First Speakers Announced!

Dr Matthieu Pettes-Duler holds a PhD in Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Propulsion, with a distinguished career at the forefront of aerospace innovation. He played a pivotal role in the HASTECS project, a collaborative effort with Airbus, spearheading a team of six PhD students, two post-doctoral researchers, and four research laboratories. Together, they explored the future of aviation, culminating in groundbreaking research on fuel cell-powered aircraft.

His expertise continued to shape the industry landscape with Blue Spirit Aero, where he led the design of a CS23 aircraft powered by fuel cell technology and pressurized H2.

Dr. Pettes-Duler's contributions extended to Airbus UpNext in June 2021, where he joined the fuel cell demonstrator project as part of the ZEROe Program, leveraging his expertise in aircraft design and propulsion systems. Today, Dr. Pettes-Duler serves as the Head of Powertrain, overseeing critical aspects of flight testing and ground activities as well.

Jim Fawcett is a Lead Flight Test Engineer (LFTE) working for Airbus and based in Toulouse, France. He graduated from the French flight test academy EPNER in 2008. Since 2012 he has been a development LFTE specialising in flight management systems, communications (voice and datalink), cockpit design, display systems, and radio navigation. He is qualified to operate as LFTE on all Airbus aircraft types and has logged nearly 3000 hours on test flights. A member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Society of Flight Test Engineers (where he is a member of the Technical Council) and a UK Chartered Engineer, Jim also holds a private pilot’s licence.

Dr Raymond D. O’Toole. Jr., is DOT&E’s Acting Director. He is responsible for the planning, conduct, evaluation, and reporting of the operational and live fire testing of more than 240 U.S. weapons systems. Dr. O’Toole also oversees the formulation and advocacy for the Department test and evaluation policies and the implementation of test and test resource programs. His career includes more than 30 years of experience as a naval officer (active and reserve), retiring at the rank of captain.

Dr. O’Toole’s significant tours included five as commanding officer. He is a graduate of the State University of New York - Maritime College, where he earned a Bachelor of Engineering in marine engineering. He also holds a Master of Engineering in systems engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a Master of Science in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and a Doctorate in Engineering in engineering management from The George Washington University.

Before co-founding Ascendance in 2018, Thibault started his career as an Aerospace Engineer at Airbus. He was involved in several research programs about hybridizing aircrafts ranging from UAVs, rotorcraft and regional airplanes.
Thibault then moved to the E-FAN program at Airbus - one of the very first 100% electrical aircraft in the world - where he led the development of the Central Electronic Control Unit (ECU) and oversaw the electric propulsion system architecture as System Architect.
Thibault holds a MEng. in Aeronautical engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon (FRA) and a Msc. in Thermics and Energy from Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

Yann Leost earned his engineering degree and master’s in material mechanics from the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France. His professional journey has alternated between aerospace (DLR), automotive (Mercedes Benz and EDAG), and defense, focusing on crash calculations and modeling impacts and ballistics.. Since 2012, he has been at the Fraunhofer Institute EMI, leading projects at the crash center, including the development of the X-ray Car Crash X-CC technology, which captures 1 kHz X-ray videos of internal structures during crash tests to enhance safety. He is currently preparing a joint publication with Nissan detailing the latest advancements in reconstructing the 3D trajectory of fast-moving objects tracked under X-rays.

Dr. Ying is the co-founder of a stealth startup company in sustainable aviation. Prior to this role, she was the SVP of Global Partnerships at Ampaire, a tech start-up for hybrid-electric commercial aircraft. In 2017, she retired from the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China as the Chief Integration Officer based in Shanghai. In 2013, she retired from the Boeing company as Director of the Boeing Research and Technology. Demonstrating success both at individual and team levels, she has been the recipient of many honors, including the Chinese Government's Friendship Award and NASA Group Achievement Award. Before joining Boeing, Ying taught at universities and directed research in the DOE Research Labs and NASA Ames Research Center; and earned a spot as a NASA Astronaut Candidate finalist.

Dr. Ying is a Fellow of the AIAA since 2008 and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Sciences since 2017. She is the former President of the International Council of Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS). Ying holds a commercial pilot license and is a FAA-Certified Flight Instructor. She received her PHD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University, and took executive education training from the Kellogg School of Business Administration, Wharton Business School, and Brookings Institute in Brussels.

Co-Founder and CEO of Marple. We allow engineers to play with their data and create a deeper understanding!

🕮 MSc. Aerospace Engineer with specialization in Control and Simulation.

Designed for engineering and data science applications, Marple offers two powerful products: one for performant data storage and a second for advanced data analysis. Together, they provide the tools you need to handle complex datasets with ease.

Bram Noordman holds a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente in The Netherlands. From 2006 till now he works as a R&D engineer at NLR analysing and optimizing metal and composite aerospace structures.

Niko Bayer is a seasoned Technical Sales Manager with over a decade of experience working closely with customers to develop tailored automated non-destructive testing (NDT) inspection solutions. At USL, he helps clients across aerospace, automotive, rail, R&D, MRO, metals and other industries to find the best possible inspection solutions for their specific applications and challenges, ensuring precision and reliability in the inspection and analysis of composite and metallic components.

