Eric Allison

Joby Aviation

Head of Product

Eric serves as Joby Aviation’s Head of Product. He most recently led the Elevate team at Uber, developing software tools that built on more than a decade of experience enabling on-demand mobility. His experience in aerospace research, electric propulsion, energy storage, vehicle autonomy, and composite structures led him to the CEO position at Zee Aero, where he spearheaed the development of Cora, an autonomous air taxi vehicle. Eric holds a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford, an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford, and a BS from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Marc Ausman

Electra.Aero

Chief Product Manager

Marc Ausman
is a recognized expert in the fields of next-
generation electric and
autonomous aircraft.
He is
the Chief Product Officer at Electra.aero,
a company
that is developing next-
generation
sustainable
aircraft,
and previously was co-founder and CEO of Airflow.aero.
He most recently served as Chief Strategist for the Airbus Vahana urban air mobility project, and before that
he was President of VerticalPower
and also was part of the team at Eclipse Aviation to bring to market the world’s first very light jet.
Marc served with the US Navy as a
Naval Aviator
and holds a commercial pilot certificate with
multiengine and instrument
ratings.

Yotam Avrahami

Deloitte

Commercial & Private Public Partnerships project lead, Intelligent Transport

Yotam Avrahami leads commercial and PPP (Private Public Partnerships) projects with Deloitte’s Intelligent Transportation offering. For the past 10 years, Yotam has supported Aerospace and Defense (A&D), Retail, logistics, start-up, and government(FAA, State’s DoTs, EDA, Israel DoT, Israel C&H)) clients to optimize and scale their intelligent transportation capabilities. In addition, he has worked closely with Fortune 500 Multinationals and Governmental Leading Institutions to stand up UAS programs, AAM market technology studies, and Growth Strategies.

Yotam also developed PPP UTM, AAM economic, and business models to expedite the UAS/AAM market growth and to enable operation and R&D for a wide range of private and public entities across the US. He worked with economic development groups, test sites, state’s DOTs, and communities to develop investment strategies utilizing federal funds and private equity. Additionally, he led state-wide AAM deployment roadmaps evaluating infrastructure, policies, and investments needed for the future of aviation.

Katerina Barilov

Jump Aero

Chief Operating Officer

Ms. Barilov is the COO at Jump Aero, a startup building an eVTOL designed to help first responders and EMS personnel save lives in rural areas. Ms Barilov has extensive experience in aviation, structured asset-backed finance, and corporate strategy. She joined Jump Aero in 2019 after several years of providing consulting and niche financing in the aviation industry through her own private consulting business. Prior, Ms. Barilov was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs’ Industrials Group in New York, focused on assisting top tier aviation, aerospace and defense clients.

Prior to Goldman Sachs, she ran the Structured Finance division for Europe Middle East and Africa at Hawker Beechcraft, a leading aerospace manufacturer based out of Wichita Kansas.  She joined Hawker Beechcraft as part of a small team of structured finance professionals formed to create a new solution for sales financing support of cross-border aircraft acquisitions. The team designed and launched a Structured Finance department which developed and maintained relationships with third party financiers, structured financing support and conducted credit analysis of potential clients.

She holds an MBA and Bachelors degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an avid pilot with a passion for aerobatic competition with experience in a Pitts S2C. She spends her free time focused on adventure flying in her modified Piper Colt, cycling and running.

Kirsten Bartok Touw

New Vista Capital

Managing Partner

Kirsten Bartok Touw has a long history as an entrepreneur and investor. Since coming to the Silicon Valley in mid 90s to attend Stanford’s GSB, she has founded and built companies (XOJET, AirFinance), worked in emerging tech investing (New Vista Capital, H&Q and JP Morgan Partners), investment banking (Goldman Sachs), and run strategy and corporate development for a global aerospace manufacturer (Hawker Beechcraft) where she also led their expansion into Asia and China. Kirsten has also served as a board member and advisor to numerous technology companies during her 25+ years in the San Francisco Bay Area and now Washington, DC. In the last decade, Ms. Bartok Touw has been an active investor focused on emerging technologies in A&D.

Currently, Ms. Bartok Touw is co-founder of both New Vista Capital and New Vista Acquisition Corp, a publicly listed investment platform (NASDAQ: NVSA), both groups are focused on emerging technology investing in aerospace, defense, space, communications, logistics and transportation. She is also co-founder and a Managing Partner of AirFinance, which has provided more than $1.5 billion in credit financing to the aerospace and defense industry globally.

Ms. Bartok Touw received a BA, cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania where she was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She was a Council Foreign Relations term member, a French American Foundation Young Leader, a German Marshall Fellow and a Committee on US China Relations Young Leader Fellow. She is currently a member of the French American Foundation Board of Directors, an advisory board member of the National Business Aviation Association and the Silicon Valley Defense Group and previously served as a member of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) Management Board.

Eric Bartsch

VerdeGo Aero

CEO & Co-Founder

Eric Bartsch is CEO and Co-Founder of VerdeGo Aero, a leader in hybrid-electric powertrain systems for VTOL, CTOL, and STOL aircraft. VerdeGo is a leader in development of fully integrated hybrid-electric aerospace powerplants for high performance, high-efficiency missions. For more than a decade, Eric has been at the forefront of electric propulsion in aerospace. He has experience leading development, flight testing, and commercialization of electrified aircraft. Prior to founding VerdeGo, Eric had significant innovation leadership and General Management experience, and he holds commercial, instrument, and glider flight ratings with experience piloting electric airplanes. He is also an inventor or co-inventor of more than 20 patents. Eric co-founded VerdeGo Aero in 2017 along with Dr. Pat Anderson and Erik Lindbergh.

Alistair Blundy

Skyrisks

Co-Founder & CEO

Alistair Blundy is the Chief Executive Officer of Skyrisks, the pioneer of aircraft insurance and risk management solutions for the fast-growing Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector. Along with a team of insurance and data science veterans, Alistair co-founded Skyrisks in 2023 to be the global leader in insurance for revolutionary aircraft, such as the new breed of eVTOLs, and a broad array of innovative technologies across both piloted and autonomous flight.

Alistair is a career-long specialty aviation underwriter and leads with an underwriting-first approach at Skyrisks, driven by the essential need to maintain a deep awareness of the complex engineering and regulatory challenges faced by the industry. His focus is on superior product expertise and developing granular pricing models built on market-leading data aggregation and analysis.

Previously, Alistair was Aviation Underwriter at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty. He began his career at QBE Europe. Alistair holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Linguistics from the University of Manchester.

Scot Campbell

Acubed by Airbus

Project Executive, Airbus UTM

Dr. Scot Campbell is the Project Executive of Airbus UTM at Acubed, a group focused on developing digital solutions to enable and accelerate the safe, secure, and scalable integration of new types of aircraft into the global airspace. Before joining Acubed, Scot was the Senior Director of UTM Technology at AiRXOS, part of GE Aviation, and a member of the Technical Staff in the Air Traffic Control Systems group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He holds a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and is a multi-engine commercial rated pilot and flight instructor.

Skye Carapetyan

Beta Technologies

Sales Director

Skye Carapetyan is a member of the aircraft sales team at BETA Technologies, where he works with existing and potential customers to realize the benefit of our aircraft to help improve their bottom line and reduce their carbon footprint. During his time at BETA, he has also spent time focusing on the build-out of the company’s nationwide multimodal charging infrastructure, which is designed to advance the development and deployment of our zero-emissions aircraft and other EVs.

Skye has built his career leading teams in the aviation and electric vehicle (EV) sectors. Prior to his post at BETA, he served as VP for a large transportation and logistics firm where he led the sales team in all western states before ultimately moving to the EV sector. As National Sales Director for an EV startup, Skye worked with the State of California, various utilities, and numerous municipalities to further the adoption of clean transportation and EV infrastructure. A commercially rated pilot, Skye has flown Embraer regional jets for nearly 5 years as a First Officer and when he was promoted to Captain, flew Canadair CRJ 700s. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor and certified flight instructor (CFI), CFII, MEI at Jacksonville University via the Delta Connection Academy. He graduated from Jacksonville University with B.S. in Aviation Operations and Management and currently lives in Sacramento, CA with his family.

