With nearly two decades leading the design, certification, industrialisation and manufacture of advanced aircraft, David Alexander Bausek brings rare experience spanning the complete journey from aircraft concept to certified serial production.

Alongside his role as Chief Technology Officer at Volocopter, David is Chief Executive Officer of Qingdao Wanfeng Diamond Aircraft Manufacturer Co. Ltd., giving him a unique perspective across established aircraft manufacturing and next-generation Advanced Air Mobility.

Previously, David spent more than 17 years at Diamond Aircraft, holding senior engineering, programme and manufacturing positions and leading aircraft programmes from design through certification and production. His expertise spans aircraft engineering, advanced composites, certification, digitalisation, industrialisation and global manufacturing.

As Conference Chair of The EVTOL SHOW USA 2026, David will lead a technical programme bringing together OEMs, regulators, suppliers, operators and technology leaders to address the engineering, certification, manufacturing and operational challenges determining whether eVTOL can progress from aircraft development to scalable commercial aviation.

Jason is responsible for driving Horizon's operational strategy, commercial execution, and organizational growth as it advances the development and certification of its hybrid-electric eVTOL platform. He plays a central role in scaling the business, aligning engineering, manufacturing, certification, and commercial activities to support Horizon's transition from development to market entry.

Jason brings extensive executive leadership experience managing complex technology programmes across highly regulated industries, including aerospace, healthcare, and smart city infrastructure. His background spans corporate strategy, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, operational transformation, and business development, with a proven track record of delivering large-scale initiatives requiring close coordination between technology, regulatory, and commercial stakeholders.

Combining strategic leadership with operational execution, Jason is helping position Horizon Aircraft for commercial growth by building the organisational capability, partnerships, and governance required to successfully deliver next-generation regional air mobility solutions.

Few aviation executives are working at the intersection of autonomous flight, certification, commercial deployment and capital markets quite like Conor Chia-hung Yang.

With more than three decades of experience across investment banking, public markets, corporate finance and executive leadership, Conor is helping guide EHang from eVTOL technology pioneer towards large-scale commercial autonomous aviation.

Conor joined EHang's Board in 2019 and became Chief Financial Officer in 2023, overseeing financial strategy, investor relations, capital markets, corporate governance and commercial growth. During this period, EHang has achieved landmark regulatory milestones for pilotless passenger-carrying eVTOL aircraft in China, spanning type certification, production certification, airworthiness and operator approvals.

As EHang moves beyond certification towards commercial deployment, Conor brings a critical perspective to The EVTOL SHOW USA: how does an emerging aircraft technology become a scalable, investable and commercially sustainable aviation business — particularly when the aircraft itself is autonomous?

Does every Advanced Air Mobility mission really need vertical take-off?

With more than 25 years across aircraft design, flight mechanics and high-performance engineering, Lucas Marchesini is challenging conventional assumptions about aircraft architecture, infrastructure and the future of Regional Air Mobility.

Before co-founding MANTA Aircraft, Lucas worked across aerospace and motorsport, contributing to aircraft programmes at Pilatus Aircraft and Calidus, alongside engineering experience spanning Formula One, IndyCar and MotoGP.

In 2020, he co-founded MANTA to develop hybrid-electric VTOL/STOL aircraft optimised for regional rather than short-range urban operations. Its ANN family combines wing-borne efficiency with vertical and short take-off capability, targeting greater range, operational flexibility and reduced dependence on charging infrastructure.

As CEO and CTO, Lucas champions engineering simplicity, certification readiness and commercial practicality, asking whether the industry should optimise around maximum VTOL capability — or use vertical flight only when the mission genuinely requires it.

When designing next-generation electric aircraft, the engineering question is not simply how to manage power distribution—but how to ensure that seals, structures, and electrical components can survive extreme thermal, chemical, and electromagnetic stress.

As Director of Advanced Technology at Greene Tweed, Bret Neese brings nearly 20 years of materials science and R&D leadership spanning high-performance elastomers, structural composites, thermal management, and advanced silicones.

