Courses Taught

Safety Management for Ground Operations Safety (SMS-RAMP)

Richard Steele

Biography

Richard N. Steele is currently the Deputy Airport Director, Operations at John Wayne Airport (SNA) – Orange County, California, with over 24 years of experience in military and civilian aviation. Richard joined SNA in December 2016 after working for three other medium and large hub airports, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Burbank-Bob Hope Airport (BUR), and Tampa International Airport (TPA). Mr. Steele has held several positions in airport operations and emergency management at these airports, including communications center supervisor and dispatcher, airside operations manager, landside operations manager, chief of operations, and training manager. His military career included over eight years in the United States Marine Corps as an avionics technician on various fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft platforms, quality assurance inspector, squadron safety and training manager, and a helicopter aerial observer. Mr. Steele is currently a Certified Member (CM) of AAAE, and has his Airport Security Coordinator (ASC) certificate from AAAE. He has an undergraduate degree from Southern Illinois University in Aviation Business Management, and a Master’s Degree from Delta State University in Commercial Aviation. Mr. Steele is also an Industry Advisory Board member for California Baptist University’s Aviation Science program in Riverside, California.