Jay Carmel

Renaissance Strategic Advisors

Principal

Jay Carmel is a Principal at Renaissance Strategic Advisors (RSA) and is a leader in its Civil Aerospace consulting practice.

Jay helps aircraft technology providers and investors identify and execute on new growth opportunities across the aviation ecosystem. He has advised leading aircraft system OEMs and start-up companies on business strategy, market analysis, acquisition due-diligence and technology roadmaps. Jay focuses on aerospace domains most exposed to disruptive innovation, including advanced air mobility (AAM) and its enablers such as next-generation propulsion, autonomous flight, aviation connectivity, and advanced manufacturing.

Jay joined RSA in August 2023 having previously served as a commercial aerospace practice leader at Avascent and Oliver Wyman. Prior to these roles, he worked at Merrill Lynch and for the U.S. Department of Commerce. Jay holds a B.S. in International Political Economy with a certificate in International Business Diplomacy from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Karen Cate

NASA

Acting Project Manager, Air Mobility Pathfinders

Karen Tung Cate is serving as the acting Project Manager for the Air Mobility Pathfinders (formerly AAM) project at NASA.  She has been involved in air traffic management (ATM) research for over 25 years. Her specific focus has been four-dimensional aircraft trajectory prediction for air traffic management automation. Ms. Cate was software manager for the Center-TRACON Automation System (CTAS) and helped develop processes for transferring NASA prototype software systems to the FAA for deployment. She was technical lead for the Interoperability sub-project within the Airspace Systems project, which focused on the integration of different ATM systems. She previously served as the deputy project manager for the Advanced Air Mobility Project.

Francois Chopard

Starburst Aerospace

Founder & CEO

Chopard founded Starburst, an aerospace and defence firm, in 2012. Starburst is a global company with offices in Singapore, Los Angeles, Paris, Montreal, Korea, Spain, London, and Munich. The aerospace firm specializes in three areas: innovation consulting with large OEMs, an accelerator for aerospace start ups, and a venture fund investing in aerospace start ups. To date, Chopard has invested in over 90 aerospace start ups through his venture fund.
Chopard is considered an expert in his field and recently, has been asked to lend his aerospace expertise on issues such as urban mobility and the future of transportation.as well as a regular contributor on Bloomberg interviewing with Emily Chang about aerospace startups. He is consistently asked to contribute his extensive knowledge in publications such as Techcrunch.
As CEO of Starburst, Chopard has worked with companies such as, Airbus and Panasonic, as well as Thales and Northrop and others. His company operates an accelerator for aerospace start ups around the globe [10]. Chopard headed up the first aerospace accelerator to launch in the United States in 2015. Since then he has launched accelerators around the globe. In February 2019, Chopard and Starburst joined forces with Techstars to launch a joint venture accelerator for aerospace startups in Los Angeles. November 2019, Starburst partnered with the United States Air Force to run the first Space Pitch day awarding $9M USD to 12 companies Chopard speaks extensively about the aerospace and defence industry including a recent panel at the Global Aerospace Summit.

Erick Corona

Wisk

Director, ConOps & Airspace Ecosystem Development

Erick Corona is the Director of ConOps & Airspace Ecosystem Development at Wisk Aero LLC., a company focused on addressing congestion by deploying self-flying, remotely supervised, electric vertical-take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Working at the intersection of aeronautics, automation, telecommunications, and battery technology, the company aims to deliver a safe, sustainable, affordable, and a beyond-cool novel urban transportation solution.

Before Wisk, as Director of Products at C3.ai, Erick led the development of AI-capable Predictive Maintenance solutions now deployed within DoD. Prior assignments include management, flight test, and engineering design positions at Boeing and GE Aircraft Engines. Erick also led the adoption of data-driven infrastructure asset management efforts at Pacific Gas & Electric.

Erick holds a B.S. in Mechanical Electrical Engineering from the ITESM (Mexico), an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Washington. He is also a graduate of the MIT Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) Program, where he earned an S.M. in Engineering Systems and an MBA from the Sloan School of Business.

Greg Davis

Eviation

President & CEO

Gregory Davis is President and CEO of Eviation Aircraft, a global manufacturer of all-electric aircraft. As a licensed commercial pilot and skilled engineer, Gregory brings an in-depth understanding and true passion for the industry to Eviation.

Gregory has extensive experience in the aerospace industry with over 15 years of progressive leadership roles. Prior to Eviation, Gregory served as Vice President of Customer Service and Product Support for Viking Air Limited, a global leader in utility aircraft services and manufacturer of Series 400 and Guardian 400 Twin Otter aircraft. Before that, he served in an engineering role at Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group, one of the largest privately owned and independent aerospace and defense companies. Under Gregory’s leadership, Eviation is building a new category of aircraft that challenges the limits of air travel and creates new market opportunities.

Gregory holds a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University, and an MBA from the University of Calgary.

Eric Deahl

Alton Aviation Consultancy

Engagement Manager

As a consulting professional at Alton, a global advisory firm dedicated to the aviation industry, Evan advises clients on matters spanning the aircraft finance, MRO, business & general aviation, and next generation aviation technology sectors. Within the advanced air mobility space, he has supported OEMs and potential operators on key commercial matters including go-to-market strategies, market sizing and demand modeling, and customer market sounding. He also serves on the National Air Transportation Association’s AAM Committee. Prior to Alton, Evan spent the first six years of his career in investment banking and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Irena Deville

Dronamics

Director of Strategic Partnerships

Irena Deville, VP Partnerships & Corporate Development. Former Global Business Development, Lilium. LinkedIn
Irena has over fifteen years of experience in strategy, mergers & acquisitions and corporate development across business aviation and Advanced Air Mobility. With a background in corporate sales and business strategy at Netjets Europe, strategic development at Gama Aviation and global business development at Lilium, Irena now leads strategic partnerships at Dronamics.

Carl Dietrich

Jump Aero

Founder & President

Carl is the Founder/CEO/CTO of Jump Aero where he and his team are developing a high-speed eVTOL system to help first responders save lives. He serves as the Chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association committee on Simplified Vehicle Operations. He is the author or co-author on three issued patents and multiple pending patents. Carl earned his SB ‘99, SM ‘03, & Ph.D. ’07 from MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
As an aerospace industry entrepreneur, Carl founded and led Terrafugia as CEO/CTO from inception through acquisition by the Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Carl spearheaded the development of the first integrated roadable aircraft capable of converting between flying and driving in less than 30 seconds. He established and ran a world-class R&D center for Terrafugia focused on the development of novel eVTOL configurations and business plans for the emerging Urban Air Mobility market. In addition to his work at Terrafugia, Carl helped develop the standards for light sport aircraft on ASTM committee F37.
During his 11 years at MIT, Carl founded the MIT Rocket Team, won four out of five design competitions, and won the $30K Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for Invention. He was recognized by the MIT Aero/Astro Department as one of sixteen young alumni who have shown “extraordinary accomplishment” and subsequently received “40 under 40” awards from the Boston Business Journal and Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine.

Darshan 'Dash' Divarkaran

AFWERX

Head of Airspace Innovation & Prime Partnerships

Darshan “Dash” Divakaran is the Head of Airspace Innovation & Prime Partnerships for AFWERX, the innovation arm of the United States Air Force. In this role, he leads the airspace integration efforts with a focus on UTM & AAM. Dash also works closely with the military, federal, state and academia on the future of air mobility and accelerating innovation through partnerships.

Dash is an aerospace intrapreneur and technology evangelist with expertise in uncrewed aviation, aviation development, military innovation, geospatial analysis, emerging technologies, and program management. His areas of expertise are in uncrewed aviation, autonomy and related emerging technologies. In his previous roles he led many efforts to work with the public and private sector to develop, integrate and manage national programs and initiatives. He is also an FAA certified commercial pilot with a multi engine rating and holds a FAA part 107 remote pilot certificate.

James Dorris

Odys Aviation

Founder & CEO

James is a Co-founder and CEO of Odys Aviation. He co-founded the company alongside Axel Radermacher in April 2019 with a mission to transform aviation from fuel guzzling aircraft at congested airports to quiet, sustainable aircraft accessible from every neighborhood. Prior to founding Odys Aviation, James held leadership roles at GoogleX, Virgin Hyperloop One, and Arrivo. He started his career in Fusion Energy Research at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center where he developed novel hardware to spatially localize plasma instabilities, and has long been passionate about improving sustainability and efficiency of transportation systems. James has over 15 years of experience building teams at startups, developing core technology, and building transportation systems.

