Announcing New Speakers for Aerial Cities 2024

This November 13-14, DroneTalks will host the exclusive Aerial Cities 2024 conference in London to enable the integration of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) and drone technologies into our city landscapes. This exclusive, invitation-only event will catalyse collaboration and innovation, bringing together leaders from the AAM and drone sectors, regulatory bodies, service users, and urban planning communities to aim for new heights in urban environments. If you haven’t seen our previous blog with the first fourteen confirmed speakers for this year’s event, click here now! 

This year’s invite-only event will focus on revenue generation, profitability, and investment. Solid financial performance enables sustained investment in research and development for drone manufacturers and service providers, facilitating technological advancements, safety, and efficiency. Profitability allows companies to scale operations, expand their market reach, and adapt to regulatory changes, ensuring they remain at the forefront of this transformative industry. For drone manufacturers and service providers, solid financial performance enables sustained investment in research and development, facilitating technological advancements, safety, and efficiency. 

Last year in Bern, Switzerland, Aerial Cities 2023 marked a crucial moment in the industry. Our event had 130 executives, 5+ investors, more than 30 AAM and drone companies, 8 CAAs, 20+ cities and governments, and over 20 first responders, telecom, and mobility companies in attendance worldwide. Check out our 2023 highlights on our YouTube channel! 

Click here for the conference schedule and program for this year’s VIP event! 

Let us introduce you to our following thirteen speakers: 

1. Ronald Liebsch, Head of Certification and Regulation EU & UK at Amazon
2. Alex Brown, Director at Skyports Drone Services
3. Mark Green, Head of Technology Investment Banking at Ladenburg Thalmann
4. Graham Brown, Chair at ARPAS-UK
5. Sofia Stayte, Head of Future of Flight Policy at the Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom 
6. Thomas Jimenez, Market Director of UAS and Kongsberg Geospatial
7. Andrew Carter, CEO and Co-founder at ResilienX
8. Astrid Szogs, Cluster Manager at Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH
9. Josh Ogden, CEO and Co-founder at AVSS
10. Glen Lynch, CEO at Volatus Aerospace Corporation 
11. Thomas Neubauer, Co-Founder and CEO of Dimetor
12.  Dave Pankhurst, Director of Drones at BT 
13.  Joe Darden, Director of Aviation and Business Development at Iridium Communications Inc. 

Ronald Liebsch, Head of Certification and Regulation EU & UK at Amazon 

Ronald Liebsch is an Aerospace Engineer with over 15 years of experience in manned and unmanned aviation sectors. He is the Head of Certification and Regulatory Affairs for Amazon Prime Air in the EU and UK. In this function, he actively coordinates Prime Air’s regulatory submissions to start Amazon Drone Delivery operations in designated EU and UK regions from 2024 onwards.

Before joining Amazon, Ronald worked as Head of Regulatory Affairs in Volocopter, the German eVTOL pioneer and as Director of Technical Standards Europe for the world-leading Drone Manufacturer DJI. Within all those positions held, he was and still is deeply involved in various important standardisation and regulation tasks on eVTOLs and UAS in Europe and globally, for example, the EASA Rulemaking Working Group RMT.0230, UKRI Future Aviation Industry Working Group on Airspace Integration (FAIWG: AI), JARUS SRM Working Group or EUROCAE WG105 and WG112. Ronald is passionate about developing new solutions under existing or completely new environments like the UAS and Advanced Air Mobility sector.

Alex Brown, Director at Skyports Drone Services

Alex leads Skyports' drone Services business and is responsible for all aspects, including Flight Operations, Regulations, Commercial, Safety, and Technology. Since joining in 2018, Alex has overseen its expansion, including projects to deliver cargo to oil rigs in Norway, vaccines to rural villages in the DRC, and linear asset inspection operations. Before Skyports, Alex was based in Australia, working for Virgin Australia and PwC.

