Ray Hunnicutt selected as 2024 Distinguished ROHS Alumni

RED OAK – Since 2004, the Red Oak High School Alumni Association has selected and celebrated a Distinguished Alumni. This year’s recipient is Raymond Hunnicutt, the 1990 Red Oak HS Salutatorian and a career NASA aerospace engineer.

Mr. Hunnicutt graduated in 1990 from Red Oak High School where he was a member of the ROHS marching, concert, and jazz bands where he played trumpet – earning All-Region award annually. He competed in multiple UIL Academic events and was active in the National Honor Society, Spanish, and Chess Clubs.

After graduation, he attended the University of Texas earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and immediately began his professional career supporting human spaceflight at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in 1995.

Ray supported NASA JSC for 22 years in the Mission Control Center (MCC) and Training Systems (TS) where he filled several leadership roles. In 2017, Ray was given the opportunity to be the Leidos Division Deputy Technical Director and was then promoted to Chief Engineer of the NASA End-User Services and Technologies (NEST) program where he was responsible for defining and transforming how NASA provides IT services through innovative solutions.

Under his technical leadership, 25 innovations were realized during the first two years of the program resulting in savings of approximately 80,000 labor hours and a cost savings of over $8.7 million passed on to the customer. 

In 2021, Ray was promoted to his current position of CTO for the Leidos NASA IT division. Ray received numerous awards and acknowledgments from NASA and Leidos and has co-authored multiple technical papers and presented at conferences international for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Outside work, Ray married his high school sweetheart Carrie, also a ROHS alum. 

They have two grown boys and now live in Virginia. He coached youth soccer for 40 seasons with the South Texas Youth Soccer Association and mentored many students and employees over the year. 

In 2019, he returned to Red Oak ISD to deliver the Baccalaureate speech to the graduating class. He explained to an auditorium full of students and family members that the best investment you can make is to invest in yourself. Ray was the Grand Marshal for the Homecoming Parade on Oct. 18 and was presented a plaque at halftime of the game.