Yanik Doyon

Thales Group

Vice President, Sales & Business Development, Flight Avionics, North America

Yanik Doyon is Vice-President, Business Development and Sales for the Thales Avionics business in North America.

His perimeter includes all activities related to Air Transport, Regional and Business Jets, Advanced Air Mobility and Helicopters. He is responsible for both civil and military markets.

Jonathan Evans

KinectAir

CEO & Co-Founder

KinectAir was conceived by Jonathan, a lifelong aviator, after selling his drone software company, Skyward, to Verizon in February of 2017. Where Skyward connected drones to the cellular networks and developed and patented the ‘digital skyways for drones’ and their integration into regulated airspace, KinectAir is founded on Jonathan’s original passion for flying machines that can move people around. Seeing the scarcity of software or network effects in charter today, he set about assembling a team of aviation and software experts to fulfill his dream of building a truly on-demand flight network into one of the last great industries yet to become software-defined. Before Skyward, Jonathan flew in commercial helicopter roles such as Life Flight, and was at one time the youngest aviator in the Army,

David Fiore

Export Import Bank of the US

Vice President, Transport Division

David Fiore is the Vice President of the Transportation Division of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).  The Transportation Division is responsible for EXIM supported financings of large commercial aircraft, business aircraft, agricultural aircraft, helicopters, aviation-related goods and services and railroad-related equipment.  David has been with EXIM for more than 30 years, with more than 20 years’ experience in transportation finance.

Prior to assuming his responsibilities as Vice President of the Transportation Division in October 2018, David previously held the positions of Vice President-Acting, Deputy Vice President, and Senior Loan Officer.

In April 2022, EXIM launched its Domestic Finance Initiative (Make More in America) to establish or expand U.S. manufacturing and infrastructure projects in the United States that would increase U.S. exports.  David is part of the inter-divisional Working Group within EXIM that is implementing this initiative.

David has a bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College in Vermont and a Masters of Business Administration from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.  David speaks French and Italian.

Brian Flynn

DiamondStream Partners

Managing Director

Mr. Flynn is a Managing Director of DiamondStream Partners, a firm that invests in and helps build travel related companies, especially those about to benefit from the advent of hybrid-electric aviation.

He co-founded Volaris (NYSE: VLRS), Mexico’s largest airline. He also co-founded DiamondStream Analytics, a travel analytics firm. He currently sits on the board of Sellar Labs and GPMS. Mr. Flynn helped form The Metropolitan Bank and build it to $1.3B in assets. Among other investments, Mr. Flynn led the acquisition and turnaround of Victory Refrigeration which led to a 13x return for investors.

He previously was a Managing Director at Bachow & Associates, the then largest private equity fund in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with investors such as CalPERS and the Ford Foundation. At Bachow, he identified, negotiated an investment in or acquisition of, built, grew, and sold companies in a variety of industries.

Mr. Flynn served as CEO of Innova Corporation (now Harris Corporation: HRS), a leading telecom equipment company that resulted in a 22x return for investors. Prior to Bachow, he was a consultant at Bain & Company where he met Mr. Donovan. Mr. Flynn also worked for DLJ in investment banking and GE Capital in finance. He is a Beta Gamma Sigma graduate of Columbia Business School and a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Williams College, and he also studied at the London School of Economics. He sits/sat on various public and private company boards of directors.

Anders Forslund

Heart Aerospace

CEO & Chairman

Anders is the founder, CEO and Chairman of Heart Aerospace. He founded the company in 2018 together with Klara Andreasson with the aim of electrifying short-haul regional aviation, with an early focus on the Nordic countries.

Before starting Heart, Anders was an aerospace researcher at Chalmers, where he was a driving force behind the research project Elise-Electric Aviation in Sweden, funded by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova. He spent 2013-2014 at MIT, where his work on geometric variation of aerospace components was awarded the Charles M. Manly Memorial Medal. He is also a founding member of the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation.

Anders has a Ph.D. in Aerospace Product Development and a B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Chalmers. He has a dual M.Sc. in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University and Luleå University, as a part of the SpaceMaster program. He is also a member of the Prince Daniel fellowship for young entrepreneurs.

Maxime Gariel

XWing

Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Maxime Gariel is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Xwing, an aviation company on a mission to radically improve human mobility through the use of fully autonomous airplanes. Maxime is a pilot whose lifelong dream is to make airplanes fly themselves. His work on autonomous flight systems includes fixed-wing to rotary-wing aircraft ranging from small to large aircraft. Prior to Xwing, Maxime was the Principal GNC (Guidance, Navigation & Control) Engineer at Rockwell Collins where he built autonomous aircraft systems like the AgustaWestland SW4 Solo autonomous helicopter. Maxime is a former MIT Postdoctoral Researcher of aerospace systems, and holds a PhD and Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Noureddin Ghazavi

Federal Aviation Administration

Project Manager, NextGen Technology Development & Prototyping Division

Nouri Ghazavi is a project manger at the FAA’s NextGen Technology Development and Prototyping Division. With a strong focus on the development of new concepts and technologies, he is at the forefront of multiple research efforts. Nouri’s expertise lies in the field of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), where he led the development and publication of the UAM Coordinated Concept of Operations under the FAA blueprint for Air Taxis. His contributions extend to Connected Aircraft Concepts and the development of prototype applications to enable exchange and management information to support the Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) environment. Prior to joining the NextGen office, he supported the agency’s Terminal Automation Modernization Replacement (TAMR) and Time-Based Flow Management (TBFM) programs during multiple acquisition phases, from requirements and enterprise architecture development to contract evaluation. He holds a Master of Science in Information Technology from the University of Maryland and Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University.

Loris Gliner

Universal Hydrogen

Director of Powertrain Engineering and Flight Test

Loris Gliner is the Director of Powertrain Engineering and flight test at Universal Hydrogen where he leads the development of MW-scale hydrogen electric powertrain for regional aircraft. He joined Universal Hydrogen in 2020 as the company’s second employee. Prior to Universal Hydrogen, Loris worked at Airbus UpNext in Toulouse, France, where he researched autonomous taxi, take-off, and landing technologies for large commercial aircraft as part of the Airbus ATTOL A350 demonstrator. He was also a team member of the Perlan Project, a project to fly a stratospheric glider to conduct high altitude scientific research. He took part in three flight test campaigns in southern Patagonia Argentina, including the 2018 campaign when the Perlan 2 glider and its 2 pilots flew to 76,000 ft, surpassing the U2 spy plane and setting a world altitude record for subsonic flight. Loris has a Master’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Imperial College London and is a licensed pilot.

Nikhil Goel

Archer

Chief Commercial Officer

Nikhil Goel is the Chief Commercial Officer at Archer. After starting at Uber as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams, Goel co-founded Uber Elevate. Working alongside NASA and Uber executives, Goel helped spearhead the vision for Uber Elevate which has, in turn, inspired the approach to commercializing the industry. In 2020, Goel helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a strategic sale to Joby Aviation. Goel has been a Senior Advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Company, Google, Microsoft, and NASA. He attended Vanderbilt University and earned his Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a double major in computer engineering and economics.

Eddie Gross

Vedder Price

Shareholder 

Eddie is considered an industry leader regarding the leasing and financing of all types of aviation assets, including fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and engine pools. Clients include market-leading aircraft and helicopter financing providers, investors and operating lessors, as well as large publicly or privately held businesses, governmental entities or high-net-worth individual lessees and borrowers. The business aircraft financed in these transactions include jets and turbo-prop aircraft operated primarily for the customer’s business purposes, or for transportation services including chartering, or pursuant to fractional or “pay card” arrangements. The financed helicopters are typically operated in various service capacities (e.g., air ambulances, oil and gas service, fire suppression, hauling, etc.) or for VIP, business or other transportation purposes. These aircraft and helicopter financings vary in structure and include domestic and multi-jurisdictional tax and non-tax leases, operating leases and secured loan financings, involving progress payment, completion and other multi-funding structures. The structures of these transactions typically involve multiple counter-parties, including citizenship and other trusts, management companies, maintenance program providers and affiliated and unaffiliated users of the aircraft and the manufacturer or other seller.
In 2016 through 2022, Eddie was ranked Band 1 in Private Aircraft (Global-wide) in Chambers High Net Worth. The legal ranking recognizes the world’s leading high net worth advisers where one aviation professional described Eddie as “the most knowledgeable aircraft finance lawyer in the US that I’ve worked with, both from a know-how and market perspective.” He was also recognized among the world’s leading aviation attorneys by Euromoney Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides from 2013 to 2021.

