Which experts in regulation would you like to nominate as alternatives, LB? I'd be keen to hear who you'd put in Skidmore's place.
As an aside, he's done quite a bit more than simply lead squadrons - he was up in some of the highest defence positions, which may not be necessarily the only breeding ground for people who know how to run big organisations but it's not a bad start.
He is a good bloke, knows a lot about aviation, owns his own aeroplane, and based on what I've seen so far, is making a fair fist of dealing with what he's taken on with CASA. He's been out talking directly with various sectors of the industry, and some of these exemptions being issued lately, as I understand it, are the result of that. Exemptions aren't what we would be having in an ideal world, but as I think we all know, they're needed at the moment for whoever is sorting out the mess that is the reform program, which at the moment is the bloke in question.
The 'university professors running the RAAF' analogy, whilst amusing, isn't a good one, unless they were also clued up on aviation matters as well as being good leaders of complex organisations.
At this stage I'd expect a chorus of 'What would Skidmore know about GA?', to which I've previously replied along the lines of 'How does running a GA organisation prepare you any better for the position we're discussing?'
Name a few names from this pool of expert regulators who could do better, or even suggest where they might come from, and let's go from there.