Ronald B. (Ron) Cagle
After we left high school, I spent a little time as a cowboy (really) and then as an electrician. Afterward, I went into the military. I spent about 5 years as a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division. I spent time stateside and overseas. I was part of a number of really interesting missions. I was released in 1958.
I received my BS from the University of South Florida and my MBA from Stetson University.
In 1958, I married Helen Sanders (Temple, Texas) and we had two boys--Ryan (1967) and Darren (1968).
After my release from the military, I worked for Pratt & Whitney in WPB for a year. Then, in 1959, took a position with Philco (later it became Philco-Ford and then Ford Aerospace) and stayed with them for almost 20 years. Even though I stayed with one company all that time, we moved all over the place. On average, we moved about once a year. Our favorite statement relating to our household goods was: "Three household moves equals one fire." Most of the time, I was working either DoD programs or NASA programs. This was a wonderful time in my career. After working at USAF tracking stations in Alaska and New Hampshire, and a stint in the California desert testing missiles, I was a mission controller at the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
No doubt, Houston was the high point of my career--to be an integral part of putting Neil and Buzz on the moon was a rewarding climax to a lot of years in other space programs. An autographed photo of our control team, including Neil, Buzz and Gene Kranz (of Apollo 13 fame) as well as a lot of other colorful people (including me), has an honored place on my office wall. It was at the Mission Control Center that I was privileged to meet President Johnson (twice) and President Nixon (once). Because I had set up a demonstration at Mission Control for President Johnson and was running it, I was linked to my console by my headset. When I was introduced to President Johnson, he walked over to shake my hand. During my �after dinner� talks, I like to say that the President of the United States walked across the control room to shake MY hand. Then I have to get serious and tell the whole story. I was privileged to work with the Houston Chamber of Commerce during that time as well. For that work I was made an "Honorary Texan." As the only Floridian in an entire family of Texans, it gave me some "bargaining power." In Houston, I was privileged to work with a lot of wonderful, intelligent, dedicated people.
After Houston, I spent about 5 years in Marketing on the cocktail and rubber chicken circuit, mainly between Houston and Washington, DC. There was a lot of wonderful entertainment with all the big names in show biz but it was a hard life with a lot of travel and a lot of time away from home.
In 1972, I decided to return to operations and received assignments at Cape Kennedy, as Regional Manager and later at the Jet propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California as the Operations Project Engineer for the Viking Project to Mars. The Viking launch and control teams individually signed a silver plate that was attached to a leg of the Mars Lander. My signature, along with others, is still on the Lander on the surface of Mars. So, the next time you're on Mars, drop by the Lander and see the signature plate.
In 1975, I was offered a position with Planning Research Corporation (PRC) at Cape Kennedy as the Project Engineer for the Mobile Launcher Platform. Later, I managed an Engineering Department there.
In 1978, I was offered a position with Harris Corporation in Palm Bay, Florida. I stayed with Harris for nearly twenty years. Most of the programs I led at Harris were black (classified) programs. Some were a lot of fun but some were touchy. I managed to get out of Iran just a few days before it fell to the Ayatollah; I was detained but not captured. I ran a number of other programs as well, some stateside for the USAF, the US Navy, NASA, JPL and a lot of commercial programs. I ran our Special Ops programs at CENTCOM and AFIS for a number of years. I also ran several programs overseas, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Fiji. I basically lived on an airplane. I was President of the Lockmar Homeowner's Association and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Firearms Association from 1988 to 1999.
I divorced in 1980 and married Judy Rhoads (Mechanicsburg, PA) in 1981. Judy had two children, John (1974) and Stephanie (1976).
I left the corporate world in 1997 because business had become dull and uninteresting. I started my own management consulting company and developed three training courses. I am now writing several books. The American Management Association (AMA) is my publisher. My book, Blueprint for Project Recovery - A Project Management Guide was published in February 2003. Another, Your Career in Project Management, is scheduled for release in February 2004. Two others, as well as three seminars are in the wings. (Hey, it keeps me off the streets and out of the bars!)
We have four grandchildren: Joshua (1991) son of John; Jared (1997) and Jacob (1998) sons of Ryan and Aeryn (1999) daughter of Ryan.
Ryan (presently living in Texas) is a Computer System Analyst. Darren (also in Texas) is Marketing Director for a retirement home. John (in Florida) has his own lawn irrigation business. Stephanie (in Atlanta) is a model.
Judy is a nationally certified elementary school teacher with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration and Master degrees in Human Resources and Education.
Judy and I love skiing and, believe it or not, traveling. Because she is still teaching, our "free-time" lives revolve pretty much around the school year. We like to ski at spring break and tour around the country during the summer.
During my career, I have lived in 16 different states and three foreign countries.
My professional resume is published on my company web site at: http://Modern-Management.home.att.net My expanded resume is a link from my summary in the Staff Section.
I have had a wonderful life with a lot of physical and emotional recognitions and rewards. We were fortunate to be "unleashed" on the world at such a progressive time. I have had the good fortune of crossing paths with a number of our fellow graduates over the years and it has always been a pleasure. As time goes on now, I have been able to correspond or meet with a number of others with whom I had lost contact over the years. Each of them has lived an interesting life. What a wonderful time, what a great Class!!!! I look forward to seeing you all at the big five-oh!
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