In aerospace, we talk a lot about “the future of flight.” But most of that conversation has been driven by fantasy. Fully electric aircraft that can’t fly far enough, and technologies that look good in a render but can’t sustain the physics or economics of real aviation.

That’s why what Electra Aero is building feels like the first practical revolution in modern air mobility. It’s not about escaping airports altogether; it’s about rethinking what access to the air actually means. 

A platform that combines the short-range flexibility of a helicopter with the efficiency, speed, and safety of a fixed-wing aircraft. A system that can land in 150 feet, carry nine passengers, and fly 1,000 miles…all at a cost per seat mile that rivals a Cessna Caravan.

In other words, not a science experiment, but an aircraft for both the Pentagon and Palm Springs.

When you look at the infrastructure, the capital, and the technology now converging, from turbo generators to hybrid propulsion, it’s clear the “inflection point” for advanced air mobility is already here. The question isn’t if we’ll see it, but when the iceberg breaks the surface and everyone suddenly realizes how much has already been built underneath.

What makes this design different enough for the Department of Defense to back it, and powerful enough to fly missions no existing aircraft can?

In this special replay episode, the CEO of Electra Aero, Mark Allen, joins me to dive into what it takes to turn an experimental prototype into a scalable aircraft production company. We also discuss how hybrid-electric flight could redefine how people and goods move between cities in the next decade.

You’ll learn:

About the Guest:

Marc Allen is the CEO of Electra Aero. At Electra, Marc is leading the charge in developing hybrid-electric Ultra Short aircraft to define the next level of seamless air travel connectivity. Through direct aviation, Electra is bringing air travel closer to where people live, work, and play – without airports, emissions, or noise. ‍Marc joined Electra after a distinguished career at The Boeing Company, where he held several key leadership roles, including Chief Strategy Officer and Senior Vice President for Strategy and Corporate Development. He led the $5 billion customer finance business before spending nearly a decade on Boeing's Executive Council, where he served as President of Boeing International and oversaw critical enterprise-wide functions. As head of all venture businesses, he led Wisk Aero’s restructuring and full acquisition, focusing on the future of autonomous flight and serving as Chairman. Other roles at Boeing included President of the Embraer Partnership, President of Boeing China, and General Counsel of Boeing International. To learn more, go to http://electra.aero/ or connect with Marc on LinkedIn. 

About your Host:

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

Resources:

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/.  

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm, so our show reaches more people. Thank you! 

Defense is not just changing because the technology is changing. It is changing because the old way of buying, building, funding, and deploying that technology no longer matches the speed of the threat.

For decades, aerospace and defense have been built around massive programs, long procurement cycles, and the assumption that the government could define a requirement, put it out to bid, and eventually get the capability into the hands of the warfighter. But Ukraine, Iran, China, unmanned systems, AI, cyber, and contested logistics have made one thing clear: “eventually” is no longer good enough.

The next era will not be defined by one platform or one prime. It will be defined by systems, speed, supply chains, and the middle-market companies that can actually execute. Private equity is moving in, and venture capital is trying to understand defense tech. The primes are being forced to rethink what they build, buy, and divest. And founders who survived years of disruption are now sitting on businesses that may be more valuable than ever.

Meghan Welch has a front-row view of all of it. As an investment banker focused on aerospace and defense, she joins me to break down why the industry is in the early innings of a major M&A boom, why the middle market has become the engine of the Defense Industrial Base, and why the companies that can scale, execute, and solve real bottlenecks may define the next era of American defense.

You’ll also learn;

About the Guest

Meghan Welch is the Managing Director of Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL).  Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) is a leading independent investment bank and financial advisory firm focused on the global middle market. The firm advises private and public corporations and private equity groups on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, capital markets, financial restructurings, valuations and opinions, and other strategic matters. BGL has investment banking offices in Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York, and real estate offices in Chicago and Cleveland. The firm is also a founding member of REACH Cross-Border Mergers & Acquisitions, enabling BGL to service clients in 30 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.bglco.com or connect with Meghan on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/.  

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm, so our show reaches more people. Thank you! 

Private equity is often talked about like it’s either a villain or a jackpot. Founders fear it, corporate executives romanticize it, employees hear horror stories, and everyone seems to have an opinion about what happens when PE walks into a business.

But that framing misses the bigger shift happening across American industry.

Private equity is no longer some niche financial corner of the market. It has become one of the most powerful forces shaping who owns companies, how businesses scale, how executives are evaluated, and how wealth gets created. 

