Rowdy is a former US Navy test pilot with more than 3,000 hours flying 38 different makes and models of high- performance aircraft. In the late 1990’s, he was chosen as the chief US Navy test pilot during the Concept Demonstration Phase of the Joint Strike Fighter Program. JSF was the largest weapons acquisition program in US history which pitted the Lockheed Martin and its X-35 against Boeing and its X-32 for a contract worth more than a trillion dollars over the life of the program.
As a kid, Rowdy was inspired by his father who was a US Navy pilot in the European and Pacific theaters during WWII. With his mother who was a Delta Airlines flight attendant…stewardess back then…he got his first ride on an airplane when he was 9 yrs. old and thereafter was single minded in his e>orts to become a naval aviator. Following consecutive summers as an intern with aerospace titans General Dynamics and Boeing, Rowdy received a degree in aerospace engineering.
Earning his pilot wings in 1984, Rowdy was chosen to fly the F-14A Tomcat and completed two deployments aboard the USS Saratoga as a squadron member of VF-74 Be-Devilers where he accrued more than 300 carrier landings. In 1991, Rowdy graduated as member of Class 99 from the US Navy Test Pilot School and was assigned as the lead test pilot for an F-14 program which transitioned the navy’s premier fighter aircraft into a multi-role strike platform.
Following a prestigious 25-year career in the Navy, Rowdy has worked in the aerospace industry as program manager, a business development lead, and is currently an engineering director with Raytheon Technologies…a corporation comprised of Raytheon, Collins Avionics, and Pratt & Whitney Engines. Rowdy is dedicated to serving and supporting others, consistently demonstrating personal excellence, integrity, and leadership. For two years while living in Florida, he and his wife hosted the twins of a single mother from Canada who courageously allowed her sons to live with a host family 1500 miles away so that they could play high school football in the US and have a much better opportunity to earn scholarships to play college football. His unwavering dedication to empowering and fostering the growth of Chase and Sydney Brown led to them both being drafted and are now playing in the NFL. Through his actions and guidance Rowdy continues to dedicate his life to inspiring and elevating everyone around him.
