Patricia Jayne (Pat) Keefer retired from a 30-year IBM career in 2003. Her responsibilities included management of worldwide and national consulting practices. International Business Machines is a multifaceted computer technology company.
Mrs. Keefer won the coveted FAI Gold Medal for the 1994 around the world race with her Hall of Fame mother, Marion Jayne. They raced 12 of 24 days in the 1970 record-setting Piper Twin Comanche that Mrs. Keefer donated to the Lone Star Flight Museum. The fourteen-stop 21,000 mile route crossed 23 countries, the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. So far, it is the longest ICAO/FAI race.
Her passion for air racing fueled her half century of flying. She earned trophies in continent-spanning cross country air races starting in 1972 and mentored other pilots. In addition to competing, she was Chair/CEO of U.S. Air Race, Inc. for a decade. Her races reached millions of people each year with positive news of General Aviation flying safety while promoting airports in 40 states and two countries with a perfect safety record equivalent to racing around the world 20 times. The company awarded 26 Learn-to-Fly scholarships in equal numbers to men and women.
She is a staunch advocate of equality and STEM education as foundations for success. Mrs. Keefer earned her 1972 B.A. in Physics and 1973 M.B.A. in Management at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. After the death of her father in 1970, she worked as a Graduate Assistant to complete her education. Other education and small business experiences included IBM graduate healthcare studies at UMKC, car stereo store management and airport desk/radio work.
Civic contributions span: Author on three Forums; Foundation President; Twin Comanche consultant for an around the world flight and to a World Air Race competitor; President of Colorado’s Capitol Peak HOA; Motivational Speaker; Neighborhood Leader for Town’s first storm water remediation project; Girl Scout camping leader; 52F’s Founder/Chair Accident Prevention and Safety Committee. During her tenure there were no runway accidents or incidents.
Honors include: the 99’s International Achievement Award; induction into the International Forest of Friendship; the FAA’s Wright Master Pilot Award; peer-voted honors for authorship of several magazine articles.
Mrs. Keefer was born and raised in rural Illinois northwest of Chicago. As a young professional equestrian riding hunters and jumpers, she earned significant success with over 100 first place finishes and multiple state-wide championships.
She was a single/multi-engine instrument-rated pilot for five decades and enjoyed 60 years of downhill skiing, wilderness backpacking & scuba-diving the Great Barrier Reef. She now enjoys hiking, gardening, STEM, neighborhood, and equality advocacy with continuing memberships in 99s, AOPA, EAA, WAI, Alpha Phi. In 1975 Mrs. Keefer married college physics friend, Ken. They have lived in Trophy Club, Texas since 1984
