Get To Know Us

Courtney Schwartzel, PMP, founded Pilot in 2011 and still runs it today — 15 years in, and going strong. She's spent that time doing marketing and operations work across event production, AV and architectural lighting, manufacturing, property management, ecommerce, and coaching, with AV and architectural lighting as her most well-worn ground.

Her path here started at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where she earned a degree in Organizational Communication and Public Relations in 2003. From there: a start at Clearwing Productions, then marketing and operations roles spanning small businesses and large corporations — the training ground for the pattern recognition she now brings to every client. In 2018, she earned her Project Management Professional certification from the Project Management Institute, formalizing the systems-first approach that's always been her instinct.

That instinct shows up in the results. Courtney has taken AV clients from underperforming to a 1,500% increase in total sales in a matter of months — not through a rebrand, but through the unglamorous work of automation, process, and consistency across every channel. For another longtime client's 70th anniversary, she turned seven decades of company history into a social campaign that got customers telling the story themselves.

But the results are only half of it. Clients come back to Courtney because working with her feels different — she's direct, she's honest about what's working and what isn't, and she makes herself genuinely easy to reach. Trustworthiness, transparency, and approachability aren't just words on a page for her; they're how she runs every engagement, and it's a big part of why relationships with Pilot tend to outlast the project that started them.

She lives in Loveland, Colorado, with her husband Jason, their son Alden, and two dogs, Doug and Marcy.