Kyle is a Principal at Savano Capital Partners where he focuses on growth-stage enterprise technology companies building infrastructure or applications at the intersection of digital and physical systems. Kyle is based in Washington, DC where he is currently involved with investments in Aras, Jobcase, Fastly, Nintex, and Simplus.

Before joining Savano, Kyle worked at both Golden Gate Capital in San Francisco and The Halifax Group in Washington, DC. He began his career at J.P. Morgan in their Technology, Media, and Telecom group in New York.

Kyle earned a S.B. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with minors in Management and Political Science.

Kambiz Aghili is currently serving as the corporate advisor leading the launch of a geospatial SaaS application suite for a global satellite-based communication technology in public safety, DoD and land mobility around the world. Most recently, Kambiz served as the CEO of Blue Sky Network through 2018 as an industry-leader in innovative satellite-based communication and analytics solutions for aviation, marine, and land/mobile client in over 50 countries. From 2005 to 2012, Kambiz served as the director of product strategy for Teradata Corporation where he actively contributed to M&A engagements and strategic partnerships, including the acquisition of Aster Data. He led and contributed to numerous buy vs. build product roadmaps in emerging technologies, software, database management, big data, data analytics and hardware systems. He has been serving as a lecturer with the UCLA Anderson School of Management since 2014 where he teaches entrepreneurship courses and mentorship accordingly. Kambiz holds MBA and Ph.D degrees in business strategy/finance and computer science, respectively.
UCLA Anderson School of Management, MBA, Strategy, Consulting, & Finance

University of California, Santa Barbara, PhD, MS, Computer Science
Bilkent University, BSE, Computer Engineering
Harvard Business School, Executive Certificate, IP Commercialization

Dr. Paul Anderson is an energetic, early-career aerospace engineer who enjoys working on space-based capabilities for the purpose of benefiting the people down on Earth. He has served in a variety of technical roles supporting U.S. government space and ground systems with his expertise in the areas of orbital mechanics, space situational awareness, and position, navigation, and timing technologies. In addition to providing technical analysis from early concept formulation through operations, Paul has experience coaching teams on concise/compelling technical communication styles, presentation skills, and proposal development. He is always seeking the next opportunity to tackle a challenging problem in collaboration with those who share his vision of space as a unique enabler for humanity. Paul received his Ph.D. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder, and B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Vice President at Torch Partners in London, a leading investment bank specialised in M&A and fundraising for Tech companies and startups. Previously worked for 4 years at Seabury Capital, completing deals in the Aviation, Aerospace and Defence sectors valued at over €775m. Graduate from London School of Economics and Université Paris Dauphine.

For 35 years, various commanding posts and operational commitment experiences gave me strong managerial skills to lead and motivate multidisciplinary teams. During the second main part of my military career, I elaborated the business plan for the French armament program, SCORPION, which will transform the Army. More recently, I led the Army Intelligence Branch transformation.
I graduated as an engineer from both Saint-Cyr and ENSTA, and I followed the IHEDN.
So, the SWOT Analysis applied to defense is familiar to me.
General officer in the conversion phase, I‘ve decided to invest myself in the capability improvement of the military forces through the defense industry advisement and mentoring.
 
Operational experience, intelligence, multicriteria analysis, and decision process could be my contribution to your success.

+15-year experience as business unit director and start-up founder in internet, e-commerce and high-tech.
I am passionnate about developping new business and building teams around innovations and technologies that transform life and disrupt industries.
 
Achievements:
• Successfully launched and grew subscription-based businesses in EMEA (managed up to 6m customers, €450m P&L responsibility)
• +15-year experience in B2C and B2B go-to-market in EMEA, with recognized expertise in digital, performance marketing and big data
• Recruited and managed international sales and marketing team (>25p and 500p in outsourcing) and built agile teams in 2 start-ups
• Proven expertise in leveraging big data to improve business (eg customer engagement, yield management, geo-marketing)
• Start-up founder with agile business mindset and global corporation culture

Isabelle has an extensive first-hand expertise in carrying-out organic, external and cross-border growth projects.
Isabelle has served over 10 years in the audit and advisory teams at Arthur Andersen. She was then appointed CFO of the Yves Rocher Group before joining Lisi Aerospace and Lisi Medical as Executive VP. She is today recognized as a specialist of the aerospace industry and remains on the board of directors of several international groups.
Isabelle created Alba & Co in 2009 to offer her strategy and finance experience on complex international growth and transformation projects.
Isabelle is a ESCP Europe graduate and a French chartered public accountant.

