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Terrance McKearney

Terrance J. (Terry) McKearney is the president and founder of The Ranger Group. A retired naval officer whose service spanned the Vietnam era to the post Cold War, he has spent the last fifteen years analyzing the organizational needs of contemporary military and public organizations. He has employed a wide range of analytic techniques from field studies to seminar gaming to study critical management issues in the military and governmental sectors, including operational requirements, organizational structures, decision making, public sector ethics, municipal disaster management, and emergency response He has been particularly focused on the evaluation of command and control (C2) systems in joint operations.

Prior to founding The Ranger Group, Terry was the Senior Analyst at Kapos Associates (KAI) for the company's SPAWAR Systems Center (SSC) San Diego and the Advanced Information Technical Services Joint Program Office (AITS JPO) C2 support. In this capacity, he led concept of operations development for the integration of emerging information technologies and command processes at the senior headquarters level, including analysis and modeling of these processes. He has been responsible for the initial integration of developing C2 technologies into theater and JTF command structures and assessing their adequacy at supporting commanders' planning for contingency operations. His career as an analyst has included support for a variety of DARPA, ONR and OSD knowledge acquisition and decision support initiatives. Under his leadership, The Ranger Group has participated in the study of ASW C2 requirements for OPNAV, coalition naval network requirements for The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP), operational planning requirements at the Air Combat Command (ACC), and the assessment of C2 technologies for naval expeditionary forces and strike groups. He led an ONR study of operational experimentation best practices and is currently supporting the ONR Director of Innovation in a study of alternative landing craft options. He is an instructor in the Navy's DAWIA program, teaching a course in contemporary naval operations.

Terry graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1973 and during a twenty-year Navy career participated in operations ranging from the final days of the of Vietnam conflict to relief operations in Somalia. He commanded Assault Craft Unit ONE during the first Persian Gulf War and was the commissioning Executive Officer of the USS Germantown. He served as the Plans Officer on the staff of the Commander, Amphibious Forces Western Pacific, responsible for the planning of over ninety annual joint and bilateral exercises as well as real world contingencies in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf regions. As Director of Wargaming and Tactical Training, Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Pacific, he was responsible for the advanced training of senior Navy and Marine Corps commanders in the principles of joint expeditionary operations. During his naval career Terry earned Navy subspecialty qualifications in Strategic Planning, Far Eastern Affairs, Command and Control Systems Technology, and Training Management.

Terry holds Masters Degrees from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School and San Diego State University. His postgraduate work emphasized strategic planning, international relations, public policy, and organizational theory.

Terry is Past President of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) and is past chairman of the MORS symposium composite group on Joint Warfare. He is a member of the boards of directors of the San Diego chapters of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA.) He has been widely published in the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings on a variety of strategic and tactical issues.
Michael Simpson

Michael D. Simpson joined The Ranger Group after completing a 30-year Navy career as a Surface Warfare Officer and a proven sub-specialist in strategic planning. His broad experience includes operational expertise in Naval, Joint and Coalition operations, as well as strategic planning assignments at senior headquarters staffs, including the Pentagon. In his assignment as Commanding Officer of one of the nation's largest NROTC Units, he enjoyed the opportunity to serve simultaneously on the faculty of two major universities, serving as a head of department and as a professor teaching courses in management, leadership, and ethics.

Prior to joining The Ranger Group, Mike worked as an independent consultant for such diverse clients as United States Northern Command in Colorado Springs and the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia. Areas in which his expertise has been sought range from the development of critical capabilities required for homeland defense to the ethics of government service for elected municipal officials in post-civil war conditions.

Mike graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1973. His career included service in five ships, three command tours (two sea, one shore), several staff tours, including three in Washington D.C., and multiple deployments in every major region of U.S. Navy presence. He commanded the frigate USS MARVIN SHIELDS during the first Gulf War.

He earned a Masters Degree in National Security Affairs from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1984, completing a thesis on the subject of the national interest. He also served as the 1994-95 Navy Fellow at Harvard University's Center for International Affairs, devoting his year of independent study to the issue of United Nations Peacekeeping operations in the post-Cold War.

Mike is an Associate of the Joan B. Kroc Institute of Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego, and is a founding member of the Ethics Consortium of Southern and Baja California. He resides in San Diego, CA.

