Team

Management Team

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Dennis Muilenburg, CEO & Chairman of the Board

Mr. Muilenburg has been the Chairman of our board of directors and our Chief Executive Officer since December 2020. Mr. Muilenburg has more than 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defense sector, with extensive leadership, global business, and engineering responsibilities.

Most recently, Mr. Muilenburg was President and Chief Executive Officer from 2015 to 2019 and Chairman of the board of directors from 2016 to 2019 at The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) (“Boeing”). Starting at the company as an engineering intern in 1985, Mr. Muilenburg’s multi-decade career has spanned a wide array of Boeing’s global customer base as well as the company’s extensive operations, supply chain, acquisitions, and stakeholder sets.

As Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Muilenburg developed and implemented an enterprisewide initiative to drive leadership, culture, safety, quality, growth and productivity – delivering strong results for the company’s customers and stakeholders. Under Mr. Muilenburg’s leadership, Boeing’s stock price increased significantly, its market capitalization doubled and annual revenue exceeded $100 billion for the first time in company history. On the operational front, Boeing launched a new integrated services business combining commercial and defense capabilities (Boeing Global Services), achieved record commercial airplane production and deliveries, won several defense and space franchise programs, won the Campbell award for workplace safety, built vertical capabilities in targeted areas, developed next generation digital engineering and manufacturing systems, and helped drive supply chain optimization. On the growth front, Boeing made significant research and development investments, launched Boeing HorizonX — an innovation arm focused on external start-up investments in high growth areas (including 19 publicly announced investments during Mr. Muilenburg’s tenure in areas such as advanced air mobility, autonomy, AI, hypersonic propulsion, cybersecurity, computing, satellite constellation, and advanced materials), and launched Boeing NeXt — an innovation arm focused on organic and inorganic investments in high-growth areas. Resulting partnerships included Kitty Hawk (advanced air mobility), Adient (interiors), and SparkCognition / Skygrid (AI for autonomous systems), and acquisitions included Aurora Flight Sciences, Liquid Robotics, KLX, Millennium Space Systems, and Foreflight.

Prior to his tenure as Chief Executive Officer at Boeing, Mr. Muilenburg served in a number of leadership, management, and engineering roles, including as Vice Chairman, President and Chief Operating Officer of Boeing, and President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, among others. He has overseen and helped drive the development of a multitude of next-generation military and commercial technologies, including Future Combat Systems, the proposed Joint Strike Fighter and Air Traffic Management. He also held program management and engineering positions, including with the F-22, Airborne Laser, High Speed Civil Transport, and Condor reconnaissance aircraft programs, among others.

Mr. Muilenburg also served as a member of the Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) board of directors from 2011 to 2020, chairman of the Aerospace Industries Association board of governors, an executive committee member of the Business Roundtable, a member of the National Space Council’s User Advisory Group, a member of the U.S.-China Business Council, a member of the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation board of directors, a member of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) board of directors, and as a trustee of Washington University, the National World War II Museum, and Northwestern University.

Mr. Muilenburg received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and an honorary doctor of science degree from Iowa State University, as well as a master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Washington. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Royal Aeronautical Society, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the inaugural Innovator in Residence at Iowa State University, and a distinguished fellow for aerospace, mobility, and manufacturing at the Saint Louis University Research Institute.

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Kirsten Bartok Touw, Co-President, COO, & Director

Ms. Bartok Touw has been our Co-President and Chief Operating Officer and a member of our board of directors since December 2020. She is the founder and managing partner of AirFinance, which has sourced, structured, diligenced and serviced more than $1.2 billion in financing across a variety of structured products to aerospace companies, their suppliers, and their customers globally since 2008.

Ms. Bartok Touw has also been an active early-stage investor in new and emerging advanced air mobility, or AAM, technologies through AirFinance’s Venture Capital arm. She has sourced, diligenced and executed early stage investments in AI, machine learning, computer vision, autonomy, Urchin Tracking Module, data analytics, drones, vertical take-off and landing aircraft, electrification and battery technology. Ms. Bartok Touw is also an active advisor to many AAM startups and a frequent speaker on the topic of the intersection of AAM and finance. She was named to Corporate Jet Investor’s “Power List” in 2015 as one of the industry’s top 10 innovators and is currently the only woman on the list.

Prior to AirFinance, from 2009 to 2012, Ms. Bartok Touw was Vice President, Structured Finance & Corporate Development at Hawker Beechcraft Corporation, where she helped lead the company’s expansion into Asia, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and sales financing. Prior to Hawker, from 2005 to 2008, Ms. Bartok Touw co-founded XOJET, Inc., serving on its board and as Chief Financial Officer, where she raised and structured more than $1.5 billion of equity and debt financing.

Before co-founding XOJET, Inc., Ms. Bartok Touw spent over 12 years in private equity and venture capital at Alpine Investors and JPMorgan Partners/Chase Capital Partners technology team. Ms. Bartok Touw began her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an Master’s in Business Administration from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, or GSB. She also serves on Stanford’s GSB Management Board and on the National Business Aviation Association’s Advisory Council.

