Adam Robertson
Adam is the Chief Technology Officer at Fortem Technologies, joining from IMSAR LLC, where he played an integral role in growing the company from humble beginnings to more than 100 employees. One of IMSAR’s first full-time employees, Adam led point on securing more than $100M in contracts during the company’s first three years of business. Most recently, Adam served as vice president of Engineering at IMSAR, driving the innovation of a 60-person engineering team focused on building the world’s smallest, highest resolution and most robust radar solutions in the world for drone programs with the United States Department of Defense. Prior to IMSAR, Adam worked as a researcher at HP where he implemented innovative ideas for designing and manufacturing high performance RF products. Adam has also served as an adjunct faculty member in the engineering program at BYU, where he holds an M.S. in electrical engineering and an MBA from the university. He is a renowned expert on electromagnetics and signal processing, with a predominant focus on radar. Adam resides in Provo, Utah, and likes to spend time at his cabin in the mountains where he, his wife and eight children enjoy riding their dirt bikes.
How to Prove Safety: Gaining BVLOS and Part 107 Waiver
Alexander Harmsen
Alexander is CEO and Co-Founder of Iris Automation, a high tech start-up building computer vision collision avoidance systems for industrial drones. With backing from Bessemer, Y Combinator, over $10M in private equity investment from other Silicon Valley investors, and operations in multiple countries, Iris Automation is attempting to radically disrupt the industrial drone sector. He also sits on the Board of Directors for Unmanned Systems Canada, a national industry representation organization that has been at the forefront of commercial unmanned systems for more than a decade.
Previously, Alexander was the first Software Developer at Matternet, a medical drone package delivery start-up, and worked on computer vision systems at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Los Angeles. He is very interested in intersections between drones, autonomous vehicles and real-world applications that will affect billions of people, always excited about meeting other people making big changes in the world!
Evolution of Commercial Drone Applications with Sensor Technologies
Allen Scott Beach
Allen is a military veteran and served in the US Coast Guard, flying hundreds of Search and Rescue missions out of Clearwater, Florida. Allen earned his MBA after leaving the military and along with his wife Andrea have owned numerous companies and is the Co-Author of “Be a Wolf” (The Entrepreneurs Guide to Becoming a Leader of The Pack) and “Drone Start-Up 101” (Finding Your Fortune in the Drone Industry), both available on Amazon.
Allen initially worked for IBM, but in 1997, he and his wife decided to leave Corporate America and strike out on their own with Argus Connection, Inc. Argus quickly grew into a multi-million dollar technology services company which they eventually sold in 2009. After taking some time off, Allen and Andrea started Argus Rising in 2015, a First Responder Drone Training Company. Allen has over 20 years’ experience in starting and running successful businesses.
Pre-Conference Workshop: Drone Startup 101: Finding Your Fortune in the Drone Industry
Amit Ganjoo
Amit is currently the Founder and CEO ANRA Technologies, an award-winning drone operational platform provider whose Platform DroneOSS is used by multiple commercial entities for running and managing commercial drone operations. Amit is also the co-chair for FCC’s Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for 5G and IoT which includes all ground and airborne autonomous vehicles as well. He also offers over 20 years of comprehensive and progressive aviation, telecom and wireless experience in federal and commercial space providing telecom solutions to the Department of Defense, working with service providers across the globe, to running a successful Telecom startup as an entrepreneur.
Amit also has extensive aviation experience being a licensed pilot and an experimental aircraft designer/builder. He understands the current FAA regulations and airspace /UAV integration in the federal airspace related issues. Previously, he was the Director of Engineering at Oceus Networks, a leading provider of broadband solutions to the Federal Government. Prior to joining Oceus, he was the Principal Architect at Ericsson where he held a unique position as a member of a global network consisting of only a few solution architects worldwide with deeper experience in this area and worked with wireless carriers across the globe.
Amit was the Chief system architect for Navy 4G LTE Sea Pilot deployed as part of the U.S.S. Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group. He delivered a one of a kind turn-key, secure, unmanned airborne/afloat autonomous 4G LTE Network with applications to directly support the war fighter. Amit also architected the first ever approved classified security architecture for 4G LTE in line with NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) framework. This architecture was assessed and approved for operational deployment in DOD by NSA in 2012.
