Passion. Defined.

John Fernandez was born the son of a commissioned salesman who instilled a work ethic and dedication to excellence that placed him in the top 5% of fledgling aviators in primary flight training at NAS Whiting Field. This made the dream of flying jets off aircraft carriers a reality but little did he know there's more to Naval Aviation than just flying...

John “Gomez” Fernandez spent his college youth at the University of California, San Diego, admiring the Navy fighters en-route to their training missions over the Pacific Ocean while pursuing a degree in Management Science.  He initially worked for General Dynamics on the Atlas Centaur Rocket Program but achieved escape velocity and landed in Telluride, Colorado as a banker, a furniture maker, and a Deputy Marshal. He finally achieved his goal of serving in the USN and entered the service through Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, FL. 

“Gomez” was selected for Strike Fighter placement and spent the next decade of his life in the Central Valley of California flying FA-18 Hornets out of NAS Lemoore and earned a slot in the Navy's prestigious TopGun training program.  He deployed three times aboard the USS Carl Vinson in support of overseas combat operations in Iraq.  His tenure at NAS Lemoore also included a Weapons School, Pacific tour where he was the Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Phase Program Director responsible for training AirWing's FA-18 drivers and also designed and implemented the training syllabus for the Standoff Land Attack Missile (Expanded Response). 

A brief departure from the Navy was spent in the cockpit of a 737 for American Airlines and the events of 9/11 resulted with a selective recall back to Active Duty as an Aerospace Engineering Duty Officer. He was then placed at Fleet Readiness Center, South West (aka Depot) where he check flew all the remanufactured FA-18 aircraft and also served as the Flight Operations Director and the Deputy Director of Quality.

A desire to learn the business end of the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul industry led him to NAVAIR and NAS Patuxent River to join the staff of the Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers.  He served as the Deputy Director for Total Force Management, Deputy Director for Aircraft Programs, and as the Operations Officer for the Commander while simultaneously completing the Depot and Arsenal Executive Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina including an executive residency with the Boeing Corporation.

“Gomez” was then selected to attend the Naval Postgraduate School where he was awarded a Masters of Science in Space Systems Operations and earned the ADM William Adger Moffett award for academic excellence, the NPS Superior Service Award, and he was also recognized for an outstanding thesis on Lean/6 Sigma in Satellite Manufacturing. He finalized 23 years of faithful service as the FA-18 Military Program Manager at FRC SW remanufacturing legacy, Super Hornet, and Growler aircraft for continued service to the fleet. 

Soon after retirement from the US Navy, Gomez once again found himself among hard working young men, lots of steel and plenty of ways to die while helping oil companies reduce risk and shave time off of drill platform relocation. The ability to traverse the board room addressing executives and translating their objectives to the Roughnecks on the drill platform is an art in and of itself. The oil downturn steered Gomez back to the cockpit of a 737 while he simultaneously built the marketing program for a small Veteran Owned Small Business and eventually partnering in the release of a groundbreaking product in the automotive/RV/boat detailing field. Gomez eventually sold his share and enjoys helping small to medium sized businesses achieve elevated human performance from a slight change in direction.