Didier Chambard puts his experience at the service of the interventions he conducts during key phases of the life of the company to help entrepreneurs in their strategic questioning.
He co-authored a book published in October 2016 “Ma start-up du garage au succès !” Which is intended as the bedside book of the entrepreneur
 
More generally, he provides help in the redefinition or the inflection of the business model and then in integrating it to the company plan:
– finance (off-balance sheet and optimization of margins, fundraising and non-dilutive aids),
– organizational,
as well as in the strategic evolution of the company.
 
Didier Chambard thus helps the valuation of companies of all sizes and regardless of their stage of development.
 
Specialties: Strategic Analysis and Business Model Inflexion
Financial and organizational translations of the implementation plan,
Fundraising,
Legal and organizational restructuring.

Akash has a background in aerospace engineering and transportation systems design. Educated from Cal Poly Pomona and Art Center College of Design, Akash has a unique take on blending the technical world of engineering with the creative world of experience and industrial design in delivering compelling visions, products, services, strategy, and storytelling.

Bio in progress…

Sara de la Rosa is a versatile technologist and entrepreneur who has been working in the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) domain since early 2012, with a focus on situational awareness applied to public safety, maritime security, humanitarian aid, and international development fields. Her areas of expertise include corporate strategy, business development, product management, and government relations, and her personal interests extend into Urban Air Mobility.

Sara currently serves as a board advisor for a Swiss counter-UAS and ISR solutions provider and is the UAS coordinator of the Interagency Supply Chain Group (ISG), a coalition of global donor foundations and international organizations such as UNICEF, USAID and The Global Fund. In this role, she contributes to opening opportunities in emerging markets integrating UAS as a complementary tool to help manage complex challenges, such as natural disasters, epidemic outbreaks, and people displacements. She is primary point of contact for UAS programs related to public health systems strengthening, particularly for the last-mile supply-chain. The two primary aims of her work are to help harmonize international investments in the public domain and to be a policy advocate for the sustainable implementation of cargo UAS and shared mobility services within transportation networks.

In 2013, Sara co-founded a Swiss consultancy that created a commercial unmanned aerial, maritime, and land technology ecosystem and stimulated new trends by brokering strategic corporate partnerships and government contracts for a wide range of European OEMs and small businesses. The company also served as a systems integrator and built a branded suite of products and services, performing technology demonstrations for a variety of military and law enforcement customers. Prior to this, Sara was product manager for a Norwegian drone and satellite communications software company.

Sara is Spanish-German, graduated with a Masters of Science in Satellite Remote Sensing from University of Southampton, U.K., and has a PhD in Polar Geophysics from University of Bergen, Norway.

Arnaud is a seasoned aeronautical business executive with a strong network in manufacturers and OEMs:
– 20+ years of experience in the Aeronautical business, with 5 years as CEO of Mecachrome, 400 M€ Turnover, Tier 1 supplier to Airbus, Safran or Rolls-Royce.
– Most significant achievements include landmark deals with Safran or Spirit with a value of several hundreds of millions of dollars and proven success in profitable innovation with numerous patents, digitalization, turn around and international growth.
– Aeronautical engineer by training and private pilot, Arnaud can provide his global view to Aviation projects, thanks to his experience in the regulatory, technical, strategic, operational, commercial, financial, and corporate aspects.
 
Key competencies are: organic growth, external growth, international business development, innovation, technical design, digitalization, manufacturing and operations.

Jean-Pierre Devaux is an independent consultant. He has spent more than 30 years in the defence and aerospace fields, mainly within the DGA (French MOD acquisition agency), an organisation for which he was Strategy Director from 2009 to 2014.
His technical skills (combat aircraft, missiles and space assets) and experiences in defence programs give him a perfect knowledge of complex projects in all their phases, processes linked to defence acquisition, current and future combat systems and defence prospective and planning. In charge of managing the industrial policy, the defence R&T and the future programmes, he has developed a broad view of the industrial and technological issues of the world of defence and security, particularly in the field of innovation policy.
In charge of European and transatlantic cooperation, he participated to numerous cooperative actions with various countries (UK, Germany, Italy, Sweden, United States, Singapore, etc.) and was the French representative in European Defence Agency as well in NATO for technology and armament programmes matters.
 
