Where strategy takes flight: Raven Advisory LLC delivers elite resources, expert staffing, operational support and cutting-edge technology for military, government and commercial clients worldwide

By Faith Hatton, posted Nov 25, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Raven Advisory LLC is moving forward with expanding the capabilities of drone integration, autonomous technologies and robots. Photo provided by Raven Advisory.

The Skills to Survive. That is the motto behind Raven Advisory LLC, a Fayetteville- based defense and security contracting firm offering not only comprehensive training, but a list of services dedicated to preparing and maintaining warfighters domestically and around the globe.
Raven Advisory LLC was founded in 2014 by retired Special Forces Officer Sheffield Ford, aka “Shef” and a business partner as a consulting firm.

“My partner and I were still learning how to be consultants. Both of us had served pretty much our entire lives in the military and the government and so, during the initial stages of that, we fell into some security work by accident and found ourselves providing security for US companies traveling abroad,” recalled Shef. “We also got involved in oil and gas in northern Afghanistan and made a lot of really good friends in Texas, and I even volunteered to go roughneck, just so I could learn the oil industry.”
The past decade has seen an explosion of growth for the company, expanding services to include providing various types of security for manufacturing, pharmaceutical companies, high-net worth families and more. What began as two men working together has grown to over 80 employees with unique training facilities in the Laurinburg/Maxton Airport, Gibson and Aberdeen areas of N.C.

As Raven expanded from commercial work into government contracting, “Our first work was at Fort Polk, Louisiana, supporting Special Forces units, going through training at the Joint Readiness Training Center. And we learned a lot of good, hard lessons on contracting doing that. And so, I started building my own training facility in Gibson, N.C.,” shared Shef.
With contacts leading to new opportunities, Raven Advisory LLC was able to collect more businesses under its umbrella, leading to an expansion that today includes three different campuses located at the Laurinburg/Maxton Airport and in Gibson and Aberdeen.

“We acquired a small medical company giving us Past Performance. The medical company was ADS Medical Support Team International, and we changed it’s name to Raven Medical. Gryphon Group hired us to support their medical training and along with other contracts we were doing as sub-contractors for big prime contract companies we were learning our way in the defense contracting industry. Within a year of working with Gryphon Group, the owner offered me his company in a private sale. I was able to find support from a small group in Texas to make the deal a reality,” recalled Shef.
Sheffield, and his new partners officially acquired Gryphon Group in December 2020 and has reorganized Raven Advisory LLC to include six different divisions or “business units” to maintain specialty skills in the products and services offered. Raven Advisory LLC is now the parent company of Gryphon Group Security Solutions, Raven Medical, Raven Worldwide and Raven Autonomous Technologies.

THOSE “BUSINESS UNITS” INCLUDE:
Services
Technologies
Training
Medical
Risk Management and Security
Shooting Club, civilian training and corporate events

“We provide a one stop shop for the military and government agencies giving them unique solutions with scenario based training opportunities,” Shef shared. However, with the growth of drones worldwide, a need was developing fast. To capitalize on the evolving requirements the niche for Raven was not in designing and building drones, it was with integrating the new technology. “Providing a place to legally research, develop, test, evaluate and train with robotics and drones is very scarce. With specific licensing requirements to do what we do expanding the reach and adding a few more licenses made sense to accommodate emerging technology into our wheel house.”

The newest addition to the lineup of Raven Advisory LLC’s offerings is Raven Autonomous Technologies; a training and operational integration division for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
To show their newest capabilities Raven Advisory LLC hosted “First Flight” back on Sept. 16-17. Raven Advisory LLC successfully completed the event showcasing the Raven DOME (Digital Operations Mobility Environment). It was a two-day event that welcomed leaders from the community, industry and military. The event showcased the future of unmanned systems, robotics integration and scenario-driven training at one of the nation’s most advanced operational readiness facilities.
The demonstration highlighted long-distance Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations across Raven’s 1,100-square-mile Certificate of Authorization (COA).
“I really started the tech division right off the bat after I bought Gryphon Group, when I reshuffled everything in January 2021. We focused more on counter UAS back and to capture training videos,” shared Shef. “When you take a look at our facilities and all the licenses we have, it just seemed like a natural fit. Adding to that one stop shop, we’re going to become a solution where people can bring their drones to either test them for sale, or to test them for integrating into actual operations.”

Moving forward, Shef shared that the goal is to continue growing, integrating, expanding and maintaining Raven Advisory LLC as a leading provider to meet the needs of government contracts and corporate entities.
“We’re continuing to move forward with expanding the capabilities of drone integration, autonomous technologies and robots. We’re looking forward to working with the military and helping them with creating new doctrine for the new technologies. But overall, Raven has become the Disneyland for operators,” concluded Shef.

Learn more about Raven Advisory LLC’s services, civilian offerings and events on their website www.ravenadvisory.com.

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