Harnessing the Power of Your Drone Data
Andrea Beach
After a successful management career in corporate America, Andrea, along with her husband Allen, co-founded and managed a technology services company, which they later sold. Following the success of their first company, they co-founded Argus Rising, a First Responder Drone Training Company. Along the way, she and Allen have co-authored two books; “Be a Wolf” (The Entrepreneurs Guide to Becoming a Leader of The Pack) and “Drone Start-Up 101” (Finding Your Fortune in the Drone Industry). Both books are available on Amazon in book form, as well as a Kindle version.
Andrea is a native Texan who believes that entrepreneurship is a way of life that is inspiring, fulfilling, and addictive! Writing books may be too – time will tell!
Pre-Conference Workshop: Drone Startup 101: Finding Your Fortune in the Drone Industry
Andrea Puiatti
Andrea is a Berlin-based tech entrepreneur and inventor who believes in turning ideas into reality. He’s a hands-on executive leader with a passion for building successful teams driven by a vision. Andrea is founder and CEO of Skysense, a Qualcomm Ventures-backed technology startup building an automated Drone Charging Infrastructure for commercial applications. Among its customers are NASA, General Electrics, Prosegur, and enterprises planning to operate drones at scale. Andrea graduated from Techstars (Qualcomm Robotics Accelerator 2015). His prior experience is in technical project management, frontend development, B2B import-export, marketing and sales.
Take Charge: Battery Life Innovations on the Horizon
Andrew Dennison
Andrew is COO at Uplift Data Partners, a full-service drone technology company focused on flying, analyzing and delivering data insights for construction. Andrew has spent three years on business development and operations in the drone industry. He is an expert at integrating drone technology into construction, ensuring safe and compliant drone operations, understanding of drones for enterprise, and more. Prior to Uplift, Andrew worked at SkySpecs, a drone company focused on automatic wind turbine inspections. He graduated from University of Michigan and is a big Michigan Football fan.
Drones Impact on Facility Management
Andrew Suozzo
Andrew is the VDC Manager for Florida at Skanska USA Building with over 12 years of experience in the AEC industry. He has worked in multiple states for Skanska, starting in their headquarters at the Empire State Building, and now oversees VDC, technology and innovation for the all four Florida offices. This role has evolved into a more expansive one, enabling him to utilize his mechanical and operations expertise on all aspects of his career rather than BIM. During his tenure, he has helped to engage clients, project teams, and other participants in the building process to create an understanding of where and how technology can provide a positive impact before, during, and beyond the construction phase. Currently, Andrew is one of the leaders in Skanska’s unmanned autonomous systems (drone) program, advancing the use of drones through integration of other technology platforms.
Drones in Construction, Aggregates & Mining: An End-User’s Perspective
Anthony DeMolina
Anthony is the Director of Aeronautical Training for the Los Angeles County Regional Training Center and is the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Subject Matter Expert for the Los Angeles Police Department. He has examined the advantages and disadvantages of this technology as it pertains to the law enforcement and first responder communities. He was a technical advisor for the development of a UAS ordinance for the City of Los Angeles. He is the course designer and instructor for four blocks of sUAS instruction for the Los Angeles County Regional Training Center. He is certified as a Master Instructor through the California Commission on Police Officers Standards and Training. Anthony is court qualified as an Unmanned Aerial Systems and Aviation expert. He holds the following Federal Aviation Administration certifications: certified flight instructor, commercial multi-engine airplane, commercial helicopter pilot, as well as, remote pilot.
Counter-UAS (C-UAS) Solutions – When Drones are not Welcome
Creating a Public Safety DRONE Training Program
Anthony Zakel
As Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Aviation Audits, Anthony is responsible for managing DOT OIG reviews of a wide range of Federal Aviation Administration programs. Anthony assumed his position in January 2017, after 25 years of experience in managing large projects and programs. From 2011 to 2017, he served as a program director in DOT OIG’s Office of Surface Transportation Audits, managing audits of the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) and Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) oversight of transportation infrastructure investments. Notably, his teams have reviewed FTA’s progress and challenges in establishing its Emergency Relief Program and safeguarding the Nation’s multibillion-dollar investment in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. More recently, his teams have evaluated FTA’s and FHWA’s engineering and financial oversight of large projects exceeding $1 billion in total costs. Prior to DOT OIG, Anthony was a director in FTA’s Office of Oversight and Program Guidance. In addition, he served as a director in the Directorate of Installations and Logistics at the National Security Agency, leading major capital improvement projects. Before his Federal service, Anthony worked for 15 years as an engineer and program manager at Morrison Knudsen, Booz Allen & Hamilton, and Parsons Transportation Group on transportation and infrastructure projects in the United States and England. Anthony graduated from Saint Bonaventure University in 1990 with a bachelor’s degree in physics, and from Binghamton University in 1993 with a master’s degree in electrical engineering. In 2014, he graduated from Loyola University of Maryland with a master’s in business administration, with a concentration in executive management.
