Due to his demonstrated leadership and officer skills in cadet corps officer training, Jeff "Odie" Espenship was awarded a full academic scholarship and a USAF pilot training slot. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Espenship spent a year cheating certain death and destruction earning his USAF pilot wings. He won the coveted “Commanders Trophy” as the overall top graduate of his pilot training class. Espenship also won the pilot training T-38 Talon’s “Hard Charger Award” for overall dedication to excellence and training.

Espenship became a USAF fighter pilot flying the venerable A-10 Thunderbolt, also known as the “Warthog.” He was stationed with the 18th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Eielson AFB in Fairbanks, Alaska.

While there, he qualified as one of the youngest 4-ship flight leaders in the entire squadron. He served as an instructor and was also combat search and rescue qualified. He won numerous Top Gun awards for air-to-ground bombing and gunnery. Espenship was selected to attend The Air Force’s formal leadership training college for young officers, Squadron Officers School. Espenship graduated in the top 7% of the entire school of over 400 officers.

Due to Espenship’s outgoing, personable, always smiling, eager to please personality, his squadron mates quickly gave him his call sign “Odie,” aptly named after the popular cartoon Garfield’s sidekick. Now, few people know him by his first name…but simply call him “Odie”

After 6 years of dedicated service in the Air Force, Espenship decided to fulfill another lifelong dream by becoming an airline pilot. He began his career with Delta Air Lines in 1992. He qualified on The Boeing 727, 757, 767, and McDonnell Douglas MD-11. He also was a line-oriented flight engineer instructor on the Boeing 727. He completed numerous Crew Resource Management Courses, including “Cockpit 2000” given to pilots by United Parcel Service. Espenship continues to hone his flight skills as an international airline pilot, flying the Boeing 777.

Amid his tenure as an airline pilot, Espenship also flew a 1943 T-6 “Texan” on the airshow circuit. A tragic accident took the life of his brother, as well as the life of the pilot. This significant event in Espenship’s life ignited the spark that helped create what Target Leadership is today. From those humble beginnings in 2003, Espenship and his team have grown Target Leadership into a well recognized brand for Culture-Leadership-Safety training among the nation’s top Fortune 500 companies including ExxonMobil, The Southern Company, John Deere, and Chevron.

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