Before leading Greene Tweed’s Advanced Technology Group across all corporate innovation programs, Bret managed the Chemraz® R&D unit, developing next-generation perfluoroelastomer (FFKM) compounds for high-stakes industries. Earlier, he spent over 11 years at The Dow Chemical Company. As Sr. R&D Leader for Performance Silicones, he developed award-winning electrically conductive adhesives for electric vehicles, autonomous systems, and consumer electronics, following extensive work in polyolefin elastomers and wire and cable applications. His foundation in materials science stems from advanced research on electroactive polymers and dielectrics for NASA, ONR, and DOE applications.

That deep expertise in polymer chemistry and materials science is particularly relevant as eVTOL systems demand unprecedented performance from seals, connectors, and structural composites facing harsh environments, high voltages, and intense thermal loads.

Bret will address a critical material challenge in advanced air mobility: how do we formulate and deploy next-generation elastomers, composites, and thermal management solutions that ensure long-term reliability under severe operating conditions—without adding unacceptable weight?

Ultimately, advanced materials science must guarantee that invisible micro-stresses or harsh chemical environments never compromise the integrity of a flight-critical system.

The highest-energy battery is not necessarily the best battery for electric aviation.

As Vice President of Sales at Samsung SDI America, Jeremy Livingstone works at the intersection of advanced battery technology, commercialisation and the rapidly evolving requirements of electrified transportation.

For eVTOL, the challenge extends far beyond headline energy density. Cells must deliver high take-off and hover power, rapid charging, thermal stability, aviation-grade safety and thousands of demanding flight-charge cycles — while every additional kilogram directly affects aircraft payload and range.

Samsung SDI is developing next-generation technologies targeting higher energy density, greater power, faster charging, improved safety and reduced weight, including all-solid-state batteries with potential applications across emerging electric aviation.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, Jeremy brings the battery-industry perspective to one of eVTOL's defining engineering questions: how do we maximise usable energy without sacrificing power capability, safety, charging performance or cycle life?
Ultimately, the target is not simply the highest Wh/kg — it is the battery that can repeatedly deliver the complete aircraft mission throughout its operational life.

Higher voltage promises lighter cabling, lower current and greater electrical efficiency — but at 800V, 1kV and beyond, an entirely new set of aircraft-level challenges emerges.

As Senior Director of Aerospace & Defense Strategy at Infineon Technologies, GP Gopalakrishnan brings more than two decades of semiconductor engineering, product development and technology leadership spanning power electronics, high-voltage systems and aerospace applications.

Before joining Infineon, GP led growth and strategy at Wolfspeed, including responsibility for medium- and high-voltage silicon-carbide (SiC) power devices and modules. Earlier, he spent more than 22 years at Texas Instruments, progressing through semiconductor design, systems, applications and product leadership roles.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, GP brings that semiconductor perspective to a fundamental eVTOL engineering challenge: how far can aircraft voltage increase before insulation, partial discharge, arc faults, EMI/EMC, protection and fault isolation begin to outweigh the efficiency and mass benefits?

The challenge is not simply increasing voltage — it is engineering an electrical architecture capable of delivering megawatt-class power safely, efficiently and certifiably.

At 800V, 1kV and beyond, an electrical connection is no longer simply a connector — it becomes part of the aircraft's high-voltage safety architecture.

As Business Development Manager for eVTOL, Hybrid & Electric Aircraft at Amphenol Aerospace, Dave Amet works at the intersection of aircraft electrification and advanced interconnect technology, supporting high-power and high-voltage architectures for the next generation of electric aircraft.

As eVTOL power increases, connectors and cabling must safely transmit enormous electrical loads while remaining lightweight, compact and reliable through altitude, vibration, temperature cycling, contamination and repeated maintenance.
Dave brings a specialist perspective on the resulting engineering challenges: partial discharge, insulation coordination, creepage and clearance, EMI/EMC, thermal performance, connection integrity and HV fault isolation.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, he will address a fundamental question for increasingly electrified aircraft: how do we deliver megawatt-class electrical power throughout an aircraft without the interconnect system becoming a weight, reliability or certification constraint?

When a flight-critical actuator fails, the engineering question is not simply why did it fail? — but can the aircraft remain safely controllable?

