Elevate UAV Summit®
Meet Our Speakers
GRANT HOSTICKA
DJI
With nearly four years at DJI as the Head of Enterprise Solutions Engineering, Grant has helped many commercial organizations successfully deploy drones. Grant was one of the first people to graduate with a degree in Unmanned Systems, and also has his private pilot license. Prior to joining DJI, Grant built his experience and UAV acumen by running his own drone service company, conducting utility field inspections of critical infrastructure.
Grant has also specialized in building software using artificial intelligence in order to automate the inspection photo review process in order to streamline inspection operations.
WAYNE BAKER
DJI
Wayne is a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Fire Service, the last 10 years of which were as Fire Chief and Emergency Management Coordinator, before his retirement in 2019. Throughout his career, he consistently sought out new technology that could save the lives of the public as well as public safety personnel. Over the past 9 years, he has operated UAS on numerous fires, rescue incidents, assisted in law enforcement operations, as well as disaster response.
He serves as one of the founding members of the North Central Texas Public Safety UAS Response Team (PSURT). Wayne’s current role is as Director, Business Development for North America Enterprise at DJI where he continues to help businesses and public safety agencies around the world put drones to use to save the lives of workers, responders, and civilians.
BRANDON TORRES DECLET
READYMONITOR
Brandon Torres Declet is a Board Member of ReadyMonitor. A serial entrepreneur, he has founded and led multiple companies across services, software, and hardware. He founded early drone industry leader Measure, growing this aerial intelligence company to the top 5% of drone firms by revenue before its acquisition by the Aerodyne Group in 2019. He subsequently invested and developed a SaaS platform for drones, Ground Control, acquired byAgEagle in 2021 for $45 million. He serves on the boards of drone and electric vehicle companies, and on the FAA's Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee.
PETER WAMBOLT
PARROT
Peter Wambolt is a seasoned UAS professional with 13 years of diverse experience in the drone industry and is currently serving as the UAS Programs Coordinator at Parrot Drones. Peter's UAS journey began at Skyfire Consultants, where he played a key role in establishing and writing some of the first-ever COAs accepted by the FAA., leading Peter to make significant contributions to the early years of Skyfire Consulting. Peter has worked for well-established UAS companies in training, agriculture, infrastructure inspections, and even built drones for NASA. Before Parrot, Peter served as a Professor and UAS programs coordinator at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, shaping their dual curriculum UAS program and managing a fleet of more than 1,000 UAS and hundreds of pilots. With an educational background in Unmanned Aircraft Systems and a master’s degree in project management, Peter brings a comprehensive understanding of both the technical and operational aspects of drone technology.
EDWIN SANCHEZ
VOTIX
Edwin is a Systems Engineer with an MBA in Entrepreneurship/Marketing, with more than 25 years of worldwide experience in Information Technology, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Software Development, Enterprise Drone Solutions, and Business Leadership. Employed by worldwide Software Publishers like Oracle Corporation, Adobe Systems, and Microsoft Corporation, Edwin became an entrepreneur in 2010, launching several companies such as VOTIX, Echez, EC-Asia, Complarketing, Cyclopex, and Servicios en Web, and is widely recognized as an expert in Drone Automation software.
JEFF CLEMENTI
SKYEBROWSE
Jeff is currently the VP of Business Development at SkyeBrowse with a demonstrated history of working in the aviation and aerospace industry as well as in public safety. With years of experience in Fire Protection, Fire Management, Public Safety Systems, Structural Firefighting, and Fire Investigation, Jeff has focused on developing relationships that will ultimately increase the safety of front line personnel both locally and abroad. His knowledge in robotics/ uncrewed systems and history of public safety allow him to educate emergency response teams on the benefits of UAV technology.
JONATHAN RUPPRECHT
RUPPRECHT LAW P.A
New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Huffpost, Inc., Politico, NPR, Marketwatch, The Independent, and many other sources have cited or quoted Jonathan B. Rupprecht who is a drone lawyer and a FAA-certificated commercial pilot with single-engine, multi-engine, and instrument ratings. He is also a FAA-certificated airplane flight instructor and instrument flight instructor. He currently is a contributor to Forbes.com for Aerospace & Defense. The American Bar Association has published a legal book on unmanned aircraft law that Jonathan co-authored with other drone attorneys called Unmanned Ai.