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Travis Nelson, Co-President, CFO, & Director

Mr. Nelson has been our Co-President and Chief Financial Officer and a member of our board of directors since December 2020. He has also served as the Managing Member of Eclipse Investors, an independent investment management firm, since 2018. Under his leadership, Eclipse Investors has completed a number of investments including investments in Horizon Global (NYSE: HZN) and Specialty Welding & Turnarounds.

Prior to Eclipse, Mr. Nelson served as a Managing Director at TowerBrook Capital Partners L.P., or TowerBrook, from 2005 until 2018 and currently serves as a member of TowerBrook’s Management Advisory Board. While at TowerBrook, Mr. Nelson served on the investment committee of TowerBrook’s first Structured Opportunities Fund, or TSO I, with aggregate capital commitments of approximately $850 million, as of November 2015, and he actively worked on sourcing, evaluating, negotiating, structuring and monitoring investments for TSO I and TowerBrook’s control-oriented investment funds. While he was at the firm, TowerBrook’s assets under management reached in excess of $7 billion as of December 31, 2017, and Mr. Nelson played material roles in respect of numerous investments and has served on the board of directors of multiple portfolio companies, including those of Broadlane, BevMo, Rave Cinemas, True Religion, FloWorks, Vistage and J.Jill. Mr. Nelson remains a director of J.Jill Inc. (NYSE: JILL), where he served on the board since 2015 and remained on the board through J.Jill’s initial public offering in 2017. During his tenure at TowerBrook, Mr. Nelson led or participated in recruiting a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer or one or more other key executives into every portfolio company for which he served as a director.

Prior to joining TowerBrook, Mr. Nelson co-founded Pacific Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in software as a service businesses, and served as a Managing Director there from 2000 to 2005. At Pacific Partners, Mr. Nelson led the sourcing, diligence, negotiating, and structuring of venture capital investments in six companies (Jamcracker, BigMachines, Apexon, QuantumShift, Velosel and GetActive), investing in rounds alongside of other venture firms such as Accel Partners, Mayfield Fund, Foundation Capital, and Menlo Ventures.

Prior to Pacific Partners, Mr. Nelson served as an investment professional at Oak Hill Capital Management and Freeman Spogli & Co., working on private investments in a wide range of companies, and served as a consultant to the Chief Executive Officer of NetJets. Mr. Nelson began his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Nelson received a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Board of Directors

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Marion Blakey, Director

From 2015 to 2018, Ms. Blakey was the President and Chief Executive Officer of RollsRoyce North America, where she helped lead a major investment in the Indianapolis site, oversaw the opening of a new California research and technology facility and helped create an environment conducive to growing Rolls-Royce’s business base. Prior to joining Rolls-Royce, from 2007 to 2015, Ms. Blakey was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aerospace Industries Association for eight years, providing a leading voice for the aerospace and defense industry and representing more than 270 member companies.

From 2002 to 2007, Ms. Blakey served as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) where she operated the world’s largest air traffic control system and managed approximately 44,000 employees and a $14 billion budget. Prior to this, she held several senior-level positions including Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and led her own private consulting firm specializing in transportation and infrastructure issues. Ms. Blakey previously served on the President’s Export Council Subcommittee on Export Administration, the Washington Area Airports Task Force Advisory Board and the International Aviation Women’s Association Advisory Board.

Ms. Blakey is a member of the board of directors of the Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK), the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Advisory Board and Noblis Board of Trustees. She also serves as an advisor to multiple aerospace start-up companies. Ms. Blakey received a bachelor’s degree from Mary Washington College at the University of Virginia.

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Gen. Stephen Wilson, Ret., Director

Gen. Wilson is a retired 4-star U.S. Air Force General with over 39 years of military service. General Wilson has extensive operational experience including commanding the largest Wing in the Middle East and commanding and reinvigorating America’s nuclear Bombers and Missile forces in Global Strike Command before assuming his duties as the 39th Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force. As the Vice Chief, he was responsible for organizing, training and equipping over 685,000 active duty, National Guard and reserve airmen, directing strategy, policy, acquisition, technology, personnel and risk management. He served on the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, setting the acquisition requirements for the U.S. Department of Defense, or DoD, and oversaw the planning, programming, budgeting and execution of the Air Force’s $205 billion annual budget for fiscal year 2020. General Wilson was considered a driving force for embracing both new technologies and innovation to include the startup of AFWERX, a U.S Air Force program which expands technology, talent and transition partnerships for rapid and affordable commercial and military capabilities. In 2020, AFWERX was named in Fast Company’s “100 Best Workplaces for Innovators in America” list. His many awards and decorations include three Defense Service Medals, the Defense Superior Service Medal, two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars and two Air Medals.

General Wilson is a command pilot with over 4,500 flight hours that includes nearly 700 combat hours. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University and the U.S. Air Force Weapons School. He holds two Master’s degrees — one in Engineering Management from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and one in Strategic Studies from Air University.

