Donn C. Yates

Executive Director, Air Force Fighters & Trainers Business Development, Air Dominance Boeing Defense, Space & Security

Donn served for 25 years as an Air Force fighter pilot and Army infantryman and retired at the rank of Colonel. He has successfully commanded a Joint Special Operations Aviation Detachment, a fighter squadron, an operations group, and the largest F-15E fighter wing in the Air Force. Additionally, Donn is also a graduate and former instructor of the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School. Donn spent the last 4 years of his Air Force career commanding units with no fail missions. From 2016-2018, he led the 48th Operations Group at RAF Lakenheath, UK where he helped develop new capabilities to deploy faster in response to crisis situations in Europe, the Pacific and the Middle East. As a result of these efforts, three of his teams won best in the Air Force awards due to their innovative approach to their mission. From 2018-2020, Donn commanded the 4th Fighter Wing, the largest F-15E unit in the Air Force comprised of 6K people and 94 F-15E aircraft. To align with the United States National Defense Strategy, he and his team developed a transformational strategy to change culture, create buy in, increase communication, and empower teams at the lowest levels to solve their hardest problems. The Air Force subsequently selected Donn’s wing to rapidly deploy to Europe to enhance interoperability and reassure NATO and European allies. Immediately after retirement from the Air Force, Donn served as the Chief Operating Officer for the 5th largest private jet charter company in the United States. He led a transformational strategy to grow both people and aircraft during a very uncertain time, taught his teammates how to execute as cross functional teams, and increased operational tempo resulting in increased revenue, efficiency, and profitability. Donn currently leads all Business Development efforts for the T-7 Redhawk Advanced Pilot Training System at the Boeing Company. He is a Harvard Kennedy School National Security Fellow and holds advanced degrees in strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies and the Air Command and Staff College. He is married and has three sons.