The misconception is that PE is simply about financial engineering. But the real story is execution. In a PE-backed company, the pace changes, scoreboard, and expectations change. You’re no longer running a comfortable, founder-dependent business or managing a narrow slice of a giant corporate machine. You’re being asked to build value quickly, professionally, and repeatedly.

But for the people who can make that transition, the opportunity is enormous. Private equity can give founders a way to take chips off the table without walking away from the business they built. It can help executives move from earning a comfortable income to building real wealth. And it can turn unglamorous, overlooked industries like aerospace suppliers and manufacturing businesses into serious wealth-building platforms.

In this episode, I sit down with Adam Coffey, a veteran private equity CEO, author of The Private Equity Playbook, and operator behind more than $2.5 billion in exits as a CEO. We talk about what private equity actually demands from founders and executives, why so many people misunderstand the opportunity, and what it really takes to survive and win in a PE-backed environment.

You’ll also learn;

About the Guest

Adam Coffey is a CEO, board member, best-selling author, and acclaimed international speaker. He is a visionary leader who drives transformative growth and fosters high-performance cultures. With 25+ years of experience as CEO, Adam built 4 companies for 9 private equity firms. During this time period, he completed 58 acquisitions; his track record includes notable outcomes measured in the billions, averaging 4x MOIC at exit. Adam is a respected mentor to MBA candidates and a sought-after speaker at top business schools. He brings diverse expertise from commercial and industrial service businesses, alongside being a licensed general contractor, pilot, former GE executive, and US Army veteran. As an author, Adam's books "The Private Equity Playbook" (2019)(2024), "The Exit Strategy Playbook" (2021), and Empire Builder (2023) all became #1 Amazon Best Sellers. Recognized as one of the "Most Influential Leaders" by the Orange County, CA Business Journal (4x), he founded the CEO Advisory Guru in 2021, providing consulting services to private equity firms, their portfolio companies, and to founders. Connect with Adam on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association.

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/. 

The space industry is treated like it’s a collection of launches - rockets, satellites, new vehicles, and programs. But that framing misses what’s actually being built right now and how significant it is.

What’s happening in space is not just a launch boom. It’s the early construction of a permanent logistics and infrastructure layer that will eventually make access to orbit feel normal, repeatable, and almost invisible. 

The same way we stop thinking about the shipping routes behind Amazon deliveries or the cargo planes moving goods across continents, future businesses won’t obsess over which rocket carried their payload. They’ll care about reliability, timing, orbit, and outcomes.

That shift changes the role companies like Exolaunch play in the market. They are not simply “booking rides” to space. They’re helping create the connective tissue between launch providers, satellite operators, insurers, regulators, logistics systems, and the growing commercial demand for orbital infrastructure. And as launch capacity remains constrained, that coordination layer becomes incredibly valuable.

One of the most overlooked dynamics in space right now is that demand is no longer the problem. The real bottleneck is orchestration. There are more satellites, more commercial applications, more defense use cases, more data demands, and more infrastructure ambitions than the market can currently support. 

Launch windows are getting booked years in advance. Entire business models now depend on access to orbit. And increasingly, companies are realizing that flexibility matters more than loyalty to any single launch provider.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Robert Sproles, CEO of Exolaunch, to talk about what this next phase of the space economy actually looks like. We unpack why launch is becoming an infrastructure business, how Exolaunch built a global launch integration company without venture capital, and what most people misunderstand about how commercial space is evolving.

You’ll also learn:

About the Guest

Dr. Robert Sproles is the CEO of Exolaunch. Exolaunch is a global leader in launch mission management, satellite integration, and satellite deployment technologies. With a decade of flight heritage and 650+ satellites launched across 41 missions to date, Exolaunch leverages industry insight to tailor turnkey solutions that meet customer needs and respond to market trends. Exolaunch fulfills launch contracts for industry leaders, the world's most innovative startups, research institutions, government organizations, and international space agencies. The company develops and manufactures its own flight-proven, industry-leading satellite separation systems and payload launch stacks, with the fastest-growing heritage in the market. Exolaunch, headquartered in Germany, operates globally with offices in the US, France, and Japan. Exolaunch promotes safe, sustainable, and responsible use of space and is committed to making space accessible for all. With over 20 years of experience in engineering leadership, Robert is passionate about strategic planning and developing technical capabilities at scale. To learn more, visit https://www.exolaunch.com/ and connect with him on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm, so our show reaches more people. Thank you! 

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/. 

