THE AEROSPACE EVENT –
Mergers & Acquisitions

Ms. Anita Antenucci is the Founder and Managing Partner of 3Wire Partners, an investment and merchant banking firm advising and partnering on Mergers and Acquisitions and capital placement for aerospace, defense and government contracting companies. From 2002 to 2022, she was a Senior Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey's Aerospace • Defense • Government practice and a member of the firm's board of directors prior to its IPO in August 2015. Prior to that, she served as the Co-President and Managing Director of Quarterdeck Investment Partners, a boutique industry investment bank acquired by Jefferies Group in 2022. Ms. Antenucci has three decades of investment banking experience and has been involved in over 300 transactions for an array of Fortune 500 and international companies, small-caps, entrepreneurs, and private equity owners. Her clients have included most of the world's leading aerospace/defense contractors.

Rear Admiral (Ret.) Peter Stamatopoulos is the former Commander of Naval Supply Systems Command, where he served as CEO of a global 23,000-person enterprise overseeing the Navy's end-to-end maritime, aviation, and industrial supply chain. He led the $41B Naval Sustainment System (NSS) Supply transformation, reversing a $1.2B cash deficit and generating $2.2B in supply-chain benefit, $816M in annual savings, and more than $7B in improved Fleet readiness. Today, as President of ADAPTᾱrkon and a board advisor across the A&D middle market, he works alongside private equity sponsors to accelerate performance and unlock enterprise value — serving on the Boards of Jonathan Group (JLL Partners), JA Moody Group (New Heritage Capital), Critical Metals Corporation (CRML), and as Executive Chairman of Wrist Government Services owned by J.F. Lehman Partners, with a focus on A&D Production and MRO, post-merger integration, shipbuilding modernization, logistics, and regulated-market operational excellence.

Dr. Kevin Michaels has 40 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. Dr. Michaels co-authored 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. At AeroDynamic Advisory, he 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.

Mr. Jon Randall has over 21 years of experience advising businesses and stakeholders through complex situations. In 2026, he co-founded Aerospace Manufacturing Partners (AMP) to acquire critical suppliers to the domestic commercial aerospace, space and defense industries. Prior to launching AMP, he was a Senior Director for The Boeing Company where he founded and lead the Supplier Restructuring and Special Situations group. His work at Boeing involved over 80 workouts of financially distressed suppliers as well as standing up and leading Boeing's supplier loan platform. Prior to Boeing, he spent 15 years as a restructuring advisor with Alvarez and Marsal, Capstone Advisory Group and Macquarie Bank.

Mr. Nelson Erickson brings more than two decades of experience in mergers and acquisitions, corporate development, and finance across the national security ecosystem. He leads corporate strategy and M&A efforts, working with the executive leadership team to identify, evaluate, and execute growth opportunities that advance AEVEX's position as a scaled provider of advanced defense technologies, unmanned systems, and mission critical capabilities. Before joining AEVEX, he served as an Operating Partner and Senior Advisor at Parry Labs and its lead investor, Capitol Meridian Partners, where he supported defense technology investments and helped shape investment strategies across the sector. Prior to that, he spent more than a decade at Mercury Systems, most recently as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development, where he led the company's strategy, M&A, and corporate development functions and established repeatable processes for growth through acquisition. During his tenure at Mercury Systems, he led the execution of 18 acquisitions totaling approximately $1.6 billion, building a disciplined framework for sourcing, evaluating, and integrating strategic transactions.

Mr. William H. Alderman (Bill) is an M&A specialist in the middle market of the aerospace and defense industry with over $2 billion in mergers and acquisition-related transactions to his name. Prior to founding Alderman & Company in 2001, he worked for 15 years on Wall Street and in the Aerospace & Defense Industry, principally on M&A transactions in the middle market. His employers included BT Securities, Fieldstone, and General Electric. Mr. Alderman is a Securities Principal registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and has four securities industry licenses (Series 7, 24, 63, and 65). In the past, he has served on the following boards: UFC Aerospace, now a unit of Boeing, Cox & Co., an ESOP-owned manufacturer of de-icing systems, Breeze-Eastern Corporation (AMEX: BZC), now a unit of TransDigm, Telos Corporation (NASD: TLS), DLH Corporation (NASD: DLHC). Mr. Alderman has been quoted as an industry expert by Bloomberg, Reuters, MarketWatch, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post.

