Founded in Greenville, SC in early 1997,  Ranger Aerospace has successfully transformed several aerospace enterprises, among them Aircraft Service International Group and Keystone Helicopters, both of which are now the largest and strongest brands in their respective segments in North America. Ranger Aerospace has transacted over $360 Million in its numerous buy/sell events and capital investments across multiple platforms, creating over 2500 new permanent jobs in its successful ventures. ASIG and Keystone Helicopter, both of which were grown dramatically by Ranger, were later divested to multi-billion sized conglomerates.

Join us at our May Learning Lunch as we learn how Ranger Aerospace has developed a strategy for aquiring and building aviation businesses from their Greenville offices. Learn how they raise money, evaluate opportunities, and build value in a highly competitive global business.

GSATC Learning Lunch

About our Speaker:

Steve Townes 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, known as a turnaround specialist, general manager, marketing expert, change agent and dealmaker in the industry, gained positive recognition by the trade press as an industry leader from Congressional, FAA and NTSB appearances in past years, calling for industry safety reforms, better auditing, and cargo hold smoke detectors. He was President and Partner of an avionics components house that doubled in size under Townes' marketing leadership. Townes was Executive Vice President of Stevens Aviation, a $115 million multi-city aviation services chain which more than doubled in size and made two acquisitions while Townes was its chief operations, marketing and technical services officer.

Townes has also been Vice President of Major Programs and Marketing of the Dee Howard Aerospace Corporation, as well as a Program Leader and Marketing Leader in 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 Aerospace 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 over $50MM in less than 4 years, and Steve acts as an effective Board coach for the young entrepreneurs who run that fast growing enterprise.