Terry McKearney is the president and founder of The Ranger Group (TRG) a small opertations research firm in San Diego specalizing the assessment of new technology and operational concepts through experimentation and during actual operations. Most recently Terry has led TRG in the analyzing the impact of unmanned systems on the decision making process of senior naval commanders in crisis and war. Terry has extensive experience experimenting with and evaluating new approaches for the application of information technology in military decision making and has been responsible for the initial integration and assessment of new command and control (C² ) technologies into theater and joint force command structures. His career as an analyst has included support of a variety of DARPA, ONR and OSD knowledge acquisition and decision support initiatives.

Terry graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy in 1973 and during a twenty-year Navy career participated in operations ranging from the final days of the of the Vietnam conflict to relief operations in Somalia. He commanded Assault Craft Unit ONE during the first Persian Gulf War and was the commissioning Executive Officer of the USS Germantown. He served as the Plans Officer on the staff of the Commander, Amphibious Forces Western Pacific, responsible for the planning of over ninety annual joint and bilateral exercises as well as real world contingencies in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Persian Gulf regions. As Director of Wargaming and Tactical Training, Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Pacific, he was responsible for the advanced training of senior Navy and Marine Corps commanders in the principles of joint expeditionary operations.

Terry holds Masters Degrees from the U. S. Naval Postgraduate School and San Diego State University.

Terry is actively involved in the defense industrial community. In addition to serving on the NDIA National Board of Directors, he is a member of the San Diego Military Advisory Council (SDMAC) Board of Directors and is President of the SDMAC Foundation, a nonprofit that supports San Diego area veterans and military members. He is a Fellow of the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) and is past president of the Society. He currently is the editor of the Society’s membership magazine, Phalanx. He is also the West Region Vice President of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA.)