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Mr. Max Zimmerman is focused on investments across aerospace, defense and government services, upstream food and agriculture, and hardware and semiconductors. Currently, he serves on the board of directors for Barnes Aerospace and ecoATM. Prior to joining Apollo in 2021, he was a Vice President at One Rock Capital Partners, where he focused on private equity investments across a range of industries. Mr. Zimmerman began his career as an Analyst in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at Barclays.

Mr. Shyam Ravindran is the President and Co-Founder of Arcline Investment Management. Arcline Investment Management is a growth-oriented private equity firm with over $30 billion in assets under management. Arcline seeks to build the next generation of Industrial Compounders—market-leading, non-disruptible industrial platforms designed to consistently grow earnings over decades.

Mr. Jonah Teeter-Balin leads AV's M&A, corporate strategy and integration functions. Over his 13 years at AV, he has played a key role in the company's transformation from a $230M revenue UAS supplier into a defense technology platform approaching $2B in annual revenue.  In 2025, he led AV's $4.1 billion acquisition of BlueHalo — which established AV as a premier middle-market defense tech company — and most recently closed the $200 million acquisition of Empirical Systems Aerospace in March 2026, adding advanced UAS engineering and manufacturing capabilities to AV's platform. Earlier in his tenure, he held roles spanning Investor Relations, Sales & Marketing, and Product Management. Before AV, he worked across cleantech, greentech and aerospace in both technical and commercial roles.

Dr. Brad Meslin co-founded CSP Associates in 1984, leading the firm as it became the first commercial diligence advisor to global private equity investors active in the aerospace, defense, and government sectors. Since supporting the first defense industry leveraged buyout in 1990, CSP has been engaged in more than 1,600 M&A transactions on behalf of more than 300 private equity sponsors, corporate acquirers, and institutional financing sources in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Middle East. Dr. Meslin also manages two affiliated coinvestment vehicles: CSP Equity Partners, an investor in nearly 125 private equity-owned aerospace, defense, and government companies; and CSP Capital Partners, a venture investment platform focused on earlier-stage innovative defense technology companies. Also, he was a co-founder and Director of Spacehab, the first commercial provider of human spaceflight services; and served as acting CEO of eBizJets (now Sentient Jet), one of the largest providers of business aviation charter services.

Mr. Hovig Margossian focuses on sourcing, evaluating, and supporting investments across aerospace, defense, space, autonomy, advanced manufacturing, and other frontier technologies bringing more than two decades of experience spanning military service, banking, and venture capital. His career began in U.S. Marine Corps Aviation, serving for 10 years as a helicopter mechanic and aerial observer, including combat deployments to Iraq. Later, he spent eight years at Bank of America, where he served as Senior Vice President of Aerospace & Defense Banking for Los Angeles, advising founders, executives, and investors across the sector while managing more than $800 million in client relationships. At Deep Tech Fund Advisors, he led investments in category-defining companies including VAST Space, JetZero, Overland AI, and BQP Solutions, deploying approximately $12 million into high-growth deep technology companies in the firm's first year.

