Tony was born in Kokomo, IN while his father was stationed at Bunker Hill AFB, preparing to deploy to Vietnam. In time, the family relocated to the family ranch in southern Oregon where Tony spent the majority of his younger life learning how to ride horses, work cows, buck hay, use farm equipment, and chew Copenhagen. After high school Tony stayed close to home and attended Oregon Institute of Technology (also known as the MIT of the west) in Klamath Falls, Oregon where he played football, rode saddle broncs, and earned a degree in Manufacturing Engineering. All while working swing shift at a plywood mill.
Following graduation, Tony began a lifelong career in aviation at the Boeing Company in Everett, WA, a position from which he departed after only nine months to attend the United States Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School. After successfully completing OCS Tony had a 21-year career as a Marine Corps aviator. With multiple deployments to Japan, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yuma, most of his flight time was as a UH-1N/Y pilot. During a five-year tour at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, he broadened his aviation experience and perspective, becoming a graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School and an experimental test pilot conducting development and envelope expansion flights for the UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters.
Tony also attended the Naval Postgraduate School of Aviation Safety, which broadened the scope of his experience and deepened his involvement in the aviation safety field. Together with his training at the United States Naval Test Pilot School, these schools significantly shaped his career trajectory. Today, he works in product and aviation safety at Bell Textron, managing internal safety efforts and collaborating with the broader industry, including being a plank holder and serving on the steering committee of the USHST. An organization whose Vision and Mission align with his own and that carry deep personal significance, having lost friends and colleagues to aviation accidents.
Tony currently holds ratings as a helicopter ATP, CFI, and Commercial Single and Multi-Engine airplane with over 50 T/M/S in the logbook. These days, however, he primarily flies a desk. He has one son, Noah (24), who is his world travel partner and an enthusiastic supporter of Tony’s ski addiction that regularly takes them to destinations far from Texas.