Adam Grosser

UP.Partners

Chairman & Managing Partner

Adam brings a passion for innovative
companies as well as substantive
experience to the technology community.
With a long history of successful
involvement in key Silicon Valley
companies, Adam is currently the
Chairman & Managing Partner of UP
Partners, an early-stage Venture Capital
Fund. Additionally, Adam serves as a
Senior Advisor to the Canadian Pension
Plan Advisory Board (CPPIB) and on the
board of First Reserve’s energy platform.
Previously, Adam was the Group Head of
Silver Lake Kraftwerk for 11 years, a growth
equity strategy of Silver Lake Partners. He
currently serves on the board of Carbon, LineVision, a Google project, and the advisory board of Beta Technologies. At Silver Lake he oversaw successful investments in Tesla (TSLA), Solar City (SCTY), Hyla Mobile (Assurant), Quorum (Thoma Bravo), and Aras (GI Partners). Until recently, he served on the boards of Aeva (AEVA), Calix (CALX), EnerNoc (ENOC), Conviva, Control4 (CTRL), Sentient Energy (Koch), SiBEAM (SIMG), Silver Spring Networks (SSNI), and Transmedics (TMDX). In addition, he has previously served on the boards of Arroyo (CSCO), Alteon (NT), Peakstream (GOOG), Peribit Networks (JNPR) and Traverse Networks (AV).
Before SilverLake Kraftwerk, Adam was a General Partner at Foundation Capital for 10 years and was named to Forbes Midas List 4 times. At Foundation, Adam was a key member of their highly regarded team and continued a long tradition of successful enterprise investments. Prior to joining Foundation Capital, Adam was President of Excite@Home, which encompassed thousands of people across multiple divisions. Before @Home, Adam was the co-founder, President and CEO of Catapult Entertainment from inception through IPO. Before his startup life, Adam held leadership positions with technology innovators Apple Computer, Lucasfilm, and Sony – in engineering and management.
Infused with a love of technology and art, Adam builds boats and planes, bikes avidly if slowly, kitesurfs at every opportunity, and works with his inspiring wife on literacy initiatives for disadvantaged populations. Adam is an ATP rated pilot, and is active in the restoration, preservation, and flying of jet warbirds. Adam holds BA, MS and MBA degrees from Stanford University, is a lecturer at Stanford University, and contributes to National Public Radio’s Marketplace. He is a Senior Fellow at the American Leadership Forum, and in 2020 was awarded an Edmund Hillary Fellowship from New Zealand. Adam is married, with two (amazing) daughters, and two poorly behaved Labradoodles.

Hamid Hamidi

Limosa

Founder & CEO

Dr. Hamid Hamidi is a distinguished figure in the aerospace sector, harnessing a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering to fuel innovation. With dynamic leadership, he has contributed significantly to renowned industry players such as Bell Helicopter and Bombardier Aerospace, honing his expertise. As an enterprising visionary for over 20 years, he founded Limosa in June 2021 and spearheads Limosa’s dedicated team, pioneering LimoConnect—an all-electric Vertical and Conventional Take-off and Landing (eVTOL+eCTOL) aircraft that prioritizes often-overlooked human factors and user experiences. Driven by a profound commitment to sustainability, he is poised to revolutionize aerial transportation, embodying the fusion of technical acumen, leadership, and a forward-looking perspective.

Elan Head

The Air Current

Senior Editor

Elan Head is an award-winning journalist who is now senior editor at The Air Current, where she reports on emerging aviation technologies and sustainability topics. She is also an FAA Gold Seal flight instructor and commercially rated helicopter pilot with a special focus on vertical flight.

Michael Hillermeier

Volocopter

Director of Strategy, Business Development & Strategy

Michael leads the 2024 Volocopter commercial launch in Paris and Rome as Director of Strategy, Markets and Business Development. His responsibility is vast, ranging from sales, partnerships, sustainability, new market acquisition, and overall business strategy. In addition, he heads the company’s heavy-lift cargo drone program, the VoloDrone. He is one of the brightest minds at Volocopter responsible to shape its vision and business model, as part of the senior leadership decision making team. Trained in Industrial Engineering and Management, Michael held multiple strategic consulting and leadership positions prior to joining Volocopter in 2018.

Elias Kleimann

Wingtra

Co-Founder & Strategy / Investor Relations

2023 – ,Founder, Strategy and investor relation, Wingtra
2016 – 2023, Founder and CFO, Wingtra
2012 – ,Founder and owner of Café/Bar, Kleine Freiheit
5 Years, various business and finance roles, IBM

Education:
Bachelor: Business & Economics
Master in Economics discontinued to pursue Wingtra

Awards:
Forbs 30 under 30
2nd rank it Swiss Top 100 Startups

Catherine Kolimas Schorm

Goldman Sachs

Managing Director, Global Industrials Group, Investment Banking

Bio coming soon…

Eliot Lees

ICF International

Vice President, Aviation, Travel & Tourism

Eliot Lees is an air transportation specialist within ICF’s Aviation Travel & Tourism practice, specializing in sustainable aviation, electric aviation, and innovative airport project finance. He works with OEM’s, operators and lenders within the electric aviation space working on the practical issues involved in launching electric aviation: market sizing, pricing ownership costs and ground charging. He has also worked on the business planning for Vertiports. Mr. Lees is also actively involved in advising on the commercialization of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).
Mr. Lees has more than 30 years experience advising companies, investors, and lenders in making key investments in the aviation and transportation spaces. Eliot has an extensive background in aviation infrastructure privatization and aviation transaction advisory globally. He was involved in the launch of airport privatization, and routinely advises investors in airport transactions. Prior to becoming joining ICF, Eliot was an investment banker specializing in municipal and tax-exempt financing. He spent more than decade in various finance positions with leading New England financial institutions, including Vice President at Bank of New England in Boston, Massachusetts.

Max Liben

H3X Technologies

Co-Founder & CTO

Max is the Co-Founder and CTO of H3X Technologies, which builds the lightest integrated motor drives in the world for aviation and aerospace applications. At H3X, he is responsible for product architecture, electric motor design, and core technology development. He is a multidisciplinary engineer with a laser focus on physics fundamentals and deep knowledge in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and materials science. Max’s background includes holding key roles in electric vehicle modeling, powertrain architecture, and electric motor design in both the automotive and aerospace sectors. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is an alumnus of the Wisconsin Electric Machines and Power

Jim Lockheed

JetBlue Ventures

Investment Principal

Jim is a venture capital investor with JetBlue’s corporate venture arm where he focuses on travel (customer experience, tourism, hospitality, etc), commercial aviation (enterprise systems, airline operations & maintenance, loyalty, etc), and sustainability/climate tech (ESG, fuel sources, propulsion, new vehicles). His investments include Air Company, Beacon AI, Universal Hydrogen, Assaia, Frontdesk, Lacuna, i6, and 3Victors.

Jim is a former entrepreneur with passion for helping founders build companies. He founded one of the first commercial drone based services businesses in the Pacific Northwest after working for Boeing/Insitu and the US Air Force before that. He spent nearly 10 years working with unmanned aircraft systems including operating surveillance drones overseas and managing operations for DoD programs. Jim has an MBA from the University of Oregon and BS in Technical Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Chase Lookofsky

Supernal

Investment Manager

Investment manager at Supernal, accelerating the development of vehicle and ecosystem solutions through strategic investments in technology and operations which benefit the creation of the advanced air mobility market.

Before joining Hyundai’s UAM efforts, Chase was an officer in the United States Air Force most recently serving as the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Lead Systems Engineer for F-35 Production and F-22 Sustainment. Additionally, he held roles in strategic employment of space and missile technologies. Chase is a graduate of Texas A&M University with degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Finance.

