2021 Stocktaking - e-VTOL and urban air mobility

e-VTOL and Urban Air Mobility - Speakers

Meet our speakers

Edward Xu EHang	Mr. Edward Xu serves as the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of EHang, joined the company in July, 2019. Before joining EHang, Mr. Xu served as Head of Asia (ex-Japan) Transportation Research at Morgan Stanley Asia Limited (“Morgan Stanley”). During his 15-year career as an equity research analyst at Morgan Stanley, he covered China’s aerospace and transportation industries extensively, including airlines, logistics, airports, and railways, among others. He had participated in several major IPO projects led by Morgan Stanley, such as ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc, Kerry Logistics Network Limited, AirAsia Group BHD, BTS Rail Mass Transit Growth Infrastructure Fund, and BOC Aviation Limited. He has been ranked consistently among the Top 3 All-Asia Transportation Analyst by Institutional Investor magazine for the past few years and was well recognized among both the investment community and the logistics industry. Mr. Xu is a CFA charter holder and obtained an MBA degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Eric Wright Archer	Eric Wright is the Head of Certification & Test at Archer in Palo Alto, CA and is actively working to certify an eVTOL aircraft for Urban Air Mobility operations. During his tenure as the ODA administrator at Piper Aircraft, he was first in the world to integrate, certify and operationally approve the Garmin Emergency Autoland autonomous system on the M600 aircraft. Eric’s accomplishments include initial type certification of the Piper M600, initial development of the Cirrus SF-50 and Eclipse 500, NASA’s SOFIA observatory, participation in the Part 23 Aviation Rulemaking Committee, and development of Alaskan Fuel Hauling as a Restricted Category Special Purpose Operation. He is a past employee of the Federal Aviation Administration, a veteran of the United States Air Force and Oklahoma Air National Guard. Eric earned a Master of Science in Engineering Technology Management from Oklahoma State University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Oklahoma.
Jack Withinshaw Airspeeder	From Airspeeder’s Commercial Base in London, Jack Withinshaw leads the growth of the world’s first racing series for flying electric cars. His career started in Sydney, Australia where he successfully led commercial teams across media and technology companies also shaping strategy for a variety of start-ups. This experience perfectly places Jack to lead the growth of Airpseeder to one of the most converted sports rights entities in the world. Through leadership of a diverse team, Jack has attracted some of the most recognised sponsors and technical collaborators from the traditional sports world. This includes Acronis, NVIDIA, DHL, EQUALS Money and IWC. In addition to this, he negotiates at government level to secure placement of races and is leading the acquisition of the teams that will take part in Airspeeder GP Seasons. Jack is also rapidly developing the sport’s technical presence utilising the UK’s world-renowned motorsport and aerospace development talent-base.
Jim Sherman Vertical Flight Society	Jim Sherman joined VFS in May 2019 as the Society's Director of Strategic Development, responsible for setting and executing the Society’s strategy for promoting membership development and growth. Jim in particular is responsible for supporting the development of the "Electric VTOL Revolution" and expanding the Society’s membership in this fast-growing market segment. Jim worked for SAE International for more than 8 years as the lead event developer for aerospace and automotive technology, including AeroTech, Convergence, Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference (ASTC), International Powered Lift Conference (IPLC), and the Connect2Car program at CES. He also led many other strategic programs that coordinated SAE Aerospace activities. Prior to SAE, Jim worked at BAE Systems in Johnson City, New York (now Endicott) for 15 years as a project engineer leading programs targeted at military ground vehicle power systems, hybrid-electric drive for heavy-duty vehicles (transit buses, class 5/6 trucks). As an individual contributor earlier in his career, he developed flight and engine controls, and systems/software test protocols for the V-22, C-17, F-18, Saab 2000, T700, GE90 and CFM56. Jim also worked at IBM for four years developing digital audio and video compression/decompression algorithms Jim holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A from Binghamton University.
Leslie Cary ICAO	Leslie Cary is the Chief of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) Section in the Air Navigation Bureau at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Ms. Cary is responsible for managing the work programme and coordinating all developments related to UAS / RPAS within the ICAO framework, including UAS traffic management (UTM).
Luis Felipe de Oliveira ACI	Luis Felipe de Oliveira joined ACI World as Director General in June 2020, bringing with him vast experience in commercial and technical aviation. He successfully led the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) between October 2017 and May 2020, promoting positive change in the organisation. Prior to joining ALTA, de Oliveira served as World Fuel Services’ Vice President Supply Development for Latin America and Caribbean where he was responsible for improving World Fuel’s aviation fuel business in the region. For 10 years, de Oliveira served IATA, leading fuel and airport campaigns with governments, oil companies, fuel service providers and airports for the Americas, Africa and the Middle East regions, based in Switzerland. He also served 12 years at Shell with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa and Europe, based in the Netherlands.
Gary Elliott ATI	Gary was appointed Chief Executive of the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) in April 2014, assuming responsibility for the strategic direction of the Institute and its operational performance. Prior to this, Gary was the Chief Executive of Hybrid Air Vehicles Ltd, a private equity backed aerospace OEM. During his tenure Gary led the business from its start-up phase into a mature business, winning and delivering a $600m contract for the US Army. Previously, Gary held a number of senior level positions within BAE Systems, NG Bailey and HBOS, working across a number of international markets. Gary holds a first-class honours in Aeronautical Engineering from the Queens University of Belfast and an MBA from the Cranfield School of Management.
Max Fenkell Joby Aviation	Max Fenkell is the Policy and Government Affairs lead at Joby Aviation. In this role, he works with policymakers in Washington, DC, and around the world, advocating for Joby’s legislative and regulatory priorities. Prior to Joby, Max served as the Director for Unmanned and Emerging Aviation Technologies at the Aerospace Industries Association where he worked with AIA’s members to find consensus on Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Urban Air Mobility and Spectrum among other areas. Before joining AIA, Max spent time working in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Legislative Assistantand began his career at Ford Motor Company in their Washington, D.C. government relations office. Max has a bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College where he majored in Government and Legal Studies.