Pratt manager honored

Ron Cole recognized for supporting employee participation in the National Guard.

Pratt & Whitney manager Ron Cole has received the Department of Defense’s Patriot Award, which recognizes managers who support employee participation in the U.S. National Guard and Reserve Force.

Cole, 56, heads government security compliance at Pratt’s jet-engine operation in northwestern Palm Beach County. He has had a 35-year career in the defense industry, joining Pratt two years ago.

“As a company policy, we look at veterans and recently deployed personnel coming back [for jobs],” he said.

Earlier this year, Cole made extra efforts to ensure a reservist had the opportunity to apply for a job opening as Chief Petty Officer Gabriel Cornejo was completing a tour of duty in Afghanistan and looking for a job.

Cornejo “met all the requirements we were looking for. How can we not give him an opportunity?” Cole said. So he worked with human resources and senior management at Pratt to make it happen.

“Ron went above and beyond to schedule and coordinate interviews while I was traveling home through Afghanistan, Qatar, Germany and the U.S. — accounting for time differences of up to 14 hours,” said Cornejo, who nominated Cole for the award. Before becoming a Navy reservist in 2010, Cornejo completed five years of active duty in the Navy.