THE AEROSPACE EVENT –
WASHINGTON, DC

In January 2023, Mr. Tracy Glende took over as Chief Executive Officer of a Private Equity roll up company, APEX Space & Defense Systems, led by Charger Investment Partners in El Segundo, California. With headquarters in Santa Ana, CA, APEX has five locations across the United States with a specific focus on space launch vehicle applications, autonomous military vehicle applications as well as satellite and critical communications infrastructure applications. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Valence Surface Technologies, the largest independent Aerospace & Defense Special Processing business in North America. Prior to his role at Valence Surface Technologies, he held positions as the Chief Executive Officer of Veritas Steel, President of the Aerospace, Defense and Energy Business at Bodycote Plc, President and Chief Operating Officer at Applied Surface Technologies and Vice President Customer Service at Honeywell Aerospace. Over his career, he has held positions in marketing, sales, program management, manufacturing, engineering, operations and Six Sigma.

Dr. Kevin Michaels has 39 years of professional experience, including more than 600 consulting engagements for leading aviation and aerospace companies across the globe. In 2001, he co-founded AeroStrategy 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.

Mr. Richard Aboulafia joined AeroDynamic Advisory in January 2022. Since 1988, he has tracked aircraft programs, markets, and companies as an analyst and consultant and now manages consulting projects in the commercial and military aviation field and analyzes broader defense and aerospace market and industry trends. Mr. Aboulafia has advised numerous aerospace companies, including most prime and many second- and third-tier contractors in the US, Europe and Asia. Additionally, he advises numerous financial institutions on aerospace market conditions.

Mr. Sash Tusa has over 30 years' experience as an equity analyst, specializing in Aerospace & Defense. For over a decade he led European A&D research at Goldman Sachs, where he was consistently ranked by independent external surveys amongst the Top 3 analysts for the European A&D sector. Prior to that, he was at UBS, Robert Fleming, and a fund manager at Schroders. His career started as a graduate trainee in the military aircraft industry, and a reservist officer in the British Army, specializing in Air Assault operations and logistics. Mr. Tusa has also acted as an advisor to A&D companies, government departments and agencies globally on corporate transactions, spending reviews, and market analysis. These have included the mergers of British Aerospace and GEC Marconi, DASA, CASA and Aerospatiale, Saab/Celsius and Rolls-Royce/Vickers as well as privatizations. Public offerings have included Tadiran and Tadiran Telecom, EADS, Finmeccanica, and MTU Aero Engines.

Mr. Todd Harrison focuses on defense strategy and budgeting, the defense industrial base, and space policy and security. Previously, he served as senior vice president and head of research at Metrea, a senior fellow and director of Defense Budget Analysis and the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the senior fellow for defense budget studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Mr. Harrison has also served as a captain in the US Air Force Reserves and held affiliations with Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

In July, Dr. Ehtisham Siddiqui stepped down from his role as Vice President and General Manager of Controls & Avionics Solutions and now serves as a Senior Advisor to the business, a $1b+ trans-Atlantic operation providing controls and avionics for aircraft engines, air transport, military aircraft, helicopter, regional and business aircraft applications. The business is a key supplier to GE Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Embraer, and Gulfstream and supports more than 600 airlines worldwide. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Commercial Aircraft Solutions business area which provided avionics solutions for commercial aircraft applications. Prior to that, he served as Vice President, Strategic Development for the Platform Solutions sector. His career began as a development engineer at GE Aerospace in Erie, Pennsylvania where he held a variety of technical positions before being appointed engineering leader for GE's Electrical Systems business in 1984. Dr. Siddiqui transferred to GE Aircraft Engines in 1987 as manager of Hypersonic Propulsion Marketing and became manager of R&D and Technology Planning in 1988. In 1990, he was named Director of Business Development for GE's Aircraft Controls business in Johnson City, New York, which later became part of Lockheed Martin. In 1995, he was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Sanders' Avionics Division, a provider of advanced electronic subsystems for aircraft and space applications. In 2000, he became Vice President, Strategy & Business for the Platform Solutions Sector.

Dr. Ronald J. Epstein actively covers Aerospace, Defense and Multi-Industrials with large aerospace components 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 15 years and led the #1 team for the last eight years. Dr. Epstein is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Technology Advisor to United Airlines Ventures, on the Board of Regents of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, an Affiliate Professor at the University of North Carolina and is a mentor for the Techstars Space Accelerator. Previously, he worked as a research scientist in applied aerodynamics technology at Boeing Phantom Works. He was also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, teaching fluid dynamics and control systems.

