Title: Squadron Commander
Company: Sandhills Senior Squadron, Civil Air Patrol
Location: Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, United States
David Gilchrist, Squadron Commander at Sandhills Senior Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Military for dedication, achievements, and leadership in aviation, business and education administration.
A licensed pilot for more than four decades, Dr. Gilchrist now serves as a volunteer Mission Pilot for the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), which is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. He attained the permanent rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 2018 and was later named as the Squadron Commander of the Civil Air Patrol Sandhills Senior Squadron (NC-171) in 2021. The squadron is located at the Regional Airport in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Dr. Gilchrist was awarded the Commander’s Commendation Award in 2020, Achievement Award in 2019, and the Air Force Organization Excellence Award in 2018.
Dr. Gilchrist was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant (officer) of the Air National Guard in 1978 and was awarded Military Commendation within two years after earning his commission and graduating as a Distinguished Graduate from the Academy of Military Science. After obtaining an associate of arts in liberal arts in 1974 from Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, North Carolina, he followed with a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1976 from Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. Dr. Gilchrist later continued his education with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in international finance and multinational business management in 1989, an MBA in management in 1996 and a Doctor of Philosophy in economics in 1998 from the University of Oklahoma. He then earned a Master of Laws in global antitrust law and economics in 2020 from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University in Washington and is currently studying for a Doctor of Juridical Science from Delaware Law School in Wilmington.
Dr. Gilchrist has held faculty appointments at over a dozen different institutions of higher learning, either in a full-time capacity or as a visiting professor. His vast teaching experience is inclusive of finance, business, economics, human resources, marketing and law. Presently, he instructs undergraduate students in business law, international business law and economics in the School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. In addition to lecturing, Dr. Gilchrist maintains ongoing research in the areas of Global Antitrust Law and Economics. Additionally, Dr. Gilchrist has authored numerous articles and policy proposals, and recently authored a consumer protection paper addressing the organic designation, “What’s in Your Dinner? An Inquiry of Organic Food Labeling.”
Besides his success in academia, Dr. Gilchrist has thrived in the private sector as the president of Global Economic Consultants in Lillington, North Carolina since 2018, a business he established after serving as the president of Gilchrist Consulting Group in Oklahoma City between 1984 and 2018. In addition, he has imparted his knowledge as a training manager for Global Services Corporation in Fayetteville, North Carolina, a military defense contractor with global reach, and a National Marketing Manager in the Southwest Division of MCI Telecommunications, Inc. His other corporate executive experience includes serving as the Vice President of Finance for Pawnee Real Estate Development Corporation in Dallas, Texas and for the Federal Reserve Bank System.
Dr. Gilchrist maintains that his most notable achievement is being the father to his children and being a grandfather to his three grandchildren. Being a pilot for 44 years without incident has been a career highlight for him. In the coming years, he intends to continue to teach and mentor others and indulge in his passions, life-long learning, teaching and flying.
For more information, please visit:
Greater Fayetteville Business Journal
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