• 18 Jul 2023 10:45 AM
• 0

eVTOL Insights Highlights eVTOL CTOs

On June 2, eVTOL Insights published the first edition of the eVTOL Insights Special Report, a publication recognizing leading individuals in the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry. This edition of the series, which resembles the outlet’s “Powerbook” publication (see “2023 PowerBook Recognizes 31 AAM Leaders,” Vertiflite, March/April 2023), is focused on the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at a few of the leading electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and technology companies. The purpose of the report, writes eVTOL Insights Executive Editor Jason Pritchard in an introduction, is to recognize and celebrate the “achievements of more thought leaders, influencers and innovators.” The London-based eVTOL Insights intends to release additional such reports later this year.

The report, which was supported by Honeywell, profiles 11 individuals occupying the role of CTO in AAM companies. The following represents a summary of the biographies published by eVTOL Insights.

Mike Armstrong, CTO of Electric Power Systems, previously led the hybrid-propulsion program at Rolls-Royce North American Technologies and has filed more than 25 patents.

Vertical Aerospace’s CTO Michael Cervenka has been at the UK-based eVTOL developer for four years, prior to which he spent 22 years at Rolls-Royce.

Ankit Dass, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Skyports, has more than 16 years of experience working in the financial technology (fintech) and investment banking sector.

Ben Diachun brings more than 20 years of experience to the role of CTO of Supernal, having previously served as the CEO of Opener and President of Scaled Composites.

Jasmine Kent, CTO of Dufour Aerospace, previously worked at Google and co-founded Daedalean, an autonomous flight technology company.

SkyDrive CTO Nobuo Kishi began his career at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and served as Executive Chief Engineer of the Mitsubishi Space Jet program.

Sebastien Mores, the CTO of Volocopter, is responsible for pioneering the company’s Munich branch, before which he worked at Airbus Helicopters.

Chen Rosen, the CTO and co-founder of AIR, served as a drone test pilot in the Israeli Air Force and previously worked on uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) projects at Elbit Systems and Amimon.

Wisk CTO Jim Tighe also has experience working at eVTOL developer Kitty Hawk and at the aerospace firm Scaled Composites, as well as at Boeing.

Jia Xu, who previously held a senior role in urban air mobility (UAM) systems at Airbus, after roles at the RAND Corporation and General Atomics, is now the CTO for Honeywell’s UAS and AAM business unit.

Luiz Valentini is the CTO of Eve Air Mobility and an expert in aerodynamics and flight mechanics and previously worked at Embraer.

The CTO Special Report 2023, which includes full photos and descriptions of the honorees, is available at www.eVTOLinsights.com.