In 2015, he founded INOVSTRA, an independent strategy consultancy company, specialised in supporting companies of all sizes to define and implement their defence and security strategies. INOVSTRA has a portfolio of about twenty clients including the Ministry of Defence, the European Commission, big defence and aerospace companies and many SMEs and start-ups.
He is a correspondent for the Air and Space Academy since 2016, with which he is working on future combat aviation needs and future space services.

Bio in progress…

Antoine is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at INSEAD and the co-founder of SeriesImpact, a provider of next generation education platforms for companies, educational institutions and governments. He is the co-creator and co-teacher to the high pace “Your First Hundred Days – Next Generation” course at INSEAD. This is one of the most popular electives taught at MBA and EMBA levels. His areas of expertise are venture capital, entrepreneurship and innovation. His academic interests are at the junction of those three areas and how organizations of any size and growth phase can be configured for ultimate performance. He was previously an Entrepreneur in Residence for Project A Ventures, Berlin, a leading €100m internet and mobile VC where he was International Business Development Manager for Tirendo.com (ACQ: Delticom €50 million). Previously, he was at Good Energies, a leading global €1bn VC/PE fund in clean technologies where he was i.a. interim CFO of an internally incubated company with capital commitments of $20 million. Antoine also worked for a boutique economics consultancy in London, Frontier Economics, where he worked on strategy projects. He started his career at Enron in Europe which was an interesting experience.
MBA from INSEAD, MA from the Johns Hopkins University and BA from the University of Maryland. Ironman Triathlete and proud.

Jonathan Evans is VP of Global Aviation Policy and Standards at Verizon. He was the founding CEO of Skyward, the leading drone operations management platform for the enterprise, which was acquired by Verizon in February of 2017 and is now leading the industry into the exciting new era of connected aircraft and networked fleet deployments of autonomous aerial robots. He advises businesses of all sizes on launching and managing safe, successful drone operations today and on how to evolve with this revolutionary and well-regulated industrial technology. Jonathan was a professional aviator for 18 years, serving as a UH60 Blackhawk pilot in the U.S. Army, as well as a network administrator during a time when the Army was entering the Information Age and establishing its first secure networks for Internet and email. As a civilian, he’s continued to serve in the air as a LifeFlight medevac pilot and now as a successful entrepreneur, technologist, and standard bearer for global interoperability as founding President of the Global UTM Association. For Jonathan, drones represent the convergence of his two greatest professional passions: Information Networks and Aviation, and he is honored to be part of sculpting this new technological era.

Bio in progress…

With AircraftManship , I contribute to the design, certification, manufacturing and maintenance of aircraft and embedded systems as a consulting engineer, auditor and trainer in the fields of:
-Aeronautical Regulations:
-Design of safety-critical real-time embedded systems:
-Aeronautical technologies
I practice the European (Part), French (FRA ) and military ( EMAR ) regulations.
 
With Avions Mauboussin, I design a plug-in hybrid aircraft, the M1h Alerion , a fighter-looking two-seater with a top speed of 135 kts and an endurance of 3 hours.
His innovations: a very lightweight natural composite structure and a silent thermal -electric powertrain.

Damien is a seasoned space business executive with a strong network in start-ups, operators, manufacturers and clients:
– 20+ years of experience in the Space business, with 11 years dedicated to growth management of Eutelsat, the 3rd Satcom operator in the World.
– Most significant achievements include a landmark deal with Facebook (Broadband in Africa, >150M$) , and the management of investments totalling $2.5Bn.
– Space engineer by training, Damien can provide his global view to New Space projects, thanks to his experience in the regulatory, institutional, technical, strategic, operational, commercial, financial, and corporate aspects.
 