Mr. Rob Freeland serves as the Director of Government Relations and as the Bell Advance Vertical Lift Center Site Lead in the National Capitol region. Mr. Freeland and his team practice advocacy through education to inform, educate, excite, influence, and ultimately motivate-to-action our military, political, civil and international leaders. They convey Bell's innovations on weapon system affordability and sustainability, advanced manufacturing, advanced designs, a Modular Open Systems Approach to architectures and the Digital Engineering Ecosystem in support of Future Vertical Lift programs. Mr. Freeland interacts with influential thought leaders, decision-makers, resource and requirements sponsors and influencers to properly understand warfighter, government, and industry needs and technology and geopolitical trends. Mr. Freeland is a retired Colonel of Marines with a distinguished 25-year military career, and over 4,000 operational flight hours.

Mr. Travis Bales leads the firm's early stage, strategic venture fund. The fund focuses on investments leveraging AI, cybersecurity, defense technology and frontier technologies. With more than 20 years of direct commercial experience, he has extensive expertise in product development and marketing, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, technology identification and maturation, and due diligence. Before joining Booz Allen, he spent more than twenty years in healthcare diagnostics and devices. Mr. Bales spent time across multiple disciplines with profit and loss responsibility. Earlier in his career, Mr. Bales was deeply involved with strategic partnerships, sales and marketing, and business development efforts at Quest Diagnostics and ThermoFisher Scientific, among others.

Mr. Eric Chase leads the defense, intelligence, security and government services practice at the firm, supporting transaction due diligence and strategy engagements for private equity sponsors, corporate clients and institutional lenders active in the defense and aerospace sectors. Prior to joining CSP Associates, he was with Toffler Associates where he helped form the emerging national security technology practice. Mr. Chase's passion for aerospace & defense began nearly 20 years ago in the Marine Corps where he served in numerous roles including the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, the Defense Attaché Service, and the newly formed Marine Innovation Unit where he continues to serve today as the Head of Defense Engagement as a reservist in conjunction with his private sector work.

Mr. Byron Callan joined Capital Alpha Partners in 2010 to cover defense and broader industrials and serves as a Managing Partner. Most recently, he spent three years on the buy-side, including as a Portfolio Manager at Lion's Path Capital and as an analyst and cofounder of Perella Weinberg Partners' Aerospace Defense & Security investment fund. Previously, he served as Senior Vice President at Prudential Equity Group, responsible for equity research in the A&D sector. Prior to Prudential, he was First Vice President at Merrill Lynch where he also covered A&D stocks and was Global Coordinator for the sector. His research has been recognized by Institutional Investor magazine, where he was ranked for a total of 15 years. Mr. Callan is a member of the Atlantic Council and is a non-resident expert at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Mr. Vago Muradian has been an international security reporter, editor, commentator and broadcaster for nearly 25 years. For 14 years, he was the editor of Defense News, expanding its network of correspondents to 21 countries. Also, he was the founding host of Defense News with Vago Muradian. Before joining Defense News, he was the founder and managing editor of Defense Daily International and the business and international reporter for Defense Daily, the leading U.S. daily newsletter covering the defense and aerospace industry. Mr. Muradian joined Defense Daily from Air Force Times, the independent U.S. publication covering the U.S. Air Force where he covered global operations. His career started at Inside the Army.

Col. Donn Yates (USAF Ret.) drives Electra's business development efforts for U.S. Government contracts, focused on the EL9 Ultra Short aircraft's next-generation capabilities to solve warfighters' most pressing logistics needs for the last tactical leg – including the ability to take off and land quietly in helicopter-sized spaces in austere areas and provide mobile power capabilities. Col. Yates joins Electra after a distinguished 30-year career across the aerospace industry, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army, most recently as Vice President of Air Dominance Business Development and Strategy for Boeing's Defense, Space, and Security Division.

Mr. Jay Wynn has led or supported more than a hundred strategy engagements and M&A transactions in the aerospace, defense, and government services sectors. His career began as an advisor in the A&D sector over 20 years ago, working as a consultant with ANSER Corporation, serving clients at the Pentagon. Prior to founding Fairmont Consulting Group, he served as a managing director with CSP Associates where he led or played a key supporting role in transaction and strategic advisory engagements. Previous to CSP, he was with Bain & Company in their Private Equity Group, providing due diligence advisory services to clients across a range of industries.

