THE PEOPLE OF MAS

At Midwest Aero Support, our people are our most valuable assets. We are proud of their longevity with our company and of their dedication to excellence.

Brent Johnson, President

Brent earned a Bachelor of Science degree in General Studies from Rockford College in Rockford, IL. He worked for 8 years for Hamilton-Sundstrand in Rockford in Planning & Provisioning, as well as 8 years for Saab Aerospace interfacing between Purchasing and Production personnel in Sweden and component vendors in the U.S. for the Saab 340 project.  Brent launched Midwest Aero Support in January 1990. He enjoys swimming, jogging, skiing, pottery, gardening, yard work, and spending time with his wife, children & grandchildren.

Tari Flack, Vice President of Finance

Tari joined Midwest Aero Support in 2011. Tari is a CPA and earned a Bachelor Degree in Accounting from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. Her responsibilities include overseeing all financial information and resources required to effectively support MAS operations. In her free time, Tari enjoys snow skiing and golfing with her husband and three sons.

Lynn Breed, Manufacturing Manager

Lynn has over 30 years of experience in Manufacturing – 15 years at Sundstrand Aerospace, 8 years at Siebe Environmental Controls/Invensys Building Systems (formerly Barber-Colman), and the last 8 years at Midwest Aero Support. During that time he has held positions in the areas of Planning, Purchasing, Scheduling, Inventory Control and Customer Service. Lynn is APICS Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) and is a Lifetime Certified Purchasing Manager (CPM) through the Institute for Supply Management.

Rick Ruppert, Vice President of Operations

Rick joined Midwest Aero Support in September of 2017. He has 30 years of progressive continuous improvement experience in manufacturing, operations, and business management, supporting the aerospace, medical, and industrial markets. Past experiences include working for Esterline/BVR Technologies and Siebe/Barber Colman aerospace companies. During that time he has held positions in the areas of Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Materials Manger, Manufacturing Manager, and Vice President / General Manager. He enjoys travel, music, yard work, spending time with his wife, son and grandchildren.

Jacques Occhipenti, International Business Development

Jacques join MAS business development team recently after having spent 46 years in Aviation. He started his career after the French Air Force with Airlines as A&P mechanic for 15 years then worked for major OEM’s where he held various positions, Representative, Customer Support, Regional Sales Director, Sales and Marketing Director. As a French citizen he will be looking after Europe business development.

Ron Colvin, Quality Manager

Midwest Aero Support welcomed Ron as our new Quality Manager in 2023. With active-duty military experience and determination, and 9+ years of work in quality, Ron brings a professional mindset to any situation.

Michael “Cookie” Cook, Manager, New Product Development

Michael may be a familiar face to many! Cookie joined the MAS team in mid January, 2024. Assuming the freshly created role of Manager of New Product Development, he brings years of experience and extensive knowledge of the industry to expand on MAS’ ever-growing product line.