Key competencies are: organic growth, external growth, international partnerships, business development, satellite industry, Satcoms, Broadband, HAPS, IoT, connected cars, mobility

Simon Gavillet (42) is a graduate of the École Nationale Supérieure de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace (Sup’Aéro).
After joining Altran as a Software development Engineer for Avionics, Simon Gavillet joined Safran in October 2000 as the Manager of a System and Software development team for Land and Air Navigation Systems (NH90, UAV’s, Land vehicles). In 2005, he became System Architect of the A400M primary Navigation System (GADIRS), he was then entrusted with managing the First Flight version of GADIRS Program.
In November 2008, he was appointed Business Development Manager for a new product line of Navigation Systems. In 2012, after 3 years as a corporate auditor at Safran Headquarter, he took the responsibility of preparing the Entry into service of TP400 engine (A400M aircraft) in connection with Airbus, French Air Force and various defense agencies. Since February 2015, Simon is Director of Sales and Customer Support for fighter aircraft engines (Rafale, Mirage 2000, Alpha Jet) in relation with more than 20 countries.

Didier graduated from Sup Aero aerospace engineering school (Fr). He started his career at Dassault Aviation in various engineering positions, working for Rafale fighter & civil jet applications. Then, he entered the Aerospatiale Common Research Center where he has been in charge of Advanced Computational Mechanics activities. At the start of EADS, he was appointed head of Structures and Vehicle Integration Research Area manager. Since 2007, he has been Vice President of Airbus Group Innovation in charge of Structures, Production & Support processes. Didier has always had a strong focus on entrepreneurship with the launch of several “spin-off” companies and engineering software product lines. He also initiated innovative partnerships with major academic institutions in order to promote international collaboration.
 
Key Competencies:
-Vehicle integration technologies, composite design, advanced materials, digital factory, industrial virtual reality & augmented reality
-Technology roadmapping, value chain engineering, technology transfer, IP portfolio management, business development, go to market
-Public-Industry partnerships, International R&T partnerships, Public contracts acquisition
-multicultural team management , program management, change management

I have always been passionate about the aerospace & defense industry, with 25 years of experience in all types of markets (defense, space, commercial airliners, business jets), from production and aftermarket perspectives. I have always worked in international environments and spent my career in both France and the US.
With both a development and industrial background, I have worked on external growth through acquisitions as well as organic growth with customers, and I have developed new products, brought them to production and increased volumes by the 10,000s of units. I particularly like growth challenges and this is why I am particularly interested in helping a startup company. Actually, my latest experience has been with one of them, helping the founders on their product development path.
 
My areas of expertise include: strategy, marketing, industrialization process, supply chain optimization, aftermarket, cabin interiors, and mechanical systems.

I am office leader of the Paris office for Orrick Herrigton & Surtcliffe (Europe) LLP and I specialize in tax law and employee savings plan.
Multidisciplinary, I work mainly with companies and financial institutions, French and foreign, and advise them particularly on their mergers and acquisitions in France and abroad, LBO transactions and corporate restructuring, as well as their financing operations (capital markets and structured finance).
I also specialize in setting up shareholding plans and management packages for employees and managers of French and foreign companies.

I advise companies on technical challenges like fault-tolerant BMS, scalable software architectures, building large technical teams, remote/distributed team dynamics. I also advise companies on building defensible moats, go-to-market, and strategic partnerships. Currently CEO at C1 Expeditions, the “Vision Fund for energy abundance”, and CTO & Co-Founder of Dataframe, the “GitHub for AI and data science”. Repeat founder and former Head of Engineering at Bird. Studied cybersecurity at Stanford and economics at Harvard.

Mr. Kula is an experienced senior executive with a successful career in the defense & aerospace sector. He is a highly skilled general manager with experience in all aspects of management and engineering to include: executive management, program management, manufacturing and production, systems engineering, business development, strategy, contracts, engineering management, requirements management, U.S. Department of Defense, earned value management, requirements analysis integration and test, and flight test. Mr. Kula has a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and General Manager Certificate from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Benjamin Lenoir has been working in the aerospace sector for 10 years on a wide array of topics ranging from the design of space missions at Onera and for NASA, to the management of an engineering team in a startup, and the coordination of open innovation initiatives at Thales Alenia Space. He is currently working at Thales as innovation manager. In addition, he is contributing to the international NewSpace Hub initiative and is involved in the US NewSpace ecosystem by mentoring the Lightspeed Accelerator startups. He has a deep understanding of the current dynamics in the space industry and of the funding ecosystem. He has also acquired a practical knowledge of innovation processes. He can rely on a strong technical and business background having graduated from École Polytechnique, Cornell University, Pierre et Marie Curie University and INSEAD.

