Steve Townes

Mr. Townes, a well-known entrepreneur in the aerospace services arena, is President, CEO and a Director of Ranger Aerospace, the company that he founded in early 1997. He has held several CEO positions in Ranger’s ventures, notably of Keystone Helicopter, ASIG, and most currently Ranger International Services Group, Inc. Townes and the Ranger team grew Keystone Helicopter from under $50MM to over $125MM in 4 years, creating superior returns for institutional investors. He and the Ranger team roughly doubled ASIG in less than 4 years, and vaulted it to “best in world” quality rankings. In 2007, Ranger Rotorcraft Group was formed as another new platform company for additional segment consolidation efforts, in partnership with private equity institutional investors. In December 2008, Ranger International Services Group was capitalized with private and institutional funds to create a consolidation in government-outsourced Airfield Services & Logistics, with Townes as CEO. Ranger International made its first acquisition in January 2009, and is pursuing organic growth plus additional acquisitions in that sector.

Townes is an engineering graduate of West Point. Steve 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. He is a featured speaker at aerospace conventions and symposia and has testified on aviation matters before the U.S. House of Representatives, FAA and NTSB.

Under his leadership for over 10 years, Ranger’s previous subsidiary revenues and profits rose steadily. In April 1999, ASIG was voted "Best in World" in an independent survey of major airlines, and Ranger was cited as an innovative new parent company. Keystone Helicopter won numerous FAA “Diamond Awards” for quality. Enterprise Value in Ranger’s most recently sold venture more than quadrupled under Townes’ leadership. Efforts are intended to follow the same success patterns with Ranger’s newest enterprises.

Townes’ diverse background spans three decades in the commercial, corporate, and military aviation industry. Before going independent with Ranger Aerospace in 1997, he was previously Vice Chairman, and earlier President, of Sabreliner Corporation's heavy aircraft services divisions. Under Townes, that business was doubled in size, underwent a successful turnaround, struggled through an emergency crisis following a tragic crash, revamped its training and quality programs, and won new backlogs worth more than $500 million in multi-year revenues.

Townes has also been Vice President of Major Programs and Marketing of the Dee Howard Aerospace Corporation, as well as Program Leader and Marketing Director of LTV Aerospace and Defense. His diverse and distinguished aerospace career has made him an ideal partner with private equity groups, venture capitalists, and other co-investors in Ranger acquisitions.

His CEO level skills are also well suited to the consulting, Board level coaching, capital raising, and deal-making efforts of Ranger Partners Group on behalf of its client companies. For example, Townes is on the Board of a middle market sized aerospace and avionics components company in Atlanta that has grown from under $15MM to roughly $50MM in less than 4 years, and Steve acts as an effective Board coach for the young entrepreneurs who run that fast growing enterprise.