Dr. Dave Cole

Dr. David Cole, P.E. comes to RCA from the U.S. Defense Industry (Artis – HQ in VA) in a business where he serves as Special Assistant to the CEO and Vice President for Compliance supervising Quality, Contracting, Export Licensing, Safety, Physical Security, and hands-on responsibility for product system safety engineering. He has a unique 45-year blend of military, consulting, scholastic and industrial experience, with a desire to move into a new phase of life teaching aspiring students.

Dr. Cole has a stated teaching objective for joining the team at RCA: to prepare our youth for the world by teaching them to think, to reason, to solve problems, and equipping them with the tools to do so.

He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering (B.S.), Management Science (M.S.), and Business Management (PhD) from Lehigh University, Texas A&M, and LaSalle University, respectively. After serving as a captain in the Army doing research and development, he led in positions of increasing responsibility at Hercules Aerospace, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, and as President of Martin Electronics in Florida. In 2010 Dr. Cole accepted the Executive VP position at Artis (Virginia) and has served there to date. During this period, he also lectured as an adjunct professor at Xavier University and the University of Maryland, while serving as an Elder at two Christian churches, and teaching adult and teen Sunday School for over 20 years.

Dr. Cole is a licensed professional engineer, and he has served on various U.S. Department of Defense Industrial steering committees as well two NATO advisory committees and is a founding member of the Aerospace Association’ Energetic Systems Technical Subcommittee.

He and his wife Melody live in Franklin, TN and are members at Harpeth Christian Church. They have seven children and 11 grandchildren.