As Technical Director at Olsen Actuators & Drives, Adam Bargh brings more than 15 years of engineering experience spanning electric actuation, mechanical design, software, advanced applications and equipment health monitoring.

Before joining Olsen, Adam led advanced engineering programmes at Rotork, developing solutions for novel applications without established market solutions. Earlier roles combined mechanical design and control software, following more than five years at Rolls-Royce, where his work included gas-turbine performance and equipment health monitoring.

That multidisciplinary background is particularly relevant as eVTOL increasingly depends on electromechanical actuation for flight controls, aerodynamic surfaces and propulsor positioning.

Adam will address a critical certification challenge: how do we detect, isolate and accommodate actuator failures while retaining sufficient control authority — without redundancy adding unacceptable mass and complexity?

Ultimately, fault-tolerant actuation must ensure that one failed actuator does not become a failed aircraft.

When designing next-generation aircraft and space vehicles, the engineering question is not simply how to build it—but how to optimize primary structures to minimize weight without ever compromising structural integrity.

As Director of Engineering Services at Collier Aerospace (HyperX Software), Brent Hall brings over a decade of hands-on aerospace engineering experience spanning sizing optimization, rigorous stress analysis, and structural design for both aviation and space applications.

During his nearly 12-year tenure at Collier Aerospace, Brent has progressed from structural analysis to leading teams of talented engineers on high-profile aerospace programs. His expertise covers the entire lifecycle of structural engineering, from preliminary design through final stress reporting and testing. This high-level analytical work is grounded in a practical, hands-on foundation built early in his career through aircraft maintenance and new product development at Piper Aircraft.

That comprehensive background—bridging practical aircraft mechanics with advanced theoretical stress analysis—is particularly relevant as the eVTOL and broader aerospace industries push the boundaries of material performance and airframe efficiency.

Brent will address a critical design challenge: how do we leverage advanced sizing optimization and stress analysis to develop lighter, more efficient primary structures while meeting stringent testing and certification reporting standards?

Ultimately, optimized structural engineering must ensure that every ounce of weight saved translates to increased performance without sacrificing safety.

The next generation of aircraft will depend on more software, more compute and increasingly autonomous capability.
But how much complexity can we add before the software architecture itself becomes a barrier to certification?

Tim Reed is CEO of Lynx Software Technologies, a specialist in secure, safety-critical software platforms for aerospace, defence and mission-critical systems.
His career spans more than two decades in embedded and high-assurance software, including almost 18 years at Green Hills Software, before joining Lynx as CEO.

Tim brings a critical perspective to THE SOFTWARE-DEFINED AIRCRAFT: how can developers introduce sophisticated software, multicore computing, mixed-criticality workloads and AI-enabled functionality while maintaining the determinism, isolation, security and assurance required for safety-critical aviation?

The challenge is deciding what must be trusted, isolated and certified — while allowing the aircraft to continue evolving without an escalating verification burden.

You built the test rig. You ran the tests. But is the evidence actually usable for certification?

As eVTOL programmes move towards certification and production, testing must do more than prove a system works. It must generate repeatable, traceable and defensible evidence across normal operation, edge cases and failures that may be impractical — or unsafe — to reproduce repeatedly on the aircraft.

Peter Blume is Founder and President of BLOOMY, which he has led for more than three decades developing automated test solutions for mission-critical applications.

His expertise spans aerospace Systems Integration Labs (SIL), avionics and battery Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL), simulation and automated testing.

For eVTOL developers, HIL and SIL can exercise flight controls, vehicle-management systems, batteries and interconnected systems across thousands of scenarios before physical flight testing.
The challenge: how do we turn those tests into credible certification evidence?

Building one aircraft is an engineering challenge. Building hundreds requires an industrial system.

As President & CEO of MISUMI Americas, Dave Evans brings a manufacturing and supply-chain perspective to one of Advanced Air Mobility's biggest challenges: moving from prototype development to repeatable production at scale.

Through MISUMI and Fictiv's manufacturing capabilities, engineering teams can access standard, configurable and custom components across an increasingly connected manufacturing ecosystem — supporting rapid development while preparing programmes for production.

