Executive Director

Col John Rader, USMC (Retired)

A son of a corporate executive, “Smoke” was raised in the suburbs of New York City with four sisters. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned as a Marine in 1976. He has had operational jobs that range from being a Weapons Platoon Commander to a Commander of a night-attack F/A-18 squadron. He is a graduate of U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and the Air War College and has over 4,000 hours in over 40 different type, model, series light civil, helicopter, sailplane, transport, and fighter/attack aircraft.

He had three tours as a test pilot and led the integration of many systems on the F/A-18, including AMRAAM, Maverick, Night Attack navigation, Harpoon, Laser Guided ordnance, various AIM-9 variants and was the first to fly with a helmet mounted visor display in a fighter class airplane. Spending part of his career in acquisition, he was the Chief Systems Engineer at the F-35 Program Office, and a program manager for both the Government and Industry, having spent 12 years as a Vice President at the Boeing Company, after 28 years of active duty service. He retired from Boeing in 2016, as the President and CEO of two Boeing subsidiaries: ArgonST and DRT. John is currently a part-time professor at the Defense Acquisition University, teaching a range of topics to include Program Management, Systems Engineering, Industry behaviors, Requirements Management, and Leadership Development. He assumed the role as MCAA Executive Director in August 2018.
 

John and his wife, Patty, have been married for 28 years; he has four grown children. He is an avid woodworker, enjoys playing the guitar and violin, and continues to fail in his attempts to keep his lawn and a variety of plants alive at home.

Membership & Financial Services

Debbie Martin

Debbie Martin was born into a military family. Her father served 31 years in the USAF and her brother and husband are also USAF veterans. Though she lived many places throughout the United States growing up, Debbie spent much of her life in Georgia, where she graduated college with a degree in Public Service/Human Services. Debbie spent many
years working in finance and banking before deciding to get involved in animal rescue and welfare as a full-time volunteer.  She helped start and grow a non-profit animal rescue organization in Georgia that assisted in saving hundreds of unwanted and abandoned animals. She is an advocate for special needs and senior pet adoption and has three
senior/special needs dogs of her own.  Debbie began working with MCAA shortly after relocating to Virginia in 2017.  She is an avid Nationals baseball fan and also enjoys singing, reading, and trying different foods that someone else has cooked.