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Howard Lance, Director

Mr. Lance was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Maxar Technologies (previously MDA) from 2016 to 2019. Maxar is a provider of advanced space technology solutions for government and commercial customers including satellites, robotics, defense systems, geospatial imagery, analytics and services. He led the company’s acquisition of DigitalGlobe, Inc in 2017. Mr. Lance was Executive Advisor at Blackstone Group’s private equity business from 2012 to 2016 covering industries such as aerospace, industrial, healthcare and technology. From 2003 to 2011, Mr. Lance was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Harris Corporation (now L3Harris Technologies), a global provider of communications and information technology products, software, systems and services to government, defense and commercial markets.

Prior to Harris Corporation, Mr. Lance served as President of NCR Corporation, and CoChief Operating Officer of its Retail and Financial Group from 2001 to 2002. Previously, he spent 17 years with Emerson Electric Company including as Executive Vice President of its Electronics and Telecommunications group and Chief Executive Officer of its Astec PLC subsidiary based in Hong Kong. Mr. Lance earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering with honors from Bradley University and an MBA at the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University.

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Christopher Lofgren, Director

Dr. Lofgren currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the board of directors of International Monetary Express, Inc., an emerging growth public FinTech company. Dr. Lofgren is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Schneider National, Inc., or Schneider, a provider of transportation and logistics services, from 2002 to 2019. Dr. Lofgren was the first non-family CEO of the company, founded in 1935, and led the initial public offering in 2017. Before becoming CEO, Dr. Lofgren served as Chief Operating officer for the corporation, President of their logistics sector, and Chief Information Officer. His career at Schneider was marked by advancing the development and integration of technology, as well as application of data analytics and optimization technologies, to enhance business performance.

Prior to Schneider, Dr. Lofgren held positions at Symantec Corporation, where he led software engineering at one of their divisions; Motorola, Inc., at their corporate manufacturing research center; and CAPS Logistics, running business development and client services for boutique optimization software applications in the logistics industry. Previously, Dr. Lofgren served on the board of directors of CA Technologies and as a director of the American Trucking Association. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in industrial and management engineering from Montana State University, and a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from The Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2009, Dr. Lofgren was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering.

Advisors

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Chris Cassidy

Mr. Cassidy is a U.S. Navy SEAL and former NASA Chief Astronaut. Cassidy was selected as an astronaut in 2004 and is a veteran of three space flights and ten space walks. Prior to his selection to NASA, Captain Cassidy led SEALs in four six-month deployments. He served as Executive Officer and Operations Officer of Special Boat Team Twenty, and SEAL platoon commander at SEAL Team THREE and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team TWO.

Cassidy has been awarded a Bronze Star with combat ‘V,’ a second Bronze Star for combat leadership service in Afghanistan and a Presidential Unit Citation. Additionally, he finished the 2014 Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona, Hawaii and biked across the Trans-Amazonian Highway in 2016. Captain Cassidy is a graduate of the U.S. Navy Academy at Annapolis and holds a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology along with an Honorary Ph.D. from Husson College.

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Mung Chiang

Mung Chiang is the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University. He was previously the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering and the inaugural Chairman of Princeton Entrepreneurship Council at Princeton University.

In 2020, he took a leave from Purdue University to serve as the Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State. He led the effort in U.S. technology diplomacy, including 5G, semiconductors, AI, and digital freedom, and in science and technology cooperation with like-minded countries in big data, quantum computing, and aerospace manufacturing supply chain.

Since 2017, he has led Purdue Engineering to become the largest top-10 engineering college in the U.S., with over 14,000 students and around 500 professors. He led the first $1B fund-raising campaign by a public engineering college and created the largest academic facility at the university, while new records were set in online learning, research awards, patents granted, startups created. In particular, he launched the Purdue Cislunar Initiative and the Zucrow Aerospace District, including the nation’s first Mach 8 quiet wind tunnel, the largest propulsion lab in the U.S., a drone testing facility converted from an airport hanger, a NASAfunded lunar habitat test-bed, and a SAAB manufacturing site for Air Force fighter jets.

Chiang’s research in wireless communications and networked control systems received the 2013 Alan T. Waterman Award, the highest honor to a scientist under the age of 40 in the U.S. A Guggenheim Fellow, he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Inventors and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Science and a recipient of the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award and ASEE Frederick Terman Award. His Massive Open Online Courses and textbooks have reached 400,000 students globally. He has around 300 research publications, cited over 22,000 times, and 25 issued U.S. patents. He co-founded three startup companies and a global nonprofit industry consortium in communications and computing technologies, with products used by over 60 million people around the world.

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Paul Eremenko

Mr. Eremenko brings extensive operating and leadership experience in the aerospace, defense and technology sectors. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Hydrogen Co. Prior to co-founding Universal Hydrogen, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of United Technologies from 2018 to 2019. Prior to United Technologies, Mr. Eremenko was the Chief Technology Officer of Airbus from 2015 to 2018. Mr. Eremenko joined Airbus as the founding Chief Executive Officer of Acubed, the Silicon Valley innovation center and the investment committee of Airbus Ventures.