Jon Lovegren

Wisk

Head of Autonomy

As Head of Autonomy, Jon is responsible for overseeing Wisk’s autonomy program and leading the engineering efforts, as well as the certification strategy for autonomy. Jon is also responsible for developing autonomy partnerships, as well as fostering discussions with national and international agencies and organizations to help progress our efforts and build mutual understanding regarding the safety and needs for autonomous flight. Jon has spent over a decade building highly talented teams and developing the flight critical software and algorithms that enable various types of vehicles to fly–all without a pilot. Most recently, Jon led flight software and simulation development at Vahana, an Airbus-backed eVTOL autonomous air taxi demonstrator. Prior to that, Jon led the flight controls and software team at Airware, building a flexible autopilot platform powering a variety of commercial fixed wing and helicopter UAS. Jon is passionate about aviation and is an airplane, helicopter, and paraglider pilot.

Apoorv Maheshwari

Ernst & Young

Senior Consultant, Emerging Mobility

As a technical consulting professional at Ernst & Young, Apoorv focuses on building strategies to enable adoption of emerging mobility solutions, such as Advanced Air Mobility, Connected Autonomous Vehicles, and Electric Vehicles. He is actively supporting multiple engagements with NASA, FAA, State DOTs and commercial clients to assess the impact of the aviation technologies on the evolution of aviation ecosystem. At EY, Apoorv also leads a global team developing a geospatial visualization and optimization tool, MobilityIO, aimed at supporting key stakeholders with AAM decision-making.

Apoorv obtained his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue University with a focus on utilizing Reinforcement Learning to optimize on-demand AAM operations. During his time at Purdue, he also led a foundational study with NASA Langley focused on the key drivers and barriers to large-scale AAM operations. Apoorv has been recognized as an expert in the AAM community and is a member of AIAA Air Transportation Systems Technical Committee and AAM Task Force.

David Merrill

Elroy Air

Co-Founder & CEO

Dave Merrill is the co-founder and CEO of Elroy Air, where he leads a team of kind, dedicated experts working to expand the reach of express logistics. Dave is a technology executive and startup founder with a background in computer science and robotic, interactive systems. Alumnus of MIT (Ph.D.) and Stanford Computer Science / Symbolic Systems (BS, MS), and TED speaker. Elroy Air is developing advanced, autonomous, safe vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) cargo aircraft systems in collaboration with NASA and the US Air Force. The company has been featured by Wired, Forbes, VentureBeat, The Verge, Aviation Week, TechCrunch, Business Insider, and eVTOL.

Val Miftakhov

ZeroAvia

Founder & CEO

Val Miftakhov, ZeroAvia Founder and CEO, is a serial cleantech entrepreneur who knows how to scale technology for use by existing transportation industries. Under Val’s leadership, ZeroAvia is helping to deliver a future of truly clean, guilt-free flight, with the company completing two world-first breakthrough flight demonstration programmes of its hydrogen-electric, zero-emission technology.

Val’s previous venture, eMotorWerks, developed smart vehicle-grid integration hardware and software, and was acquired in 2017. eMotorWerks’’ JuiceBox Smart EV charging station is the best selling product in its category in the United States for the last 5 years.

Before eMotorWerks, Val held executive business strategy & operations positions at Google, McKinsey & Company, and Nielsen. He also launched and managed three startup companies, in all of which he held the CTO positions. Prior to his industry experience, Val was a high energy physics researcher at Stanford Linear Accelerator, a Department of Energy facility.

Val received his PhD in Physics from Princeton University and his MS in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He was a two-time winner of the Nationwide Russian Physics Competitions. In whatever spare time he gets, Val tries to get good use out of his airplane and helicopter pilot licenses.

Nathan 'Nate' Millecam

Electric Power Systems

CEO

Nathan (Nate) Millecam has over 15 years of experience in the aerospace and aviation industries.
As CEO and Co-Founder of Electric Power Systems, Nate oversees and manages corporate strategic, developmental, and innovation efforts. His 16 years of experience combined with his extensive business knowledge make him an exceptional leader in the industry.
Nate began his professional career as a technology consultant for e-commerce businesses. After completing his M.B.A. at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, Honeywell Aerospace admitted him into its prestigious Leadership Development Program, where he served in a variety of capacities.
Nate gained an interest in electric propulsion while serving as the program manager for Honeywell’s 787 Flight Control Electronics Power System, which included lithium-ion battery systems. Later, he took on the role of product manager for Honeywell’s electric power systems portfolio, which consisted of generation, distribution, and conversion products.
His experience at Honeywell led him to take a position as the director of strategy and business development at International Rectifier. There, he led merger and acquisition efforts for high-reliability applications. After Infineon acquired International Rectifier, Nate served on the post-acquisition integration team. During this time, he integrated key processes such as sales, inventory, and operations planning; technology roadmap development; annual operation planning/budgeting; and long-term strategic business planning. He later became the director of business management for the high-reliability business unit, where he managed a $200 million portfolio. Products under this portfolio consisted of space-grade converters, power semiconductors, and battery management systems.
In 2016, Nate and Randy were given the opportunity to spin out many of the energy storage assets from Infineon. By collaborating efficiently and intelligently, they have been able to develop Electric Power Systems into a premier electric propulsion provider in numerous end markets.
Nate has a Bachelor of Science in business management from Utah Valley University and an M.B.A. from Arizona State University with an emphasis in operations and finance. He resides in Logan, Utah with his wife and 4 children. In his free time, he enjoys exercising, the outdoors, and spending time with his family.

Eric Mueller

Joby Aviation

Airspace Engineer

Eric Mueller is an airspace engineer at Joby Aviation, responsible for airspace matters related to the deployment of Joby’s aircraft and the operation of its transportation services.  Prior to joining Joby, Eric worked for three years on Uber’s Elevate team.  In that role he developed concepts, procedures, and technologies to allow for the safe and efficient simultaneous operation of high densities of aerial ridesharing aircraft and small UAS within the existing airspace system. Eric also worked at NASA’s Ames Research Center for 17 years leading research teams that developed automated air traffic management concepts and technologies for traditional aircraft, large unmanned aircraft systems, and small drones.  He received his PhD in aerospace engineering from Stanford University.

Alex Naiman

Merlin Labs

Chief technology Officer

Alex Naiman is the Chief Technology Officer at Merlin, where he leads the engineering team building the world’s most capable pilot to advance the future of automated flight. Prior to Merlin, Alex led perception system development at Acubed, the Silicon Valley innovation center of Airbus, to enable autonomy across aviation. During his time at Acubed, Alex and his team built deep learning-based computer vision software for applications including air traffic avoidance and landing guidance, which were successfully demonstrated in-flight on the Vahana eVTOL demonstrator and an A350 aircraft. Alex holds a PhD and MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and a BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.

Amanda Nelson

Bristow Group

Director, Strategic Relationships Advanced Air Mobility

Mandy Nelson was appointed to the role of Director of Strategic Relationships, AAM in January 2022. In this role she supports Bristow’s global AAM efforts through the development of strategic relationships with AAM partners, manufacturers, and other key global stakeholders.

Mandy has previously served as Bristow’s Director of Government Affairs focusing on AAM policy at both the state and federal levels. Mandy joined the Company in 2010 and, prior to the merger with Era Group, served in various commercial and managerial functions supporting legacy Era’s Alaska business units including oil and gas, tours, leasing and firefighting. Mandy is also a commercial pilot.

Joshua Ng

Alton Aviation Consultancy

Director

Joshua Ng leads Alton Aviation Consultancy’s technology and mobility practice from his base in Singapore. Joshua has significant experience working with OEMs, operators, investors, and infrastructure players in realizing the ambitions of the sector.

Joshua has significant expertise in business strategy development, market demand forecasting, supply chain management, operational performance improvement, transaction advisory, and financial modelling. Joshua advises clients across the aviation value chain, all of whom entrust Joshua to provide accurate and insightful analysis when developing and implementing their long term business plans.

Prior to joining Alton, Joshua began his career at ST Aerospace, and later joined the New York-based consulting team of ICF, where he was a key member in the aviation and aerospace practice.

Kevin Noertker

Ampaire

Co-Founder & CEO

Kevin Noertker is Co-Founder and CEO of Ampaire, an aerospace startup based in Los Angeles. Ampaire is on a mission to be the world’s most trusted developer of practical, compelling electric aircraft. The company is building commercial electric planes that are cleaner, quieter, and significantly less costly to operate.

