JIM’S BIOGRAPHY

Jim “Byrdman” Philpitt is a career aerospace and national defense professional with nearly five decades of worldwide experience in peace and war.  He served over 30 years in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Flight Officer, achieving the rank of Captain and accumulating over 3600 flight hours in tactical aircraft afloat and ashore.  Eventually commanding an air group of eight aviation squadrons, he also held various senior staff leadership positions at both the Fleet and Unified Combatant Command level, to include Chief of Current Operations and Director, Joint Operations Center at Headquarters, U.S. Central Command on the day of the Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, and for over six months thereafter.  He served with all five of the Navy’s combat fleets in the Atlantic, Eastern Pacific, Western Pacific / Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Arabian Gulf and is a veteran of the Cold War, as well as multiple forward deployments to combat zones for Operations SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. In the space realm, he completed a joint / exchange shore assignment in the 1990s in support of both the former 45^th Space Wing and the Department of Defense Office for Manned Spaceflight Support at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, then-Patrick AFB, and then-Cape Canaveral AFS, earning a Navy subspecialty as a Space Operations Officer.  He later qualified as an Operations Director for Combined Air & Space Operations Centers.

Following his retirement from the Navy, Jim spent over 16 ½ years in various civilian staff roles in training, readiness, experimentation, and project management with a U.S. Air Force Field Operating Agency, a Naval Air Warfare Center, Headquarters U.S. Central Command, and Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command before joining FSI in 2025.  As the Strategic Outreach and Agreements Manager, he is the institute’s principal for engaging activities and organizations of the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Coast Guard, the Intelligence Community, and defense organizations of allied partner nations in military space and aerospace endeavors.

Jim holds a BS from Florida State University, an MPA from the University of West Florida, an MA from the U.S. Naval War College, and is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air War College, the Joint Forces Staff College, and LEADERSHIP ORLANDO Class 26.  He holds national certification as an Accredited Airport Executive (A.A.E.) and has served as an adjunct faculty member for both Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of Tampa, teaching various undergraduate and postgraduate courses in aeronautical science, aerospace safety, aviation management, national defense policy, and international affairs.

In addition to his numerous professional memberships, Jim currently serves as a principal for the Florida Advanced Training Range (FATR) initiative, is a member of the Board of Directors of the Tampa Bay Defense Alliance, an advisor to the Florida Defense Alliance, provides subject matter expertise to the Florida Defense Support Commission, and routinely engages the senior leadership of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) in Washington, DC.