Mr. Eremenko spent several years as Director of Engineering at Google in its Advanced Technology and Projects organization. Prior to Google, Mr. Eremenko held a variety of senior positions at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. He joined DARPA as a Program Manager and later became Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Tactical Technology Office, the agency’s large systems and platforms office. For his work at DARPA, Mr. Eremenko was awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal by the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Eremenko earned his undergraduate and master’s degrees in aeronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology, respectively. He also holds a J.D. from Georgetown University, as well as his private pilot certificate.

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Charles Geoly

Charles Geoly is the founder of ACME Executive Search, a boutique search and advisory firm serving scaled private and public companies with a focus on senior-level assignments at the board and CEO level. He also functions as an operating executive within the private equity arena, advising portfolio companies on how best to manage their human capital strategies and deal teams to extend executive reach across a variety of subsegments and investment classes (growth, buyout, and structured investments). In addition, Mr. Geoly advises numerous public boards on CEO succession and board construction.

Previously, Mr. Geoly served as a senior member of Russell Reynolds Associates, one of the world’s leading leadership advisory firms. During his 25-year career at Russell Reynolds Associates, Mr. Geoly led several practices, managed the global technology sector, headed its Palo Alto office and was a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. As part of his consulting activities, Mr. Geoly championed the significant expansion of diversity within the boardroom.

Prior to Russell Reynolds Associates, Mr. Geoly worked for 10 years in various roles at Dupont, including Research & Development, Sales & Marketing and business leadership. Mr. Geoly graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Delaware and holds an M.B.A. with a finance concentration from Rice University.

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Greg Hall

Gregory F. Hall was formally executive vice president and chief executive officer of FedEx Express Air Operations. Retiring from FedEx Express in January 2020, Gregory had a 35-year career in passenger airlines operations and cargo/express operations. Gregory oversaw and was responsible for the company’s global Air Operations division, which includes a fleet of more than 650 aircraft serving more than 375 airports worldwide. In his previous role as senior vice president of Air Safety and Business Operations, Mr. Hall was responsible for safety, airworthiness and airline regulatory compliance, along with aviation technology management, jet fuel management, and aviation strategic projects. Also, under Gregory’s purview was FedEx’s worldwide Feeder Operations, Charter Operations, and Corporate Aviation.

Prior to joining FedEx, Gregory was senior vice president of Maintenance & Engineering at United Airlines, where he was responsible for implementing continual improvement to increase revenue, lower costs, and enhance safety and reliability. He joined United while the company was still in bankruptcy protection, and made use of his strong labor relations background and in-depth knowledge of industry pension plans, benefits, and compensation programs. Before United Airlines, Gregory served in several executive roles at American Airlines, including vice president of Line Maintenance, vice president of the Tulsa Heavy Maintenance Base, vice president of Aircraft Maintenance at American Eagle, and managing director of Quality Assurance. Gregory also held various positions early in his career with People Express Airlines and Eastern Airlines.

Gregory has served on the Wings Club Board of Directors, the ORBIS International Flying Eye Hospital Board, and the Airlines for America Board in Washington DC (A4A) He currently serves on the Advisory Boards of XWING, Platform Tech Group, and the Veteran Air Warriors.

Gregory holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics/Aircraft Maintenance from Parks College of St. Louis University. He also holds an FAA Airframe and Power Plant license.

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Dr. Wolfgang Hanrieder

Dr. Hanrieder is an independent private investor, board member and advisor across a wide range of industry sectors and technologies. He has recently been engaged in numerous supervisory and advisory board mandates, with a view to applying his many years of international experience in technology, finance, and investment management. During this time, Dr. Hanrieder has worked closely with private equity funds and their portfolio companies, family holdings, global corporations, and state entities.

Prior to that, since the late 1990s, Dr. Hanrieder has been responsible, on partner and fund-head levels, for conducting investments and leading investment teams in the technology sector across the United States and Western Europe for international venture capital and private equity firms Star Ventures Management and The Carlyle Group, respectively. He began his career in the Corporate Research Labs of Siemens AG in the mid-1980s, before leading companywide strategic projects and business innovation initiatives for Siemens and SiemensNixdorf.

Dr. Hanrieder received his advanced academic degrees in General Physics from the Technische Universität München, and his Master of Business Administration degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management as a Sloan Fellow. He is a longstanding member of the German Physical Society, and by invitation was admitted to the Max-Planck Society. Apart from his direct investments in technology companies, he is a member of WHEB LLP, a London-based sustainability-focused asset manager; DIVE Digital GmbH, an early-stage investor in Israeli start-ups; and ArMiD, a German association for Supervisory Board members. Dr. Hanrieder is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Max-Planck Institute for Physics, and serves in the governing body of his Foundation for Excellence.