For eVTOL manufacturers, that transition introduces new constraints. Thousands of components must become consistently available, suppliers must meet demanding quality and lead-time requirements, engineering changes must flow efficiently into production, and manufacturing processes must remain repeatable as volumes increase.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, Dave brings a critical industrialisation question to the programme: can the manufacturing ecosystem and supply chain scale as quickly as the aircraft?

When scaling production for next-generation aircraft, the engineering challenge is not simply the airframe or the battery—but how do we reliably and efficiently manufacture the aircraft's complex electrical nervous system?

As CEO at Q5D, Steve Bennington brings over 30 years of scientific and engineering leadership spanning advanced manufacturing, materials physics, novel battery chemistries, and deep-tech commercialization.

Before leading Q5D’s mission to automate wiring harness production, Steve’s extensive career included serving as Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at Cella Energy, where he developed lightweight hydrogen power supplies for UAVs and the aerospace sector. Earlier, he spent over two decades as a Senior Scientist and Group Leader at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, managing massive-scale £250M national infrastructure projects, alongside executive roles in advanced nanomaterials and high-tech start-up consultancy.

That multidisciplinary background is particularly relevant as the eVTOL industry transitions from prototyping to scaled manufacturing, where traditional manual wiring processes add unacceptable mass, cost, and potential for human error.

Steve will address a critical manufacturing challenge: how do we automate the production of wiring harnesses to ensure perfect repeatability, reduce weight, and meet the high-volume production demands of advanced air mobility?

Ultimately, automated manufacturing must ensure that complex electrical systems become a driver of reliability and scale, rather than a production bottleneck.

When designing the complex electrical architectures of next-generation aircraft, the engineering challenge is not simply transmitting power and data—but ensuring those critical connections survive the harshest flight environments without fail.

As General Manager of NICOMATIC NORTH AMERICA, Armando Zanchetta brings decades of engineering and leadership experience specializing in the design, production, and strategic deployment of innovative interconnection solutions for harsh environments.

Before taking the helm at Nicomatic North America, Armando served as Engineering Director at Nicomatic’s French headquarters, where he led R&D, rapid prototyping, and the industrialization of new products. His earlier career spans over a decade as a Business Unit Manager at Connecteurs Electriques Deutsch, alongside foundational R&D roles developing surge protective devices at Soulé and researching critical glass/metal interfaces at GE Medical Systems.

That deep expertise in harsh-environment electronics and Total Quality Management is particularly relevant as eVTOL aircraft rely on increasingly complex, high-voltage, and data-heavy networks that must endure intense vibration, temperature shifts, and electrical stress.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, Armando will address a critical aerospace challenge: how to design, deploy, and support innovative interconnection solutions that guarantee absolute reliability in harsh environments—while maintaining the agility and customer proximity required by the rapid development cycles of advanced air mobility.

Ultimately, harsh-environment connectivity must ensure that a single point of environmental stress never becomes a point of systemic failure.

Every eVTOL aircraft relies on one component that passengers will never see—the permanent magnets inside its electric motors. Without rare earth magnets, the power density, efficiency, and performance required for electric flight simply wouldn't be possible.

David Bushi is helping rebuild one of the most strategically important parts of that supply chain. As Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Operations at USA Rare Earth, he is leading the industrialisation of a fully integrated U.S. rare earth magnet manufacturing capability, reducing dependence on overseas supply while supporting the future growth of aerospace, defence, and Advanced Air Mobility.

With decades of experience delivering large-scale manufacturing transformations, automation, and Lean production systems, David brings a unique perspective on how critical materials, resilient supply chains, and manufacturing readiness will underpin the commercial future of the eVTOL industry.

Electric aircraft cannot scale if the energy infrastructure on the ground cannot scale with them.

As Strategic Partnership Manager for aviation at NREL, Brett Oakleaf works across the intersection of aviation, energy and infrastructure, bringing together industry, government, airports, utilities, technology developers and research organisations.

With more than 25 years in the energy sector, his experience spans power-generation planning, transmission and distribution, infrastructure development and strategic partnerships.