TOM CERCHIARA
PIX4D
Tom is a Professional Land Surveyor with 23 years of experience working on construction, energy, and public works projects; apart from working with renowned global surveying and engineering firms, he has also run his own firm, TEC Land Surveying, for nearly 10 years. He is a thought leader when it comes to advancing digital transformations with cost efficient and easily deployable solutions, augmented reality, and computer vision.
Tom has also previously taught classes for the New York State Association of Professional Land Surveyors on drone mapping, photogrammetry, and emerging technologies. With Pix4D Tom holds the position of Business Development Executive for AEC in North America while working closely with technical sales teams and product teams to ensure that Pix4D customers succeed with their projects.
Andres Valencia
LIDARit
Andres is a Mechanical Engineer and a father of two who has built several successful businesses that significantly impacted the entrepreneurial ecosystem of his homeland, expanding his company worldwide.
As a developer and programmer with a strong background in mathematics and physics, he has created notable technologies for digitalizing spaces and processing and analyzing data. He currently serves as the CTO of LiDARit and its JV spin-off NiiMX. He has become a leader of several teams, inspiring and unlocking the potential of others.
RUN LI
DJI
Run Li is a Solutions Engineer at DJI Enterprise, specializing in the development of innovative geospatial solutions using unmanned systems. With a strong focus on optimizing adaptive daily UAV operations, Run Li's contributions have been instrumental in driving the advancement of next-generation solutions at DJI Enterprise. Through his industry insights and expertise, he has played a vital role in shaping the development and success of DJI's geospatial offerings.
VERNON SHURTZ
AUVSI
Vernon Shurtz is a highly experienced Trusted Operator™ Level 3 Remote Pilot and Remote Pilot Instructor. He is an Adjunct Instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the Program Manager for AUVSI’s Trusted Operator™. Vernon also specializes in the creation of immersive content utilizing Photogrammetry and Extended Reality (XR) technologies. Vernon is a US Navy Submarine Veteran.
JAY MULAKALA
DRONEDEPLOY
Jay Mulakala leads the Solutions Engineering team at DroneDeploy based out of Brooklyn, New York. Jay has been with DroneDeploy for about 5 years, but has worked in the drone industry for the past decade with a background in Aerospace Engineering, developing drones of all sizes, to helping companies build and grow their drone programs, both large and small as a Technology Consultant at Accenture and Product Manager at Kespry prior to DroneDeploy.
DR. LA'QUATA SUMTER
Dr. La'Quata Sumter is a technology enthusiast and educator passionate about teaching about technology, drones, coding, web design, engineering, and tech startups. As a STEM/STEAM philanthropist, she is dedicated to encouraging careers and education in these fields for the next generation. With over 11 years of experience in teaching technology, La'Quata holds a Ph.D in Learning technologies & is an Engineering Professor. She is also the CEO and Founder of Focusing On Me, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on supporting organizations in their goals for STEM excellence.
Miriam McNabb
DRONELIFE
Miriam McNabb is Editor-in-Chief at DRONELIFE, a leading commercial drone industry news platform, and CEO of JobForDrones.com, helping new commercial drone businesses find customers. She is a frequent international speaker at drone industry events and writes for DRONELIFE on current news, financial trends, and FAA regulations. In 2022, Miriam was inducted into the Women and Drones Hall of Fame for Women in Emerging Technologies.
Miriam has a degree from the University of Chicago and over 20 years of experience in high tech sales and marketing for new technologies.
Bryan Sanders
HSE-UAV
Established in 2009, HSE-UAV is America’s leading commercial & agriculture drone supplier. Bryan Sanders joined the company in 2013 and has been the company’s president since 2018. Based in Casselberry (Orlando), FL., the team at HSE is known for their agriculture and application expertise, unbiased guidance, and distribution of the world’s best drones. As the first company of its kind to import spraying drones to America, Bryan’s focus has always been on education. Bryan has jumpstarted and aided in many research projects for spraying drowns and is a well-known subject matter expert, regarded by researchers, regulators, and fellow executives. In addition to being chairperson for the North American RPAAS (Remotely Piloted Aerial Application Systems) Committee, Bryan has been a keynote speaker at industry conferences, and actively serves as subject matter expert for working groups and task forces throughout North America.
GREG NAGLER
TELEDYNE FLIR
Greg Nagler is a sales executive, serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor whose career began in venture capital where he invested in technology companies, including a US drone company called Aurora Flight Sciences, that was later sold to Boeing in 2017. In the 2000’s he co-founded an enterprise software company with several friends that expanded throughout the US, Asia and the Middle East and was later sold to EMC. For the last 16 years he has been starting up businesses and supporting product launches within FLIR, which was sold to Teledyne in May 2021 and where he remains active with its
product, marketing, and sales teams, assisting most recently with the launch and sale of SIRAS, Teledyne FLIR’s first purpose-built professional enterprise drone.
