Dr. Kevin Michaels has 37 years of professional experience, including more than 600 consulting engagements for leading aviation and aerospace companies across the globe. He co-founded AeroStrategy in 2001 and successfully grew the consultancy until its acquisition by ICF International in 2011. Earlier, he was Director, Strategic Development at Rockwell Collins Government Systems and a Principal with The Canaan Group — a consultancy that co-founded the MRO Conference series with Aviation Week Network. Dr. Michaels is a globally recognized expert in the aerospace manufacturing and MRO sectors and has significant functional expertise in corporate and business strategy, M&A advisory, technology and market assessment, and cluster development. His experience spans commercial and military markets. Dr. Michaels authored AeroDynamic: Inside the High-Stakes Global Jetliner Ecosystem, winner of the 2019 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Annual Gilbert W. Speed Award for leadership across the global aerospace supply chain. Currently, he is co-authoring Time Machines: A Modern History of Business Aviation with his colleague Richard Aboulafia.

Dr. Ronald J. Epstein actively covers companies listed in the United States, Canada and Brazil. In the Institutional Investor All-America Research poll, he was ranked as a top-three analyst in Aerospace & Defense Electronics for the last 14 years and led the #1 team for the last eight years. Dr. Epstein is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a mentor for the Techstars Space Accelerator. Previously, he worked as a research scientist in applied aerodynamics technology at Boeing Phantom Works. Also, he was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, teaching fluid dynamics and control systems.

Mr. Pierre Chao brings three decades of A&D investment, equity analysis, investment banking, strategy management consulting and M&A due diligence expertise. Founded in 2019, Proteus Capital Solutions is focused on making control investments in middle-market aerospace, defense and government services companies with the strategic goal of building the next generation of mid-tier competitors in the sector. Prior to Proteus Capital Solutions, he co-founded Renaissance Strategic Advisors — a premier Washington, DC, and London-based A&D strategy and M&A due diligence firm. From 1995-2003, he was an Institutional Investor ranked A&D equity analyst with Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Credit Suisse First Boston. He led the #1 ranked U.S. and global A&D team every year eligible. Mr. Chao began his career as an M&A banker in the New York and London offices of Prudential-Bache Capital Funding.

Mr. David Nolletti has over 20 years of restructuring, corporate renewal, crisis management, and project management experience. This includes his extensive experience in aerospace, defense, distribution, consumer products, sporting goods, aerospace maintenance repair and overhaul, and general industrial verticals. More specifically, he also has deep knowledge of representing debtors and creditors in aerospace manufacturing and airline bankruptcy proceedings. Prior to joining the Riveron, he was President, CEO, and Co-founder of Cold Mountain Capital LLC., a family front office private equity investment platform focused on acquiring and managing underperforming aerospace, defense, and heavy industrial manufacturing companies. Prior to his time at Cold Mountain, he was a global marketing and market research manager at Procter & Gamble and served as a commissioned officer in the United States Army on both active duty and in the reserves.

‍

Mr. Jeremiah Gertler provides market intelligence, analysis, and insight to private clients worldwide. Prior to joining Teal Group, he was the military aviation analyst for the Congressional Research Service for 12 years, where he testified before Congressional committees, briefed members and staff on policy, budget, technical, and other matters, and wrote and maintained reports on major military aviation programs. In previous Capitol Hill billets, he oversaw the entire defense procurement and missile defense budgets on the professional staff of the House Committee on Armed Services for FY2000 through 2005, responsible for $78 billion a year, and earlier, served as military legislative assistant to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. As senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, he was principal author or co-author of major reports on Department of Defense reform and missile defense, and initiated studies on reserve component roles and missions, systems acquisition, military logistics, and Special Forces aviation.

‍

Mr. Peter Mattis returned to the foundation in Fall of 2023 after having served as editor of China Brief from 2011 to 2013 and as a fellow in the China program from 2013 to 2018. Most recently, he was Senior Fellow with the U.S. House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party on loan from the Special Competitive Studies Project where he served as Director for Intelligence. From 2019 to 2021, he served as the Senate-appointed staff director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China where he was a part of the legislative team that passed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act, Tibetan Policy and Support Act, and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. He began his government career as a counterintelligence analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, where he earned exceptional performance awards for analytic leadership and community support.