Walter Kross is a Senior Partner of Consolidated Air Support Systems, LLC (CASS) and serves as Chairman of CASS LLC and its subsidiaries: CASS Professional Services Corp. (CPS) and Allied Defense Services International, Inc. (ADSI), all of which collectively do business as CASS.

He is a retired Air Force four-star general, and brings a wealth of USAF and post-USAF corporate experience to the CASS team. He has 48 years of military and business experience, primarily in global transportation, but also in strategy, planning, operations, eBusiness, information systems, business process improvement, personnel programs, customer value management and financial matters.

He brings hands-on corporate executive leadership to the CASS team. Most notably, he served for five years as President and Chief Executive Officer of Flight Explorer, Inc., the world’s leading provider of Internet-based, real-time flight tracking information. Prior to Flight Explorer, he served two years as a partner at KPMG, where he was a key member of its National Transportation Consulting Practice servicing airlines, rail, maritime, trucking, express delivery, and third party logistics companies, both domestically and internationally.
His military experience, from 1964 to 1998 was quite extensive, culminating in his assignment as commander-in-chief of the United States Transportation Command (US Transcom). The command provides all air, land, sea, and intermodal transportation for the Department of Defense and other customers worldwide. In this capacity, he was responsible to the Secretary of Defense and the President for all defense transportation matters. He oversaw a 168,000-person organization with more than 1500 aircraft, 120 ships, 1400 specialized railcars, 12,000 containers, a worldwide network of aerial ports and seaports, and the corresponding physical and IT infrastructure to operate daily across the entire world--including contractually-based commercial partnerships in all modes, exceeding $4.2 billion annually.

During the Persian Gulf War, he served as chief operating officer of the U.S. Transportation Command, directing the largest transportation operation since WWII. He also held numerous leadership and senior staff positions including that of commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, director of the Joint Staff, and director of Operations for the United States Air Force.

General Kross was commissioned in 1964. His early career combined both fighter and airlift experience as he flew 157 F-4 combat missions, 100 over North Vietnam. He later transitioned to airlift, then senior executive and congressional pilot support. He was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force for six years, part of that time in the Chief's Staff Group. He has served as commander of a C-5 wing and was Commander of 15th Air Force. He is a Command Instructor/Evaluator Pilot with almost 7,000 flying hours in qualified in 14 different aircraft, In Vietnam, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters and the Air Medal with 12 oak leaf clusters.
He has worked closely with the Department of Transportation, particularly the Federal Aviation Administration. He was the prime champion for DOD’s important Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) program, teaming with FAA to establish and fund what has become a multi-decade program of continuous aircraft avionics enhancement enabling safe and efficient air operations worldwide.

Since leaving military service in 1998, he has led a number of notable efforts. He founded and served as chairman of the Secretary of Defense’s CEO Panel, a group of 15 CEOs that advised the Secretary of Defense on how best to infuse cutting-edge commercial business practices into the Department of Defense. In addition to his contributions to KMPG and Flight Explorer, he also served as chairman of the board for USBA, Inc - the Kansas City-based Insurance Company from 2001-2003. He served as vice chairman of the National Defense Transportation Association for seven years (1998 Recipient of their National Defense Leadership Award). He currently serves as Chairman of the Airlift/Tanker Association, the Sam Fox Association, and serves on the board of Eutelsat America Corporation, all three based in Washington, D.C.
He received his BS from Niagara University in chemistry. He holds two MS degrees, one from Auburn University in government and a second from Southern Illinois University in public administration. He has attended senior executive programs at both Harvard and Northwestern Universities. General Kross resides in northwest Florida.

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