FAA Regulations: The Latest Outlook
Austin Rabine
Drones Impact on Facility Management
Basil Yap
Basil serves as program manager for the N.C. Department of Transportation Division of Aviation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program.
Basil’s role is to envision and direct efforts that position North Carolina as a global leader in UAS (drone) safety, government integration, commercial and economic development, and knowledge creation. That includes ensuring North Carolina maintains the nation’s best drone safety record; maximizes state and local agency use of UAS technology to improve public services and operations; builds a world-leading UAS economy; pursues research and innovations that promote drone safety, government integration and commercial development; and designs and advocates for supportive public policies on the local, state and federal level. He also serves as UAS subject matter expert and advisor for North Carolina.
Basil leads North Carolina’s participation in the Federal Aviation Administration’s three-year UAS Integration Pilot Program, which is testing tools and developing infrastructure that will enable safe drone use for package delivery, particularly medical package delivery, over local communities beyond line of sight. This pilot program offers the potential for unleashing a new era of drone use for public and private purposes across the state and the nation.
Basil brings to this work extensive experience in civil engineering, program and project management, policy development, and research design and analysis. Prior to joining the Division of Aviation in June 2016, he served as project manager for Hovecon Project Solutions, where he managed residential and construction projects and provided design, engineering and technical assistance to builders and clients. Earlier, he was an airport project manager for the Division of Aviation, general manager of Peak Fall Protection Inc., a safety solutions company, and assistant resident engineer for the NCDOT Division of Highways.
Basil is a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Aviation System Planning and ASTM International’s Committee F38 on Unmanned Aircraft Systems. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University.
Partnerships and the Future of the Commercial Drone Industry Landscape
Ben Marcus
Ben is Chairman and co-founder of AirMap, the leading airspace management platform for UAS. Ben also serves as the industry co-chair for the Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team. Ben was previously co-founder and CEO of jetAVIVA, the world’s leading broker of small business jets, from 2006 to 2014. Prior to founding jetAVIVA, Ben served as a flight test engineer for Eclipse Aviation, maker of the Eclipse 500 very light jet. Ben is an FAA-certified Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor with more than 4,500 hours of flight experience in more than 100 aircraft types and ratings in seaplanes, gliders, helicopters, and six types of jets. He is also a certificated Remote Pilot. Ben is a graduate of Purdue University’s School of Aeronautics.
Ben has been passionate about aviation his entire life. As a Southern California resident who grew up in the shadows of the Santa Monica Airport, Ben’s lifelong interest started with remote-control airplanes, leading him to his first flying lesson at age 10, and becoming a licensed pilot at 17. Ben strongly believes that UAS can have a positive impact on our lives and hold immense possibility as tools for spurring innovation in both the private and public sectors. Ben is often called upon by media as a UAS and aviation industry expert and has spoken at numerous emerging technology conferences and events to share his insights about the future of the UAS industry.
Ben’s involvement in the aerospace community is both professional and personal. He serves on the board of Angel Flight West, a non-profit organization that arranges free air transport in response to health care needs. He also flies volunteer missions for animal rescue groups Pilots N Paws and Wings of Rescue.
Moving Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management Forward: The Future Landscape
Benoit Fredericque
Director of Product Management – Reality Modeling – Bentley Systems
Automated Workflows for Cell Tower Inspection and Their Benefits
Bill Chen
Bill currently works at DJI as an Enterprise Partnerships Manager. With his international work experience across three continents, Bill specializes in global business development and strategic partnerships. He started his DJI career at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, where he has successfully driven several cross-functional partnerships and projects to success. He is a graduate of the University of California’s Haas School of Business, and has previously worked in the field of management consulting.
