Career News
1970s
John Alger (’73) retired from US Airways/American Airlines on Oct. 3, 2018, after more than 30 years as a flight crew training instructor. A Daytona Beach Campus graduate, he also recently stepped down as chairman of the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps, the youth program of the Navy League of the United States. Alger spent nearly 25 years active and reserve in the U.S. Navy as a pilot and later as a navigator, retiring in 1997 at the rank of commander. He and his wife, Joan, plan to relocate to the Daytona Beach, Florida, area.
Jerry LeBarron (’78), a Daytona Beach Campus graduate, was inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame on Oct. 20, 2018, at the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. LeBarron was aircrew in the U.S. Navy for four years. He worked for Lockheed Aircraft Co., becoming its youngest commercial aircraft engineering manager. Later, he moved to Rockwell International. He founded LeBarron Aviation Inc. at Burbank Airport and offered advanced flight training. In 1987, he joined Northrop Aircraft to work on the B-2 Stealth Bomber program. LeBarron currently lives in Waunakee on the Waunakee Airport with his Taylorcraft F-21B. He remains an active consultant to Northrop Grumman, since retiring from the company in 2008.
1980s
Daytona Beach Campus graduate John Maris (’82, ’83, ’17) was inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame at a June 7, 2018, ceremony in Calgary, Alberta. Maris is president of Marinvent Corporation, a Canadian aerospace firm based in Montreal. As a Canadian Armed Forces antisubmarine pilot and test pilot, Maris was a team leader in the Canadian Space Agency and a key person in the development of the robotic arm used on the International Space Station.
1990s
NASA Astronaut Capt. Dan Burbank (’91), who spent 188 days in space over three missions, retired from the agency on June 29, 2018. A Worldwide Campus graduate, Burbank was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1996 and flew his first mission aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2000. Most recently, he served as chief of the vehicle integration and test office in the Flight Operations Directorate at NASA Johnson.
2000s
Michelle Estes (’03) was promoted on Oct. 1, 2018, to colonel in the U.S. Air Force during a ceremony held at the Division of Military and Naval Affairs Headquarters in Latham, New York. A Worldwide Campus graduate, Estes was assigned to the New York National Guard as its Inspector General.
Darren P. Tumelson (’05, ’15) and Jeremiah “Jeremy” Lee (’04, ’06), both Worldwide Campus graduates, were among a team of Memphis Center air traffic controllers who were awarded the 2018 Archie League Medal of Safety — President’s Award — for the Southern Region in October 2018 at the National Air Traffic Controllers Association Communicating for Safety conference in Las Vegas. The award was presented for the team’s efforts on Aug. 11, 2017, which assisted a pilot to safely land, despite issues with locked flight controls, autopilot, loss of pitch control and hydraulic failure.
Anthony Vareha (’06) is the SpaceX-15 lead flight director and one of the flight directors at NASA in charge of International Space Station (ISS) operations at the Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control. A Daytona Beach Campus graduate (pictured at far left), he led the team conducting the SpaceX-15 cargo resupply mission, which launched June 29, 2018, to the ISS. Several lead officers for the mission were also fellow Eagles. They included: lead robotics officer Billy Jones (’06); robotics analyst Brian Costello (’04); and ground segment lead Casey Johnson, (’11), who are all Daytona Beach graduates. Also on the team were lead trajectory officer Victor Rice (’14), who is a Prescott Campus graduate, and lead ground controller Ronald Moseley (’06), a Worldwide Campus graduate. Robotics crew instructor Mike Ferullo (’07, ’18) was also on the team and is a Daytona Beach and Worldwide campus graduate.
2010s
Beau Tatsumura (’11) was appointed vice president for maintenance and engineering for Hawaiian Airlines. A Worldwide Campus graduate, he joined Hawaiian in 2014 and most recently served as managing director of maintenance operations.
Marriages/Engagements
1980s
Brian Q. Porter (’85, ’96), a Daytona Beach Campus graduate, married his partner of 18 years, Rick Howard, in a ceremony in Key West on Nov. 21, 2017. For more than 18 years, he has been a captain flying for USA Jet Airlines. He served in the U.S. Army from 1987 to 1993 and became a UH-1H Huey VIP pilot in Frankfurt, Germany, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. After the military, he instructed for a year, then moved to Miami, where he flew passengers from Miami to the Bahamas. Later, he was a pilot for Grand Canyon tour operators, then worked as a UPS cargo feeder pilot in Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Antonio, Texas.
Capt. J.J. Garcia (’86), who is a Worldwide Campus graduate, and René Burt married March 19, 2016, at a stone chapel in Prospect Plantation, Jamaica. After brief stays in Miami, Florida, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, the Garcias have been residents since July 2016 of Lantau Island in Hong Kong, where they manage business jets globally for private clients.
Other
Brian Gamage (’95) and Bob Temple (’93), who became friends while students at Embry-Riddle, recently met up in Seattle, Washington. Gamage, a Daytona Beach Campus graduate, is director of emerging solutions for Global Strategic Partnerships at IBM in Atlanta, Georgia. A Prescott Campus graduate, Temple works for Disney, managing their mobile application development organization. Gamage also recently met up with Fathi Hakam (’95, ’97), a Daytona Beach Campus graduate, in California. Hakam is a senior vice president of engineering at AirMap in California.
Daytona Beach Athletics Hall of Fame
Five alumni were inducted into the Daytona Beach Campus’ Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony held Jan. 18, 2019. Inductees include: Kevin Maloney (’13, ’16), baseball; Howard Walls (’10, ’12) (posthumously), men’s track and field, accepted by his father, Howard Walls Sr.; LaSha (Moton) Jean-Louis (’99), volleyball; Evans Kirwa (’14), men’s cross country/track; and Ryan Rothrock (’02), men’s basketball.