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David P. Hess

Mr. Hess has served in numerous senior executive leadership roles over his career. Most recently, from 2017 to 2018, he served as the interim Chief Executive Officer for Arconic Corporation, a highly-engineered exotic metals company (formerly part of Alcoa Corporation) serving aerospace, automotive, construction and industrial markets around the world. Serving as both the Chief Executive Officer and a board member, Mr. Hess helped successfully navigate Arconic through a challenging proxy fight, the Grenfell Tower crisis involving Arconic’s construction cladding material, and a permanent Chief Executive Officer search, while working to improve operating performance and deliver on its financial plan.

Prior to his tenure at Arconic, Mr. Hess served in numerous leadership roles throughout his 38-year career at United Technologies Corporation, most recently serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer for Aerospace, reporting directly to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, he served as President of Pratt & Whitney where he was responsible for the company’s global operations in the design, manufacture, and service of engines for commercial and military aircraft. He joined Pratt & Whitney after four years as President of Hamilton Sundstrand, the UTC aerospace and defense systems business where he began his professional career in 1979.

Mr. Hess was a 10-year member on the Aerospace Industries Association Board of Governors Executive Committee, serving as Chairman in 2012. In addition, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for: Allegany Technology, Inc.; GKN Advanced Defense Systems; Revima, an aerospace MRO provider; and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Hartford HealthCare, the second largest healthcare provider in Connecticut. He is also a member on the Board of Trustees for Hamilton College. Mr. Hess’s prior experience serving on both numerous public company and non-profit boards includes: Arconic; Cytec Industries, Inc; RTI International Metals, Inc.; The National World War II Museum; and The Discovery Center, which is a nonprofit group founded by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward that works with students from Connecticut’s urban centers and suburban communities on diversity and team-building. Mr. Hess also served as Chairman of the International Aero Engines Board of Directors.

Mr. Hess is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Hamilton College and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was awarded a Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Fellowship in 1989 and earned a master’s degree in management in 1990.

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Rafferty Jackson

Rafferty Jackson has taken companies through hyper-growth, investments, global expansion, mergers, acquisitions and IPO. She was the Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Company Secretary at Beats by Dr. Dre, selling the company together with Beats Music to Apple for $3B. From 2007 to 2013, she was the Vice President and General Counsel of the Outdoor Americas Coalition of The North Face, Vans, JanSport, Eagle Creek and Lucy brands at VF Corporation. She was the General Counsel and Company Secretary at Ubiquity Software Corporation PLC, taking it public on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in 2005 and selling to Avaya in 2007. In the mid-1990's, she started her career as outside counsel to WebTV Networks, a Microsoft subsidiary, and then as Associate General Counsel at Macromedia, Inc.

Now at Jack Industries, she focuses on supporting startups in the new space economy through mentoring at the Seraphim Space Camp Accelerator and as an advisor to Xona Space Systems, bringing position, navigation and timing services to support the age of autonomy. She is also an Astia Angel, investing in women-led and -founded companies. Jackson earned her BA in history with high honors at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1991 and received her JD at the University of California Hastings College of the Law in 1995. In 2017, she received certifications from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles in Management and Corporate Governance.

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Gur Kimchi

Mr. Kimchi is a technology veteran and an industry pioneer. After joining Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) in 2012, he co-founded the Amazon Prime Air delivery-by-drone project and led the organization for the next seven years to its FAA certification as a Part 135 commercial airline. Prior to Amazon, Mr. Kimchi spent ten years at Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) where he was integral in the development of key technologies including Virtual Earth & Bing Maps, Contextual & Geosocial search, Cloud Infrastructure, Augmented and Virtual Reality, and Enterprise Communications. A veteran of five early stage companies, Mr. Kimchi served on the board of Waze (acquired by Google) and was one of the early developers of VoIP technology and IP-based telecommunications interoperability standards. Mr. Kimchi is a founding member of the Federal Aviation Administration Drone Advisory Committee, and worked in collaboration with the FAA, SESAR, NASA, and ICAO on the development of the Federated Airspace Management Architecture, enabling the safe integration of UAS and UAM into the airspace around the world.

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GREGG MARTIN

Gregg Martin is the founder and CEO of System Solutions LLC. System Solutions provides engineering and business consulting services to a variety of clients. Previously Martin had a successful 35+ year career at the Boeing Company. The majority of Martin’s career at Boeing was spent within the Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) business.

The last several positions at Boeing included Vice President of Engineering & Technology for Phantom Works, Vice President and Senior Chief Engineer of Mission Systems, Payloads and Sensors, and Vice President of Engineering, Program Management and Mission Assurance for Boeing Network and Space Systems (BN&SS)

Previous assignments include the Vice President of Air Traffic Management (ATM) for Commercial Aviation Services within Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Vice President and Program Manager of Boeing’s Army Brigade Combat Team Modernization program and its predecessor, the Future Combat Systems program, and Vice President of Advanced Network and Space Systems.

Other Boeing leadership roles include Vice President of Transformational Space Systems, Director of the Homeland Security division and Chief Engineer of the Anaheim, Calif., site. He also led the Battle Management Command, Control, Communications and Strategic Systems business division that involved all Airborne Early Warning, Boeing Australia Limited, ICBM Guidance & Control, Naval On-board Navigation and Network Communications programs. Martin was Director of the International Space Station (ISS) program where he was responsible for all cost, schedule, and technical aspects of the ISS vehicle including design, development, delivery, launch and on-orbit operations.