George Likourezos is a partner of Carter, DeLuca & Farrell, LLP, a full-service intellectual property law firm specializing in patent law. His practice encompasses all aspects of patent, trademark and copyright law. With a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, George understands the technical nature of his client’s innovations and can convey the same to the US Patent and Trademark Office and patent offices throughout the world in securing patent protection. His clients include individual inventors, startups, universities, research institutions, middle-market and Fortune 100 companies involved in a wide range of technologies, such as aerospace, autonomous vehicles and rockets, communication and control systems, electronics, robotics, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites, and the electromechanical arts. He is a director and on the advisory board of several technology companies, including a Board member of ADDAPT (www.addaptny.org), a not-for-profit trade organization focused on the Aerospace & Defense Industries.

Previously GM of HP Software, CEO Polivec, President Finjan, EVP Akana, Executive Sun Microsystems, ICO Advisor, Board Member. Season senior management executive with more than 15 years of experience with small and large companies. Extensive P&L experience helping businesses grow to more than $1 Billion revenue. Ranked the #12 Top CMO Worldwide in 2014. I have been an executive of five public companies. In the Blockchain area I have been in the board of advisors of more than 12 companies.

Experience selling to major fortune 100 on digital transformation for Digital Business using cloud, mobile or web initiatives with SaaS, on-premises or cloud hybrid products. Strong in software, SaaS, cloud, mobile, DevOps, cybersecurity, enterprise architecture, API Management, blockchain, microservices and middleware. Leverage technical background to increase market position, branding, lead generation and sales. Strong experience promoting company, products through traditional, digital and social media. Successful track record leading communications, brand and content strategy globally. More than 10+ years selling and marketing SaaS, applications and software marketing. Strong experience with marketing automation Marketo, sales automation/CRM salesforce.com, Hubpot, soho, pipedrive. Strong product management and engineering background. Strong Channels, business development, sales and distribution background.

I have been a cybersecurity pioneer by working in the early phases of the firewall, content security, and security policy. Based on his work in cybersecurity, I was selected as a participant in President Clinton’s White House Security Summit on cyber security, which brought together influential technology industry leaders and senior administration and Cabinet officials. Founder and Board member for Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC). Mr. Medrano also participated in the National Cyber Security Summits, The White House National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace, and several President’s Bush National Security Advisory Committee Summit. Mr. Medrano has extensive general management and marketing experience with start-ups and large companies. Mr. Medrano was one of the top 100 Sr. Executives at Hewlett Packard as General Manager of HP Software. As general manager for Hewlett-Packard, Medrano served a vital role as head of HP’s key strategic emerging businesses. Some of these efforts included Internet security, middleware, management, web services, CRM, and E-commerce. Mr. Medrano was CEO of PoliVec, leader in security policy. Medrano was president of Finjan (FNJN), a leading security software firm. He also served as vice president of Milkyway Networks (IPO 1996), a firewall pioneer, and was VP at Avnet Inc. and an executive at Sun Microsystems Inc.

Mr. Medrano was recently ranked (2014) as #12 CMO Worldwide. Medrano has been selected as one of “The 100 most influential Hispanics in US”, “the 100 most influential Latinos in Silicon Valley” “Top 100 most influential Hispanics in Information Technology”, “Innovator of the Year”. He has been on the board of directors or board of advisors for more than 20 companies and organizations among others: Arcot (Acquired by CA), Aventail (aquired by SonicWall, acquired by Dell), Encentuate (Acquired by IBM), Netscaler (Acquired by Citrix), Bigfix (Acquired by IBM), AirZip (Acquired by Willow Tech), Confluent Software (acquired by Oblix/Oracle), PivX (IPO 2004), Polivec, Clearpath Networks, Sand Hill IT Security (reverse IPO with EdgeWave), JackBe (acquired by SoftwareAG), NAFINSA, Bancomext, Technet.

