As president and chief executive officer, Ron Draper is the leader of Textron Aviation, encompassing the Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker brands.

Draper joined Textron in 1999, and has held various leadership roles in Textron business units, including eleven years at Textron Aviation. His previous roles at Textron Aviation include senior vice president of Integrated Supply Chain (ISC); and director of production control and logistics; and director of Supply Chain Management. Draper also served as vice president of Integrated Supply Chain and director of Strategic Sourcing for Textron Specialized Vehicles; and director of Procurement for the V-22 program at Bell Helicopter.

While serving senior vice president of Integrated Supply Chain at Textron Aviation, Ron was responsible for overseeing the manufacturing operations for all Beechcraft and Cessna commercial products including the Beechcraft King Air lines and Cessna Citation lines. Seven different products – the Cessna Citation Latitude, Citation X+, Citation Sovereign+, Citation CJ3+, Citation M2, Cessna TTx, and Cessna Grand Caravan EX – have all attained entry into service under his leadership in ISC.

Prior to joining Textron, Ron served as a Captain in the United States Army as a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot and company commander. His overseas assignments included tours in Bosnia, South Korea and Germany. Ron is also a fixed-wing pilot and enjoys flying the Cessna Skylane and other Textron Aviation fixed wing aircraft.

Ron received a bachelor’s degree in engineering management from the United States Military Academy in 1990, and he earned an MBA from Wichita State University in 2001.

An active member of the community, Ron serves on the board of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and is a previous board member for the Golden Harvest Food Bank of Augusta, Georgia. He is a frequent leader of Textron Aviation’s Uplift organization, whose mission is to assist employees and communities in locations where the company operates facilities.