Mr. Daniel Waugh leads safety, quality, delivery and cost for all of GE Aerospace's internal component manufacturing facilities as well as all external supplier and partner quality and delivery. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Procurement Officer for GE Aerospace, an operation that spans a 800+ internal team and a portfolio of 600+ direct material supplier partners and 1,000 indirect suppliers. With a total spend of over $10B annually, his team was responsible for over 80% of the new engine content across all product segments. Mr. Waugh has more than 27 years of leadership experience in GE Aerospace, having served as the General Manager for Rotating Parts and Compressor Airfoils Supply Chain and Global Component Repair business in the past 3 years. Mr. Waugh spent four years in Commercial Engines Services business, leading program management teams and cost reduction efforts, as well as leading the operations team for the GEnx product line.

Mr. Patrick Shortsleeve joined General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in 2019 to support the company's commitment to the rapidly growing Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems market. As Vice President, DoW Strategic Development, he leads a team of business professionals in the development of strategies that promote the company's full line of remotely piloted aircraft and associated technologies to the Department of War and other U.S. Government customers.  His responsibility covered a portfolio that includes Collaborative Combat Aircraft, MQ-9B SkyGuardian and SeaGuardian, MQ-9A Reaper, MQ-1C Gray Eagle, STOL UAS, Avenger UAS, Advanced Programs, Mission Sensors and Payloads, Autonomy, and ISR services. Mr. Shortsleeve joined GA-ASI Strategic Development after retiring from the U.S. Air Force in 2019 as a Colonel and senior intelligence professional with over 30 years' experience in military, national, and international intelligence sectors, having held posts in the Pacific, Europe, NATO, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Pentagon.

Mr. Roy "RT" Davis has over 30 years of experience in A&D and is responsible for providing industry and technical knowledge to clients. In addition, he leads the A&D business consulting organization. Mr. Davis began his career at EDS, focusing on automotive manufacturing and moved to Deloitte Consulting where he was a management consultant for A&D clients. Having worked with many A&D clients, he has significant experience and understanding of the A&D compliance requirements. Mr. Davis was also with Spirit AeroSystems, responsible for their application landscape, as they separated from their parent company and became their own entity, standing up new engineering, manufacturing and ERP applications.

Mr. Daniel da Silva began at Embraer in Brazil as a Flight Test engineer, later moving to Long Beach to work at Douglas Aircraft, which was later acquired by Boeing and later moved to Seattle to serve as Vice President of Sales for Latin America for Boeing, among other posts. Mr. da Silva also held Board of Director positions at APB and at the Chinese MRO TAECO and was the co-chair of the Aviation Working Group.

Ms. Abby Lilly is responsible for leading and integrating across the Enterprise to establish the vision and strategy for our Supply Chain function with an additional responsibility for optimizing Lockheed Martin's Supply Chain performance, reducing risk and complexity, and increasing resilience to strengthen program execution. Ms. Lilly brings approximately 30 years of aerospace industry experience to Lockheed Martin. Previously, she served as the Vice President Global Supply Chain for Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems where she was responsible for all aspects of supply chain strategy, supply chain operations, and subcontract program management for the Rotary and Mission Systems Business Area. Prior to her tenure at Lockheed Martin, she was Vice President of Global Supply Chain for Eaton Aerospace where she had overall supply chain responsibility for 25 plants around the world. Before she joined Eaton Aerospace, she served as the Vice President of Supply Chain for GKN Aerospace North America with responsibility for 14 plants in North America. Earlier in her career, she held several leadership positions in Supply Chain, Operations and Programs with Rolls-Royce North America, gaining extensive experience in the fields.

Prior to becoming President of Military Aircraft in 2023, Mr. Mark Graczyk served as Group Vice President and Chief Business Officer of Aircraft, starting in 2022. Prior to those roles, he was a Vice President within the Company since 2017. Mr. Graczyk started his career at Moog in 2010 as a Finance Manager in Aircraft. Over the years, he held various finance roles within Aircraft and was promoted to Vice President of Finance in 2017. As Vice President of Finance, he was responsible for Aircraft's finance, accounting, cost and pricing, government cost accounting and legal and contracts teams. In January 2021, he joined Industrial as Vice President and General Manager of the Industrial Controls Division. Mr. Graczyk began his career in public accounting at Ernst & Young in Buffalo and worked as a Government Cost Accounting Manager at Northrop Grumman before joining Moog.

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. Mr. Chao led the #1 ranked U.S. and global A&D team every year eligible. His career began as an M&A banker in the New York and London offices of Prudential-Bache Capital Funding.

Dr. Caitlin Lee is a political scientist with a research focus on innovation, force planning, emerging technology and organizational culture. In her previous role at the Mitchell Institute, she stood up the Center for UAV and Autonomy Studies. Before Mitchell, she held several management and research leadership positions at RAND, including Associate Director of NSRD's Acquisition and Technology Policy program and Acting Associate Director of the Strategy and Doctrine program in RAND Project AIR FORCE. At RAND, she led several projects related to global force management and joint officer development, and supported projects related to readiness, military innovation, command and control, and special mission analysis. In addition to all these achievements, she is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, where she teaches a class on force planning.

