press release:
John Titus, owner, president and CEO of Aero Controls, Inc. has received the South Seattle Community College Outstanding Alumni Award for 2012.

Aero Controls, based in Auburn, Washington, is an FAA certified repair station. The company overhauls, repairs, sells, exchanges, and modifies aircraft components. The company employs approximately 200 people and has 275,000 square feet of offices, shops and warehouses located in Auburn and Shelton, Washington.

Titus graduated from South in 1974 with a degree in Aeronautical Technology. After graduation he joined a major aircraft overhaul facility as a manager, and then started his own company in 1984. He has maintained a relationship with South since graduation, now serving as a member of the Aviation Technical Advisory Committee. He also has supported South with donations of aviation equipment for classroom use.

The success of Aero Controls has enabled Titus to diversify his holdings. Among other holdings his current ventures include a Best Western hotel, a retirement community outside Atlanta, Georgia, an IP television company based in New York, and an IT Park infrastructure company in India.

Titus is involved in many civic activities and established a non-profit organization, Aero Controls, Inc. Community Service, in 1996. This employee-led group volunteers support for programs including food drives, blood drives, adopt a family during the holidays, cancer walks, and a backpack programs for needy children. The organization donates to disaster relief throughout the world as well as to numerous local and regional charitable organizations. The organizations donations are often matched by Titus.

The college recognized Titus in September during the annual “Salute to South” community gathering on campus, and will honor him again at the Friends of the College Dinner in May.