Mark Green, Head of Technology Investment Banking at Ladenburg Thalmann

Mark Green is Head of Technology Investment Banking at Ladenburg Thalmann, a New York-based investment bank, where he has been for over 10 years, with a focus on Autom-AI-tion (AI, automation, drones, robotics, vision, sensors, and related hardware, software and systems), Digital Media, and Payments and Crypto. Mark Green has over 25 years of experience in executing successful equity and debt capital raises, mergers and acquisitions, and financial advisory assignments for publicly listed and private companies and has been based in the US, Israel and the UK. Prior to joining Ladenburg, he was the Founder of Green Capital Group, Inc., Managing Director at Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutheon, Managing Director & Head of Investment Banking at Merriman Capital, Managing Director and Head of Israel Investment Banking at Collins Stewart / C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, Managing Director at Second Source Financial Group, and Vice President, Israel Investment Banking at Citi. Mark holds an M.B.A. from the University of Bath School of Management and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Westminster, London.

Graham Brown, Chair at ARPAS-UK

Graham Brown is the Chair at ARPAS-UK, the UK Drone Association, where he plays a crucial role in steering the direction of the UK’s commercial drone industry. His tenure has demonstrated significant leadership and commitment. Graham has advocated for industry best practices, collaboration, and regulatory advancements, significantly impacting the sector’s growth and operational standards.

His work at ARPAS-UK underscores his dedication to fostering an environment where industry stakeholders can thrive, innovate, and contribute to drone technology's safe and responsible development in the UK.

Sofia Stayte, Head of Future of Flight Policy at the Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom

Sofia is an experienced government professional skilled in policy development, implementation, and public finance. Sofia’s extensive experience includes heading the Independent State Pension Age Review for the UK Government, leading Private Pensions policy, Programme Strategy and Benefits Realisation for the Fraud and Error Programme and leading the European Social Fund programme on skills and employment investment in the Department for Work and Pensions. Previously, Sofia’s career included public finance and accountancy roles in 4 different local authorities, such as the Metropolitan Police. During her DfT career, Sofia set up and led a new Rail Workforce Strategy policy, Aviation Brexit Negotiations, Aviation Consumer and International Travel policy during Covid before her current role leading on Future of Flight. Sofia is a member of the Government Policy Profession and the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting.

Thomas Jimenez, Market Director of UAS at Kongsberg Geospatial

Thomas Jimenez manages all aspects of Enterprise UAS activity at geospatial experts: Kongsberg Geospatial. Primarily managing IRIS Terminal for BVLOS operations, airspace management and multi-domain situational awareness, Thomas has more than 1000 hours of applied UAS flight experience in utility inspection, oil and gas, mining and photogrammetry in the USA, Canada and Latin America. Thomas is also a manned single-engine aircraft private pilot, certified in both the USA and Canada.

Andrew Carter, CEO and Co-founder of ResilienX

Andrew Carter is the CEO and co-founder of ResilienX, a startup founded to address in-time system-wide safety assurance (ISSA) of a complex system of systems. ResilienX works across State, Federal, and commercial industries, primarily in the US, to enable scaled UAS operations, including as the prime for a NASA/USAF jointly funded Advanced Air Mobility(AAM) digital operations centre.

Mr. Carter has been integrating drones into the US National Airspace since 2007 as the software architect of the US Army’s Ground Based Sense and Avoid system, which was approved by the FAA for routine BVLOS drone operations in 2016. Mr. Carter has led UTM programs in NY and Ohio and was the co-lead of the RTCA SC-228 detect and avoid (DAA) architecture working group.

Dr Astrid Szogs, Cluster Manager at Regionalmanagement Nordhessen GmbH 

Since 2015, Astrid Szogs has been the head of the mobility cluster and managing director of the mobility and logistics network in Northern Hesse, Germany. Before that, she worked and taught at Kassel University on innovation and development. Astrid has also worked for the Tanzanian NGO STIPRO and was employed at Lund University, Sweden, for her PhD in innovation studies. She has worked for 20 years in various international research and innovation projects in different sectors.

