Gregory F. Gustin

Mr. Gustin is well suited to create and expand businesses that utilize developing technologies.
His background is rich and deep with relevant experiences and accomplishments.

1971 – 1980. Mr. Gustin began his professional career as a US Marine Corps Officer; Primary role as jet fighter pilot; Underwent training as Test Pilot, and Advanced Tactics Instructor (the Marine Corps version of the Navy’s Top Gun); Held numerous supervisory and administrative positions:

F-4 and T/A-4 Fighter Pilot. Co-founded and implemented the US Marine Corps local version of TOP GUN, The Aggressor Squadron, at the Group Level which greatly increased the availability of advanced tactical training for Marine Corps fighter pilots.

Navy Jet Pilot Instructor. Held several billets including: NATOPS Officer, Instructor Standardization, Coordinator of Spin Training (for both air-to-air gunnery and advanced air combat maneuvering students) and squadron test pilot; Rewrote the flight syllabus for spin training, which generated a 100% increase in student throughput; Conceptualized, organized and developed a simulator flight training program for the instructor staff; Rewrote the training syllabus for instructor pilots, reducing the required classroom time from 40 to 10 hours.

Intelligence Officer. Served 18 months, gaining operational insight into the use of offensive and defensive weapons systems worldwide; Re-authored, and received Pentagon Approval for new Rules of Engagement when encountering Soviet Aircraft over International Waters.

Base Services Officer. Responsible for supervision of units tasked with construction and maintenance of a Marine Corps Air Station in an operational environment (i.e., engineers, electricians, transport); Developed an innovative maintenance and scheduling procedure for refueling trucks which decreased the 60 minute wait period to 5 minutes; Developed innovative methods of maintenance for all transport vehicles, which increased operational readiness from less than 10% to more than 80% - the highest achieved by any non-combat unit.

Assistant Aircraft Division Officer, WESTPAC. Supervised enlisted personnel (more than 200) assigned to the following workshops: metal, hydraulic, airframe, seat and paraloft; During this period, developed a new data entry and computer analysis process, which discovered service-wide flaws in spare-parts re-supply for squadrons, which increased aircraft readiness from 50% to over 90% - the highest achieved for a non-combat, shore-based fighter squadron.

1980 - McDonnell Douglas Corporation. First assignment, to research and develop the "Air Combat Maneuvering" and "Fighter Intercept" chapters for the F/A-18 Tactical Flight Manual. Then promoted to Operations Analyst for the Advanced Design Concept Branch where he led the development of advanced simulation techniques (both realtime and non-realtime) for the study of advanced weapons systems. His study and analysis techniques of new technology weaponry, such as GATOR, WASP, LANTRIN, ACM, JTIDS AND TF/TA, led to weapon selection and tactical employment recommendations; Developed an innovative, easily usable, computer data retrieval and analysis system, providing his company the ability to answer Congressional and DoD weapons’ capability queries in minutes, rather than in months.

1981 - Washington, DC Consulting Firm. Tasked with the responsibility to develop F/A-18's Training Program Master Plan (TPMP) which involved the study and analysis of all training materials and devices, including aircrew and maintenance simulators, and their interface with milestones generated by applicable Weapons Systems Planning Documents; Analyzed existing flight simulator specifications and contractual instruments to identify areas subject to cost containment/cost reduction for the F/A-18 flight simulators; Flew and tested all types of simulation devices in existence (both military and civilian) including visits to simulator manufacturers, where, as Pentagon Consultant, received open access to wide variety of design approaches; Concluded the Pentagon was not receiving fair market value for its dollars, and delivered an enlightening report to that effect; Pentagon implemented most his recommendations, savings millions of dollars.

1982 - Northrop Corporation. Employed as man-in-the-loop test pilot, responsible for, the design and testing (in the simulators) of new concepts for Northrop’s newest fighter jet, the F20 TigerShark; After recommending and receiving corporate approval, was charged with management responsibility to develop the requirements and facility design for new Aircraft Mission Simulator Complex which was to be used as a design tool for the evaluation and demonstration of avionics concepts for Advanced Fighter/Attack Aircraft; authorized $200 Million for design and manufacture of four flight simulators, yet designed a twelve cockpit facility for less than $134 Million.

1982 - Wall Street investment-banking firm. After receiving a recommendation from the Pentagon, a NY firm approached Mr. Gustin to perform an analysis of start-up company that was designing a new graphics computer for the simulation industry; Firm then offered employment, in which Mr. Gustin was to perform all engineering and technical analysis for all the bank’s potential investments; then placed Mr. Gustin as VP Marketing for one of its clients; generated over $4 million in funding and responsible for all sales.

1983 - Formed HTM (hi-tech Marketing Corporation). Mission was to establish marketing processes for new companies that developed high technology products; Learned greater benefits gained by developing products, rather than providing marketing support for other companies; Result - designed and developed world’s first PC-based, real-time graphics computer, the Black Box™.

1984 – 1992 Formed Paragon Graphics, Inc. (PGI). Co-designed and developed industry state-of-the-art realtime computer image generators for military simulation industry.