Oil is $100, airline losses are starting to show up, and Spirit’s collapse is exposing just how hard it is to run an ultra-low-cost model when low cost has disappeared.

Any one of those signals could make buyers cautious. Taken together, they should raise a bigger question: why are buyers inside middle-market aerospace and defense still leaning in?

Public aerospace companies are still trading at strong multiples. Strategics still have currency. Private equity is still chasing platforms. Founder-owned businesses with real capabilities are still getting serious attention.

Middle-market aerospace may be feeling pressure, but it is not behaving like a fragile market.

What makes this part of the industry so unusual is that value is not tied to one clean growth story. Commercial airlines may be exposed to fuel prices. Ultra-low-cost carriers may struggle when “low cost” disappears from the system. But the middle market is full of companies supporting business aviation, defense, engine work, MRO, parts, certifications, and long-standing product lines that remain incredibly hard to replace.

This is why buyers are not just chasing growth. They are chasing durability.

In a world where many sectors are being disrupted quickly, aerospace and defense still reward businesses that can do difficult, regulated, safety-critical work consistently.

In this episode, I sit down with Bill Alderman for our 300th episode of the Aerospace Executive podcast and for Bill’s 25th year in the business. In this conversation, we unpack what the market is really telling us right now: where the strength is real, where the risks are starting to show, and why the best buyers in this industry still understand something tourists often miss: that aerospace rewards people who think long term.

You’ll also learn;

About the Guest

William H. Alderman (Bill) is the Founding Partner of Alderman & Company. Bill is an M&A specialist in the middle market of the aerospace and defense industry with over $2 billion in mergers and acquisition-related transactions to his name. Before founding Alderman & Company in 2001, Bill worked for 15 years on Wall Street and in the Aerospace & Defense Industry, principally on M&A transactions in the middle market. His employers included BT Securities, Fieldstone, and General Electric. Bill is a Securities Principal registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and has four securities industry licenses (Series 7, 24, 63, and 65). Bill is a commercial pilot and owns and operates a Cirrus SR22.

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF-trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level executives in sales and operations across the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers. Since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, the International Aviation Women’s Association, and the SOCAL Aviation Association.

Aerospace has always been a cyclical industry, one sector up, another down, capital moving cautiously between them. That’s not what’s happening right now. Every major sector is ripping at the same time, for completely different reasons.

Commercial is coming back online. Aftermarket and MRO have been running hot since COVID. Defense is being pulled forward by geopolitical demand. Business aviation has settled into a stronger, more stable “new normal.” 

It’s rare to see this kind of synchronized momentum across the entire ecosystem, and when it happens, it changes how capital behaves.

For years, aerospace exits were predictable. You built a solid business, ran an M&A process, and sold. IPOs were barely part of the conversation. Industrial manufacturing wasn’t exactly exciting to public market investors.

Now, IPOs are not only viable, but they’re also often the better option. Industrial businesses that used to be seen as slow, capital-heavy, and unsexy are suddenly being revalued as AI-proof, infrastructure-critical, and in some cases, direct beneficiaries of the AI boom. 

And that shift is forcing a new level of sophistication from operators.

Because today, you’re not just deciding whether to sell; you’re deciding how to exit in a market with more options than ever before. Traditional M&A, IPOs, continuation vehicles—paths that barely existed or weren’t taken seriously six or seven years ago are now all on the table at the same time.

At the same time, there’s a quiet risk underneath all of this. Fuel prices, geopolitical instability, and supply chain pressure. None of these have gone away.

So the question isn’t just how long this run continues; it’s whether operators are actually prepared for the version of the market we’re in now.

In this episode, I’m joined by the Global Head of Aerospace and Aviation Investment Banking at Jefferies, Nick Fazioli. He breaks down what’s really driving this moment across aviation, defense, and industrials, and what it means for operators thinking about growth, capital, and exit strategy in a market that looks very different from it did just a few years ago.

You’ll also learn;

About the Guest

Nick Fazioli is the Global Head of Aerospace and Aviation Investment Banking at Jefferies, where he leads one of the most active practices across commercial aviation, business aviation, and aerospace services. Over the past 16 years, he’s been at the center of some of the most significant transactions in business aviation, including the sale of Marquis Jet to NetJets and West Star Aviation’s exit to Greenbriar Equity Group. With a front-row seat to M&A, capital markets, and the evolving investor landscape, Nick brings a unique perspective on where capital is flowing and how operators should be thinking about growth and exit strategy in today’s market. Connect with Nick on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/. 