For eVTOL, the challenge extends far beyond aircraft certification. Commercial deployment will create new requirements for grid capacity, high-power charging, energy storage, power management and infrastructure investment — potentially concentrated at airports and vertiports operating high-frequency services.

Brett brings a critical systems-level perspective to The EVTOL SHOW USA: how do we ensure the electricity network, charging infrastructure and aviation ecosystem are ready when the aircraft arrive?

Because commercial AAM requires more than aircraft readiness. It requires energy-system readiness.

The aircraft may be electric — but who builds, powers and pays for the infrastructure required to operate it at scale?

George Karayannis leads Public Sector strategy and business development at Schneider Electric, bringing 30 years of experience across smart grids, energy infrastructure, resilience, mobility and complex public-private projects.

For Advanced Air Mobility, his focus is increasingly relevant. High-frequency eVTOL operations will require significant electrical capacity, charging infrastructure, energy management and resilient power at airports and vertiports — often before passenger volumes exist to justify the upfront investment.

George has helped cities, utilities and infrastructure owners develop and finance large-scale energy projects, including microgrids, EV charging and resilient infrastructure, providing a valuable perspective on how AAM can overcome this deployment challenge.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, he brings the infrastructure question back to commercial reality: How much power will vertiports require, where will it come from, and who carries the capital cost of building it?

As Founder and CEO of AstraQua, Loay (LoAi) Elbasyouni brings over 20 years of multidisciplinary engineering experience spanning artificial intelligence, aerospace, robotics, automotive systems, and energy-efficient computing.

Before founding AstraQua, Loay served as Senior Manager of Engine Avionics at Blue Origin, where he led the electrification of critical rocket engine systems for orbital and lunar missions. His earlier work cemented his legacy in space exploration as the Electrical and Power Electronics Lead for NASA’s Mars Ingenuity Helicopter—helping build the first aircraft to achieve powered flight on another planet.

That profound background in space-rated engineering is particularly relevant today as the industry increasingly relies on physical AI and adaptive autonomy for real-world, mission-critical applications.

Loay will address a critical challenge in modern robotics and aviation: how do we build agentic physical AI systems that are efficient, resilient, and engineered for real-world constraints—translating the extreme robustness required for Mars into deployable, trustworthy technology on Earth?

Ultimately, true autonomy must ensure that complex machines can navigate uncertainty where humans cannot, without compromising safety or reliability.

When introducing next-generation aircraft to the commercial market, the strategic question is not simply how to build the vehicle—but how to integrate it into regional economies, secure infrastructure funding, and develop a workforce ready for the future of flight.

As Director of Economic Outreach & Industry Relations at the San Joaquin Partnership, Edward Wanket brings over 15 years of experience spanning regional economic development, public-private partnerships, grant strategy, and workforce innovation.

Before taking his current leadership role at the San Joaquin Partnership, Edward spent over a decade with the San Joaquin County Economic Development Association and Workforce Development Board. Serving as an Innovation & Business Development Officer and Business Retention Coordinator, he drove strategic economic growth and facilitated complex municipal, business, and infrastructural initiatives across the region.

That deep expertise in regional economic development and municipal funding is particularly relevant as the eVTOL and Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industries transition from prototyping to real-world deployment, requiring integrated ground infrastructure, local government collaboration, and robust workforce pipelines.

Edward will address a critical market deployment challenge: how do we align industry innovation with regional economic development, community infrastructure planning, and grant funding to successfully integrate Advanced Air Mobility into local economies?

Ultimately, the commercial success of next-generation aviation relies on ensuring that cutting-edge aircraft are supported by forward-thinking municipal partnerships and regional investments.

As Vice President of Operations for Vertiports by Atlantic, Craig Teasdale brings extensive executive leadership experience specializing in aviation management, large-scale Fixed-Based Operations (FBOs), complex integrations, and maximizing operational safety.

Before leading the operational rollout of advanced air mobility infrastructure at Atlantic Aviation, Craig served as VP of Operations at Ferrovial Vertiports. His deep operational roots were forged during a nearly 12-year tenure at Signature Flight Support. As Director of Operations, he managed 13 geographically diverse locations generating over $300 million in annual revenue, oversaw a workforce of 600 employees, and executed major capital projects, including terminal builds and complex airport lease negotiations.

