Herman spent 20 years General Electric’s R&D Center, developing electric and energy storage solutions for various products. Four years ago he received a late night phone call, inviting him to begin a new adventure in electric flight. Since that time he has had the pleasure of hanging on to a rising startup, earning a pilot’s license, and design-build-testing electric power & propulsion systems for the future of flight.
People Category: EATS
Jeff Pretz
Paul Stith
Lawrence Blakeley
Lawrence Blakeley is Head of Powertrain at Vertical Aerospace. This covers all electrical, mechanical and fluid systems design from concept through to certification and in-service. He has previously spent over 20 years in systems design and manufacturing, all within highly regulated industries. Within that he has spent over 16 years in aerospace primarily focused on electrical system architecture and installation design. His aerospace experience ranges from leading the electrical installation of the Orbital satellite launching system and the complete A400M wing electrical installation design through to the redesign of electrical architecture of systems throughout the A350 to enable production and weight targets. This experience covers all phases of the project life cycle from the conceptual design of a CS-25 and SC-VTOL aircraft through to the certification and continued airworthiness of CS-25 aircraft.
Shawn Braiden
Olivier Savin
- 23 years of experience with hydrogen fuel cells in aerospace, including 5 years at Honeywell (Los Angeles, CA) and 18 years at Dassault (business jet manufacturer, Paris, France)
- Conducted various collaborative development and demonstration projects for fuel cell applications in aviation
- Acting as Chairman of joint SAE/EUROCAE standardization group on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells for aviation since 2016
Ashlie Flegel
Ms. Ashlie B. Flegel is the Deputy Project Manager of the Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core project in the Advanced Air Vehicle Program at NASA. Ashlie has fourteen years of experience in the Turbomachinery field at NASA Glenn Research Center. She has held the roles of a Mechanical Test Engineer, Aerospace Research Engineer, and Project Manager. Her broad experience has led her from managing the operations of compressor, turbine, and nozzle research facilities to specializing in turbine aerodynamic and heat transfer experimental research and leading NASA’s Engine Icing research. Currently Ashlie is managing a project with the goal of developing small core engine technologies for the next generation of turbofan engines with improvements in efficiency, durability, performance, and hybridization.
Chris Tindal
Chris joined CAAFI as Assistant Director after a 40-year career in the Navy. Previously, Chris was the Director for Operational Energy underneath the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Navy for Energy, where he was in charge of setting energy policy and direction for the Department of the Navy and promoting the adoption of alternative fuels and renewable energy resources. He was the Navy leader of the pioneering USDA/DOE/Navy Alternative Fuels Initiative which developed programs to launch the advanced biofuels industry. In his role, Chris successfully led the Great Green Fleet effort, in which the U.S. Navy acquired and used 77 million gallons of F-76 alternative fuel blend for their ships in the Great Green Fleet deployment in 2016. Chris is also an Adjunct Professor on the faculty of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Queensland. In that role, Professor Tindal assists in exploring research and development opportunities for QUT, as well as investigating potential opportunities to establish biorefineries in the State of Queensland. Chris graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1980 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
Eric Allison
Eric serves as Joby Aviation’s Head of Product. He most recently led the Elevate team at Uber, developing software tools that built on more than a decade of experience enabling on-demand mobility. His experience in aerospace research, electric propulsion, energy storage, vehicle autonomy, and composite structures led him to the CEO position at Zee Aero, where he spearheaded the development of Cora, an autonomous air taxi vehicle. Eric holds a PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford, an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford, and a BS from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
John Kelly
John is the Engineering Director for the Propulsion and Powerplant Systems team at Boom Supersonic. He is responsible for building a world class engineering team that will design, test, certify and support the propulsion and powerplant related systems for the new supersonic aircraft Overture. John is a veteran of the aerospace industry with 30 years of experience divided between new product development and in-service production build & support.
Prior to joining Boom, John was an Engineering Director at The Nordam Group where he was responsible for design and certification activities across the company’s various corporate divisions. John also spent 19 years at Gulfstream Aerospace where he held various positions with increasing responsibilities up to engineering director. He directed teams responsible for powerplant systems, environmental controls, fuel and oxygen, as well as acoustics and thermodynamics.
John’s experience also includes being a senior engineer for External Systems & Integration at Pratt & Whitney Canada working on new turboshaft engines for helicopter platforms. He also worked at Bell Helicopter as a powerplant systems design engineer where he was directly involved in the development of 4 new helicopter programs and production support.
John earned a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Concordia University in
Montreal, Quebec and a certificate in Aircraft Technology from Ecole Nationale D’Aerotechnique in St Hubert, Quebec.