainment available to aircraft passengers during a flight. In 1936, the airship ''LZ 129 Hindenburg, Hindenburg'' offered passengers a piano, lounge, dining room, smoking room, and bar during the ...

(IFE) device. He contracted with San Diego-based to develop and manufacture the device. Boyer was able to convince

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

to provide first-run movies and other studio content for the player. Boyer's then employer,

, became the first customer for the APS digEplayer. Based upon the apparent success of the Alaska Airlines digEplayer implementation, APS was able to sell the digEplayer to additional airlines. In August 2003, Boyer signed an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement with

Springville, Utah Springville is a city in Utah County, Utah that is part of the Provo–Orem metropolitan area. The population was 35,268 in 2020, according to the United States Census. Springville is a bedroom community for commuters who work in the Provo- Or ...

-based aircraft parts distributor Wencor and two months later sold the company to Wencor, which renamed APS "

digEcor The "digEplayer" is a product line of "digEcor." digEplayers are self-contained, portable audio video on demand (AVOD) hard-disk based digital entertainment devices. Similar in size to a portable DVD player, digEplayers are pre-programmed with ...

." In 2005, Boyer purchased Mokulele Airlines through newly formed Boyer Industries LLC, a Washington company.

Recognition

Boyer's digEplayer received the "IFE Product of the Year" award at the March 2004 IPEC/LARA Inflight Online Awards Dinner.

received the "Airline IFE Service of the Year" based upon the implementation of the digEplayer.IPEC: Inflight Online Awards Dinner

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyer, Bill Alaska Air Group people Businesspeople in aviation Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Businesspeople from Tacoma, Washington