Team with Proven Success & Deep Experience
Valery Miftakhov
FOUNDER & CEO
Google, McKinsey, DOE, eMotorWerks (Founder & CEO; acquired in 2017) Pilot, fixed wing & rotorcraft Physics PhD, Princeton; MIPT
Katya Akulinicheva
CFO
SYSTEMIQ Head of VC; RDIF (Russian SWF) PE; Deutsche Bank, Lazard M&A; BA/MA Politics & Economics, Oxford; MBA, INSEAD
Gabriel DeVault
HEAD OF DRIVETRAIN
Zero Motorcycles (founding team), InspecTools (founding team; acquired 2018), JOBY Aviation; Private pilot
Prasanna Kumar
PRINCIPAL SOFTWARE ENGINEER
UEPCS, Silver Atena, Sasken, Bharat Electronics; Aviation Critical SW Dev
(DO 178 A-D); BS in Eng, Bangalore
Dominic Cheater
HEAD OF DOA & AIRWORTHINESS
Babcock, Kopter, Airbus Helicopters, Williams F1, QinetiQ, Cobham. Civil and Military Aircraft Design, Certification and Flight Test. EASA Form 4 holder. Flight Test Engineer – Empire Test Pilots School. Private Pilot
James Lawson
REGULATORY
FAA DER (Designated Engineering Rep), Zee Aero, BAE, Crane Aerospace, Astronics Loughborough Uni, MEng
Andreas Costa
TECHNICAL PROGRAMME MANAGER
30+ years at Collins Aerospace, Airbus, UK MoD & Lockheed Martin. Specialising in EVM, Risk Analysis & Project Setup and Implementation. MBA, BEng (Hons)
Sergey Kiselev
VP OF EUROPE
McKinsey, Hitachi, eMotorWerks (Head of Europe; acquired 2017) Physics PhD, Cornell; MIPT
Julia Batishcheva
CONTROLLER
Vivus, Inc., Stottler Henke, eMotorWerks (CFO; acquired in 2017) CPA, Accounting and Finance; BS, Business Administration
Stephen Lawes
FUEL CELL LEAD
Intelligent Energy, NetVu, Norcott
FC, Electrical design, prototyping, FMA
PhD EE, York
​Julian Renz
PARTNERSHIPS & SPECIAL PROJECTS
SYSTEMIQ, Air Liquide, BMW, tado MSc Chemical Eng, TUM, Tech Mgmt, CDTM
Ryan Murphy
HEAD OF CERTIFICATION
Certification, Design and Flight and Performance of small aircraft, 10+ years in EASA 21J DOA. Private Pilot. MSc (Aircraft Design), BEng (Mech), BTech (Aero), MRAeS
Andrew Dixon
CHIEF TEST PILOT
Aviation Pro since 1975. Approved test pilot for piston, turboprop and hydrogen. Instructor Examiner and Stunt Pilot for 007: Spectre and Quantum of Solace. 34,500h on 175 types of planes ranging from Piper Cubs to Boeing B17
Alex Kikhtenko
REMOTE DEVELOPMENT
Expert on mobile power plants, both terrestrial and aerial Electroavtomatika, Aerostart; Industrial electronics NCS TU
Strong Advisory Board
Andy Brown
FUELING INFRASTRUCTURE ADVISOR
35 years at Shell, Head of Upstream Division— $100B+ in capital deployed over 30 countries;
Member of the Shell Executive Committee, reported to the CEO of Shell Group
Mike Friend
AIRCRAFT INTEGRATION ADVISOR
35 years at Boeing, Head of world’s first manned fuel cell aircraft project at Boeing, Chief Engineer New Aircraft Development @Boeing, Mitsubishi Aircraft; Aero Engineering, UI Urbana-Champaign
Andrew Patton
BUSINESS ADVISOR
Google (Wing, X),
GrowthPoint Technology Partners,
Titan Aerospace, Boeing.