Josh Ogden, CEO and Co-founder of AVSS

Josh Ogden is the CEO and Co-founder of AVSS. At AVSS, Josh is responsible for leading the company's long-term vision and assisting the engineering team with building products that meet current and future regulatory needs. Josh is an active member of the drone industry. He is the Technical Lead on the ASTM F3322 parachute recovery system standard, is a member of the British Standards Institution advisory group for drone regulations, and participated in the Transport Canada R&D group for drones.

Glen Lynch, CEO at Volatus Aerospace Corporation 

In 2019, Glen capitalised on his pilot and successful entrepreneur expertise by launching a company that could scale quickly in an emerging industry. That emerging market is remotely piloted solutions in the air, land, and sea. Today, the Volatus team are publicly listed and recognised as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America.

His aviation background is traditional. He has piloted various business jet aircraft, and in 1989, he branched out to the aircraft management and charter business. In 2013, Glen built a commercial aircraft business that excelled due to its remarkable agility and speed to market. Today, Volatus is consolidating its footprint in North America and leveraging it to expand into Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 

Thomas Neubauer, Co-founder and CEO of Dimetor

Thomas Neubauer is the Co-founder and CEO of Dimetor. He has about 20 years of experience managing wireless networks.

Among other innovations, Thomas is a co-creator and inventor of AirborneRF, a software solution that connects cellular network operators with aviation (ATM/UTM/FIMS) systems.

Thomas serves on the Board of Directors of GUTMA, the Global UTM Association. On behalf of GSMA and GUTMA, he is leading the “Interface for data exchange between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and UTM ecosystem” Work Group, which focuses on global standardisation of interfaces between cellular and unmanned aviation systems, including 4 G and 5G technologies.

Thomas holds a Ph.D. in telecommunications engineering from the Vienna University of Technology.

Dave Pankhurst, Director of Drones at BT

Dave founded BT Group’s Drones unit in 2019. He is a regular contributor on how the UK can enable the full potential of a drone economy. He sits on the advisory board of Altitude Angel and ARPAS-UK (The UK Drone Association). Dave is a co-chair of the Future Aviation Industry Working Group on Airspace Integration and a Drone Industry Action Group member. Before Dave’s time in the drone industry, he held product and technology roles across BT Group, EE and Orange. Dave is passionate about the drone industry and how BT can support its growth, unlocking the potential for true transformation.

Joe Darden, Director of Aviation and Business Development at Iridium Communications Inc. 

Joe Darden is the Director of Aviation and Business Development for Iridium Communications Inc., the only company that offers truly global satellite communications. In his role, he is responsible for new business development in the Iridium Aviation line of business.

Before joining Iridium in 2019, Mr. Darden held several roles in the wireless telecommunication and manufacturing industries, including T-Mobile (formerly Sprint, formerly Nextel) and Cooper Industries. In addition to developing solutions and acquiring customers in all Aviation segments, Mr. Darden is leading Iridium’s Autonomous/Remotely Piloted Vehicle development strategy. He also serves on the Executive Board for AUVSI’s Washington DC Metro Chapter, on RTCA Special Committee 228 (WG2 UAS Command/Control), ASTM’s F38 Working Groups, ANSI’s UAS Collaborative Working Groups and HSAC’s UAS Committee and is the UAS Representative on the Loudoun County Rural Economic Development Committee.

Mr. Darden has over 25 years of experience in sales, channel development, and business development for advanced wireless communications solutions in the enterprise, government, and wholesale sectors. 

Secure your sport at Aerial Cities 2024 today! 

Each speaker brings expertise and innovation, making DroneTalks’ Aerial Cities 2024 a crucial event in the evolution of Urban Air Mobility. We greatly appreciate the efforts of our sponsors and partners, who have allowed us to make this event happen!

This event is not to be missed if you are a C-level executive, regulator, or government employee! Secure your place in London this November to benefit from networking and user insights, listen to industry leaders discuss revenue generation, and see what lies ahead in the drone industry! Mark your calendars for 13-14 November 2024 and be part of the movement that’s setting the course for the future of our cities.