Most operators think insurance is about protection. Buy a policy, transfer the risk, move on. But what if that model is quietly draining your margins instead of protecting them?

Because here’s the reality: in aviation, it’s not the catastrophic losses that kill your business; it’s everything else. 

The unexpected maintenance event that isn’t covered. The operational hiccups you don’t want to claim. The hangar rash that never makes it to a claim, and you just absorb it.

The constant, low-level financial hits that feel too small to insure but too frequent to ignore. Over time, it’s death by a thousand cuts, and traditional insurance was never built to solve that.

What’s starting to emerge instead is a different mindset: stop thinking of insurance purely as a cost center, and start treating it as a financial strategy. Not to replace the traditional market, but to take back control of everything it leaves behind. 

Because when you structure it right, the same dollars you’re used to losing can actually compound back into your business, building reserves, improving margins, and turning risk management into a profit lever instead of a drain.

That’s exactly what captive insurance allows operators to do: take control of the risks traditional aviation insurance won’t cover and structure them in a way that actually works for the business.

John C. Averill and Andy Shuttleworth are two experts working at the intersection of aviation risk and captive insurance. 

In this episode, we talk about how operators can formalize self-insurance, why most people misunderstand what captives actually are, and how some businesses are quietly using them to retain profits, smooth volatility, and build long-term financial resilience.

You’ll also learn;

About the Guests 

John C. Averill is a Senior Vice President and risk advisor specializing in aviation, aerospace, and defense. His work sits at the intersection of operational risk, insurance, and legal frameworks, allowing him to design highly tailored solutions for complex exposures that traditional brokerage models often miss. With additional expertise in professional liability and environmental underwriting, John brings a broader, more integrated lens to risk, helping operators structure programs that go beyond standard coverage. He is part of a senior-level team with over 100 years of combined experience in insurance and risk management, including more than 50 years focused specifically on aerospace. Connect with John on LinkedIn. 

Andy Shuttleworth is a Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance Consultant and the founder of Core Resilience LLC. With over 35 years of experience across federal and state agencies, he brings a deeply practical understanding of how risk, compliance, and operations intersect. Andy works with businesses to assess and strengthen their regulatory compliance, threat mitigation, and risk management strategies, offering an independent, unbiased perspective on where systems break down and how to improve them. His focus is on helping organizations protect not just their assets, but their long-term operational resilience and reputation. Connect with Andy on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/. 

Listening to 70s Southern rock, you can’t help but notice how easily it could fit into today’s rotation. Then you look at something like Hyrox. It shows up as new, but it’s actually CrossFit, same foundation, different packaging.

Nothing changed. They’re just being branded differently.

And that pattern shows up in careers. The things that actually last don’t change that much. They just get reintroduced in a way people are ready to hear again.

Right now, everything feels like it’s speeding up: AI, tools, new roles, constant noise about what’s coming next. And it pushes people into this mindset of “I need to keep up… I need to add more… I need to figure out the next thing.”

But that’s not what holds up over time. Underneath all the noise, the same things still drive value.

So how do you stay relevant when everything around you keeps changing? What fundamental career skills actually hold up over time?

In this episode, my producer Matt Johnson joins me to talk about how to stay relevant in a world that feels like it’s moving faster than ever, why fundamentals still win, and what separates the people who adapt from the ones who get left behind.

You’ll also learn;

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers, and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

Resources

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/. 

Today’s defense landscape is chaotic and fast-moving. Drones, AI, autonomy, and cyber threats are reshaping how wars are fought…and how the Pentagon spends. 

For companies and CEOs, the barrier to entry has never been lower. Any startup with a pitch deck and some funding can say they're in “defense.” But actually succeeding in this market? That’s never been harder.

Small businesses get lost in red tape, big businesses lose their edge chasing shiny objects. Most companies looking to break into the defense space still pitch like it’s 2005, leading with tech specs, chasing every shiny RFP, and assuming that great engineering sells itself. It doesn’t…not in today’s environment.

So what’s the right strategy in this market? How do companies set themselves up to win? 

In this episode, I sit down with Gemo Yesil, founder and managing partner of Bastion Atlas, to unpack why so many well-funded startups, savvy CEOs, and legacy contractors are falling flat, and what it really takes to win in today’s high-stakes, high-complexity market.

Gemo knows the DoD world inside and out. An MIT-trained aerospace engineer, Air Force veteran, and founder of a fast-scaling fractional BD firm, he’s seen firsthand how companies of all sizes struggle with the same fundamental issue: a lack of clear, executable strategy.