Martin began his career on the development of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile with increasing levels of responsibility from program start-up to production.

Martin was on the Board of Directors of HRL Laboratories, LLC (formerly Hughes Research Laboratories) and the United Way Orange County. Martin is currently on the Board of Directors of Discovery Cube Orange County. Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Vermont and a Master of Science in engineering-applied mechanics from California State University, Northridge.

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Lieut. Gen. Herbert Raymond McMaster, Ret.

Lieut. Gen. McMaster is a retired United States Army Lieutenant General who served as the 26th United States National Security Advisor to the President of the United States, from 2017 to 2018. Lieut. Gen. McMaster is currently the Fouad and Michelle Ajami Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Bernard and Susan Liautaud Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute, and a lecturer at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. A graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1984, he served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army for thirty-four years before retiring in June 2018.

From 2014 to 2017, Lieut. Gen. McMaster led the army’s technological advancement initiatives as the director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center and the deputy commanding general of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. As commanding general of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, he oversaw the training and education for the army’s infantry, armor, and cavalry forces. Additionally, he has extensive experience leading soldiers and organizations in wartime, with experience commanding troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Gulf War. Lieut. Gen. McMaster also served overseas as advisor to some of the most senior commanders in the Middle East, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Lieut. Gen. McMaster is Japan Chair at the Hudson Institute and Chairman of the Center for Political and Military Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy. He serves on the boards of the Atlantic Council, the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and the International Republican Institute as well as the boards of directors for Zoom Video Communications and Steward Health Care. He received a Ph.D. in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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Mark Messina

Mark is currently a consultant to several major players in the Intralogistics industry covering Drone, Robotics, and IoT domains. The current CTO of DroneTerminus and former COO of GeekPlus North America, mark has held leadership positions with global organizations with over 1000 employees. Mark's responsibilities include Real Estate, Legal, Deployment, Sales, Marketing, and daily operations of consumer goods, robotics, and drone companies. Prior to this role, Mark was Vice President of Robotics Fulfillment for iHerb.com a $2.5B organics eCommerce company with 1200 employees. Prior, Mark served Mattel, Inc. as Senior Director of Capital Robotics and Automation. Mattel, Inc. is a global consumer goods manufacturer specializing in children's toys with brands such as American Girl(R), Barbie(R), Fisher-Price(R), Hot Wheels(R), Monster High(R), and Thomas & Friends(R) with over 30,000 employees. Mark held this position from November 2017 and was responsible for driving the transition to Industry 4.0 at Mattel to deliver the factory of the future investor commitment at 16 Factories in 6 countries. Previously, from December 2015 to November 2017 Mark was Senior Director of Global Hardware Platforms Research and Development at Alere Inc, now Abbott. From January 2015 to December 2015, Mark was Corporate Senior Manager of Prime Air Global Commodity Engineering at Amazon.com, an eCommerce mass merchandiser and distributor. In that role, Mark led engineering and development responsibility in support of systems required to invent and massively scale the deployment of Prime Air drones. From August 2013 to January 2015 Mark was Director of Mechanical Engineering at Amazon Robotics, formerly known as Kiva Systems considered the source and leader of Autonomously Guided Vehicle (AGV) flexible logistic systems. In that role, he delivered the first mass-production Robotic Fulfillment Systems for Amazon and is recognized for delivering innovations that delivered over $200M YoY to the bottom line. Mark received his BSME from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and has certificates from MIT for IoT initiatives. Mark has managed international teams and organizations for more than ten years.

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Gen. Maryanne Miller, Ret.

Gen. Miller is a retired 4-star U.S. Air Force General with over 39 years of military service. In her career, she has led two Major Commands and is the only Reserve Officer in the history of the United States to achieve the rank of General to-date. Gen. Miller has extensive experience in rapid, global mobility, and sustainment as the Commander of Air Mobility Command and the Commander of the Air Force Reserve. As the Air Component for U.S. Transportation Command, General Miller was responsible for directing global air mobility operations in support of national security objectives. Her commands played a pivotal role in providing global airlift, air refueling, aeromedical evacuation, humanitarian relief and Presidential airlift support as directed.

General Miller has been awarded three Distinguished Service Medals and the Defense Superior Service Medal, among other awards and honors. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and has an M.B.A. from Trident University. She is a command pilot with more than 4,800 flying hours in numerous aircraft.

General Miller serves on the Board of Trustees for Manhattan College in Bronx, New York and is an Honorary Board Member of The Leaven, a non-profit after school program for the poor in California. She is also a co-worker for St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity serving some of the poorest communities around the world.