That profound expertise in scaling traditional FBOs and executing large-scale aviation projects is particularly relevant as the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry shifts from conceptual infrastructure design to active, day-to-day operations—requiring rigorous safety cultures, seamless passenger experiences, and sustainable business models.

Craig will address a critical deployment challenge: how do we translate decades of proven FBO and airport management experience into the operational blueprint for next-generation vertiport networks?

Ultimately, the commercial success of passenger eVTOL flights relies on ensuring that ground operations meet the same industry-leading standards of safety and efficiency as the aircraft themselves.

When advancing next-generation electric aircraft toward commercial reality, the critical challenge is not simply proving new flight concepts—but how to accelerate systems development and certification to achieve true production readiness.

As Head of Aerospace & Defense at Tata Elxsi, Jayaraj Rajapandian brings over two decades of experience spanning aerospace product engineering, avionics, certification, and industrialization programs. In his role, he leads global aerospace engineering, digital transformation, and next-generation mobility initiatives.

Throughout his career, Jayaraj has worked closely across the aviation ecosystem—collaborating with aircraft OEMs, Tier-1 suppliers, and emerging eVTOL companies. His work centers on helping developers navigate complex avionics integration and engineering frameworks to accelerate the timeline from concept to deployment.

That extensive systems background is particularly relevant as the Advanced Air Mobility sector transitions from experimental flight testing to the rigorous demands of aerospace certification and industrial-scale manufacturing.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, Jayaraj will address a vital development challenge: how can aerospace leaders leverage digital transformation, avionics engineering, and strategic industry collaboration to accelerate certification and ensure production readiness for next-generation aircraft systems?

Ultimately, the future of electric flight depends on ensuring that cutting-edge concepts can successfully navigate the journey from design to certified, high-rate production.

As Chief Strategy Officer at ANRA Technologies, Brent Klavon brings more than three decades of aviation, defense, and airspace management leadership spanning Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM/U-space), Urban Air Mobility (UAM), vertiport orchestration, and mission-critical autonomy software.

Before driving global strategy at ANRA, the only airspace management provider worldwide to secure both EASA’s first U-space Service Provider (USSP) certification and an FAA Letter of Acceptance for Strategic Coordination, Brent served as the company's Vice President of Operations across North America, Europe, and Asia. His deep operational roots include serving as Assistant Test Director and Aviation Safety Officer at the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership (MAAP) FAA UAS Test Site, preceded by a distinguished 21-year career in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator, Commanding Officer of Patrol Squadron FIVE, and Pentagon Requirements Officer overseeing major autonomous programs including Triton and Global Hawk.

That unique convergence of military flight experience, regulatory test-site leadership, and cutting-edge software development is particularly relevant as the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector transitions from isolated demonstrations to high-density, commercial airspace operations.

Brent will address a critical airspace integration challenge: how do we build, certify, and operationalize digital UTM and vertiport management architectures that enable scalable, safe, and interoperable flight alongside legacy air traffic?

Ultimately, scalable air mobility must ensure that the digital airspace infrastructure is as resilient, tested, and reliable as the aircraft flying within it.

As Senior Director of Engineering and Certification at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA), Mazdak Hobbi, FRAeS, brings over 26 years of aviation safety, aircraft certification, and global regulatory leadership experience.

Before joining GAMA to advance engineering and certification initiatives for its global membership, Mazdak spent over two and a half decades at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Most recently serving as the FAA’s Senior Representative to the European Union in Brussels, he led critical regulatory engagement with the European Commission, EASA, and national aviation authorities. His extensive FAA career spans multidisciplinary engineering, manufacturing oversight, and international validation, including direct involvement in high-visibility programs like the AgustaWestland AW609 Tiltrotor, the Boeing 737 MAX Return-to-Service, and the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Certification Roadmap involving Joby and Vertical Aerospace.

That deep expertise in bilateral aviation safety agreements (BASA) and multinational regulatory coordination is particularly relevant as the eVTOL industry races toward commercialization, requiring unprecedented alignment between manufacturers and global aviation authorities.