Mr. Mikhail Grinberg advises corporate and financial sponsor clients on strategy and M&A due diligence and has led hundreds of consequential engagements across a breadth of industry segments.  His sector coverage spans a diversity of clients from across the aerospace, defense, and government services industries. Also, he helps traditional firms reposition in times of change and disruption, advises foreign companies on how to successfully build scale in the US, and accelerates US market growth for commercial, space, and defense technology companies. Mr. Grinberg has led consequential diligence transactions ranging from $100 million to more than $10 billion, supported anti-trust litigation, and developed winning business cases for next-generation products that defined capability categories. Also, he serves as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and was one of the founders of The Strategy Bridge.

Mr. Peter Nicholas Lengyel is responsible for the execution of Safran's strategic vision among the Safran companies and joint ventures operating in the United States. Previously, he was the Vice President for Business Development for Safran USA, and in this role coordinated Group approaches across Safran's aerospace, defense, and security markets in the U.S. Prior to joining Safran, he was a career naval officer and last served as the naval attaché for defense security cooperation at the American Embassy in Paris, France. As the Director of Naval Affairs, he served as a liaison between government, defense, and private sector leaders to increase interoperability of U.S. and French defense and national security systems. In the course of his career, he participated in Cold War antisubmarine operations throughout the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic, North and Mediterranean Seas, as well as naval operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Somalia, and Haiti.

Mr. Sam Gray serves as the Executive Vice President, Market Development at Second Front Systems, a venture-backed public benefit platform-as-a-service company dedicated to empowering defense and national security professionals through the secure and rapid deployment of commercial software. Mr. Gray is currently a board member and the former Executive Director of Silicon Valley Defense Group, a nonprofit organization that fosters connections among technology, national security, and investors. Since 2021, he has been a venture partner at Franklin Templeton, focusing on growth and late-stage investments in dual-use industrial technology. With a distinguished military career spanning over 20 years, he brings extensive experience in operations, strategy and acquisitions. As a career fighter pilot, he completed seven deployments, including missions in the Pacific and Middle East, and in 2017-2018, he commanded VFA-115, an F/A-18 squadron based in Japan. Outside of the cockpit, he co-founded NavalX, oversaw aerospace procurement for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, and served as a crisis planner at Pacific Command, specializing in China.

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. Earlier, he 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. Jacob Markish formulates, coordinates and helps to implement the North America growth roadmap of Thales Group, a leading global integrator of complex systems in aviation, space, defense and security. His responsibilities include identifying, assessing and implementing the pursuit of a range of growth initiatives, from organic to inorganic, in support of the evolution of the Thales footprint in the US and Canada geographies, across all the Thales market verticals and key transverse topics such as digital innovation and AI. Prior to joining Thales in 2017, he spent 14 years as a management consultant in the aerospace and defense sector with Renaissance Strategic Advisors as a Principal for the firm. Mr. Markish also served as a consultant with Charles River Associates. As a consultant, he led engagements in strategy, market assessments and merger and acquisition support for strategic and financial clients across a broad range of market segments and technologies, including commercial aviation, defense and space. His areas of focus included corporate planning under uncertainty; technology situational awareness; new venture investing by established players and new entrants; and the implications of commercial technology innovation dynamics on defense and national security markets.

Army Lt. Gen. David G. Bassett leads a Department of War agency consisting of more than 12,000 civilians and military personnel who manage more than 300,000 contracts, performed at 15,000 locations worldwide, with a total value in excess of $7 trillion. Prior to DCMA, he was the Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications-Tactical starting in January 2018, where he managed the Army's tactical network development and acquisition. In September 2013, he was appointed Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems, overseeing the Army's combat vehicle fleet and modernization programs like Abrams and Stryker. Prior to this, he was Deputy Program Executive Officer for Combat Support & Combat Service Support.

Ms. Kathleen Boyle provides strategic leadership to achieve enterprise growth through the development and delivery of supply chain risk and supplier performance management solutions which help customers assure compliance, eliminate supply chain risk and receive quality product on time. Starting with an internship in 1991, she has over 30 years of organizational and management experience with the Verify group of companies. Ms. Boyle is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Governors for Aerospace Industries Association, Founding President and current Board Member of Women In Defense – Greater Los Angeles Chapter and serves as the FBI's Defense Industry Sector Chief for the Bureau's West Coast InfraGard association.