Medrano has received numerous awards for business and product achievement from leading business and industry publications. Mr. Medrano has published many articles and quoted numerous times. Medrano holds an MBA from UCLA), a MSEE from MIT and a BSEE from USC.

Jean-Luc Moullet is the Chief Innovation Officer at France prestigious CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research). Formerly in charge on the Industry practice of the « Secrétariat général pour l’investissement » (SGPI), where he managed a 10b€+ portfolio, targeting funding and investment opportunities in the transportation, aeronautic, space and defense sectors. He seats on the Board of Directors of the CNES (French Space Agency) and on the Advisory Boards of various Investment Funds.
 
Between 2010 and 2012, he was an Advisor for industrial affairs to the French Ministry of Defense. In 2009, he was the CEO of Sephira, a French start-up providing embedded software solutions for the healthcare industry. Between 1999 and 2009, he held different managerial positions within the Technicolor group, where he created and managed a Business Unit which became a worldwide leading provider of track and trace solutions for digital media. He also created and developed a new set of digital services for the postproduction industry in Los Angeles. Prior to that, he was based in San Francisco to develop strategic and business partnerships with Silicon Valley-based startups.
Jean-Luc graduated from the Ecole polytechnique and from the French «Corps des Mines ».
 
Keywords : innovation, funding, investment, public affairs.

Franck Mouriaux is the Chief Engineer Spacecraft at RUAG Space, a leading supplier of products for the institutional and commercial space markets in Europe and in the USA. Franck oversees the development of the product portfolio, coordinates the R&D activities and manages strategic projects across the Products Group. With over 20 years of experience in the space industry, Franck has contributed to the development of several successful institutional and commercial satellite projects through his career including the first serial production of the structure for the OneWeb satellites.
I can support start-ups in the development of their technologies, preparation of their business plans and business cases, and execution of their projects thanks to my experience in the fields of mechanical engineering, project management, and spacecrafts, and combined with my large business network.

Arnaud Namer is currently Vice President of Product Lines in Zodiac Aerospace / Safran, multi-billion $ aerospace company mainly based in Europe and US. He has a very versatile international executive management experience through the Product Lines management that encompasses Program Management, Product Line Business Strategy & Development, Engineering and Industrialization. He has managed a wide variety of Product Lines from Power Electronics, Electro-Mechanical Equipment, Modular Architecture Softwares to Composite structures. With significant experience at both the Aircraft Manufacturer and major Systems & Cabins Tier 1 Supplier, he has developed the knowhow of Aerospace customer expectations and how to pragmatically reach these expectations with a start-up structure. Arnaud holds a UCLA executive education in Business Administration and 2 MS Degrees in Aerospace (Polytechnique France & SUPAERO France)

More than 20 years worldwide experience in Business and Corporate Development and Management Consulting with Safran, IBM, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thales.
 
Specialties: Experienced in driving to successful completion complex and innovative M&A transactions in a wide range of contexts with respect to :
– ownership : privately owned (strategic/sponsor/family), public or state-owned companies,
– company size : startups, mid-size to large companies,
– geographies : Europe, North and South America and Asia,
– business models (products, services, software, …),
– issues of significance including political interference, regulatory and environmental issues, …
 
Skills include deal origination and execution, negotiation, definition and implementation of organic and non-organic growth strategies, strategic and management consulting.
 
Strong experience in the high-tech, aerospace and defense industries.

Danny Piper advises business owners, shareholders, corporate board and investors in matters relating to mergers and acquisitions, corporate development, financial analysis and valuation for NewCap Partners. Danny has mergers and acquisitions experience across a broad base of industry sectors including: composite materials, aerospace and defense, healthcare, manufacturing, specialty retail, consumer products and logistics.
 
Prior to joining NewCap Partners, Danny spent 4 years with the Phoenix Group LLP, a boutique business advisory firm providing both M&A and bankruptcy advisory services for small and middle market companies in the western United States. He began providing strategic analysis on transactions but after 3 years led all the Mergers and Acquisition activities for the Phoenix Group LLP. Danny was involved in a variety of transactions from asset sales, stock sales, bankruptcy 363 sales and assignments for the benefit of creditors transactions.
 