Before transitioning into technical sales, Niko worked as an R&D Engineer, specializing in the development, continuous improvement and calibration of electro-mechanical and fibre-optic sensor technologies for the aerospace, defence, and oil & gas sectors. His deep expertise in applied physics and sensor innovation underpins his ability to deliver cutting-edge technologies tailored to industry needs.

Niko holds an MSc in Applied Physics, is a Level III (UT) certified professional and works globally, collaborating with international clients to advance NDT solutions. He speaks multiple languages and regularly presents technical papers at industry conferences and trade shows, sharing insights on emerging inspection trends, challenges and advancements. He is an active member of the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing (BiNDT), American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) and also contributes to industry standards as a member of BSI, shaping the future of NDT practices.

Manoj Sarang has spearheaded numerous high-profile projects, including the delivery of multiple turnkey jet engine test cell facilities for some of the world’s largest OEMs. After nearly a decade of hands-on project execution, Manoj has transitioned to a pivotal role at MDS as the DAS Business Strategy Lead. Here, he champions the development and market integration of MDS’ flagship DAS product, nxDAS.

MDS is a pioneer of the iDDS protocol, a game changing communications protocol rapidly gaining traction across the gas turbine testing industry among OEMs, MRO end users, and instrumentation vendors. In his current role, Manoj works to steer the nxDAS product development to align seamlessly with both business objectives and evolving market demands. MDS is a flagbearer for the iDDS protocol and he, along with the MDS team, are working on expanding its adoption and continuous advancement ensuring greater protocol accessibility and enhanced industry-wide collaboration.

Brad Becktell has been in the software industry for nearly a decade with half of it spent at GE Aerospace where he has led the development, validation, and introduction of the Vehicle Monitoring System. His background has ranged from DevOps and system administration to full stack software development. Brad remains a key contributor to the modernization efforts within engine testing throughout GE Aerospace’s sites.

Raphael Hallez is an aerospace testing specialist with nearly 20 years experience at Siemens. He has been involved in many testing and simulation projects with leading aviation, space and defense companies worldwide and is currently in charge of the business development activities for testing products at Siemens Digital Industries Software.

R&D Director / Technical Expert (IT / AI) / Regulatory Officer

Founded in 1996, ORME is a company specializing in signal and image acquisition and processing. ORME develops a suite of innovative software products, TrackImage and TrackReport, and also offers custom systems and software development, as well as test analysis and consulting services.

The technical team currently comprises 18 engineers or PhDs based in Toulouse (Labège). We work with major clients in the aeronautics and space industries (Airbus, Safran, Thalès Alenia Space, CNES, Latécoère, etc.), the automotive industry (Renault, Nissan, Karma, PSA, Autoliv, Faurecia, Valéo, etc.), defense (Airbus DS, DGA, L3Harris, MBDA, etc.), energy (CEA, Schneider Electric, etc.), and cosmetics (L'Oréal, etc.).

These major clients entrust us with R&D missions for the development of signal and image processing algorithms, scientific computing developments for test analysis, and/or are users of our TrackImage (motion analysis through image processing) or TrackReport (signal analysis and automatic generation of test reports) software products. To ensure a high level of quality and customer satisfaction, ORME applies the NF EN9100: 2018 / EN9115 Quality Standard and has been certified since November 2, 2022 (Certificate FR22/00000060).

ORME is also developing a non-intrusive fall detection solution for retirement homes. This sensor is autonomous and independent, highly reliable day and night, and respects privacy since it does not capture images. To support the development of its R&D, ORME also participates in several research consortia supported by the Occitanie region, France, and the European Union.
For its international development, ORME relies on a network of distributors in Europe, Asia (Japan, India, and China), North and South America, and South Africa.

After a Master's degree in quality and a professional degree in metrology, Thibault HEHLEN had his first professional experience in the field of metrology with a manufacturer of contactless measuring equipment. There he developed expertise in the acquisition and processing of point clouds.

He then joined the PolyWorks Europa France team as an application engineer in April 2018, which gave him new skills in the field of CMMs and portable measurement equipment. Thibault Hehlen has been Sales Manager since the beginning of 2020.

Guillaume Bonnavion, Ph.D., is an ISAE-ENSMA Engineer (Poitiers, France) and holds a Master of Science in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, Illinois, USA). He specialized in external aerodynamics during his experimental doctoral thesis at the University of Paris-Saclay (ENSTA Paris) and then worked as a Research Engineer in Aerodynamics and Aeroacoustics within the Research and Advanced Innovation Department (DRIA) of PSA/Stellantis as part of PSA-CNAM and CNRS-Laboratoire P’ collaborations. He then joined Elogen (French manufacturer of electrolysers) as an R&D Test Engineer, then PCB Piezotronics in June 2023. Guillaume thus has more than 7 years of experience in test preparation and execution, project management (joint laboratory, industrial projects) and has worked in academic and industrial environments.