Mazdak will address a critical certification challenge: how do we harmonize international validation strategies, manage regulatory risk, and streamline the certification pathways for emerging technologies across diverse global jurisdictions?

Ultimately, successful global certification must ensure that regulatory frameworks evolve at the speed of innovation, maintaining absolute safety while enabling advanced air mobility to scale worldwide.

Certified aircraft alone will not create an Advanced Air Mobility industry. Operators must turn them into safe, reliable and commercially viable transportation networks.

With more than 30 years of leadership across aviation, logistics, offshore energy and government operations, Jeremy Akel brings the operational perspective required to move AAM from aircraft development into real-world service.

As Group CEO of Omni Helicopters International, Jeremy leads a global aviation group operating complex, safety-critical missions across offshore energy, emergency services, government operations and emerging Advanced Air Mobility. These operations demand the same fundamentals eVTOL networks must ultimately master: aircraft availability, fleet utilisation, maintenance, infrastructure, regulatory compliance, training, safety and operational consistency.

Previously, Jeremy served as Senior Vice President and COO of Bristow Group, helping lead a global aviation business generating approximately $1.8 billion in revenue.

His perspective brings a critical question to The EVTOL SHOW USA: once aircraft are certified, who turns them into transportation systems that passengers, regulators and investors can actually rely upon?

What if the route to scalable electric aviation is not greater complexity — but radical simplicity?

As Founder and CTO of AIR, Chen Rosen is the engineering force behind AIR ONE, a two-seat all-electric eVTOL designed around simplicity, safety and practical personal flight.

Drawing on decades of experience across aircraft, drones, flight systems and unmanned technologies, Chen has deliberately challenged increasingly complex eVTOL architectures. AIR ONE combines fixed motors with a fixed-wing configuration, using the aircraft's movement to transition between vertical and forward flight rather than relying on complex tilting propulsion systems.

Its “fly-by-intent” technology translates pilot commands into aircraft actions while maintaining predefined safety limitations, reducing workload and making advanced flight more intuitive.

AIR has progressed from concept to full-scale flight testing and expanded operations into the United States, while applying its underlying technology to personal aviation and uncrewed logistics.
Chen brings a fundamental engineering question to The EVTOL SHOW USA: can simpler aircraft ultimately be safer, lighter, easier to certify, manufacture and operate at scale?

Few engineers have designed infrastructure for both spacecraft launch and commercial Advanced Air Mobility. Drawing on senior roles at Joby Aviation, SpaceX and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Andy Krebs brings exceptional experience in turning ambitious aerospace programmes into physical, operational infrastructure.

Today, Andy leads Joby Aviation's global infrastructure strategy, overseeing the ecosystem required to support commercial eVTOL operations. His work spans vertiports, charging and energy systems, passenger facilities, structural engineering, regulatory compliance and construction delivery, working across airports, municipalities, utilities, developers and government agencies.

Previously, Andy spent almost six years at SpaceX, culminating as Director of Starship Launch Engineering & Spaceport Infrastructure, leading engineering and construction of launch facilities supporting the Starship programme. Before SpaceX, he spent more than eight years at SOM delivering complex structural engineering projects.

As AAM moves from aircraft development towards commercial deployment, Andy is addressing a fundamental industry challenge: how to build resilient, scalable infrastructure capable of supporting high-frequency eVTOL operations.

eVTOL aircraft are being engineered with unprecedented levels of redundancy and fault tolerance. But what happens when every active safety system has failed?

Fernando Caralt is Chief Executive Officer of BRS Aerospace, a specialist in whole-aircraft parachute recovery systems whose technology has helped save hundreds of lives across general aviation.

For Advanced Air Mobility, safety extends beyond certification. Passenger confidence will depend on demonstrating that aircraft can protect occupants — and people on the ground — even in extreme failure scenarios.

BRS Aerospace is working with next-generation aircraft developers to integrate emergency recovery systems into electric aircraft, adding a final layer of protection beyond conventional redundancy and fault-tolerant architectures.