Prior to the Phoenix Group, Danny spent some time providing consulting and project management services to global communications companies. As an international senior project manager, he directed multi-national teams that designed, installed, tested, documented and marketed high-speed internet facilities and services in Wellington, New Zealand and Santiago, Chile for Chello Broadband, an international internet service provider.
 
Danny started his career as an officer in the United States Air Force. Initially, he started out as an Acquisition Officer (2nd Lieutenant) in Sunnyvale, CA providing the Air Force, NASA and classified Special Projects with mission critical systems upgrades to 6 satellite mission control centers performing space operations of the highest national priority. He was transferred to El Segundo, CA to facilitate the strategic planning efforts of the Space and Missile Systems Center which had an annual budget of $5.5 billion for 1,535 military, 989 civilian and 900 contract workers worldwide managing more than $56 billion in space systems contracts. Danny helped to develop a first of its kind acquisition roadmap outlining the current and future programs managed by the National Reconnaissance Office and the Department of Defense. Ultimately this roadmap was used to brief congress on the status of classified joint programs. Danny separated from the Air Force with an honorable discharge in 2000 after being promoted to the rank of Captain.
 
Danny graduated with leadership honors from the United States Air Force Academy receiving a Bachelor of Science in Management in 1994. He currently serves as President of the Catalina Conservancy Divers and on the board of NewCap Partners.

Complex systems architect at DGA – French MoD, Acquisition & Technology.
Program manager and systems designer at Dassault Aviation.
 
– Foresight and innovation
– Processes analysis
– R&D programs management, working groups
– Embedded Systems and Systems of Systems engineering
 
Avionics, technico-operational studies, Homeland security, Air defense, Fighter aircrafts, RAFALE, European research and R&D

Ben Roberts is currently Vice President of Government Affairs for Moon Express, a company developing a family of vehicles capable of delivering payloads to the surface of the Moon and beyond. From March 2015 until March 2017, he was the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s (OSTP) Assistant Director for Civil and Commercial Space. He came to OSTP from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he served as a program examiner in the Commerce and Science/Space Branches, and as a Special Assistant in the OMB Director’s Office. Prior to joining the Executive Office of the President, Ben worked as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawaii and as a strategy and operations consultant for Deloitte Consulting in northern California. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Carleton College, a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and a M.P.P. in Science and Technology Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Prior to joining Cogniac in 2016, now a market leader in specialized applications of Artificial Intelligence for Homeland Security, Geospatial Intelligence and Defense markets he served as Managing Director of ISR GeoSensing consulting group, where he was leading technical developments and commercial negotiations with a variety of gov’t and private customers. From
2011 to 2015 he served as Chief Technologist for AGT International Global Delivery Organization in its Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, leading the worldwide engineering team and working with airlines, EMEA border security programs, refineries and pipeline security systems based on the aerial unmanned platforms. Prior to joining AGT International in 2011, he
served as the Director of Technology Assessment for the Boeing Global Security Solutions in Arlington, VA, after participating in winning a multi-$Bn DHS contract. Since 2005 he participated in the work of Boeing Ventures and Boeing Technology Sourcing, Evaluation and Integration group with the mission to initiate and grow global R&D alliances and secure
strategic technologies.
Before 2006 was responsible for design and operation of the International Space Station extravehicular communication system at NASA Johnson Space Center.

Core competencies:

-Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, AR and AI/ML applications in defense and security, Command & Control systems, drone applications, counterdrone tools (cUAS), mission design.

-Capture management, cross-functional teams, alliance and channel management, technology roadmaps, program audit, R&D and technology transfer, early engagement with defense and aerospace customers.

Senior executive, entrepreneur, angel investor and aerospace advisor/mentor with extensive expertise in strategic planning, financial analysis, capital markets, M&A, operations and project management for technology companies. Diverse experience includes corporate and program management, serving on Boards of Directors, Boards of Advisors and mentoring. Innovative and persistent problem-solver with strong analytical and communication skills, a knack for juggling multiple responsibilities, and a demonstrated ability to structure and negotiate complex transactions.
 
