Ranger Partners

Current & Past Active Partners:

Steve Townes  
Mr. Townes, a well-known entrepreneur in the aerospace services arena, is President, CEO and a Director of Ranger Aerospace. He has held several CEO positions, notably ASIG, one of the largest independent airfield services companies in the aviation industry, and Keystone Helicopter, which Ranger grew to become one of the largest rotorcraft operations in the US. Townes began his distinguished aerospace career at LTV Aerospace & Defense in Dallas TX, and became known as a "turnaround artist" as the officer level transition leader at Dee Howard Aerospace, Sabreliner, and Stevens Aviation. He is an engineering graduate of West Point. Townes earned the coveted Eisenhower Award upon graduation there. He also holds an MBA from Long Island University and completed the PMD program at Harvard Business School. (more)

Andrew Eros
Eros is a 25 year executive and entrepreneur in Aerospace and Technology. He is founder and CEO of Ranger Precision Group, a new consolidation in the aerospace component and assembly manufacturing sector.

Edward Bolden
Ed Bolden is Vice President for Operations Development in Ranger Aerospace & Aeronautics, Inc. He holds undergraduate degree in engineering from Cal-Poly (California Polytechnic Institute) and ab MBA from Southern Methodist University. He is a licensed CPA in Texas, with over 30 years of financial and aerospace experience. Prior to joining Ranger Partners, he was President & CEO of Heritage Aviation Ltd., and earlier President of Premier Helicopters.

Bill McLendon
McLendon is the Chief Operating Officer of Ranger’s newest platform enterprise, Ranger Intl Services Group. He is a Rhodes Scholar and was the #1 graduate from the US Air Force Academy. In his distinguished aviation career, he has been CEO of JetCorp, VP-Operations for “ASIG” (Aircraft Service Intl Group, a former Ranger venture), and a General Manager in Stevens Aviation and ATS Aerospace.

Jeffrey Hartman
Hartman is Exec VP and Chief Financial Officer of Ranger Intl Services Group, Inc. Prior to re-joining Ranger, he was CFO of Sentient Jets, a 200-aircraft corporate jet operator and FBO chain that accomplished multiple acquisitions in less than 5 years. In his previous Ranger success, Hartman was with Aircraft Service Intl Group Inc (“ASIG”) as its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 1999. Mr. Hartman was recruited to Ranger from Signature Flight Support Corporation where he served as the Vice President of Finance since 1993. Prior to 1993 , Mr. Hartman was an Audit Manager with KPMG , LLP. Mr. Hartman is a Certified Public Accountant who received both a Masters Degree in Accounting and a Masters of Business Administration from Northeastern University in Boston , Massachusetts.

Adjunct Partners:

Mike Bashlor
Bashlor is President of Meridian Aviation Consulting, and was formerly President of a Ranger portfolio company. Prior to that Bashlor was a senior leader in Rotorcraft Leasing Company LLC and Papillon Helicopters. Bashlor is a recognized industry leader in his competitive segment, and has both A&P and Pilot qualifications on numerous helicopter types.

Mark Crumblish
A Naval Academy graduate, Crumblish is a partner and leader in Ranger Precision, a new consolidation in the aerospace precision manufacturing sector.

Tom Donegan
Mr. Donegan, with 40 years in aerospace, is a Wharton MBA and engineering undergrad who began his distinguished career at Pan Am. He is now Chairman and CEO of Aviation Finance International LLC, an investment advisory and consulting group specialized in aerospace M&A and private equity investments.

Joe Featherston
Featherston is the CEO and Founder of Nova Advisory Group, an aerospace consulting firm.  With a long background in the US Marine Corps, Featherston is an expert on Pentagon programs of all types, as well as TQM, LEAN, and other valuable consulting methods.

James Ferrara
An officer in two former Ranger ventures, Ferrara is an honors graduate of West Point and is an expert in IT Systems, post-merger integration, and facilities construction/planning.

Robert Ferrucci
Ferrucci is a former officer in a Ranger enterprise, where he performed business process improvements, ISO 9000 initiatives, engineering management, and built huge new modernized facilities (the “Keystone Heliplex”). He is an engineering graduate of Penn State University.

David “Chip” Gentry, Jr
A senior business development and program management expert with Sabre Systems and AirTran Airways, Gentry assists Ranger International with marketing efforts and new bidding channels development.

Rob Holmes
As CEO of Black Knight Partners LP, Holmes is a buyout and turnaround expert. He is a West Point graduate with an MBA from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Tom Lark
Lark is an aviation services expert with a strong focus on helicopters. As a former officer in a Ranger-owned company, he is skilled at takeovers and buyouts, employing LEAN and TQM Program Management methods to improve operations from the shop floor, up. He is an honors graduate of West Point, and a Duke MBA.

Robert Losik
Senior professor of business management at Univ of New hampshire, and a long-time advisor to Ranger Aerospace. Former Army officer on the West Point faculty.

Bruce Nobles
Leader of Ranger Logistics, a new consolidation effort in the logistics services/freight forwarding sector. A top executive for past 35 years in the airlines industry.

Mark Ozenick
A 30-year friend of Ranger Aerospace, Ozenick is in charge of all aerospace and private equity efforts for a major publicly traded consulting firm. Background includes LTV Aerospace, Lucas Aerospace, DynCorp, and HeliFlite Shares.

Michael Rigg: Top partner with Operations Associates LLC, a firm that has previously done important productivity projects for Ranger subsidiaries. An honors graduate of West Point with a strong background from Michelin USA.

Ron Rubin
A former CFO in a Ranger venture, Rubin is a long-standing financial expert in the industry, having also been CFO of Galaxy Aerospace, Bell Agusta Aerospace, and other large scale organizations.

George Schwartz
Mr. Schwartz is CEO of a San Diego CA biomedical start-up, but was formerly the non-executive Chairman of ASIG, Ranger’s large airfield services consolidation. He holds an MBA from Dartmouth, and undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt, and prior to his private equity experiences, he was an officer with Drexel Burnham Lambert in New York and CT, and a senior investment officer with a special unit of Bass Brothers Enterprises.

Rick Sine
Sine is a former top executive with UPS-Airlines, the air division of UPS. He helped build that as the fastest-grown air cargo operation in the world. He is an Air Force Academy graduate, and runs his own C-Level consulting firm in the Seattle WA area.

Darryl Smith
Smith is CEO of Fidelis Capital LLC, a private equity buyout and turnaround company. An honors graduate of the US Naval Academy, Smith also earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Smith was an Operations Executive with Platinum Equity in Los Angeles, and more recently has bought and built up logistics services companies.

Edward J. Wegel
Ed Wegel has spent the past 17 years in the airline/airline finance industries. In 1985, he was selected for the Fast Track Management Training program at Eastern Airlines, working under Chairman Frank Borman, where he worked on the finance, operations and marketing staffs and was involved in the sale of the airline to Texas Air.

Robert Zoller
A partner in Ranger Logistics, a new consolidation effort in the logistics/freight forwarding sector. A top executive for the past 30 years in the airlines industry.