At The EVTOL SHOW USA, Fernando brings a critical perspective on how passive safety, emergency recovery and aircraft-level survivability can contribute to certification, operational resilience and public trust as eVTOL moves towards passenger operations.

Throughout his career, Stephen has collaborated with aerospace OEMs developing next-generation electric aircraft, helping solve the complex electrical interconnect challenges associated with high-voltage propulsion, battery integration, power distribution, and flight-critical systems.

With almost three decades at Amphenol, Stephen has worked across every stage of connector development, from product engineering and applications support to innovation and technology leadership. His expertise spans high-voltage electrical connectors, power distribution, signal integrity, EMC protection, qualification testing, and aerospace standards development, working closely with aircraft manufacturers to solve the complex electrical challenges presented by increasingly electrified aircraft.

Amphenol is one of the world's leading suppliers of aerospace interconnect technology, providing the connectors, cable assemblies, and electrical distribution solutions that underpin flight-critical systems throughout modern aircraft. Within the eVTOL sector, these technologies are enabling lightweight, high-power electrical architectures capable of supporting electric propulsion, battery systems, avionics, fly-by-wire controls, charging infrastructure, and mission-critical communications while meeting the stringent safety, redundancy, and certification requirements of commercial aviation.

Stephen brings valuable insight into how next-generation electrical interconnect technologies are helping manufacturers deliver lighter, more efficient, and more reliable electric aircraft capable of supporting the future of flight.

The promise of Advanced Air Mobility extends far beyond short urban flights. Connecting cities, moving critical cargo, and replacing conventional aircraft on regional routes will require a new generation of VTOL aircraft capable of combining vertical flight with meaningful range, payload, endurance, and operational flexibility.

James Dorris is building that next generation. As CEO and Co-Founder of Odys Aviation, he is leading the development of hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft and propulsion systems designed to overcome the range and endurance limitations of battery-only platforms while dramatically improving the efficiency and flexibility of regional aviation.

Odys is developing a family of aircraft around this approach. Its Laila platform combines vertical take-off and landing with hybrid-electric propulsion for cargo, logistics, defence, and other mission-critical applications, while the larger Alta aircraft is being developed to bring the same underlying technology to regional transportation. Alongside its aircraft, Odys has developed aviation-grade hybrid propulsion systems spanning approximately 100 kW to more than 1 MW, creating technology that can support multiple classes of next-generation aircraft.

With more than 15 years of experience developing advanced propulsion and transportation technologies—including leadership roles at Google X, Virgin Hyperloop One, and Arrivo, following early research at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center—James brings a systems-level perspective to the future of electric aviation. His work at Odys highlights a critical question for the eVTOL industry: how can advanced propulsion, aircraft design, manufacturing, infrastructure, and commercial operations come together to move AAM beyond short-range demonstrations and into scalable, revenue-generating transportation?

Developing an eVTOL aircraft is only one part of building a new form of transportation. Commercial success will depend on connecting aircraft technology with operators, infrastructure, regulation, services, and viable business models—creating an ecosystem capable of moving Advanced Air Mobility from flight testing into everyday operations.

Juliana Rodrigues is helping build that bridge. As Head of Sales Engineering and Head of Business Development for Europe at Eve Air Mobility, she works at the intersection of aircraft technology, customer requirements, and market development, helping operators and partners understand how eVTOL aircraft can be integrated into future transportation networks.

An aeronautical engineer with more than a decade of aviation experience, Juliana began her career at Embraer Commercial Aviation, working across flight operations, market intelligence, sales, and marketing. At Eve, she has led European business development, supporting the sales strategy for the company’s eVTOL aircraft and services, developing partnerships across the Urban Air Mobility ecosystem, and helping prepare markets for future operations.

That commercial perspective is becoming increasingly important as Eve moves from aircraft development toward certification and entry into service. Following the first flight of its full-scale prototype in December 2025, Eve has progressed through an extensive flight-test campaign and is advancing certification activities across Brazil, the United States, and Europe. For the eVTOL industry, Juliana brings a valuable perspective on what happens beyond the aircraft itself: how technology, certification, customer requirements, infrastructure, and ecosystem partnerships must come together to create scalable and commercially viable Advanced Air Mobility networks.