Mr. George Sampas is the Co-Chair of Gibson Dunn's Mergers & Acquisitions Practice Group and Co-Head of Cross-Border M&A. His practice focuses on cross-border transactions, unsolicited U.S. and non-U.S. acquisitions and private equity transactions with a specific emphasis on the aviation, aerospace and defense and energy and minerals sectors. Mr. Sampas is regularly recognized as a leading advisor having been previously named by Global Counsel as one of its 'Highly Recommended M&A Practitioners' and is regularly ranked in legal publications such as New York Super Lawyers, The Legal 500 United States, Euromoney's Guide to the World's Leading Mergers and Acquisitions Lawyers and Who's Who Legal. Additionally, he represents leading global corporations on their largest, most complex and transformative deals including representations of Alcan, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Aventis, BBA Aviation, BCE, Columbia Pipeline Group, Enbridge, Inco, KPMG, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, and Vodafone Group as well as private equity firms and investment advisors. Historic Transactions include representing SpaceX on its acquisition of xAI, the largest M&A transaction to date, Vodafone's acquisition of Mannesmann, the second largest M&A acquisition to date, Elf in its Pac-Man defense and merger with Total, Aventis in its use of a Plavix poison pill warrant to secure better terms from Sanofi, Alcan in its use of new French regulations to allow an unsolicited acquisition of Pechiney and in selling Alcan to Rio Tinto, InBev in its unsolicited acquisition of Anheuser-Busch, Inco in many transactions including its combination agreement with Phelps Dodge and Falconbridge and its sale to Vale.

Mr. Michael Richter focuses on companies in the defense, commercial aerospace, and New Space markets. With more than three decades of investment banking experience, he is one of the most accomplished aerospace & defense dealmakers, having closed more than 350 transactions, valued at north of $100B in total transaction value. Previously, he served as Global Head of A&D Investment Banking at Lazard. Prior to Lazard, he was President of Jefferies Quarterdeck, the Aerospace & Defense business of Jefferies & Co. Prior to Jefferies, he was a Managing Director and Head of CIBC Oppenheimer's Aerospace & Defense Investment Banking Group and Head of their SF office. Mr. Richter started his professional career focused on the technology sector, holding roles at IBM and the technology investment banking groups of Kidder, Peabody & Co., and Montgomery Securities.

Mr. Michael McElhenney has more than two decades of investment banking experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, complex corporate divestitures, and capital markets transactions. Over the past 20 years, he has been one of the most active investment bankers covering the global defense technology sector and is widely recognized as a thought leader in the industry. Mr. McElhenney has advised many of the world's most innovative companies developing next-generation capabilities across autonomy, space, cyber, communications, sensing, artificial intelligence, and other mission-critical national security technologies. Mr. McElhenney advises public and private companies, founders, boards of directors, and private equity investors on strategic transactions across the global aerospace, defense, and government technology markets. His experience spans both the buy side and sell side, representing Fortune 500 companies, multinational corporations, middle-market businesses, entrepreneurs, and financial sponsors. His clients have included many of the world's leading aerospace and defense companies, including Boeing, RTX, Lockheed Martin, and numerous other industry leaders. Prior to joining Guggenheim Securities, he was a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey's Aerospace & Defense Group.

Mr. Darren Farber is Chairman & CEO of Ignium, which was formed inside of private equity firm Albion River, where he is a founding partner. Prior to Albion, he was a co-founder of NAWAH LLC, a Pritzker Organization company specializing in Middle East third party logistics. NAWAH was sold to Hutchinson Ports, a division of Hutchinson Whampoa Limited. Prior to NAWAH, he served as a special advisor to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense - Business Transformation and Director – Task Force for Business and Stability Operations at the U.S. Department of Defense. In this capacity, he led efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan to redefine contracting doctrine with the goal of decreasing Host Nation unemployment. Mr. Farber is also the Chairman of Magpul Industries and a board member of MDA Inc. which he acquired in a consortium from Maxar.

Ms. Lisa Smith joined JA Moody in 2012 as VP of Sales, responsible for developing strategies that drive growth and profitability across the organization. In 2014, she was promoted to Executive Vice President, and in 2015, to President of the company. In this role, she oversees JA Moody's internal and external sales teams as well as its operations area. Under her leadership, JA Moody has become ISO 9001 certified and has grown its commercial marine business by adding new product lines and sales territories. Ms. Smith was previously a partner at a financial services firm, where she developed new products and formulated and executed a sales and market delivery strategy for more than six hundred clients. She serves on the Board of the Amphibious Warship Industrial Base Coalition (AWIBC) and is an active member and Board member of Custer County Search & Rescue, a non-profit organization.