Partnerships and the Future of the Commercial Drone Industry Landscape
DJI After Hours: The Future of the Commercial UAV Ecosystem
Bill Goodwin
Bill is the General Counsel of AirMap, a start-up powering the future of low-altitude flight, where he manages the legal and policy teams. He is an expert in the area of state and local UAS policy. Prior to AirMap, he was a member of Morrison Foerster’s UAS/Drone Group and counseled clients regarding some of the unique product liability, licensing, and regulatory risks that arise in the drone context.
Bill is a frequent speaker on the legal and policy issues associated with drones, including testifying before Congress. He has worked with elected and appointed officials at the federal, state, and local level on laws and policies related to UAS. Previously, he worked in political network visualization and state and local government consulting.
FAA Regulations: The Latest Outlook
Bill Wilson
Bill has been reporting, writing and creating video on the road and bridge industry for the last 20 years. He has won numerous awards during that time, including a Jesse H. Neal Award in 2018. Bill has also moderated several industry panels. After graduating cum laude with a major in Radio/Television from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Bill spent 10 years as a sports reporter/editor in the Chicagoland area.
Drones in Infrastructure Inspection: An End-User’s Perspective
Drones in Infrastructure Inspection: Cutting-Edge Technology
Biruk Abraham
Biruk is an Operations Research Analyst assigned to the FAA’s NextGen Technology Development and Prototyping Division. He is a Project Manager leading multiple research efforts related to the exchange and management of information in to support Trajectory Based Operations and Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management. Prior to joining NextGen, he supported the agency’s Performance Based Navigation office, and the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) for three years. Before his work with the FAA, Biruk served in the U.S. Army for eight years as a UH-60 Blackhawk Pilot and Flight Instructor. He holds a Master of Aeronautical Science degree with a focus on Management and Safety from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Moving Unmanned Aircraft System Traffic Management Forward: The Current Landscape
Brandon Brown
Brandon is a Technical Program Manager at AirMap, leading complex integrations of AirMap’s advanced UTM solutions with third-party partners and customers. Prior to AirMap, Brandon worked at the United States Air Force as a Space Operations Lead and Project Engineer. Brandon has 10 years of experience leading teams through the systems engineering process, including requirements, design, test, and integration with a strong technical background with experience in a wide variety of fields, including FPGA/VLSI, web development, and mobile applications.
Dronecode: Leader of Open Innovation in Drone Technologies
Brendan Stewart
Brendan, President & Chief Pilot, AeroVista Drone Academy, is the face of AeroVista Drone Academy. He has almost a decade of unmanned aviation experience and over 2,500 flight hours to show for it. His expertise with drones is equaled only by his passion for building a community of world-class pilots across industries that believe in safety and efficiency above all else. Brendan holds his FAA Sport Pilot Certificate as well as his Remote Pilot Certificate, is a Representative of the FAA Safety Team, and his enthusiasm and charisma makes him the perfect Lead Flight Instructor.
Brendan is responsible for driving Drone Training, Program Development and FAA Compliance Solutions for AeroVista Drone Academy. He recognizes that Public Safety personnel need to be equipped with a turn key drone program that solves the challenges of FAA compliance, training, scaling operations, producing actionable intelligence and ultimately accelerates program adoption. It is Aerovista Drone Academy’s mission to make drones the de-facto standard mission critical tool and equip Fire, Law Enforcement & Public Safety agencies with everything their department needs for efficient and effective drone operations from takeoff to landing.
Drone Training Topics Include: How to Implement a Drone Program for Public Safety, Drone Pilot Ground & Flight School, Search & Rescue, Drone Night Ops Training, Aerial Awareness for Structure Fire Response, Thermal Imaging, Fire & Accident Investigations, Drone Use in Law Enforcement, Tactical UAS response to Active Shooter Threats
Working Together – Drones In Public Safety Mutual Aid Deployments
Tips for Setting Up a Public Safety Program
Addressing the Proficiency Gap in Part 107 Operations. Are Your Pilots Really Ready?
Brett Hoffstadt
Brett is a dual-degree aeronautical engineer over 20 years of experience across military aviation, technology, and startup industries. He has certifications in project management and public speaking, licenses in sUAS remote piloting and insurance, two inventions for airport energy and noise reduction devices, and is the author and/or publisher of four books with the most recent being “Success with Drones in Civil Engineering: An Accelerated Guide to Safe, Legal, and Profitable Operations.”
