Ernest Edwards, the new president of Embraer’s Executive Jets Division, took the helm in May after predecessor Luis Carlos Affonso was assigned to head New Programs. Edwards has been at his post for only a few months, but he is not new to Embraer, and has formed some firm ideas of where the company’s future lies.

Here is one area of focus: The Brazilian plane maker’s new midsize Legacy 500 and the midlight 450 that is hard on its big brother’s heels will take full fly-by-wire capability into a new – and much lower – price and weight range. That is in keeping with a broader strategy of entering all market categories with a product that is bigger, roomier, faster, and equipped with more technology, yet value priced. Colleagues say Edwards has been keeping up a brisk pace, traveling heavily and learning the company’s many facets of global operations, yet all the while steering the firm according to a detailed plan, remaining mindful of concerns regarding fuel costs and emissions.

There is a gate guard Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante on a pylon in front of its San Jose dos Campos headquarters, and the company continues to operate one of its own EMB 120 Brasilias as a daily corporate shuttle, so there are plenty of visible reminders of Embraer’s turboprop roots. But regardless of fuel and emissions concerns, in the executive market at least, the company will stick to jets, as the division’s name implies. As for turboprops, “Not at the moment,” Edwards said last week, seeming almost surprised at the nature of the question during a brief interview with Aviation Week. “Embraer doesn’t have plans to enter the turboprop business.” Nor will Embraer dabble in the fractional operations that rivals Cessna and Bombardier have employed to put part of their production output to work. Edwards evinces much more interest in looking ahead than in looking back – or, for that matter, in studying what his competitors are doing.

Edwards recalls the beginnings of the new division and calling former colleagues to assess interest in the company’s new venture. “Embraer, who are they?” was the response at the time, he recalls. “Brazil, what do they know about building corporate jets. The situation has completely reversed now in the last five or five and a half years.” The company’s rapid rise now has everyone’s full attention, he says. “They’re wondering how this all happened. It all happened in the open.”

The company launched its Executive Jets Division with a mission statement that said, in part, “To become a major player in the Business Aviation Market by 2015,” which Embraer has accomplished despite the market’s virtual collapse in 2009. It led with the entry into service in 2002 of the Legacy 600, followed by the entry level Phenom 100 in 2008. In 2009, two models entered service: the ultra-large Lineage 100 and the light Phenom 300. The Legacy 650 debuted in 2010, and both the 500 and 450 are expected to fly in 2011 and 2012, with entry into service about a year later. The 500 has a price in January 2008 dollars of $18.4 million; the 450 is listed at $15.25 million.

According to GAMA figures for OEM unit deliveries as presented by Embraer, the company’s share has risen from 2.7% in 2005 to 14% in 2009 and 19% last year. It stakes its claim as the fastest growing business jet maker, and Edwards says he intends to continue the trend. “The challenge now is to maintain what you have and maybe grow it,” he says.