• Extensive capital markets experience – IPO’s, private placements, asset-backed debt, bank lines of credit
• M&A and joint ventures – business plans, valuation, deal structure, integration and program management
• Manage small and large teams providing leadership to finance, contracts, human resources, investor relations and IT functions
• Contracts & proposals – negotiation, pricing strategy – government and commercial
• Development of detailed, complex forecasting and budgeting tools
• Top Secret Clearance

Philip Vaillancourt is an Independent Aerospace & Industrials Consultant with 25+ years Operations, Engineering, Strategy and M&A experience guiding Aerospace Manufacturers, Maintenance facilities and Airlines through complex periods of opportunity and change. The culmination of this skillset & experience is enabling Philip to lead innovative & entrepreneurial projects with a pragmatic approach and “bolts-to-boardroom” credibility that clients value. His career focus has always included Digital Strategies – having acquired and integrated Arinmar UK as part of his Supply-Chain digitization transformation at AAR Corp, implemented and re-designed ERPs at OEMs and MROs and collaborated on Aerospace SaaS and Blockchain solutions.
 
Philip earned an MBA from HEC Montréal, a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University, is a GE Aviation Lean Six-Sigma Black Belt, a CPIM from APICS and is a degreed Aerospace & Powerplant (A&P) Technician.

Brett Velicovich is a world-renowned drone expert, business executive, and national media personality. Previously serving in the U.S. Army, Brett brings with him a wide variety of experience in defense technology. Following his time serving in U.S. Army, Brett received an MBA from Duke University and focused his post-Army career on the commercial drone technology sector. Brett now serves on the board of multiple defense technology firms and regularly advises leaders of industry, companies, and consumers alike in the benefits of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Caroline is the founder of Mission Control Communications (mc²), a strategic communications agency at the intersection of energy, materials and mobility. For 20 years she has specialized in supporting the science- and technology-based innovators that are reshaping our current and future transportation, energy and resource ecosystems. Working with hundreds of startups across 5 continents, she advises companies on the messaging, brand awareness and sales cover they need to transform these markets. She has steered clients through successful IPOs, M&As, fund raises, product launches, pilot programs, branding efforts and all stages in between, and is a frequent speaker and moderator on deeptech, mobility and energy infrastructure issues.

Jérôme Weill was a Partner with Oliver Wyman in Paris (he left for retirement in July 2017). He is working now as an independent consultant in BRIMX Consulting. He was involved primarily in the areas of organization design, innovation / R&D / engineering, quality, change management, and executive leadership / senior team effectiveness, especially in the context of strategy implementation, performance improvement, cost savings and major organization change.
 
Prior to joining Oliver Wyman, Jérôme Weill was a partner with CMC (Change Management Consulting), which he joined in 1999, having been with another consulting firm for 7 years beforehand. Over the past twenty five years, he drove several major projects in air and defense, car industry, railway, materials, food industry, retail, commodities trading , energy, …. Globally, in 25 years of consulting, he has been involved in more than 300 projects for 100 clients. With CMC and Oliver Wyman, he has worked with Dassault Aircraft, MBDA, Cassidian, EADS Group, Airbus, Thales, Safran, Bombardier Transportation, MeadWestvaco, Rhodia, Solvay, Axens, SNCF, PSA, Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Danone Group, Carrefour, Auchan, Casino, Pierre Fabre DC, …
 
Prior to consulting, he worked 16 years at the French Institute of Petroleum, in Research and Technology, as a research engineer and project director for managing analytical labs and for developing new lubricant additives, and new petrochemical processes (based on Natural Gas transformation). Jérôme Weill is a graduate from Ecole Normale Superieure, PhD in chemistry and holds a post graduate diploma in Business Administration. He is fluent in French, English and Italian.

Pez Zarifian is the CEO of Ellipsoid Inc., an engineering consulting company focused on space mission architecture and systems engineering. Ellipsoid manages the entire concept architecture and creative design process for startups with services including feasibility analyses, mission design, proposal/pitch reviews, technical project management, and technical storytelling. Prior to Ellipsoid, Pez worked in NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s advanced engineering group, Team X, as well as contributed to a number of proposals and flight projects. Pez is a USC graduate at Viterbi School of Engineering, with a B.S. in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Astronautical Engineering.