RICH GATANIS
FIREFIGHTER/ HazMat TECHNICIAN
Rich Gatanis began his career in 2003 as a Firefighter/EMT/HazMat Technician with Southern Manatee Fire Rescue located in Manatee County, Florida, and later took on the role of UAS Coordinator at SMFR by creating a UAS program within his agency in 2015.
Rich’s passion for UAS in public safety led him to join the team at Flymotion in 2017, where he worked closely with many public safety agencies across the country to develop drone programs and provide equipment. In 2020, Rich Joined the Manatee County Search and Rescue Team, a Non-Profit Search and Rescue team made up of current and previous Public Safety professionals with a passion for helping the community, as the UAS Team Lead. In 2021, Rich helped form the Florida Public Safety UAS Coordination Group (FLOGRU). The DRONERESPONDERS Florida Public Safety Coordination Group establishes the framework for public safety agencies and emergency services organizations to directly collaborate with industry, government, and academia through the combined expertise of AIRT and AUVSI members with the State of Florida.
SGT. ROBERT DOOLEY
FHP UAV Program
Sergeant Robert Dooley has been a Florida State Trooper for over 19 years. Sergeant Dooley has spent the past 5 years in the UAV program. Sergeant Dooley oversees the Florida Highway Patrol's UAV program and assists other State and Local Agencies with getting a UAV programs started. Sergeant Dooley is fluent in FAA COAs and Waivers and works with State Attorneys on the Florida State Statutes side. More importantly, Sergeant Dooley is most proud of the professional relationships built with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Florida State University in doing free workshops around the State of Florida; helping agencies fly their UAVs legally and the right way! Sgt. Robert Dooley serves as the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Program Manager for the Florida Highway Patrol. Sgt. Dooley is the co-lead for the DRONERESPONDERS Florida Public Safety Coordination Group (FLOGRU) and is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Florida Peninsula Chapter of AUVSI (AUVSI Florida).
DEPUTY LARRY WOOD
PALM BEACH SHERIFF sUAV
Deputy Larry Wood has been in Law Enforcement for 30 years and with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office since 1997. Deputy Wood has spent the past 5 years in the UAV program flying 1000 plus public safety missions. Deputy Wood manages the Palm Beach County Sheriff's sUAV program and assists with the agencies long range UAV program. Deputy Wood supports State, Federal and Local Agencies with getting UAV programs started. Deputy Wood has developed professional relationships with the Florida Highway Patrol, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Florida State University in doing free workshops around the State of Florida; helping agencies fly their UAVs legally and the right way.
ALEX NUÑEZ
DIGITAL E CONSULTING
Alexander Nunez has a background in engineering and has spent his career utilizing unmanned systems technologies, data analytics tools, and GIS to find creative and innovative solutions that enhance companies' infrastructure monitoring and analysis tasks. He is an FAA Licensed Remote Pilot, a certified AUVSI TOP Operator, and a certified thermographer. He funded Digital E Consulting 2018 in Miami to leverage cutting-edge drone technologies and offer geospatial and Non-Destructive Testing to public, private, and not-for-profit organizations.
MIKE SEMBER
SOUTH FL FIRE DEPARTMENT
Mike is a South Florida Fire Fighter and Paramedic with over 17 years on the force and a significant background as a drone pilot, flying through remote and complex environments like jungles, mountains, volcanoes, and different bodies of water. With each flight, Mike began to see the benefits that drones could have on the operations of a public safety department, especially for search and rescue missions, disaster response, and planning, as well as enhanced safety of officers and civilians alike during emergency situations.
Mike has become a champion for UAV technology in the public safety space and regularly collaborates with Drone Nerds to help educate the public and departments on the impact of drones for safety.
JON HEGRANES
ALOFT
Jon is the Founder & CEO of Aloft, the market leader in drone airspace systems & UTM technologies. Aloft’s
patented technology is used in today’s leading recreational, enterprise, and government drone applications.
Jon is a certified commercial drone pilot as part of FAA Part 107, serves on the Drone Safety Team’s steering
committee, and is an active member of other industry groups, including GUTMA and the FAA’s Advanced Aviation Advisory Committee (AAAC) and working groups.