Castle Phelps

Castle W. Phelps joined The Ranger Group with a broad spectrum of present day technology and business experience in production, technical support, project management, marketing and professional services. His corporate background ranges from Cisco Systems to “dot.com start-ups.” His most recent experience was the management of the NMCI fiber-optic network backbone build-out at San Diego Naval Station, Naval Base Coronado and MCAS Yuma.

Prior to his adventure into the business world of high technology, Castle completed a 20-year career as a Naval Aviator with proven sub-specialties in manpower analysis and anti-submarine warfare including designation as a Master Training Specialist. His experience also includes instrumented range operations, range safety and operations analysis, coordinated ASW operations instructor, Navy work study management and squadron manpower documentation analysis and development.

Castle graduated from Central Methodist University with a major in physics, from National University with an MBA in organizational development and is currently a candidate for his PhD in the management of engineering and technology at Northcentral University. His dissertation focus is in organizational creativity.

Castle’s other interests including rebuilding a vacation home destroyed in San Diego’s 2003 Cedar Fire, a keen interest in amateur astronomy and racing his yacht, Faux pas. Castle is married to the former Robyn Wagner and they have three grown sons. They live in Bonita, CA.
Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly joined The Ranger Group in 2017 after completing a twenty-five year career with Sonalysts, Inc. Pat began his employment with Sonalysts in 1992 as a Staff Meteorologist and Principal Analyst, later as a Systems Engineer, and finally as a Vice President of Business Development and Senior Systems Engineer. While at Sonalysts, Pat provided engineering services support to the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) San Diego, including C4ISR programs, modeling and simulation projects, chemical and biological Warfare programs and Meteorological and Oceanographic (METOC) projects. Pat has over nineteen years of modeling and simulation exercise experience with the Navy’s Research Evaluation and Systems Analysis (RESA) as an instructor and controller for network simulations. He has participated in more than forty-one major command and control training exercises in Europe and Asia, most notably the annual ULCHI FOCUS LENS/Key Resolve series. As a meteorologist, Pat assisted in the development, testing, marketing, and documentation of wXstation™ a commercial C4I product in use today by airlines and airports around the world.

Pat graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1971 with a degree in Oceanography, serving in the Navy from 1971 to 1979 as a surface line officer specializing in weapons systems and Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). He was ASW officer on a destroyer and cruiser, gunnery officer during a seven-month deployment to the gun-line off Viet Nam, and tactics instructor at the Fleet ASW Training Center Pacific.

Pat graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 1981 with a Masters Degrees in Meteorology and Oceanography. He has eleven years of experience providing tactical meteorological and oceanography information to the Navy and other DoD organizations; directed the planning and implementation of a new 3-D atmospheric and oceanographic computer models; operated and managed the Fleet Numerical Meteorology Center, a global environmental center and computer complex where he supervised satellite data processing, imagery display and distribution, and directed deep ocean surveys.

Pat has been a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) since 1992. As the San Diego chapter’s Vice President for Education, Pat has overseen the activities of six education chairpersons who work to provide funds and encouragement to middle and high school students and teachers throughout San Diego County. Under his leadership over $829,000 in scholarships have been awarded by AFCEA.

Monica Macera

Monica Macera has over 25 years experience in accounting, bookkeeping services, and income tax preparation.  She began her career working with small businesses in a variety of fields.  During the 1980’s she worked for a large business management firm in Beverly Hills and Century City exclusively in the entertainment industry.  She handled many high-profile clients, including lead actors/actresses and well-known producers and directors.  She maintained a client base of small businesses during that time and continues to work with small businesses, entertainment industry figures, and Department of Defense contractors.  For the past three years she has worked with several small businesses in the San Diego area and directly with DoD.  She is proficient at invoicing on the new WAWF electronic invoice submission system and is current in the complex cost accounting requirements set by the government.  Monica’s wide range of experience prior to becoming involved in DoD work greatly benefits her ability to “see the whole picture” as she directs The Ranger Group’s business operations. 

Monica is an active member of both AFCEA and NDIA and served on the NDIA small business committee for two years.  She can always been seen at NDIA and AFCEA events as a volunteer, normally at the registration desk, and she attends the monthly luncheon meetings for both organizations.  She also holds a volunteer position with the San Diego Police Department as a Crisis Interventionist.  Monica lives in the downtown San Diego area.


The Ranger Group • 3914 Murphy Canyon Road, Suite A133, San Diego, CA 92123
Ph: 858.560.0967 • Fax: 858.560.6273 • www.therangergroup.com
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