Everyday Leaders 50 In 50

Dennis Mellen, a USAF Academy graduate (1975), is a retired Air Force pilot after serving as a lieutenant colonel and chief pilot for 20 years until his retirement from the Air Force Reserves in 1996. At the time, he simultaneously worked as an instructor pilot and fleet captain at Alaska Airlines where he was the head of training over 550 pilots and 40 instructors. He was also part of the instructor cadre instrumental in establishing the Alaska Airlines route structure in eastern Russia from the destinations: Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Magadan, and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. And as a veteran, he participated in the Desert One preparation, he was deployed to Sudan (in 1986) to counter Libyan incursions in Chad, and participated in Desert Shield/Storm. After retiring in 2012 from his 28-year flying career due to a heart attack, Dennis continued searching for a new purpose and new opportunities. He worked in aviation management at two air carriers heading up their training and standardization departments. He