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Andrew Patton

Andrew Patton’s career has spanned engineering, entrepreneurial, and executive roles across the aerospace and technology ecosystems. As an engineer, he worked in Boeing’s Tactical Aircraft Flight Test group, where he was assigned to the US Navy in support of F/A18E/F Super Hornet and other flight test programs. After earning an MBA, he worked in Silicon Valley for 6 years at GrowthPoint Partners, a technology-focused investment bank, where he advised on M&A and capital raise transactions across the technology landscape. After banking, Mr. Patton was recruited to Google and GoogleX, where he held executive roles in several confidential aerospace programs. Subsequently, Mr. Patton’s team produced the foundational business strategy for Project Wing and went on to launch the world’s first real consumer drone delivery operations in Australia, Finland, and the United States.

Mr. Patton is also an active angel investor, with special focus on the aerospace industry - his best known exit is Titan Aerospace, which was acquired by Google in 2014. He is also an active pilot, holding a commercial license with instrument, multiengine, glider, and several jet type ratings. Mr. Patton holds a BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

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Diana Sands

Diana Sands brings extensive business, finance, and governance experience, including over 20 years in the aerospace, defense and automotive industries. She retired from the Boeing Company in 2020 where she was senior vice president of the office of internal governance & administration, and a member of the executive council. Reporting to the CEO, Diana led a diverse team including compliance risk management, enterprise services, ethics & investigations, internal audit, security, and global trade controls.

Previously, Diana held senior finance roles at Boeing including corporate controller where she signed and oversaw development of the company’s financial statements, and head of investor relations where she was the primary management liaison with investors and industry analysts. She also led financial planning & analysis and worked in corporate treasury. Prior experiences include leading financial planning & reporting for General Motors Corporation and working in several companies in product line and corporate finance roles. Diana has engaged with a variety of stakeholders in aerospace & defense and other technology-enabled industries to help set and advance corporate strategy, including activities around acquisition diligence and subsidiary integration. She serves on the boards of SP+ (Nasdaq: SP), PDC Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: PDCE), Start Early, and National Philanthropic Trust. She is also on the Strategic Advisory Council for Ethisphere Institute. Diana has an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and a BBA from University of Michigan's Ross Business School.

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Wyatt Smith

Wyatt Smith is Head of Business Development at Uber Elevate, focused on fostering Uber's commercial partnerships and playing a catalyzing role for the advanced air mobility sector. In late 2020, he led a major spinout of the Elevate business to Joby Aviation, a leading vehicle developer in the industry with over $820m of venture financing, to accelerate its path to market.

Prior to joining Uber, Wyatt served as a management consultant with McKinsey and Company in its public sector, high tech, and capital intensive industry practices. Wyatt holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School and a BS with honors from Vanderbilt University.

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Guillermo Söhnlein

Guillermo Söhnlein has spent 20+ years at the intersection of technology innovation, "NewSpace" entrepreneurial ventures, and early-stage space investment. He has co-founded seven for-profit ventures and three nonprofit organizations while also serving at the forefront of the global private space economy. From launching the International Association of Space Entrepreneurs in 2003 and Space Angels Network in 2006 to his current work as an Advisor and Board Director to emerging space ventures in software, communications, satellite servicing, and supersonic travel, he has built a professional network of aerospace entrepreneurs, technologists, and investors around the world.

Guillermo started his professional career as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to his aerospace experience, in 2009 he also co-founded OceanGate, which designs, builds, and operates deep sea crewed submersibles. He organized and led 6 ocean exploration expeditions, and in 2012 he was admitted as a member of The Explorers Club of New York. He earned his A.B. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of California at Hastings College of the Law. A member of the Swiss Institute of Directors, he currently splits his time between Zurich, Switzerland, and Atlanta, United States.

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Anne Toulouse

Anne C. Toulouse is the founder and managing director of Pleiades Partner, LLC, a consultancy that maximizes marketing, brand and communications levers for business growth or transformation. This venture follows a 30-year career with The Boeing Company where Anne retired after serving as the senior vice president of Communications and a corporate officer. In this role, Anne led the company's global external and internal communications, mobilizing 425+ employees in 17 countries serving 40 markets. She reported directly to the President and Chief Executive Officer.

Previously, Anne headed Boeing’s global brand-building strategy repositioning the company for growth in its second century with a platform that included a multi-channel and multi-year centennial observation. Earlier in her career, Anne launched the company’s inaugural brand strategy and shaped advertising, sponsorships, merchandising and research to enhance market capitalization, recruitment and retention, and credibility to move into new markets.

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Dr. John J. Tracy

Dr. Tracy was previously the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations & Technology of Boeing, where he served on the company’s Executive Council, oversaw the development and implementation of its enterprise technology investment strategy and provided strategic direction to several functions and business organizations. Before that, Dr. Tracy was the Vice President of Engineering & Mission Assurance for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. He joined McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) as a Stress Analyst in 1981, after serving as a high school science teacher in Los Angeles in the late 1970s.