1992 – 1996 Formed Top Gun Entertainment, Inc (TGE). Recognizing the trend in military budget reductions, Mr. Gustin’s firm was one of the first to apply its technical skills to the entertainment industry; Mission to build the best fighter jet simulators for use and enjoyment by the public around the world; Using his extensive experience in the military simulation industry, streamlined the design and enhanced the cost/performance of the Virtual Fighter.

1997 - Present. Mr. Gustin has been active consulting for several investment firms; His unique technical background, coupled with his ability to analyze and describe new technologies, has provided several investment firms with the necessary insight in their due diligence process; engaged to analyze the business potential for more than one hundred firms in the past ten years.

2002-2011 – Formed SafeToSurf.net, Inc.  SafeToSurf is poised to become the leading firm that offers, as an integral feature, Automatic Filtering, which prevents access to undesirable websites (Pornographic, Drugs, Crime, Hate, etc).  This filter is the first that cannot be circumvented.  SafeToSurf membership also includes Videte, a secure computer program which records and encrypts daily computer usage, for easy ‘video playback’ by the parent. Furthermore, Affinity Groups benefit by access to a secure, full-time mini-Alert window embedded in the System Tray.

2006-Present – Business Development for Domestic and International Clients
Mr. Gustin has been engaged by numerous firms to assist in various segments of Corporate Growth for both start-up and mature organizations. His personal technical, financial and management experiences have often proved invaluable to his clients. He is currently providing assistance to Brigadier General (Retired) Mark Beesley and his firm Lone Star International LLC (“LSI”) by coordinating and managing contracts, logistics and Business Development with new clients. In 2011 Mr. Gustin accepted the position of Managing Director and President of LSI. In 2013, Mr. Gustin founded The Ravenswood Group ("TRG"). He not only serves as its Managing Partner, but also sits on the boards and also serves as President of Ravenswood Import Export Limited, President of ProductosBBQ, President of Central Sun Ukraine, CEO of Central Sun Vishneve, President of Ravenswood Russia, President of Ravenswood Ukraine, President of Ravenswood Egypt (in formation) President of Deimex SL (Luxemburg) President of Ravenswood Europa (Spain), President of OPEXenergy SL (Spain) and President of Ravenswood South Africa. TRG has also formed several newer entities and forged numerous Joint Venture Relationships with several international companies.

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS

Academics: Graduated 1 of 601 in high school - GPA 4.0; Commandant's List for Academics in the USMC Basic School; Commodore's List for Academics in the Navy Training Command; "High Flight" Award for academic excellence in the Navy Training Command and two "E" Awards for Excellence in the air-to-ground dive bombing syllabus; Earned highest performance awards in air combat simulation since the inception; While in the Marine Corps, earned Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics (Aeronautical Engineering and Aerospace Management) from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, completing studies with honors (GPA 4.0)

Paper presentations/Panel chairman/guest speaker: IEEE, Royal Aeronautical Society, Image Society, Society for Computer Simulation, Society for Optical Engineers and multiple publications; AIAA Symposium on Visual Simulation, Interavia Forum, Interservice/Industry Training Systems Conference (I/ITSC), Conference Manager for Virtual Reality Symposium at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Meckler VR Conference, DMSO Symposium

Professional affiliations (past): IATA Working Group on Visual Systems Standards for Commercial Aviation; University Aviation Association Simulation Committee; Task Force 2000; Charles A. Lindbergh Fund Grants Committee; Awarded the first Co-operative Research and Development Award (CRDA) with the US Government in the Field of Simulation relating to Helmet Mounted Displays; Visiting Researcher for Keio University, Japan.

Notable accomplishments: Designed first digital production method for “colorizing” black and white film; First real-time image generator demonstrated at the Interservice Industry Training Systems Conference (I/ITSC); First multi-channel real-time image generator demonstrated at I/ITSC; First full fidelity jet simulator at I/ITSC; First networked full fidelity simulators at I/ITSC; First non-SIMNET funded company to demonstrate interoperability with SIMNET nodes; First international real-time networking using standard phone lines (without using data extrapolation); Developed innovative process to reduce effective system transport delay in HMD systems from 83msec to 16msec; Designed first wide FOV for US Navy Dynamic Flight Simulator; Designed visual display system for US Navy Landing Signal Officer Trainer (LSOT); Demonstrated industry’s first working model of real-time voice recognition system for LSOT; Designed distortion correction methodology for world’s smallest dome (NASA Pre-Adaptive Trainer); Designed world’s first real-time graphics playback system of “black box” data streams used for post-crash analysis (client was US Army Safety Center tasked with examining unknown cause(s) of Black Hawk helicopter crashes); Designed and demonstrated first digital real-time field record/playback system for computer animation.

Personal Achievements

National Merit Scholar, Class President, Student Body Vice President, Who’s Who (US High School), Multiple awards for athletics, USMC wrestling team (part time), USMC Orientation Team (part time), broke several marksmanship records in USMC for both rifle and pistol, officer-in-charge of award winning shooting team, WESTPAC Chess Champion, multiple awards for superior performance in Air-to-Air combat competition (most kills, highest kill ratio, best survival ratio), received Meritorious Augmentation into the Regular Officer Corps, Deep Selected for Captain, Deep Selected for Major, broke world record for marathon snow skiing on downhill mountain (nearly 30 hours without stopping/falling), subject of nearly two dozen media stories (both print and television, including CNN special report and Scientific American article on flight simulation).