S. Sanford Schlitt of Sarasota, Florida is Chairman of the Board of Directors. From 2007 -2010 he served as the Vice Chairman of the Board for Aerospace Education and Chairman of the Aerospace Education Council. During this time, in addition to his other duties, he founded and led CyberPatriot, AFA’s National High School Cyber Defense Competition. He is a Life member, member of the Wings Club and Thunderbird Society. Schlitt was active in the former AEF since 2002, serving first as a member of the AEF Board of Trustees and, after the organizations merged in 2006, as a member of the AFA Board of Directors. In that capacity, he was active in the afa21 process as a member of the Governance Team and was a principal architect of the Aerospace Education and Field Councils as part of AFA’s new, combined governance structure. He has also served on the AEF Nominating and Program Committees, the AFA Strategic Planning Committee, the AFA Constitution Committee, as Chair of the AEF Audit Committee, and Co-Chair of the AFA/AEF Audit Committee.
Schlitt is a graduate of The American University in Washington, D.C., was commissioned into the West Virginia Air National Guard in 1967, and later transferred to the Reserves. He served for more than 34 years in a variety of assignments, principally in the contracts management and acquisition fields. He served as Chief of Staff for a Defense Contract Administrative Services Region; Deputy Commander (and Individual Mobilization Assistant) of the Defense Contract Management Command, Defense Logistics Agency; the Mobilization Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Contracting, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition; and the Mobilization Assistant to the Principal Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. After 10 years at the Pentagon, Schlitt retired in 2001 as a brigadier general and has received, among other awards, the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, and Defense Meritorious Service Medal (with two Oak Leaf Clusters). He attended SOS, ACSC, AWC, and the Leadership Institute at Eckerd College.
Schlitt’s business career includes several successful private entrepreneurial business ventures to include start ups. He has been a Corporate Board Chairman and a member of several non-profit and for profit Boards. This includes service as the Audit Chairman of a NASDAQ listed public company during the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation as well as serving on Board committees of compensation and governance. Schlitt served as a member of the Advisory Board to the College of Business and Information Technology for Argosy University. He also served on the Senate staffs of Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey and Sen. Walter Mondale. In 1980 he was a candidate for the United States Congress. Schlitt continues as the Senior Managing Director of a mortgage investment trust and has a daily involvement in financial portfolio management.
Schlitt has served as the elected President of his community association and as Vice President for Finance and board member for his temple and is a fundraiser for local charities. He has been a member of the New York Friars Club and Chapter President and Vice President-Air for the Reserve Officers Association. In July 2010, he received a joint appointment by the Secretary of the Air Force and the Commander Civil Air Patrol to the Civil Air Patrol Board of Governors, the senior policy making body as established by Public Law.
He and his wife, Patricia, reside in Sarasota, Fla. They have two children.