Droneports: Unlocking the Economic Potential for Your Community

Sallie Traxler
Director, DronePort Network

Micheal Bergstrom
Oklahoma State Senate, District 1

Micheal Bergstrom was elected in 2016 as the state senator from District 1, which encompasses the northeast corner of the state. The district includes Craig County, Delaware County, Mayes County and Ottawa County.
After earning his bachelor of arts degree in English from the University of South Florida, Bergstrom conducted his graduate studies at Northeastern State University.

Prior to being elected, Bergstrom spent 10 years in journalism as a reporter, editor, and freelance writer. He then became a full-time educator and had nearly 20 years of experience in public education, the last 18 with Bluejacket Public Schools. Bergstrom, whose teaching certifications include world and American history, U.S. government and economics, taught high school English and yearbook in Bluejacket.

Bergstrom and his wife Robin reside in Adair. They have four children and 14 grandchildren. Their children and grandchildren reside in northeast Oklahoma. Outside of his work in the Senate, Micheal attends Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Adair where he has served as an elder and chairman of the Church Council. 

He has been a recipient of awards every year from the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, including Freshman of the Year and the Minuteman Award. He was given the Oklahoma Legislative Award by the Oklahoma Sheriff's Association in 2018 and 2019 and has received the Oklahoma Farm Bureau 100% award and the Oklahoma Cattleman's Association top award.

Nick Flom
Executive Director, North Dakota Department of Commerce, Northern Plains UAS Test Site Authority

Nicholas Flom started his career in aviation when he graduated from the University of North Dakota. Mr. Flom spent the early part of his aviation career flight instructing, flight management, and obtaining a Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate for a start-up company to provide on-demand air taxi operations. During this time Mr. Flom acquired over 4,000 flight hours and earned his Airline Transport Pilot certificate.

In 2016, Mr. Flom became the Executive Director of the Northern Plains UAS Test Site. Under Mr. Flom’s leadership, North Dakota was selected as one of 10 participants of the UAS Integration Pilot Program, selected to participate in the FAA’s UTM Pilot Program and has supported multiple Federal agencies like CBP, NASA and DHS. Mr. Flom has also been instrumental in the advancement of beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations for multiple users and use cases.

Fred Judson
Director, Ohio Dept of Transportation

Fred Judson is the Ohio Department of Transportation’s/DriveOhio Director of the Ohio Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Center. He has more than 26 years’ experience at the Ohio DOT specializing in UAS and geospatial technologies. He has spent the last 6 years in the research and implementation of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technologies for the State of Ohio. During this time Fred has led several efforts pushing technological advances in UAS/AAM including Ohio’s FlyOhio initiative. Through his leadership, Fred has coordinated several activates with local, state and federal resources with supporting advanced aviation activities.

Fred is a standing member in several committees including Access Ohio 2045, Ohio DOT Statewide Planning and Research Review Committee, Ohio Federal Research Network’s Technical Advisory Committee and the Government Advocacy Subcommittee for the Ohio Aerospace and Aviation Technology Committee (OAATC), Standing Committee on Emerging Technology Law - AJL40, Standing Committee on New Users of Shared Airspace AV095 and continues to participate in governmental and industry standards committees for AAM technologies.

Mark Reynolds
Vice President, Strategic Business, New York Empire State Development

As a key member of New York’s Strategic Business Division of Empire State Development, Mark is responsible for industry attraction and assistance for the semiconductor, nanotechnology, electronics and aerospace business sectors. He works with existing New York state employers to solve critical issues for their growth in the state, and attracting new business to New York, such as BWR Robotics, Cree, Applied Materials, Danfoss Silicon Power and NexGen Power.

Prior to joining ESDC, Mark was Sr. Vice President of Mohawk Valley EDGE, a two-county economic development corporation in upstate NY. In this capacity Mark led EDGE’s worldwide attraction efforts and made deals with companies like BAE, Exelis, Tektronix, UTC, IAI and amsAG, among others.

Before that Mark lead the business development efforts for Stetson-Harza, a multi-disciplinary A/E services firm with offices in Utica and Albany, NY and Chicago, IL. In this capacity Mark worked across the US and in Europe.

Mark holds a Masters of Landscape Architecture degree from SUNY CESF at Syracuse, and a Bachelors of Environmental Sciences degree from SUNY Plattsburgh, NY.

Chris Yakabe
President, InnoVets Aerospace

Chris Yakabe is the President of InnoVets, LLC. Chris has over 16,500 flight hours spanning 40 years of military and civilian flying. Chris has flown over 35 different types of aircraft including everything from small, unpowered gliders and Cessna trainers to the Boeing 747-400. He is a distinguished graduate of the Naval Postgraduate Aviation Safety Officer School, graduate of the Air Force Safety Officer Program, and former Chief of Wildlife Management for the Air Force, which included management of the Bird Strike Hazard program for Air Force operations world-wide. He is a former military instructor pilot and flight examiner. He is currently a FAA certified civilian multi-engine/instrument instructor, and holds a FAA Part 107 sUAS certificate. He is a U.S. Coast Guard Academy Graduate, served as a Calculus II Instructor at the United States Air Force Academy, and holds a Master’s Degree in Flight Operations from Embry-Riddle University (he currently serves on the editorial review board of the university’s aeronautical research journal). Chris is a former NASA contract researcher and a NASA airline operations SME. He has flown all of NASA’s full-motion simulators including their contract centrifuge. He is also a founding member of the NASA/FAA unmanned traffic management (UTM) public/private teaming effort.

