Kees Rietsema, Ph.D. MSM Program Chair
Faculty Delegate, Worldwide Campus

John Wing

Kees Rietsema, Ph.D.

Dr. Kees Rietsema began his appointment as the Worldwide Campus Faculty Delegate in the fall of 2008. He also serves on the Academic Committee of the Board.

Dr. Rietsema is an Air Force veteran with an extensive background in aviation as well as management and education. He is a 1973 honors graduate of the USAF Academy, where he served as the Cadet Wing Commander and majored in Political Science and International Affairs.

Dr. Rietsema's Air Force career spanned twenty one years of active duty and included assignments as a fighter pilot and instructor in the F4 and F16 USAF Fighter Weapons Schools at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. He commanded a fighter squadron and served as a Fighter Group Commander, leading the largest operational F-16 Fighter Wing in the USAF. He also served in various staff positions that include the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington D.C where he was Chief of the Nuclear Operations Branch, serving under General Colin Powell.

Since his retirement from the USAF, Dr. Rietsema has flown as a commercial airline pilot, served as Chief Pilot for a corporate flight department, owned a building business, consulted for private corporations, and worked as COO for an entrepreneurial financial services company. Additionally, Dr. Rietsema has been involved in education as a collegiate marketing executive, faculty chair, program chair and online and classroom professor in the fields of management, aviation and organizational behavior.

Dr. Rietsema received his MBA from Golden Gate University, a Masters in Aeronautical Science from Embry Riddle University and his doctorate in Organization and Management from Capella University. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Indian National Defense College, New Delhi, India.

Dr. Rietsema is a full time faculty member of Embry-Riddle. He teaches in the MSTM program and serves as the MSM Program Chair. He permanently resides with his wife in the town of Cave Creek, Arizona but spends five months of the year in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Faculty and Student Delegates