The Advisory Board
Gary Fenn
This is Gary’s 20th year mentoring T3. His daughter had already graduated high school when he started mentoring. He has been employed by GM for over 34 years, always in the Structural Development Labs. For the last 20-ish years he has been one of the technical lead engineer. He is now retired. He has a…
David Smith
David has been with T3 for 24 years now. He became involved with the team when his son, Raymon, joined. His daughter was also on the team. He is retired from General Motors, Formerly an Electrical Architect and Engineering Group Manager. On T3 he is a Chief Engineer and Adviser. In his free time he…
David Ritenburgh
Dave has been a mentor on Truck Town thunder for 10 years. Both of his Children are T3 Alumni. He is currently a Service Engineering Manager for General Motors. He is a graduate of Ferris State University. He is an adviser for T3 and spend most of his time working with the students in the…
Head Coaches
Robbie DeHaan
Robbie has been with the team for 9 years now. He graduated from Kettering University, studying computer engineering. He is working for General Motors as a Calibration Engineer. He helps out with CAD, media, and CNC machining on the team, and doesn’t have any hobbies because he doesn’t have time for them.
Mark Ratliff
Mark Ratliff has been with the team for 12 years now. He retired from being Director of IT for FEV North America in 2025. He graduated from Michigan Technological University as a Mechanical Engineer. He became involved with First in 2012 with his daughter who was a member of Truck Town Thunder. Inspired by the…
Mentors
Jason Howerton
This is Jason’s fourth year with T3. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and is currently an embedded software engineer at Vitesco Technologies. He uses his software skills to help out T3 on the programming side of the team and enjoys basketball, home improvements, and leading Boy Scout…
Antonio Pittiglio
Antonio has been with the team for 6 years. He helps out the team in all aspects such as design, mechanical and safety. He is currently a student attending Oakland Community College for Mechanical Engineering and works as a customer service technician. In his free time he enjoys playing video games.
Dade Bowman
This is Dade’s fourth year on the team, he is currently the subteam leader of scouting and strategy, as well as on manipulator 1. Outside of robotics he enjoys gaming and fishing, and after graduation he plans to pursue an engineering career.
Bryce Hollenbeck
This is Bryce’s Fourth year on T3. He is the current project manager. He joined the team because he was on the FTC team so it was only right that he continued on in high school. Outside of robotics he enjoys playing video games, listening to music, and talking to other team members until 2…
Harley Pawley
Harley has been with the team for 10 years now, 4 as a student and 6 as a mentor. He attends Oakland University and is majoring in Electrical and Computer engineering while interning at Alps Alpine. He helps out with electrical and programming and enjoys reading, playing hockey, and composing music in his free time.
Jason Bobel
This is Jason’s eighth year with the team. Prior to Truck Town Thunder, he was an assistant coach for an FLL team for 5 years. He attended Michigan State University for Supply Chain Management and currently works for L & R Distributors as the Director of Demand Planning. He assists with fundraising, team business needs…