Cover Story Rudy Yates R 2022 Lifetime Achievement The founder of Ground Support Specialist has dedicated himself to problem-solving and collaborating with others to improve the GSE industry. BY JOSH SMITH udy Yates likes a challenge. " So I created one, " he says with a smile, reflecting back on his decision to form his own ground support equipment company. After gaining significant experience by engineering ground support equipment for FedEx, Yates founded Ground Support Specialist with his brother Fred in 1995. Yates grew the company from a small remanufacturing operation to a producer of a full line of deicers and other equipment. All the while, he promoted the industry in a number of ways, including serving on multiple committees aimed at making GSE safer and advancing the latest technology. For his dedication and his contributions to the GSE industry, Yates has been recognized with Ground Support Worldwide's Lifetime Achievement award. From FedEx to GSS Yate's aviation career began in 1980 when he took a job as a draftsman at Federal Express. He became an engineer and from 1984 to 1995, he served as senior manager of GSE engineering of worldwide operations at FedEx. " FedEx was a tremendous growth opportunity and learning experience for me as I was given the freedom to do whatever was necessary to excel the company forward with regards to ground support equipment, " he says, noting he had a team of 17 22 || Ground Support Worldwide || May 2022 Rudy Yates founded Ground Support Specialist with his brother Fred in 1995.