Leading Ampaire enables Kevin to combine his technical and management skills with his entrepreneurial vision, love for the outdoors, and passion for things that fly. He graduated with honors from Caltech, and serves as a Director of the Alumni Association. Prior to Ampaire,

Kevin held positions of increasing responsibility in research and development and program management at Northrop Grumman, leading the development and deployment of advanced aircraft and satellite technologies. He has a proven track record for initiating and delivering innovative technical solutions, building and motivating teams, and optimizing systems. Kevin is committed to building communities and connecting the world.

Julia Norsetter, JD

Reed Smith

Transportation Policy Lead

Julia Norsetter is an attorney and Transportation Policy Lead at global law firm Reed Smith, LLP. She has been involved in “emerging entrants” in aviation for several years at the state and federal level, as well as in the private sector. As a legislative attorney for the state of Wisconsin, Julia developed state legislation in tandem with policymakers relating to use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), including issues such as airspace and zoning regulation. Subsequently, Julia joined the Federal Aviation Administration where she served in the policy office, working on policy issues relating to emerging entrants, including UAS, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), and surface technologies. Subsequently, Julia joined the law firm Reed Smith as part of its transportation practice. There, she has served in a lead role during the expansion of its AAM practice. She is now part of a team of aviation and transportation attorneys that have been providing lead advice on new entrants since 2015. This team of attorneys across U.S., Europe and Asia have served AAM clients in an array of capacities, including asset finance, regulatory, leasing transactions, and litigation.

David Norton

Shakelford, McKinley, Bowen & Norton

Partner

Scott O'Brien

Reliable Robotics

Vice President, Legislative Affairs

Scott O’Brien is Vice President, Legislative Affairs for Reliable Robotics. In this role, he advocates for public policies that will enable the certification and operation of aviation safety-enhancing technologies, including auto-land, auto-taxi, and auto-takeoff systems. Before joining Reliable, he was Senior Director  of Public Policy and Advocacy at the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), where he advocated  for the safety, efficiency, and acceptance of business aviation before members of Congress, federal  regulators, and state legislators.

During his tenure, Scott formulated a successful legislative strategy for NBAA’s Advanced Air Mobility  Roundtable, including Congressional passage of the Advanced Aviation Infrastructure Modernization Act. He also regularly represented NBAA before the Treasury Department, IRS, and state legislatures on aviation tax policy issues.

At NBAA, O’Brien led an industry coalition that secured Congressional passage of a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act  provision eliminating a major source of federal excise tax uncertainty that threatened many aircraft management companies and air charter operators. He also worked closely with general aviation stakeholders on the passage of the 2018 FAA Reauthorization bill. Earlier in his career, O’Brien was with the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), where he was responsible for managing special projects  related to the association’s bi-annual Board of Governors meetings.

Scott is a graduate of Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, and is a private pilot.

Mark Page

JetZero

Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Mark is the Founder of JetZero and its Chief Technology Officer. As a McDonnell Douglas program manager, he led a three-year NASA funded initiative to investigate a commercial BWB. This groundbreaking research led the BWB concept being embraced by the aerospace industry as a viable path for future airliners and to subsequent research at NASA and elsewhere. He shares credit with Dr. Bob Liebeck and Blaine Rawdon as the inventors of the modern blended wing body.  At Swift Engineering, he designed a range of unmanned air vehicles including a Blended Wing drone that was sold to Northrop Grumman.  The Northrop “Bat” served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He founded DZYNE Technologies in 2012 where research into the BWB concept continued for NASA. JetZero was spun out of DZYNE to take BWB concepts from the R&D stage to the market. 

Jon Petersen

Archer

VP of Data Science

Jon Petersen is Archer’s VP of Data Science. In his role, he leads his team as it utilizes optimization and data science to plan for, and eventually operate, Archer’s fleet of eVTOL’s which will enable urban air mobility in the near future. Prior to joining Archer, Jon held several leadership positions across the aviation industry. Most recently, he was Principal Data Scientist at GE Aviation where he applied his research to aviation planning and operations. Jon has also managed teams for Uber Elevate and Taleris. He earned a B.S. of Science and Economics from the University of Minnesota, and MS in Operations Research and Ph.D in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

John Piasecki

Piasecki Aircraft

President & CEO

John W. Piasecki is President & CEO of Piasecki Aircraft Corp., a pioneering flight research company focused on development and demonstration of advanced rotorcraft and unmanned aerial vehicle platforms and technologies for military and commercial applications. Over his 30+ year career in the rotorcraft industry, Mr. Piasecki has focused on corporate strategy, requirements and program development and management oversight of the company’s programs, including flight demonstration of the X-49A high speed compound helicopter, Turais air-launched UAS flight demonstration, Air Guard flight demonstration of the world’s first autonomous autogyro, and KlearPath flight demonstration of the World’s first fully autonomous man-rated helicopter. Current focus areas include development of the ARES modular multi-mission VTOL UAS, adaptive flight control research, collaborative developments in hybrid and hydrogen electric propulsion, and development of the PA-890 hydrogen fuel cell powered eVTOL. Mr. Piasecki is the 2021 recipient of the Vertical Flight Society’s prestigious Paul E. Haueter Award for outstanding contributions to the field of Vertical Take Off and Landing aircraft development. John serves as the elected At Large Director and Vice Chairman of the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC), an industry wide organization formed with the Dept. of Defense as a primary interface for the advancement of vertical lift technologies for the US Military. John also serves as a Trustee of the Foreign Policy Research Institute focusing on national security issues. John graduated in 1989 from Yale University with a B.A. degree in Political Science (with Distinction), and is an FAA certified fixed wing pilot.

Chris Proudlove

Global Aerospace

Senior Vice President, Underwriting Executive Product, Development & UAS

Chris Proudlove joined Global Aerospace in 2005 and led the General Aviation team in London before transitioning to the US Home Office in 2011. Chris’ current role is Senior Vice President, Underwriting Executive, Product Development & UAS, based in New Jersey. In this role, Chris has led the development team for Global’s unmanned and emerging technology underwriting strategy and product development. Prior to joining Global Aerospace, Chris spent 20 years in the London market with a focus on international special risks.
As author of Global Aerospace’s white papers on UAS risks, panelist and presenter at numerous conferences and seminars and contributor to dozens of articles, Chris is widely respected as an industry expert on unmanned insurance, risk management and safety. Chris is the founding Chairman of the Unmanned Aircraft System Insurance Association (UASIA) and a member of the NBAA Emerging Technology committee.

Marcelo Rajchamn

Ecocopter

CEO

Marcelo is the Corporate CEO of Ecocopter (https://www.ecocopter.com/) a renowned helicopter operator in South America, managing a fleet of 23 Airbus helicopters for various sectors, including mining, firefighting, ambulance services, energy, telecom, and tourism.
Additionally, he is a Co-founder of Ecodrones (https://ecodrones.cl/) and holds a position on the board of Automapp Cloud . Ecodrones specializes in drone operations for the forestry, mining, construction, and inspection industries. Meanwhile, Automapp Cloud (https://www.automapp.cloud/) offers cutting-edge software solutions that streamline the digitization of critical industrial assets for drone operators.
Beyond his corporate engagements, Marcelo is also a distinguished university professor of Strategy at Adolfo Ibañez University.
Before assuming his current roles, he gained valuable experience as a consultant at PwC.
Marcelo’s diverse career has taken him across several countries, where he has lived and worked in Uruguay, Israel, Ireland, and Chile. He studied finance and business administration at ORT University Uruguay and later pursued his MBA at Adolfo Ibañez University in Chile. He also participated in the executive program at Singularity University.

Garrett Reim

Aviation Week Network

Space & Emerging Technologies Editor

Based in the Seattle area, Garrett covers the space sector and advanced technologies that are shaping the future of aerospace and defense, including space startups, advanced air mobility and artificial intelligence. Prior to joining Aviation Week, he wrote about military aircraft manufacturers and operators in the Americas at FlightGlobal. Garrett’s work before aerospace reporting includes experience writing about technology companies and several years working within an American CNC mill and lathe manufacturer. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Pepperdine University.