Mr. Stephen Perry has over 30 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, corporate divestitures and management buy-outs. Also, he has completed over 60 Aerospace & Defense M&A transactions valued at over $5 billion. Recent transactions include sale of ExoAnalytic Solutions to Anduril, sale of American Casting Company to Arcline, sale of undisclosed provider of electronic products to TransDigm. Mr. Perry serves as the co-chair of Oaklins' global Aerospace & Defense practice and has been involved in numerous cross-border transactions. Previously, he held various roles of increasing responsibility at Credit-Suisse/First Boston, Kayne Anderson and Irving Trust Company.

Mr. Rowan G.P. Taylor is the founding and Managing Partner of Liberty Hall Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused exclusively on investments in businesses serving the global aerospace and defense industry. Since 2005, Mr. Taylor has led the investment of over $3.0 billion in equity capital in over 30 acquisitions of businesses serving the aerospace and defense industry, including the investment of over $1.2 billion in equity capital in over 20 acquisitions since the formation of Liberty Hall. Liberty Hall was founded in 2011 as the first, and remains the only, private equity firm singularly focused on investments in middle market businesses serving the aerospace and defense industry. Prior to founding Liberty Hall, Mr. Taylor was a Partner of Oak Hill Capital Management, where he was head of its Basic Industries group, led a group of investment professionals focused on aerospace, industrial and transportation businesses, and served on Oak Hill’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining Oak Hill in 1999, Mr. Taylor was a Principal in the Merchant Banking group of CS First Boston and its successors, The Clipper Group and Monitor Clipper Partners.

Mr. Teo Ozsan works closely with senior executives and investors to deliver clarity and confidence across corporate strategy, portfolio shaping, acquisitions and divestitures, and long-term value creation. Mr. Ozsan's advisory style is characterized by a pragmatic, outcome-oriented approach grounded in deep sector understanding, a dual view of clients' financial and strategic objectives, and in providing value in long-term partnership. As Managing Partner, he has a central role in scaling Renaissance's value proposition, building the firm's team, developing talent, and infrastructure, and expanding the firm's global client base. Prior to joining Renaissance in 2013, he spent a decade at Lazard, working across private equity, technology, media, telecom, and A&D groups.

Mr. Kristjan Kornmayer assists in leading the firm's M&A advisory practice, which provides commercial due diligence services as well as M&A strategy, targeting/deal origination, and execution support to strategic acquirors and financial sponsors. Mr. Kornmayer has 13 years of experience in the A&D sector and has advised on 100+ transactions covering defense technology, electronics, aerospace, space, and government services. Prior to joining Renaissance, he led the buy-side practice at Chertoff Capital and supported Chertoff Capital's investment banking and private equity activities in the defense, intelligence, national security, and cybersecurity markets. Before Chertoff, he spent six years at Avascent (now part of Oliver Wyman), a boutique A&D consulting firm.

Mr. Darryl Genovesi brings extensive Engineering, Finance, Investment Advisory, Turnaround Advisory, and Executive Leadership experience gained over a 25-year career in the Aerospace, Defense, Aviation & Space industries. Since joining Riveron in 2023, he has contributed over $1B to client company enterprise values and led turnaround activities and most Finance functions for distressed Aerospace, Defense, Aviation and Space companies. Previously, he was a VP of Finance at Momentus, a satellite bus manufacturer and provider of space transportation and logistics services. His responsibilities included capital raising, investor communications, financial forecasting/budgeting, M&A sourcing and due diligence. From 2008-21, he was an Equity Research Analyst at UBS and Vertical Research Partners, where he covered Aerospace, Defense, and Air and Space Transportation stocks. Mr. Genovesi developed the investment community's gold standard airline revenue forecasting tool and founded Wall Street's first commercial space research franchise during the 2019-21 SPAC boom.

