Shannon Hemphill

Shannon Hemphill grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After graduating high school, she joined the workforce where she developed an interest in finance and investments. Over the years she has held various positions with companies such as AEGON Transamerica, Berthel Fisher & Company Financial Services, and Universal Lending Corporation. With her most recent employer, First Federal Credit Union in Iowa, she served in a dual capacity as both the Branch Supervisor and Personal Banker; now operating remotely in customer support after relocating to Florida.

In 2019, Shannon returned to school to complete her college education. She received her Associate of Applied Science in Business Management and her Project Management Certificate in 2021, followed by Associate of Arts degree from Eastern Florida State College in 2022. In May of 2023, Shannon will graduate with her bachelor’s in Organizational Management with a specialization in Human Resource Management. She is also dual enrolled at Florida Institute of Technology through a SmartTrack program to complete her MBA. She is a member of Phi Theta Kappa and Sigma Beta Delta Academic Honors society. Shannon aspires to become a Human Resource Manager as she works to develop and support an inclusive workforce that is representative of the world we live in.

In August of 2020, Shannon and her husband, Ramone, launched The 99th Squadron, Inc., a non-profit organization seeking to expose young people, particularly minorities and underserved populations to the vast opportunities in the aviation industry. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the organization,  maintaining compliance and establishing 5-year projections of fundraising, community impact, and strategic alliances among partnering firms and schools to establish STEM pipelines for underserved populations. She also flies drones recreationally through a TRUST certification from the FAA. Shannon and her husband have four children. She and the family enjoy playing basketball and cheering on the Army Black Knights where their oldest daughter attends school, the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Ramone Hemphill grew up in Charlotte, N.C. and developed an interest in aviation at an early age. He earned his Bachelor's in Computer Science from North Carolina A&T State University and began his career at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as a Systems Engineer in Avionics. After completing a free ground school course in 2007, he took some introductory flight lessons while working on integration teams that were developing new flight decks for commercial aviation customers, including Boeing, Bombardier, Airbus and Embraer.

Ramone got back into flying after joining the Honda Aircraft Company in North Carolina to help push their premier HondaJet program into production, where he became a private pilot in 2012, obtaining an Instrument Rating in 2014. He continued building hours throughout the subsequent career moves, from Part 23 Flight Testing at BendixKing/Honeywell (Albuquerque), to Flight Control Actuation Systems at Moog Aircraft Group (Buffalo) for military drones. He eventually returned to Iowa briefly to certify display applications on military helicopters before finally getting sick of cold weather and moving to Central Florida, leading a team of engineers at Northop Grumman.

Ramone’s biggest priority in flying has been to build an advocacy for General Aviation (GA), especially in the eyes of our youth. He founded a non-profit called “The 99th Squadron”, compiles his flight footage into annual videos entitled “StarScream”, and instructs children on Drone flying as a Part 107 certified operator to help spread the awareness of aviation opportunities especially throughout the African American community. Ramone holds a Master's in Business Administration (4.0 gpa, ΦΚΦ) with a concentration in Project Management from Florida Institute of Technology, where he's currently an Alumni Association Board Member. His wife, Shannon Hemphill, along with their four children, have become experienced co-pilots, with their two youngest sons taking their first private flights as early as nine months old. Their oldest son has been racking up plenty of time as a front seat passenger, taking the controls.  Their daughter earned a flight training scholarship where she briefly explored the joy of flight before heading off to the US Military Academy to study law.