John R. Yurtchuk
NTH Chair

John R. Yurtchuk is Chairman of Calspan Corporation and its affiliates, which he acquired in 2005 from General Dynamics.  The company is headquartered in Buffalo, NY and has a storied 75-year history dating back to the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company.  It remains an innovator in the aerospace and transportation industries with facilities in Niagara Falls, New York; Newport News, Virginia; San Diego, California; Edwards Air Force Base, and at the Patuxent River Naval Base in Maryland. 

A professional economist and former Wall Street banker with Irving Trust Company, Mr. Yurtchuk also founded Matrix Development Corporation in 1990 developing a wide range of commercial, medical, industrial and residential projects with such clients as the University of Buffalo, the University of Rochester, Northwestern Mutual Life, ADP, Ford Motor Credit, John Hancock Life Insurance, Bank One, and Key Bank.  

Mr. Yurtchuk is the former Chairman and Chairman-Elect (2021) of the Board of Trustees of the Western New York Chapter of the American Red Cross and is a founding member of the ARC’s National Loyalty Circle Leadership Society.  He serves as Chairman of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra Board of Trustees, Chairman of the Daemen College Board of Trustees, is a founding board member of Eyes Across America, and is Chairman of the Switheart Animal Alliance which he co-founded with actress Loretta Swit. 

Mr. Yurtchuk earned his B.A. and M.A. in economics from the University of Buffalo where he completed all of his Ph.D. course work.  He also was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Daemen College in 2016.

Mr. Yurtchuk serves as Chair of the Trust.