Dušan achieved a MSc in Software Engineering from University of Ljubljana.

His work experience includes: 
1. Project assistant at Chalmers University in Gothenburg (6 months) - worked on software traceability.
2. Software engineer at Tricentis in Vienna (2 years) - worked on test automation.
3. Systems engineer and team lead at Cosylab in Ljubljana (5 years) - worked on medical projects.
4. Product Manager at openDAQ in Trbovlje, Slovenia - working on an open-source data acquisition SDK.

Dr. Aswin Haridas is currently the Team Leader & global focal point for Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) at Testia, an Airbus company. He is currently based out of Bremen, Germany. He had completed his Ph.D., which was focused on developing new inspection capabilities and strategies for critical aircraft engine structures, at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Singapore.

Prior to this, he had pursued his masters (M.Sc.) in Aerospace Structural Engineering as a joint degree program between Technische Universität München (TUM) and NTU. He has over 8 years of experience with various Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and Structure health Monitoring (SHM) solutions for industries including aerospace, automotive, civil and energy (among many others).

He has Published over 20 articles in Internationally Recognized Journals and Conferences and holds five, UK registered Patents.

Frédéric Kihm is Product Manager at HBK, responsible for the signal processing related software products, which includes GlyphWorks, VibeSys and nCodeDS. Frédéric previously worked as an Engineering Consultant for nCode and then HBM, involved with signal processing, durability and vibration analyses in the automotive, aerospace, and defence industries. Frédéric holds a MS in Mechanical Engineering from IFMA University in France and a PhD from the Institute of Sound & Vibration Research (ISVR) in Southampton, UK.

Jakov is a Senior Sales Manager with a strong technical background in embedded software development and project management. He has10 years of experience in the automotive industry (Continental), five patents and a Master of Science in Mechatronics from the TU Darmstadt (graduated with distinction).

Ayoub has 10 years of experience working with Automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers. With a strong background in software development and test bench solutions, he specializes in HIL (Hardware-in-the-Loop) systems. At Vector, Ayoub is responsible for responding to customer inquiries and requests for test benches.

Timo is Director of strategic Business Development for OPAL-RT in EMEA in the areas of E-Mobility, Aerospace and Power Electronics.

Timo started his career in 1998 with Siemens and moved to OPAL-RT in 2017 to install the German subsidiary office. His technical background is predominantly in power electronics and drives applications.

Timo acquired his Bachelor of Engineering degree in industrial engineering in a part-time study-on-distance program from Hamburger Fernhochschule in 2012.

Benjamin is a graduate engineer from INSA Toulouse (Plasma Physics and Engineering) and holds a Specialised Masters in Industrial Business Engineering. He worked for SAFRAN and then LIEBHERR-AEROSPACE before joining HENSOLDT Nexeya France in 2017. He meets test and simulation needs in the defence, aerospace, transport and industrial sectors.

Arnaud Demay is a seasoned Space System Engineer with over a decade of experience in the space industry. As Ariane 6 Qualification Project Manager at ArianeGroup he has played a pivotal role in ensuring the success of Europe's new heavy launcher flight worthiness. His expertise lies in system studies such a mission analysis and trajectography, mechanical design, integration & test engineering, and launcher system development.

Jérémy Caussade, co-founded in 2018, with his associates Wilfried Dufaud and Fabien Raison, AURA AERO, the first digital and eco-efficient aircraft manufacturer, in Toulouse, on the historical site of Francazal. Boasting over 13 years’ experience in aeronautical engineering, he is also the Chief engineer of the company.

Jérémy Caussade began his career with Altran, as a helicopter flight simulator engineer, from 2010 to 2012. He then joined Airbus Civil Aircraft in 2013, where he successively held the positions of Simulator Lead Engineer, of Simulator Manager for Flight Tests on the A350 « Aircraft Zero », of Certification engineer on the A320NEO and BelugaXL programs, and of Explorers team leader for Quantum Digital Transformation. Before he left Airbus to create AURA AERO, he was in charge of growth and incubation for the DDMS program (Digital Design Manufacturing and Services, the manufacturer’s digital transformation platform).

Holding a Master in Fluid Dynamics from Paul-Sabatier university in Toulouse (2009), Jérémy Caussade has also been, for the past 10 years, the President, founder and chief engineer of the Réplic’Air association, where he has led the reconstruction and first flights of two historical aircraft: a G Type Morane Saulnier (the aircraft that enabled Roland Garros to cross the Mediterranean for the first time on 23 September 1913) and a Dewoitine D551 fighter plane.

Jérémy Caussade holds plane, glider and ULM pilot licences and is also a water sports enthusiast.

Ken Ameika is Vitrek’s Vice President of Sales and a leading force behind their industry leading MTI Instruments line of turbine engine vibration testing and balancing products.
 
With degrees in Electrical engineering and mathematics, Ken has been involved with the development and marketing of technical test and data collection products for the mil-aero market for over 20 years and today works with the leading MRO firms and airlines worldwide to refine and expand Vitrek’s offering of aerospace calibration and test solutions.