CDA Announces its 2025 Board Officers
WASHINGTON, D.C.– January 21, 2025– The Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), an independent non-profit organization led by key members of the commercial drone industry, is pleased to announce its newly appointed officers for 2025. Alongside the entire CDA membership, these industry leaders will help drive the organization’s mission forward by tackling policy challenges, promoting the economic and humanitarian benefits of commercial drones, and advocating for their safe and scalable deployment.
The CDA’s 2025 officers are:
- Co-Chairs:
- Eric Brock, Ondas
- Ben Berlin, Zipline
- Vice Chair: Jenn Player, Skydio
- President: Ken Stewart, CEO, NUAIR
- Vice President: Neta Gliksman, Percepto
- Treasurer: James Grimsley, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
- Secretary: Margaret Nagle, Wing
“Commercial drones are already delivering significant benefits, but it’s time to expand operations,” shared Eric Brock, CEO of Ondas, who will be focusing on industry development as co-chair of the CDA. “By advancing the integration of drones into the National Airspace and enabling scalable operations, we have the opportunity to create new economic opportunities, lower operational costs for businesses, and enhance the quality of life for communities across the United States.”
“Our industry remains at a critical crossroads,” added Ben Berlin, aviation regulatory counsel at Zipline, who will be focusing on policy in his role as co-chair. “While we’ve seen advancements in drone technology and its integration into various sectors, the full potential of commercial drone operations cannot be realized without addressing regulatory gaps. Implementing Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations and other essential provisions is vital to enabling safe and scalable commercial drone use.”
CDA’s Officers serve on the Board together with CDA’s other Directors: Dean Allen Barefield (Southern Company), Jeff Cole (Hidden Level), Grant Jordan (SkySafe), Matt McCardle (Amazon Prime Air), Heath McLemore (Florida Power & Light), and David Shilliday (Honeywell).
“I’m thrilled to formally welcome our newly appointed Board Officers,” said Lisa Ellman, Executive Director of the Commercial Drone Alliance. “Together, we look forward to continuing our efforts to bring together industry leaders and government partners to advance U.S. leadership in advanced aviation. By safely addressing regulatory challenges, we can unlock the full potential of this transformative technology and drive meaningful progress.”
About CDA’s 2025 Officers
Eric Brock, Ondas: Eric is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Ondas Holdings, a leading provider of private wireless connectivity and autonomous drone technology for critical government and industrial markets. With over 30 years of experience in finance and technology leadership, Eric directs the growth strategy for Ondas' business units including Ondas Autonomous Systems (OAS). OAS provides autonomous drone solutions for aerial security and intelligence through its Optimus System and Iron Drone Raider platforms, which are marketed worldwide through subsidiaries American Robotics and Airobotics. Prior to founding Ondas, Eric was a Founder and Partner with Clough Capital Partners, a Boston-based investment firm he co-founded in 2000. He has also held investment banking and accounting roles at Bear, Stearns & Co. and Ernst & Young, LLP.
Ben Berlin, Zipline: Ben currently serves as aviation regulatory counsel at Zipline, a drone delivery company dedicated to building the first logistics system that serves all humans equally. Prior to joining Zipline, Ben served as counsel at Amazon Prime Air and SkySpecs, represented a wide array of the aviation industry in private practice at Cooley LLP and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and worked at the FAA in various legal and policy roles.
Jenn Player, Skydio: Jenn is Vice President of Aviation Regulatory Affairs at Skydio where she collaborates with customers, regulators, and standards development organizations to advance autonomy and beyond visual line of sight UAS operations. Jenn has more than 10 years of experience in UAS research, testing, and operations. She served as an industry working group lead on the FAA’s UAS BVLOS Aviation Rulemaking Committee and also participated in the FAA UAS Detection and Mitigation Rulemaking Committee. Prior to joining Skydio, Jenn held technical roles at US Naval Air Systems Command, Cessna, and NASA Langley, and also founded Avineer LLC, a consulting firm to help manufacturers in the drone delivery space navigate the type certification process and help enterprises gain operational approvals for complex operations.
Ken Stewart, NUAIR: Ken Stewart has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of NUAIR since Dec 2020. Prior to joining NUAIR, Mr. Stewart held several leadership positions at General Electric Ventures including CEO of AiRXOS, a GE aviation company, where he led innovation, development, and commercialization of Unmanned Traffic Management services. Prior to that Mr. Stewart served in executive roles with several venture capital and private equity-backed companies commercializing and scaling start-ups and transforming organizations for growth. In addition to his role at NUAIR Mr. Stewart is the President of board for the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA) and a member of the Advanced Air Mobility Committee with the National Air Transportation Association (NATA). Mr. Stewart is an inventor of multiple patents in Uncrewed Traffic Management.
Neta Gliksman, Percepto: Neta is Vice President of Policy & Government Affairs at Percepto and works closely with regulatory bodies, such as the FAA and CASA in Australia, customers, and other drone solution providers to secure Percepto’s leadership and influence in drone regulation. Neta brings her vast corporate and military experience combined with comprehensive knowledge in global drone regulation to Percepto’s regulation team. She previously worked at various hi-tech companies and law firms, such as IBM and Shibolet & co.
James Grimsley, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma: James serves as the Executive Director for Advanced Technology Initiatives with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. James also serves as the Regional Innovation Officer for the Texoma Semiconductor Tech Hub at Southern Methodist University (SMU). James is a former Oklahoma Transportation Commissioner. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors for the Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), James also serves on a variety of other boards and advisory groups. As part of his Choctaw Nation duties, he currently manages the FAA BEYOND Program (the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is the only tribal lead participant in the BEYOND program), and previously managed the FAA Integration Pilot Program (IPP) for the Choctaw Nation. In October 2022 U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg appointed James to the FAA’s Advanced Aviation Advisory Council (AAAC). James has also served on multiple FAA Aviation Rulemaking Committees (ARCs) including the Beyond Visual Line of Sight ARC.
Margaret Nagle, Wing: Margaret is the Vice President of Global Policy, Regulatory, and Community Affairs at Wing, where she leverages 20+ years of government and advocacy experience to advance new aviation use cases. Previously, Margaret was Head of Americas Policy at X, the Moonshot Factory, and Head of Americas Government Policy at Yahoo. Margaret also has extensive public sector experience, most recently serving as Assistant to the Vice President for Legislative Affairs. In that role, she led the Vice President’s legislative affairs office and served as his top liaison to Congress where she played a key role in crafting and implementing legislative strategies to advance Administration priorities.
About the Commercial Drone Alliance
The Commercial Drone Alliance is an independent non-profit organization led by key leaders in the commercial drone and advanced air mobility industries. The CDA brings together commercial drone end-users, manufacturers, service providers, advanced air mobility companies, drone security companies, and vertical markets including oil and gas, precision agriculture, construction, security, communications technology, infrastructure, logistics, newsgathering, and filmmaking. The CDA works with all levels of government to collaborate on policies for industry growth and educates the public on the safe and responsible use of commercial drones to achieve economic benefits and humanitarian gains.
Learn more at www.commercialdronealliance.org.
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