Born in Los Angeles, Hudson Drake received a Bachelor of Economics degree from UCLA in 1957, and, in 1976, a Master of Business Administration degree from Pepperdine University. Mr. Drake worked for the Autonetics Division of North American Aviation until 1968, leaving as manager of the operations and administration department. He had received a presidential appointment as a White House Fellow, serving as special assistant to Vice Presidents Humphrey and Agnew. From 1969 to 1970, he served as Executive Director of the President’s Commission of White House Fellows, and in 1970, became Deputy Under Secretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Mr. Drake was also Chief of the U.S. Delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Industry Committee in Paris.  He joined Teledyne Ryan Electronics in 1972 in San Diego as Vice President and General Manager, then served as President from 1980 to 1984, and Group Executive President of Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical from 1984 to 1988. He then moved to their corporate headquarters in Century City, where he was responsible for nine high technology companies.  Mr. Drake retired from Teledyne Ryan in 1997. Active in community service, he has served on the President’s Council of San Diego State University, the UCSD Board of Overseers, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce. From 1998 to 2005, he served on the Board of Directors of the UCLA Johnson Cancer Center Foundation, and has also served on the Board of directors at Children’s Hospital and United Way. He was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 2017.