Michael Cervenka is Chief Technology Officer of Vertical Aerospace, having joined the company in June 2019. Prior to joining Vertical, from September 2015 to June 2019, Mr. Cervenka served as the Head of Future Business Technologies at Rolls-Royce, a leading aerospace and defence company. Mr. Cervenka also served in several different roles at Rolls-Royce, including as Program Lead (Civil Large Engine Cost Transformation Program) from March 2014 to August 2018 and Chief Development Engineer (Civil Large Fleet Engines) from November 2010 to February 2014. Mr. Cervenka has over 20 years of civil and military aerospace experience at Rolls-Royce. Mr. Cervenka participated in the Executive Leadership Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth from 2018 to 2019. Mr. Cervenka also holds a Bachelor of Engineering (First Honors) in Aeronautical Engineering from Bristol University. Mr. Cervenka is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers. 

David Shilliday currently serves as the Vice President and General Manager of the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Urban Air Mobility business unit at Honeywell Aerospace Technologies. In this role, he oversees the development of new products and functions as a systems integrator for airframe manufacturers and operators in the rapidly evolving UAS market.

The scope of David's responsibilities encompasses various aspects of aircraft systems, including avionics, electric and hybrid­ electric propulsion, and thermal management. Additionally, he is involved in flight services such as unmanned air traffic management and ground operations services like predictive maintenance analytics.

With more than 18 years of experience at Honeywell, David previously held the position of Vice President and General Manager for the Power Systems division. In that role, he supported current and future offerings in auxiliary power units, generators, electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, and fuel cells.

Before his tenure in power systems, David served as the Vice President of EMEAI Airlines, where he led sales, customer account management, and channel management functions for the $1.2 billion Airlines Aftermarket in the region. He also played key roles in leading the Honeywell Aerospace Trading (HAT) business, Aftermarket strategy, and IP Licensing.

Prior to joining Honeywell, David had roles in engineering and IP strategy within the commercial automotive market. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Master of Business Administration from the WP Carey School at Arizona State University. David is the holder of several patents related to innovative automotive safety technology and has published cooperative research in the field.

Matheu Parr is the Customer Director in the newly formed Rolls-Royce Electrical group.   

Leading the sales and strategy teams he is well positioned to provide a powertrain supplier view of the exciting AAM market development and challenges to be overcome.   

With a background in electrical engineering across aerospace and marine markets Matheu recently led the Rolls-Royce attempt to build the world’s fastest electric aircraft setting five world records. 

Sebastien brings more than 18 years of experience to his role as Senior Vice President of Engineering and Programs, where he is responsible for executing the company’s technical vision and roadmap, overseeing the development of current and future aircraft, and directing Wisk’s Engineering, Certification, Product Management, and Programs teams. He joins Wisk from Virgin Hyperloop, where he was Vice President of Product Development Engineering and Chief Engineer, and led the development of the Hyperloop system, a new mode of transportation from requirements capture through design, build, and test. He has also held key leadership and technical roles at Bombardier and Dassault Aviation developing type certified aircraft from initial concept through flight testing and certification. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique in France and a Master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University. 

Russ has previously held various engineering and programme management roles within BAE Systems, Airbus and GKN Aerospace and currently has a specific focus working with a number of our AAM customers in supporting they’re key development aircraft products across both Structures and Electrical wiring systems. 

Clive runs established advisory practice Achieving the Difference and has supported dozens of organisations to make strategic decisions with confidence and achieve clear competitive advantage. The majority of this activity is in aerospace and aviation including the exciting, emergent Advanced Air Mobility sector. 

He is a Fellow of The Chartered Institute of Marketing and holds a Distinction grade MA in Marketing. Clive sits on the Advanced Air Mobility Group of ADS and provided the analysis and strategy facilitation for ADS’s AAM Outlook. 

When not working, Clive can often be found on a mountain bike trail somewhere deep in the Gloucestershire countryside. 

Diana Cooper is the Chief Partnerships & Policy Officer for Supernal, a Hyundai company. She is responsible for leading and overseeing implementation of Supernal’s ecosystem partnerships and government relations strategy and driving public acceptance for Advanced Air Mobility in key markets including North America, Europe, UK and Asia. Diana is a member of the World Economic Forum UAM Working Group. She also serves on the European Commission Alliance for Zero Emissions Aviation. Diana previously served as SVP of Policy & Strategy at PrecisionHawk and Head of the UAS & Robotics Practice Group at the law firm of LaBarge Weinstein. She has held leadership roles in industry associations including President of the Small UAV Coalition and President of the Drone Operators Federation. Diana also served as Legal Expert for the United Nations Working Group on Geospatial Information Management. Diana has testified before the US Congress on aviation policy and regulations, and has delivered guest lectures at Stanford, Georgetown, Duke, Columbia and NYU. She holds a BA in Politics & Governance, a MA in Globalization Studies and a JD in Law & Technology. Diana received the Leadership Award from Women and Drones: Women to Watch in 2023 and is featured in the book Girl to Boss: Advice for Girls from 50 of America’s Most Successful Women

Jia Xu is the CEO of SkyGrid, a Boeing and SparkCognition company working to open the sky for autonomous flight. Xu brings decades of strategic, technical, product development, and market leadership to SkyGrid. Before his tenure at SkyGrid, he served as the Chief Technology Officer for unmanned aerial systems and urban air mobility at Honeywell Aerospace. Previously, Xu was chief architect for advanced air mobility systems at Airbus, where he led the development of operational architectures and business cases for UAM. He also held research and leadership positions at the RAND Corporation, where he advanced programs in AI/ML, uncrewed aircraft, and autonomy. On the vehicle side, Jia has led UAS design efforts at General Atomics. Jia received his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He also holds master’s degrees in computational methods from Imperial College London and international relations from the London School of Economics - both completed under the tenure of a Marshall Scholarship.