Gemo explains how defense acquisition has evolved from lumbering legacy programs to fast-moving, software-driven warfare. He shares why the real differentiator today isn’t tech specs or connections, it’s clarity: about your market, your business model, and what “good” defense revenue actually looks like.

You’ll also learn;

Guest Bio

Gemo Yesil is a combat veteran, aerospace engineer and founder and principal at Bastion Atlas. He is a Global Defense Business Development executive with 20 years of experience, and a dual-rated U.S. Air Force pilot, who has flown Combat Rescue helicopters and Tactical Airlift jets in Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, and South America.

After managing Fortune 500 engineering teams on multiple $2B+ programs at Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin and scaling his EdTech startup nationally, Gemo has served as CMC Electronics' Global Sales & Strategy Director, Gecko Robotics' Head of Defense Business Development, and HABCO Industries’ VP of Sales & Marketing. He launched Bastion Atlas in 2024 to assemble a team of revenue growth experts and scale their impact across the global Aerospace & Defense industry. Gemo remains proudly connected to his alma mater (MIT), retains an active security clearance, and — as a personal passion — continues to manage national STEM Education initiatives. To learn more, visit https://www.bastionatlas.com/ and connect with Gemo in LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers and since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you! 

Most people think the aerospace supply chain is crawling back to normal after the pandemic. But that’s not what’s happening.

The industry is scaling in a permanently elevated demand environment. Commercial aviation is rebuilding. Defense budgets are structurally higher. New platforms like EVTOL, drones, hypersonics, and space are moving into production.

This isn’t a strain; it’s a structural transformation.

And in a world obsessed with engines and airframes, the real leverage sits in the smallest parts. At the same time, complexity is rising. Aircraft are lighter, more electronic, and more integrated. Tolerances are tighter, and the margin for error is gone.

This is where FDH Aero comes in: distribution reimagined as a strategic capability. In a high-velocity, high-complexity market, reliability becomes a strategy.

How is FDH embedding itself within OEM production lines while operating under private-equity intensity? And what kind of leadership does that require?

In this episode, I’m joined by the CEO of FDH Aero, Ian Walsh. 

We unpack how FDH Aero scaled to a billion dollars by mastering the parts that make flight possible. We also discuss why the next decade of aerospace growth may be less about building more airplanes and more about controlling the hardware layer beneath them.

You’ll also learn:

About the Guest

Ian Walsh is the CEO of FDH Aero. He brings over 35 years of executive leadership across the U.S. Marine Corps, commercial and general aviation, defense, and industrial end markets to FDH. Most recently, Walsh served as Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Kaman Aerospace Corporation, a provider of highly engineered components and subsystems to commercial aviation, aerospace, defense, and medical end-markets. At Kaman, Walsh led the evolution of the global company into customer-centric operating segments. Before that, Walsh was COO at REV Group, Inc., a provider of specialty vehicles and related aftermarket parts, and spent more than 15 years in operational and P&L leadership at Textron, Inc. At both companies, Walsh drove new product development and process optimization. Earlier in his career, he served as an officer and naval aviator in the U.S. Marine Corps with combat tours in Somalia, Haiti, and Bosnia. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt in operations and continuous improvement. Connect with Ian on LinkedIn. 

About Your Host

Craig Picken is an Executive Recruiter, writer, speaker, and ICF Trained Executive Coach. He is focused on recruiting senior-level leadership, sales, and operations executives in the aviation and aerospace industry. His clients include premier OEMs, aircraft operators, leasing/financial organizations, and Maintenance/Repair/Overhaul (MRO) providers. Since 2008, he has personally concluded more than 400 executive-level searches in a variety of disciplines. Craig is the ONLY industry executive recruiter who has professionally flown airplanes, sold airplanes, and successfully run a P&L in the aviation industry. His professional career started with a passion for airplanes. After eight years’ experience as a decorated Naval Flight Officer – with more than 100 combat missions, 2,000 hours of flight time, and 325 aircraft carrier landings – Craig sought challenges in business aviation, where he spent more than 7 years in sales with both Gulfstream Aircraft and Bombardier Business Aircraft. Craig is also a sought-after industry speaker who has presented at Corporate Jet Investor, International Aviation Women’s Association, and SOCAL Aviation Association. 

For more aerospace industry news & commentary: https://craigpicken.com/insights/. 

To learn more about Craig Picken, visit https://craigpicken.com/.