UAM HIGH-FLYER
We want to celebrate the amazing community of Flight Crowd and Urban Air Mobility, and give everyone a chance to shine!
On a regular basis, we will honour an individual or team who has achieved something in UAM and share their work. This can be someone of any background, age or career path.
To nominate someone to be a ‘UAM High-Flyer’, fill out this form!
CTO, and Founder of TEKTowr
How Matt's colleagues describe him:
Matt is an extremely supportive and knowledgeable leader! The work he is leading at TEKTowr will shape an efficient and safe future of the UAM industry.
More about SIMTwin:
Built on massive multiplayer online gaming platforms, SIMTwin allows multiple stakeholders such as architects, town planners, UAV manufacturers, air traffic controllers, etc. to plan "what-if" scenarios for new Vertiports and infrastructure. In doing so, this greatly helps to develop the new rules of the airspace whilst also facilitating public perception.
About Matt:
Matt is a multidisciplined technologist who has worked in different critical national industries - including Rail, Defence, Aerospace, Energy, Automotive, Cybersecurity. Matt has worked and is equally proficient in all aspects of both the software development process (from requirements, design through to coding) and also the software verification and assurance processes. Matt has operated at the most senior technical authority positions within some of the UK's flagship critical national infrastructure projects and has led teams of up to 150-engineers on programmes circa £100M budgets.
Since December 2018, Matt is the CTO and founder of TEKTowr - an engineering solutions company looking to support the emerging UAM / AAM market with the digital infrastructure and solutions needed to get these new class of vehicles off the ground in the UK and beyond. Working with global leaders, TEKTowr are leading the implementation of Fly2Plan - a 21st century blockchain solution for aviation data interchange that will allow the integration of UTM with traditional ATM systems in order to integrate the airspace safely. Furthermore, TEKTowr are developing SIMTwin - a new hyperrealistic, AI-driven, 4D augmented reality simulation of the integrated airspace.
Innovation Lead – Future Flight Challenge
Innovate UK UKRI
How Kerissa's colleagues describe her in three words:
Incredibly knowledgeable
Passionate and hard-working
Great role model
Follow Kerissa and her work:
Future Flight Challenge Socio-Economic Study (2021)
AAM Annual Market Outlook (2021)
About Kerissa:
Kerissa is an aeronautical engineer and technical expert in complex and integrated aerospace systems. She is a member of Council of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a member of the UK Trade Organisation for Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space Advanced Air Mobility Group.
As Innovation Lead for the UK Research and Innovation Future Flight Challenge, Kerissa works with businesses, government, regulatory bodies, academia, research organisations and global players to create the future aviation system for safe and sustainable air mobility. Her focus is on transforming how we connect people, transport goods and deliver services using advanced air mobility, regional aircraft and drones, with electric, hydrogen and autonomous technologies. She provides thought leadership and leads socio-economic, market outlook and public perception studies for future flight.
She has developed the 2030 Vision and Roadmap for Future Flight and shaped the UK Transport Vision 2050.
Dawn M. K. Zoldi
Colonel, United States Air Force, Retired; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of P3 Tech Consulting
How Dawn's colleagues describe her:
“It’s so exciting to see the global family of UAM/AAM coming together and being led by such inspirational people like Dawn. Her experience and work in uniting the industry, supporting the public and inspiring future aerial mobility professionals is so important.”
Follow Dawn:
About Dawn:
Dawn is a licensed attorney, a U.S. Air Force veteran and the founder and Chief Executive Officer of P3 Tech Consulting, connecting people who have a passion for advanced tech platforms with the plans, programs, policies, and information they need to succeed.
Ms. Zoldi is also the President and CEO of UAS Colorado, the state's only non-profit business league for drones, and an Adjunct Professor at Colorado State University-Pueblo, Political Science Department, Institute for Homeland Security Studies.
Her endeavours in the drone law, regulatory and policy arena include roles as a consultant for multiple aerospace companies; aerospace and defence contributor to Forbes.com; contributing editor and columnist for Inside Unmanned Systems and Inside GNSS magazines; guest contributor to several other publications; podcaster and conference planner. She has strategic partnerships and leadership roles in multiple aerospace, drone education, non-profit, and media-related companies and organizations and is an internationally recognized expert on unmanned aircraft systems and advanced air mobility law and policy.
Christian Grose
A-Levels student hoping to study Design Engineering in university;
Passionate about UAM
How Christian is making a difference in UAM now:
The passion and enthusiasm of young, talented individuals like Christian is a clear indication of their value to the future of UAM. Their drive for innovation and creativity will be imperative to the success of this upcoming industry. By taking the initiative to share his passion and work, Christian is a role model to his peers, highlighting the importance of school outreach to the industry.
About Christian:
Christian is currently a student finishing his A-Levels in Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, and Design & Technology. Outside of school, he enjoys creating engineering-based projects; from electric bikes to self-watering plants. He also does free-style first-person view flying (FPV) drone flying.
Christian got inspired by the future of flight industry after hearing about it from Flight Crowd. He then went to research some leading industry companies as well as studied racing and nature solutions to help him come up with his own revolutionary designs. Despite his young age, he is actively researching the industry and perfecting his models, hoping to advance his skills later in university.
He sees Urban Air Mobility as a way of creating accessible, exciting air travel for intercity distances while having the potential to reduce traffic and accidents.
Read an interview with Christian and see his incredible designs here.
Rob Corbett
Career Programs and Business Development Director, Drone Forward;
Inc Adaptive sUAS Advisor, Wounded Eagle UAS
How Rob's colleagues describe him in three words:
Incredibly inspiring
Genuine
Passionate
Watch some of Rob's work here:
About Rob:
Rob is an Inclusive Flight Advocate and USAF veteran from Waynesboro, Virginia. After suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury in 2016, he has devoted his time in educating and training individuals of all “abilities” in assistive technology, vocational skills and adapted sUAS operations.
He developed a fully inclusive drone training program based around the Skydio 2 platform and has conducted training with people from various backgrounds and walks of life. He is now looking to expand this inclusive sUAS training and hopes to provide a means of flight for people who otherwise would be grounded.
Rob's relationship with the FAA has made him the voice for adaptive training and inclusive sUAS operations, consulting with education leaders around the globe. Rob is currently working on an inclusive flight video project with Drone Forward Inc (DFI), capturing the various forms of sUAS operations and the people behind the controls. “Flight Takes Many Forms” is Rob’s vision for making aviation more inclusive, diverse all while creating awareness for the industries sharing airspace.
Chris Howe
Lead Operating Officer; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium (CAAM)
How Chris's colleagues describe him in three words:
"Chris Howe has absolutely championed the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion work through CAAM's Uplift Series, which started off with an enormous success in the Women in AAM event. He continues to find opportunities to bring the DEI work not only internally to our team at CAAM, however critically, to the platform and leadership role the CAAM is playing nationwide in Canada and internationally."
About Chris:
Chris loves to support organizations with systems that scale their operations.
He joined Canadian Advanced Air Mobility in 2020 after seeing the potential to have an intergenerational impact on the planet through sustainable aviation. At CAAM, Chris leads all projects and supports members and the internal CAAM team in their pursuit of making every flight under 500kms run on zero emissions by 2040 in Canada.
He's particularly concerned about the legroom in these new vehicles as well — at 6'8" tall, he's hoping to be able to get his food tray down without his feet in the aisle.
For more information on CAAM's ongoing projects and the members helping to create the path for this new industry to be safe and run on zero emissions, please check out: https://canadianaam.com/