Joanna Speed specializes in uniting prominent and influential aerospace industry leaders to illuminate pressing issues, proactively confront industry challenges, and deliver answers to stakeholders. She recently served as Chief Growth Officer of an alliance of distribution companies, providing supply chain solutions to the A&D industry, and previously was the Managing Director, Aerospace and Defense Events for the Aviation Week Network — which included the SpeedNews Legacy — where she led the launch and execution of multiple events, marketing strategies and audience engagement platforms. During her prior tenure, she emerged as a thought leader for pioneering forecasting and intelligence forums in the A&D arena. In 2022, she played a pivotal role in the successful launch of AeroOne — a groundbreaking initiative for the Aerospace Industry Association of Michigan, to unite aerospace OEMs and suppliers in the Midwest region. Also, she advised the Association for Corporate Growth - Los Angeles, particularly through the successful curation and launch of the Aerospace & Defense Middle Market Leadership Forum, a program strategically designed for dealmakers within the sector. Joanna is a recipient of the Service to the Flag Award for Industry by Women In Defense and served as President for the Women In Defense Greater Los Angeles Chapter — a subsidiary organization under the National Defense Industrial Association. She is a member of the Board of Directors of LeFiell Manufacturing, and is dedicated to serving A&D middle market companies, while also maintaining a commitment to community volunteer work. Recently, she was recognized by Business Insider as one of the top 15 most influential women in aerospace.

Mr. Chris McKee is responsible for driving execution of Boeing's acquisition, divestiture, equity investment, and joint venture activities, both domestically and internationally since he joined Boeing in 2013. Prior to Boeing, he spent 10 years in investment banking at Lazard, Jefferies and Merrill Lynch, focused on mergers & acquisitions. Mr. McKee began his career as a consultant with PwC based in New York and in Tokyo.

Mr. Steve Hruby leads and executes all aspects of TransDigm's merger and acquisition activities, including sourcing, strategic evaluation, due diligence, valuation, and negotiation. Recent deals led by in the company have included the acquisition of Raptor Scientific from L Squared for $655M, the acquisition of Simmonds Precision Products from RTX for $765M, and the acquisition of Stellant Systems from Arlington Capital Partners for $960M, amongst various others. Mr. Hruby joined TransDigm from Boeing's Corporate Development team, where he similarly led acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, and equity investment transactions across Boeing's business units. Prior to Boeing, he was a Vice President at CW Industrial Partners, a lower middle-market private equity buyout fund investing in industrial manufacturing businesses. His career began with several financial services consulting roles at Ernst & Young in its Valuation, Modeling & Economics group and Transaction Support /Financial Due Diligence group; Piper Jaffray (now Piper Sandler) in its Healthcare Investment Banking group; and PwC in its audit practice.

Mr. Max Haot is an aerospace, consumer electronics, and internet entrepreneur. Founded, scaled, and successfully sold four companies including Launcher (acquired by Vast), Mevo (acquired by Logitech), and Livestream (acquired by IAC/Vimeo).

Mr. Matthew Norton is CEO of Watch Point Capital. Prior to founding Watch Point, he was Partner at Madison Dearborn (MDP) and Head of MDP's Technology & Government team and with Merrill Lynch Investment Banking. Mr. Norton serves on the Boards of Directors of AEVEX Aerospace, CoVant Technologies II, the National Security Space Association, and SpiderOak. Formerly, he was on the Boards of Directors of Aderant, Axonis, Carnegie Learning, City Year Chicago, Revolutional, the Illinois Venture Capital Association, Lightspeed Systems, OMNI,, T2S Solutions, Unison,  BlueCat Networks, Boise Cascade Company, Boise Inc., Fieldglass, Fleet Complete, Kaufman Hall, LinQuest, LGS Innovations and NFP.