Chris Kurek

Experience

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  US Air Force

  May 1998 - Jun 2008

  Officer, Fighter Pilot

  - Maintained combat readiness in the F-16C aircraft; awarded Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat- Taught fighter combat fundamentals to over 300 US and International pilots

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  OPERATION ENCORE

  Nov 2003 - now

  Co-Founder

  - Created Operation Encore to record, publish and promote original music by Active-Duty military and Veteran artists- Launched & operated record label; released 5 full-length music albums; sold 50,000+ units (CDs and digital downloads)

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  Corsair Engineering

  Nov 2007 - Jul 2008

  Subject Matter Expert

  - Collaborated with 10-member Pilot Training Instructional Systems Design team that created inaugural training system for all 3 variants of the F- 35 Joint Strike Fighter

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  L-3 Communications

  Aug 2008 - Sept 2009

  Systems Engineer - Test Director

  - Streamlined all hardware/software integration (HSI) activities by combining multiple baselines from previous programs with emerging technologies; reduced costs by $100K and trimmed HSI timeline by 3 weeks- Directed all test activities for the Danish Air Force F-16 and US Air Force C-27 simulator programs; verified 2,000 individual requirements while remaining $500K below budget; achieved 100% on-schedule customer acceptance

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  Lockheed Martin

  Jan 2010 - Jun 2012

  Senior Ground Flight Instructor

  - Designed complete overhaul of initial training syllabus within 2 weeks of arrival in country; created new course training standards and 1,000 new learning objectives/test questions, optimized course flow for 120 flight and simulator events; quick response to customer's need led to huge turn-around in working relationship, avoiding $3M contract penalty- Instructed 100 Saudi cadets as Weapons Systems Officers; Consistently produced certified aircrew in F-15S strike fighter from students who at course entry averaged 19 yrs of age, 6 months of English training, and 6th grade math equivalency- Developed RSAF's first-ever electronic Training Management System (TMS); reduced yearly manpower requirements by 75K man-hours by eliminating task of managing paper training records for 300 students in a 250 event syllabus Show less

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  Contractor

  Jun 2012 - Aug 2013

  Aviation and Training Consultant

  - Conducted complex, 4-5 month long technical, operational and market research for start-up aviation firms attempting to acquire business contracts within newly-formed Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG); Successfully guided 2 companies without prior aviation experience to achieving certification as Aviation Training Organizations- Produced deliverables packages that the KRG has adopted as their standard for all future proposals

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  JoCo Assembly

  Aug 2013 - Nov 2016

  Quality Manager

  - Shepherded company through rapid expansion that doubled revenues, tripled the workforce, added 2 manufacturing lines, and introduced robot technology; flawless ISO 9001/TS-16949 re-certification audit- Created line management system that allowed management to track and report assembly line performance, test results, quality data, along with numerous other metrics- Developed web-based production scheduling program that interfaced with ERP system to optimize inventory and process interactions of manufacturing line with high daily output and high variability in unique product orders Show less

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  Envoy Air

  Nov 2016 - Nov 2022

  Simulator Check Airman

  EMB-145 Sim Check Airman

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  American Airlines

  Nov 2022 - now

  First Officer