Aerobatic Pilot
Stanford MBA Princeton Mech & Aerospace
David Walrod
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Managing Director / Partner @Sabia Capital, Pier 88, Pacific Growth Capital, Vodafone Ventures, Bridgescale Partners, Oak Investment Partners; McKinsey & Company; Board Member @5+ VC-funded startups; UC Berkeley Foundation Trustee Harvard JD, MIT PhD & Berkeley AB Physics
Jamie Hyneman
TECHNICAL ADVISOR
Machinist, Special Effects, Out-of-the-box solutions expert;
Founder & co-host of Mythbusters 2003-2018
Mark Blair
AVIATION INDUSTRY ADVISOR
FedEx Express VP (retired) - Air Operations, Aircraft Base & Maintenance, Propulsion Maintenance, Aircraft Acquisitions.
Cessna Aircraft Company - Director, Fleet Sales
Michael Reich
INVESTMENT & TALENT ACQUISITION ADVISOR
Founder & President, MRA
Retained Executive Search;
built exec teams that led to 16 IPOs and 40 profitable M&A events;
Founder, Silicon Valley Aviation
Christine Ourmières-Widener
AIRLINE OPERATOR ADVISOR
Seasoned airline senior exec:
CEO FlyBe, CEO CityJet, 25+ years at AirFrance KLM (VP/GM US, GM UK & Ireland), IATA Board of Governors, Royal Aero Society, MA Aeronautics, MBA
John Uczekaj
AVIATION INDUSTRY RELATIONS ADVISOR
CEO & President, Aspen Avionics;
EVP & GM, Honeywell;
Board Member, General Aviation Manufacturers Association;
2012 honoree, Living Legends of Aviation (Entrepreneur of the Year)
Roger Atkins
EV BUSINESS ADVISOR
Founder EVOutlook;
LinkedIn Top Voice;
Advisory Board Member with Momentum Dynamics, Energy Disruptors, RENU ventures. Brand Ambassador of Rimac Automobili and Pariss Electric
Micah Myers
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
CEO, Pace Avenue; Board Member, eMotorWerks (acquired by ENEL in 2017); Co-Founder & SVP, CleanPowerFinance (acquired in 2018);
Principal, Claremont Creek Ventures.
Fighter pilot
MBA, Stanford; BA, UC Davis
Brian Snow
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
Impala Ventures,
Pristine Environments (Founder & CEO; acquired by MAST Capital in 2017),
Vornado Realty
Wharton MBA,
MS Georgetown
Ron Mangon
AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS ADVISOR
Mangon Aircraft (aircraft repair & maintenance) Certified Piper, Cessna, Lycoming, Continental mechanic
The Board of Directors
Valery Miftakhov
FOUNDER & CEO
Google, McKinsey, DOE, eMotorWerks (Founder & CEO; acquired in 2017) Pilot, fixed wing & rotorcraft Physics PhD, Princeton; MIPT
Geoff Eisenberg
PARTNER—ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY FUND
Geoff has been with EIF since its inception in 2010. He leads the firm’s work in Grid Modernization, Electrification, and Transportation. Geoff is based in San Francisco, CA.
Christine Ourmières-Widener
AIRLINE OPERATOR ADVISOR
Seasoned airline senior exec:
CEO FlyBe, CEO CityJet, 25+ years at AirFrance KLM (VP/GM US, GM UK & Ireland), IATA Board of Governors, Royal Aero Society, MA Aeronautics, MBA
Sergey Kiselev
VP OF EUROPE
McKinsey, Hitachi, eMotorWerks (Head of Europe; acquired 2017) Physics PhD, Cornell; MIPT
Matt Eggers
INVESTOR—BREAKTHROUGH ENERGY VENTURES
Matt is an investor or board member in 75F Inc, ZeroAvia, Zymergen, Omnidian, Bright, Phylagen, Energetic Insurance, Posigen and others. He was previously an exec at Sunrun, Tesla and Bloom Energy.