Robin Riedel

McKinsey & Company

Partner

Robin is an Partner in McKinsey’s San Francisco office. He joined the firm in 2010 and is a leader in the Firm’s Travel, Logistics & Infrastructure practice, Aerospace & Defense practice and the McKinsey Center for the Future of Mobility. He leads the Disruptive Aerospace sector for McKinsey, including UAV/UAS, AAM/UAM, supersonic/hypersonic and sustainability aviation.
Recent Experience
▪ Assessing the business plans of multiple drone and eVTOLplayers for investors, including commercial and technical diligence
▪ Developing the digital operating platform strategy and requirements for an eVTOLplayer
▪ Evaluating the future air mobility market opportunities for multiple infrastructure players
▪ Understanding public perception of UAV and UAM for a major aviation regulator
▪ Developing a strategic assessment on the evolving UAM and UAS markets for an ANSP
▪ Developing the entry into “future of aviation segments” strategies for multiple aerospace and automotive OEMs
▪ Leading our proprietary internal research on future air mobility, including market sizing, cost modelling and network design
▪ Published a range of perspectives on future air mobility
▪
Standing up a digital factory at a large aerospace player to transform its services business
▪ Broadly transforming of the overall business of multiple air carriers, covering operations, commercial and headquarters areasaswell as overall organisation, culture and stakeholder management
▪ Developing the strategy and supported the execution of a large aviation services provider into adjacent segments
▪
Developing the services strategy for aerospace players, including market, capability assessment and inorganic growth market scans
Background
Prior to joining McKinsey Robin held multiple department head roles at a major airline, both in the commercial and operations branches. He received a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and a Master of Science in Aeronautics & Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is also a certified airline pilot on the Airbus A320 series

Chris Rocheleau

NBAA

Chief Operating Officer

Chris Rocheleau serves as the association’s chief operating officer, overseeing NBAA’s activities relating to aircraft and flight department operations, emerging technologies, as well as the administrative, financial and human resources functions. He joined the NBAA leadership team in 2022.
Prior to joining NBAA, Rocheleau served the FAA with distinction for over 20 years in multiple roles including acting associate administrator for aviation safety, chief of staff, assistant administrator for policy, international affairs and environment, executive director for international affairs and director of the office of emergency operations and investigations.
Before joining the agency, he served as an officer and special agent with the United States Air Force, retiring from the USAF Reserve in 2010 as a lieutenant colonel. He was also among the first leaders of the Transportation Security Administration.
Rocheleau holds a bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University and a Master of Public Administration from City University of Seattle. He also completed the Executive National Security Program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and USAF Air Command and Staff College.

Robert Rose

Reliable Robotics

Co-Founder & CEO

Robert W. Rose is the Co-founder and CEO of Reliable Robotics. Robert’s deep engineering experience spans over 20 years across aerospace, self-driving cars and robotics. Prior to co-founding Reliable Robotics, in his role as Director of Flight Software at SpaceX, Robert was responsible for flight, ground, simulation and data management software, successfully launching and operating the first 10 Falcon-9 rockets, 5 Dragon spacecraft and Grasshopper VTVL tests. He led the development of the onboard flight software for the first commercial mission to the International Space Station, for which he received special recognition from NASA.

At Tesla, Robert brought to market the first consumer automobile with fully unassisted self-driving capability. He led the team through developing novel computer vision, human-machine interfaces and controls technologies, resulting in the successful deployment of Autopilot 1.0 and the 7.0 version of Tesla’s instrument panel. At Google [X], Robert led a team working on a secret project combining AI techniques with practical robotic systems to bring advanced machine perception and manipulation technologies to large vehicles. Earlier in his career, Robert contributed to three “Game of the Year” award-winning titles during his time at Sony Playstation, and worked at Hewlett-Packard Co. as a software engineer.

Robert is a Presidential Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS), holds multiple patents, a B.S. in Computer Science, a B.S. in Computer Engineering, and an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Oregon State University.

Christopher Ruud

DeltaHawk

Owner & CEO

Ruud holds an executive master’s in business administration degree from Loyola University and received his Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and mathematics from Pepperdine University.

An active member of the Racine community, Ruud is President of the Ruud Family Foundation, serves on the board of advisors for Forward Racine, the board of directors for Pepperdine University and the board of directors and executive committee for The Prairie School.

Ruud is currently the CEO of DeltaHawk Engines in Racine, WI, successfully having certified and launched the first new piston based engine design in more than 6o years through the Federal Aviation Administration.

Ruud was the President of Ruud Lighting which later was sold to Cree.  Ruud is also a board member and investor  in The Attillio Group, Armis Biopharma and an active investor in several other businesses around the country.

Chris is married with three children. Jacob, Zachary and Caitlyn.  Chris and his wife Chantil also  own and manage a business importing and training horses out of Ocala, FL in their spare time.

Chris’ hobbies include being a private pilot and golf but his favorite hobby is racing cars.  Chris is a member of the Ferrari Corse Clienti group where he travels to racetracks worldwide to drive some of his cars.

Balkiz Sarihan

Airbus

CEO & Head of Urban Air Mobility

Balkiz Sarihan leads Airbus’ Urban & Advanced Air Mobility,
with a focus on developing the market, industry, business, and
service ecosystem to develop advanced air mobility solutions.
Airbus is shaping the future of AAM/UAM with its vehicle
CityAirbus NextGen as well as investments in key
technologies as part of its decarbonisation roadmap.
Sarihan combines elements from a diverse career in
Programme, Operations, Business, and Strategic roles in both
North America and Europe, with the ability to translate vision
into a shared path of execution. With a customer-centric focus,
she is a believer in business with a purpose, a creator of
connections, and a constant collaborator.
Sarihan is a proven business builder with previous successes in setting up and leading green field ventures through concept to delivery and execution. These include classic businesses such as aircraft leasing and digital platform ecosystems to build the next generation advanced medical systems. Previously, she led Business Development, Operations and Commercial activities at Vector Aerospace in Canada for close to eight years before joining Airbus Helicopters in 2015.
Sarihan holds an Executive MBA from Simon Fraser University following her Bachelor of Commerce from the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Dennis Scott

ARC Aerosystems

Supply Chain Director

Dennis holds an MSc. from Lancaster University and is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has over 40 years of experience gained at many aerospace OEMs and tier 1 suppliers across the industry.

Military aircraft projects have ranged from fighters, trainers, tactical airlifters to attack and transport helicopters, whilst commercial projects have included regional turboprop and jet aircraft, and long-range Airbus and Boeing products. Dennis also supported Rolls-Royce on the BR710/715 engine programmes.

Dennis was Head of Engineering/DOA at Dunlop Aerospace (now Meggitt/Parker), and also at PFW GmbH (now Hutchinson), holding delegated design authority for structures and systems from Airbus (AP1020).

Dennis spent 9 years as ass. Chief Designer at COMAC in China, supporting the design, development, and certification of the ARJ-21, C919 and CR929 commercial aircraft programmes. He also provided guidance to the COMAC leadership on the technical and capability development of COMAC, providing best practice training to all levels of the business. The coordination of the international supply chain played an important part of his role. During his time in China, Dennis was presented with the China Friendship Award, and was a visiting professor at a leading university.

Upon returning to Europe, Dennis has supported new aircraft development projects, and is thrilled to join ARC Aerosystems as Director: Supply Chain.

Pamir Sevincel

Blackbird

Managing Director

Pamir Sevincel is the Managing Partner of Blackbird, a boutique early-stage startup consultancy based in London. At Blackbird, Pamir primarily supports aerospace, deep tech, and software companies with 3 key aspects of scaling a business: 1) strategy development, 2) capital-raising success, and 3) software product development. Blackbird’s unique network of associates are brought in on a project-basis to flexibly create the best teams around the world, delivering highly customized services to startups. Some of the firms that he has worked with include NEOM, UP.Partners, AirMap, NASA, the EU, Flock, Talyn Air, Bell, Estonian Air Navigation Services, North Carolina Department of Transportation & more. Pamir’s deep experience working both with startups and private equity firms consolidated through his multidisciplinary approach enables him to advise firms on successful capital-raising, go-to-market strategies, and data science-based modeling for market intelligence.

Pamir is also a Venture Partner at Quartz Capital, a multi-stage venture capital firm investing in B2B enterprise SaaS. UiPath, Palantir, Confluent, Samsara, Klarna, Kraken, Intercom & co are among the companies that the firm has invested in since its inception.

