Polce plans more adventures in retirement Published Sept. 2, 2011 By Shawn Jacobs AEDC/PA ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- After reaching the mountaintop of his career, Ron Polce, director of Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) Test Systems Division, will concentrate more on literal mountains after his retirement Sept. 2. An avid outdoorsman and physical fitness enthusiast, Polce is retiring after 38 years of combined federal service, including military service - four years of which were at AEDC - and 31 years as an Air Force civilian employee. "I've been blessed with a great career," Polce said. "I've been able to do a lot of things here at the center - a lot of things outside the center - and I still feel pretty adventuresome. With my good health and my family, I believe it's time to go off and start doing a few more things in that line. "I have a grandson in St. Louis; I hope to spend more time with him. There's no one particular factor that led me to my retirement decision, just a culmination of what I believe to have been a good career for me, great adventures in the past and more exciting things to do in the future." Known as a team builder and enabler, Polce's remarkable career exposed him to diverse facets of AEDC's operations. "I've been very fortunate to have had great bosses and leaders who gave me opportunities to work in virtually all of the government functions, beginning first with the construction and activation of ASTF [Aeropropulsion Systems Test Facility], one of our newest facilities that's now 25 years old," Polce said. "[I then moved] into the support arena where I truly learned about customer service from our dedicated mission support services folks. "Moving on to directly working the test mission was a real privilege. Watching our test program managers, test engineers, operators and maintainers work hand in hand to create the testing conditions from our machines and computers seems almost magical. Sometimes I still believe it is. My latest assignment sort of takes me back to my AEDC beginnings, working with a phenomenal group of people responsible for pushing our technology limits and delivering the technical facility improvements to keep AEDC viable. I have been very blessed with getting those varied assignments. It's been very rewarding." Polce's longevity and variety of assignments have allowed him to amass a corporate knowledge that is matched by few at AEDC. "We're going to miss his knowledge," Clark Brandon, deputy chief of the Mission Support Division said. "He's been a mainstay and I call him an 'anchor point' for me and for this base, especially as we've gone through budget reductions or built up investments and put the strategy in place to keep AEDC viable. "Just his experience in contracts - he helped run the source selection for this last contract - so the graybeards keep retiring and we younger guys are asking ourselves if we learned enough. He's made a huge impact on this base from when he worked at ASTF to being the Investments director, so he's probably touched every piece of iron we've got out here. That's a good thing because he's taught a lot of us how to be." Brandon said Polce hired him and has mentored for the last 20 years. "His leadership, his ability to help you see differently, his kindness and his encouragement ... his firmness ... he was just very rounded as he tried to teach and mentor," Brandon explained. "He was always encouraging me to think about exercise, and I wasn't a real big exerciser. He sat me down one time and said, 'If you want to move up in the government, you need to do Air War College; you need to get your master's degree.' "I see him in the locker room every day. He runs; I do other stuff, but we talk and huddle there. I'm going to miss his daily presence because I'm in a lot of meetings with him." John Sutton, director of AEDC's Contracting Division, has known Polce for about 20 years and has a deep appreciation for his abilities and leadership. "From my perspective, Ron is the most successful individual who not only understands AEDC's technical mission but also its business and strategic interests as well," Sutton said. "Few people have the talent to master all three; Ron is one of them." Sutton said Polce demonstrated this acumen as the Air Force's program manager for the 2003 operating contract competition. "Not many people will ever understand the enormous complexity of that position and how decisions he shaped significantly changed AEDC," Sutton explained. "Returning to a single operating contractor at AEDC is an excellent example." Sutton has also built a personal relationship with Polce over the years. "We've run together for years, gone on hiking trips, things of that nature," he said. "Ron has always been a mentor to me, somebody I could talk to. We could talk through difficult issues and vent emotionally, sometimes irrationally, but when you're able to do that you finally get to the best rational decision." Sutton said the entire base has benefited from Polce's interest in physical fitness. "He was instrumental in getting this fitness trail beside the [Administration and Engineering] building built," Sutton said. "In the mission support world he saw the need and he was the one who really brought the resources together, the energy together, to get that fitness trail built. It has benefited countless people since." Few would dispute the fact that Ron Polce is a people person and he hopes his greatest legacy will be the way he's dealt with people. "I believe one of the more important aspects of the government's leadership role is fostering collaboration and teamwork, and I've had some good opportunities to do that, particularly during the '90s as we started down a new strategic management direction," Polce said. "We really focused on Team AEDC, working in multiple areas to nurture and build teamwork and programs of that nature. "I've had plenty of opportunities to work at building new facilities and bringing new test capabilities on line, but what touches me most is having been involved in helping and watching the people grow and succeed. It helped me, too, along the way." Polce won't be going far as he rides, or runs, off into the sunset of his career. He said he will continue to reside in Moore County near Ledford Mill. "I have some fall trips planned," he said. "I still have a few national parks that I haven't yet visited, and I'm confident they'll get visited. I'll continue to do some volunteer work. I don't have it all planned out. I just hope to continue to be a contributor to the community, my church and, certainly, to my family." He will also be available when AEDC needs the benefit of his vast corporate knowledge. "If someone along the line decides that maybe they can use my advice or consultation somewhere, I'll be there for that," Polce said. You might have to leave a message though. Chances are pretty good Polce will be scaling a mountain or hiking a trail.