Mike Whitted
Chief Executive Officer, InnoVets Aerospace

Mike Whitted is InnoVets, LLC Chief Executive Officer. In addition to managing the operations of InnoVets Grand Sky facility, Mike has over 20 years of experience as a USAF pilot-in-command and instructor/evaluator pilot in multiple categories of military and civilian aircraft. This includes over 3,000 flight hours in aircraft ranging from KC-10 heavy air-tankers to light aerobatic gliders. Mike has an extensive background in aviation management to include a position as the United States Air Force Academy Operations Supervisor and Soaring Control Officer. He is a former Air Force Flight Safety School Graduate, and squadron flight safety officer. He also has a decades-long background managing US Government and DOD aviation services contracts worldwide. Mike is a Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy.

Bart Massey
Executive Director, USA Drone Port

Bart Massey, a Kentucky native, the Executive Director of the USA Drone Port and Program Coordinator of the Unmanned Systems Technology Program at Hazard Community and Technical College. Bart is an entrepreneur and innovator that has spoken and presented at locations and venues including the Paris Air Show, the Pentagon, the European Drone Port, AUVSI, and a variety of other locations around the world.  He helped design and build a heavy payload drone for the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) in 2018. Bart has authored and published multiple books including one of the first on search and rescue with drones.  Bart works with, consults and partners with multiple federal agencies and departments and has met, on this topic, with many officials including the United States Senate Majority Leader. He is a member of two contracting corporations offering training and consultation about unmanned systems and intelligence and participated in the 2020 Defense Strategies Summit.  He is optimistic and vigorous in his pursuit of unmanned industry growth and security in the United States and continuing growth of unmanned systems in his region.  Bart leads the annual USA Drone Conference that is hosted by the USA Drone Port in April each year, bringing professionals from around the world to the beautiful mountains of Kentucky.

Tom Swoyer
President, Grand Sky Development Co

Tom Swoyer is the President and a Partner of Grand Sky Development Company.  Since 2015, Tom has led the development of Grand Sky, the nation’s first commercial UAS droneport. From fund-raising and operations to marketing and tenanting, Tom has engaged in every aspect of growing Grand Sky from concept to operating the droneport, generating over $19 million per year in economic impact.  As Grand Sky enters a new phase of development, Tom is working to create the infrastructure needed to support command and control networks supporting Beyond Visual Line of Sight Flight.  Additionally, Tom is working to develop the infrastructure needed to support data management from commercial large UAS flights to assist in energy, agriculture and emergency management. 

Craig Smith
Executive Director, Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority, Oklahoma Air and Space Port

Craig J. Smith is the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority and the Oklahoma Air & Space Port. This is a public-use airport and industrial airpark that has facilities in place for aerospace testing, research and development, space flights and launches. As one of twelve spaceports in the nation, it is the first with an FAA-approved 152-mile long and 50-mile wide spaceflight corridor that extends into space and does not interfere with restricted airspace or Military Operation Areas (MOAs). This facility is home to one of North America’s largest runways (13,503-foot by 300-foot concrete runway) available for both civilian and military use. With more than 1,000 acres of land available for development this facility has a wide variety of potential building sites available, including over 100,000 square feet of available hangar space (six commercial aircraft hangars) located near our ramps, taxiways and runways.

Smith previously was a communications specialist for Leidos working for the FAA Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in Oklahoma City. Prior to that he served on the staff of a previous Governor, Members of Congress, and a U.S. Senator. An experienced leader with a demonstrated history of accomplishments working in both state and federal government roles, Smith has worked in public affairs, political communication, grassroots organization, economic development, government and legislative relations capacities.

Smith grew up in Oklahoma and holds a Master’s in Communications from Northeastern State and a Bachelor’s degree from Oklahoma State University. He and his wife of 27 years reside in Yukon and have two adult children.

Kraettli Epperson
CEO, Vigilant Aerospace Systems, Inc.

Kraettli L. Epperson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Vigilant Aerospace Systems, which provides airspace management and autonomous collision avoidance software for unmanned aircraft based on a patent exclusively licensed from NASA. Mr. Epperson has a 20-year career as a serial entrepreneur and investor in technology startups in both the US and Europe. He is a frequent expert speaker at major UAS industry conferences such as InterDrone, Xponential, the UAS Summit & Expo, and more addressing topics such as unmanned aircraft detect-and-avoid, and UAS flight safety and airspace management systems for commercial operators, fleet managers, and unmanned airfields. Mr. Epperson is the co-author, with NASA Senior Research Engineer Ricardo Arteaga, of multiple industry research papers on autonomous systems and is an FAA certified Part 107 UAS pilot.

Jamey Jacob
Director, Unmanned Systems Research Institute, Oklahoma State University

Jamey D. Jacob is the John Hendrix Chair and Professor in the School Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University. He is the author of over 100 papers and technical reports in the areas of unmanned systems, aerodynamics, flow control, and inflatable structures. He received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1990 and his M.S and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992 and 1995, respectively. He was a National Research Council Summer Faculty Fellow in the Air Force Research Laboratory at WPAFB in both 2003 and 2004. He spent 10 years as a professor at the University of Kentucky in the Mechanical Engineering Dept. He currently serves on the Governor’s Aerospace and Autonomous Systems Council and as president of the Unmanned Systems Alliance of Oklahoma.