Andre Stein

EVE Air Mobility

Chief Strategy Officer

Stein has 25 years of experience in aerospace. He is a co-founder of EmbraerX, Embraer’s market accelerator, and he has been the leader of Embraer’s Urban Air Mobility initiative since its inception and EmbraerX’s Head of Strategy.

Before assuming his role at EmbraerX he led Embraer’s Commercial Aviation Product and Market Strategy he was responsible for the E175+ product definition and go-to-market strategy, raising Embraer market share in the US regional aircraft market from less than 50% to over 80%, and for new E-Jets E2 family of commercial jets, from the very first business case to its first aircraft delivery, winning multiple international awards. He also sponsored Embraer first R&D initiatives in Electric and Autonomous Aviation.
Previously Stein led Embraer strategic marketing efforts in Asia Pacific that resulted in Embraer first commercial and executive jets sales in the region and restructure Embraer commercial aircraft sales in Latin America bringing Embraer from almost no participation to the absolute market leadership in the region.

Stein hails from the Kellogg School of Management and is a Mechanical Engineer from Unicamp. He is an avid traveler who is passionate about mobility and has accumulate multicultural experience from living and working in Australia, Singapore, Silicon Valley and Brazil.

Sonny Tahiliani

RTX Ventures @ Raytheon Technologies

Executive Director & Technology Lead

Sonny works for RTX Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Raytheon Technologies (180K+ employees, split between comm’l aviation & space, and defense, 2023 estimated revenue of $72.5B).
Prior to joining RTX in 2019 he was head of capital investment, North America for the UK government at the British Consulate in New York City. Additionally, he spent four years in venture capital as managing director for a large angel group (75+) where he structured tech. investments and assumed board & interim operating roles at portfolio companies. Before then, he was a senior research analyst on the buy-side, investing for BMO (AUM $250B) for five years. Ahead of transitioning into the financial sector, he was an entrepreneur for seven years in defense & commercial avionics, exiting by acquisition. He began his career as a machine learning avionics engineer for four years in 1997, after interning with the Federal Aviation Administration.
Education: B.Sc. Electrical Eng., B.Sc. Aerospace Eng., M.A. Political & Economic History, M.Sc. Technology & Strategy Leadership

Stanley Tran

United Airlines Ventures

Corporate Development

Stan Tran is a Senior Manager at United Airlines Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund started by United Airlines to invest in emerging companies and technologies that have potential to influence and advance travel, with a focus on sustainability concepts complementing United Airlines’ net zero emissions goal. Additionally, Stan was on the international network planning team at United where he worked on transatlantic capacity strategy and new route launches. Prior to joining United, Stan spent 7 years in leveraged finance: 4 years on the buy-side covering high yield debt investments in the aviation and technology sectors, and 3 years in banking. Stan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University.

Bill Tolpegin

AURA Network Systems

CEO

A 30-year veteran of the telecommunications industry, Bill Tolpegin is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AURA, driving implementation of the company’s transformative mission to provide aviation and critical infrastructure sectors with a dedicated commercial communications network designed to exceed the gold standards of safety, security and reliability.
Known for his progressive leadership in Fortune 1000 companies and wireless operations, Bill utilized decades of experience in financial planning and analysis of entrepreneurial technology-based firms to develop AURA’s market proposition and business case, raising significant capital from some of the country’s most successful investors. In addition to his roles in starting and securing funding for several firms, he has also been intricately involved in some of the nation’s most significant spectrum repurposing efforts.
Prior to cofounding AURA, Bill was CEO of the C-Band Alliance (CBA), leading efforts to unleash crucial mid-band frequencies to advance next-generation technologies and help ensure that all communities across America are beneficiaries. Under his leadership, the CBA secured almost $10 billion to compensate the satellite industry for relinquishing needed mid-band airwaves
to spur 5G deployment.
Before his CBA tenure, Bill cofounded and served as CEO of OTA Broadcasting, a nationwide group of television stations that was instrumental in policy development for the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) first-ever incentive auction. He spearheaded partnerships with both buyer and seller auction participants, emphasizing unique market opportunities which ultimately led to greater utility of vital spectrum resources. Under his leadership, OTA generated more than $450 million from tendering the spectrum-usage rights
of 10 broadcast stations.
In addition to his CEO roles, Bill has held numerous financial and corporate development positions at a wide range of satellite, internet and wireless companies, including ICO Global Communications, EarthLink, OneMain.com, Globalstar and Space Systems/Loral. He earned a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Luuk van Dijk

Daedalean AI

Founder & CEO

CEO & Founder of Daedalean, a startup developing flight control software for autonomous flight, with the eventual goal to create an AI pilot that will measurably outperform human pilots in all their functions. Currently, Daedalean is working with regulators, leading aerospace manufacturers, and major eVTOL companies to test and certify the first Machine Learning based sensor systems for guidance, navigation, and flight control.
Ph.D. in Physics (UvA, RuG), previously held Senior Software Engineering positions at Google Zürich and SpaceX, where he worked on infrastructure, flight software, and machine learning projects, among others.

Damon Vander Lind

Magpie Aviation

CEO

Damon Vander Lind is the co-founder and CEO of Magie Aviation, which is enabling long-range flights with truly zero emissions. Damon has 15 years of experience in developing electric aircraft. He founded and managed Kittyhawk’s Heaviside project, a single-seat, high-performance electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL), which set the range and speed records prior to 2021. Before this, he was Chief Engineer at Makani Power which developed airborne wind turbines capable of generating up to 600kW, enough to power about 300 homes.
In 2012, Damon helped to sell Makani to Google, and he continued to manage the team within Google after the acquisition.

Richard Wang

Cuberg

CEO & Founder

Richard Wang is the Founder and CEO at Cuberg, a startup commercializing a next-generation lithium metal battery that delivers a generational improvement in battery performance. In 2021, Cuberg was acquired by Northvolt to commercialize this technology and serve as Northvolt’s Advanced Technology Center in Silicon Valley. While at Cuberg, Richard raised $16M in private investment and grant funding from Northvolt, Boeing, the California Energy Commission, the Department of Energy, and others. Richard graduated with his PhD in materials science & engineering from Stanford in 2016, where his research with Prof. Yi Cui was supported by the NDSEG and NSF graduate research fellowships. He graduated with a BS in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2011 and was selected for the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy in 2017 and for the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2022.

Bryan Willows

Bristow Group

Program Manager – Advanced Air Mobility

Bryan Willows became the Program Manager for Bristow’s Advanced Air Mobility team in March 2022. In this role, Bryan is responsible for strategic planning and introduction of Bristow’s eVTOL/eSTOL fleet and AW609 fleet in new and existing markets. Additionally, he advises Bristow’s external partners and Executive Leadership Team on technical aviation matters.
Before joining the Advanced Air Mobility team, Bryan worked as the Powered-Lift Program Manager, focusing on the launch of the AW609 at Era Helicopters and Bristow Group. Prior to joining Era in 2019, Bryan earned an MBA from the Acton School of Business in Austin, TX in 2012 and served in various roles with Johnson Controls Building Efficiency division from 2013-2019. From 2001-2011 Bryan served as a U.S. Marine Corps Officer flying the CH-46E “Sea Knight” and MV-22B “Osprey” pilot, deploying twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He holds ratings as an Airline Transport Pilot – Helicopter, Commercial – Powered-lift, Single and Multi-engine Airplane pilot, and is a Powered-Lift CFI/CFII.

Porter Wong

Hydroplane

Business Development

Mr. Wong is a seasoned technology executive with over 20 years of experience. He is the head of Business Development at Hydroplane. He is also a limited partner of Network VC, which invests in seed and series A startups. Mr. Wong is a Mentor Co-Chair of CleanTech Open Western Region and a Mentor of Plug and Play Tech Center, the U.S. National Lab Entrepreneurship Academy. He is also a jury member of Smart Cities Startup Innovation Challenges of the Starventure of the EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development). Mr. Wong is on the Advisory Board of several deep tech startups. He was a member of the Ontario, Canada PV Caucus. Mr. Wong served as of the IEEE Computer Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter. Prior to Hydroplane, he worked for four successful technology startups, two went IPO and two were acquired by Fortune 500 companies.