Since 2010, Brett has focused his energies on large-scale innovation initiatives in highly regulated industries. Examples include helping organizations implement 3-D printing, Lean Startup, Agile development, crowdfunding, and dedicated spaces for employee innovation. His current focus is helping organizations establish safe, legal, and effective sUAS operations.
Brett is active with several professional societies, including Drone Pilots Federation where he is the Vice-President. DPF is dedicated to building a safe, secure, and prosperous world with drones.
Project Management Fundamentals For Your Commercial Drone Operation
Brian Fentiman
Brian has a lifelong interest in aviation, a background in telecommunications, and a unique ability to filter the noise and present relevant information to others in a clear understandable format that allows people to make decisions.
Brian graduated Magna Cum Laude from BCIT with a Diploma of Telecommunications Technology and then spent 31 years working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as a communication specialist. Brian’s duties included system design and operational communications support to Emergency Response Team deployments and special investigations. In 2014, Brian was asked to build a UAV program to support the RCMP’s Critical Incident Program in British Columbia.
In less than three years, Brian grew the RCMP UAS program in BC from 4 aircraft to 53, implemented in-house training for all platforms, and launched a UAV countermeasures program. Brian has worked with numerous agencies such as Defence Research Development Canada, Canadian Special Forces, the Prime Ministers Protective Detail, and retired as the RCMP’s UAS Radio Frequency Countermeasure specialist.
Brian is currently the VP and CTO of BlueForce UAV Consulting and provides
UAS Countermeasures (C-UAS) for Security and Public Safety
Brian Zvaigzne
Brian is the technical expert responsible for designing, building and maintaining the multirotor aircraft used by the Roswell Flight Test Crew to capture aerial imagery and demonstrate their potential to firefighters and other first responders, as well as the community at large. He has a lifetime of experience with radio-controlled vehicles, as well as computers and other electronic systems. Known to Roswell Flight Test Crew fans as “Techinstein,” Brian’s previous media experience includes eight years on broadcast radio in the Portland metropolitan area as the co-host of a computer help call-in show.
Brian is an instructor with the FlySafe aerial cinematography program and has spoken publicly about Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (SUAS) technology at the National Drone User Group Network Conference in Dallas, the Cleveland National Air Show in Ohio, the Academy of Model Aeronautics Expo in Ontario, California and the Northwest Search and Rescue Conference in Clackamas County, Oregon, among other venues. Having studied electronics at Delta College in Michigan, he currently owns an information technology business based in Beaverton, Oregon.
Drones, Thermal Imaging and Emergency Response
Drone Talk After Hours
Alternative Energy: New Power Sources
Bruce Crankshaw
Bruce is the Director for Insurance Solutions at Loveland Innovations. He’s a battle-hardened sales and marketing professional who has spent the bulk of his career focused on providing incredible services and technologies to the insurance space. Currently, he’s leading the charge in putting the latest drone tech, A.I., and analytics tools in the hands of insurance carriers and property adjusters across the U.S. In his spare time, Bruce is a hobbyist drone pilot, a photographer, and an outdoor enthusiast who loves spending time with his wife and six wonderful children.
Flying Drones for Insurance Claims
Bruce Parks
Bruce is the President of the Drone Pilots Federation (DPF), a 501 3c non profit corporation, and has broad experience in the drone industry. Located in Sacramento, he entered into the industry by working with a small team to build a fixed wing aircraft and ground station to fly agricultural fields in the spring of 2013. He co-chaired the first ever small drone commercial expo in San Francisco in 2013, served as Vice President of the Silicon Valley Assoc of Unmannned Vehicles, Co Chaired, with Matt Weismann and in cooperation with Parimal Korpardekar (PK) at NASA, the first UTM Conference at NASA, Moffett Field in 2015.
Bruce helped to coordinate the first National Drone Racing championship in Sacramento in 2015 and in New York in 2016 as well as the first International Drone Racing championship in Hawaii in Oct of 2016.
Through DPF, Bruce is currently working with the California State Legislature, and northern California fire departments to create a pathway for the integration of drones into public sector agencies.
In May, Bruce was responsible for creating a drone focus for RevTechX, an exclusive technology event for California state agencies, In June, Bruce was asked to create a Drone Hanger for the Calif. Capital Airshow which will draw 100,000 spectators on Sept 21, 22 and 23. The purpose of the hanger is to introduce drones to the general public in a more positive light, and allow them to see, touch, build and fly a drone.