Dr. Tracy is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow and Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Fellow Chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, or the ASME, and former Chair of the ASME’s Aerospace Division. He has served as an editorial board member for the AIAA Journal, the Journal of Thin-Walled Structures, and the Journal of Computer Modeling and Simulation in Engineering. Dr. Tracy received a Ph.D. in engineering from the University of California, Irvine, a master’s degree from California State University, Los Angeles and a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills. He has authored more than 40 publications in the areas of composite structural mechanics, launch vehicle structures, smart structures and aging aircraft. He is a member of the Board of Directors for 3D Systems and the Boyle Heights STEM Academy, and is a Senior Advisor of Swift Health Systems and Assembly OSM.

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John A. White, III

John White is a business and supply chain executive with more than 25 years of management consulting, sales, software, material handling and automation integration, and international business experience. John is president of Proelio, LLC where he provides advisory services to private equity and venture firms. Previously, John held the position of president & chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Fortna Inc. where he led the company for close to 10 years.  John was successful in selling Fortna to a private equity company (Thomas H. Lee [THL] Partners) and is currently part of THLs Executive Network.

Prior to Fortna, John was a managing officer and vice president of Supply Chain Management with Capgemini, LLC. John has also served in a number of senior executive management positions including: Manugistics, Inc. as the Group vice president of Strategic Consulting Services and Supplier Relationship Management; and Accenture, where he began his career and rapidly rose to senior manager in their Strategic Services Supply Chain Management Practice. John is a member of the Board of Directors of Zone 4 Holdings, LLC, member of the Board of Trustees of Georgia Tech Foundation, Inc., member of the Board of Advisors for One Million Metrics Corp. (d/b/a Kinetic), an Emeritus member of the Board of Advisors of Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, past Board of Directors member of Wellroot Family Services, past Advisory Board Member of The Supply Chain and Logistics Institute’s Leaders in Logistics at Georgia Tech, and past president of the Atlanta Chapter of the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC). He received the DC Velocity 2013 Rainmakers award and the Supply and Demand Chain Executive 2015 Pros to Know award.

John received an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science, Industrial Engineering (BSIE) from Georgia Institute of Technology.

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Jeffery R. Worley

Jeff Worley retired from The Boeing Company as executive vice president for Boeing Defense, Space and Security, (BDS), a $38B business. In Worley’s role prior to retirement, he had responsibility for day-to-day business execution, growth and productivity initiatives. Previously, Worley served as Boeing vice president and managing general director for Boeing Defense Australia. Prior to that assignment, he held the role as vice president and chief operating officer for Boeing’s Combat Systems business unit, a promotion following his stint as program director and deputy program manager for the $21B U.S. Army recapitalization program, Future Combat Systems. Earlier in his career, Worley served as Boeing Space Systems director of Finance and prior to that, Boeing deputy program manager for the $100B U.S. International Space Station. Additional assignments included associate program manager for the U.S. Space Shuttle main engines and the Space Shuttle Orbiter programs. Other areas where Worley held executive positions included Boeing 747, 757 and 767 commercial aircraft, B-1B strategic bomber, multiple fighter aircraft, helicopter, heavy lift mobility, Delta and Atlas rocket programs and several technology programs and advanced product development within Boeing Phantom Works.

Worley holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from University of Phoenix and executive certificate in Operations Management from Stanford University. Worley is a Fellow for the International Center for Complex Program Management.

Team Members

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Sara Jones, Senior Vice President

Sara Jones currently serves as senior vice president at New Vista.

Prior to this role, Jones drove innovation investments, partnerships, and new venture initiatives in the future of mobility and emerging technologies at The Boeing Company. She served as Innovation Director, Digital & Emerging Aviation in Boeing HorizonX, the company's innovation and venture capital group. There, she led teams responsible for deploying rapid test & learns and proof of concepts leveraging advanced technologies, including autonomy, electric propulsion, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual reality, and blockchain. The focus centered on creating new disruptive solutions in advanced air mobility, drone services, regional electric mobility, aircraft services, and the passenger journey. While at HorizonX, she also launched the company’s first Urban Air Mobility pilot in an international market. In addition, Jones sourced and developed partnerships with mobility startups, including helping establish Boeing’s supersonic business jet joint venture with Aerion Supersonic. Jones also served as associate strategy director, Boeing Global Services, leading teams responsible for commercial services strategy and major digital partnerships strategy for the enterprise. Prior to that role, she led key innovation initiatives at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, including working with senior leaders of the $60 billion business unit to spearhead BCA’s 2050 Vision – setting the organization’s long-term vision, strategy, and key future mobility investments.

In addition to her Boeing experience, Jones worked in corporate strategy and management consulting, developing research-driven business and customer strategies for Fortune 100 companies, including Microsoft, UPS, T-Mobile, Outerwall, and Nordstrom. She also has extensive experience in the start-up sector as a founder and advisor.

Jones serves as a vice president on the Board of Trustees of Pacific Northwest Ballet and was recently honored in Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40”. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from New York University as a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar and a Master of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship and Finance from University of Michigan, Ross School of Business as a Consortium Scholar.

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Hank Neal, Associate

Hank Neal graduated from DePauw University ‘20, where he holds a B.A. in Economics. At DePauw, Hank was a member of the Management Fellows program, led the DePauw Investment Banking Workshop, and co-led the DePauw Investment Group.