

Tom Vice


Matthew Mejía


Dr. Richard Tracy


Steve Berroth


Doug Coleman


Lisa Holden


Kristi Finney


Matt Cram


Bissell Smith


Alex Egeler


Tim Fagan


Tom Vice
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
Tom retired from Northrop Grumman after nearly 31 distinguished years of service with the company. He served as President of its Aerospace Systems sector, overseeing an $11 billion global advanced technology business with 23,000 employees. Aerospace Systems is a pioneer in space-based observatories, satellites, fully autonomous systems, combat aircraft, high-powered lasers, and microelectronics.
Previously, Tom was President of Northrop Grumman’s Technical Services sector, a leader in integrated logistics and modernization, defense and government services, and training solutions, with more than 19,500 employees in 300 locations in all 50 states and 29 countries.
Tom joined Northrop Grumman in 1986 as an engineer on the B-2 Stealth Bomber. Over the span of his career, he led nearly every aspect of the business: strategy, engineering, program management, advanced programs and technology, manufacturing and operations, supply chain management, business development, and information technology.
Tom earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
He has completed numerous advanced management programs including MIT’s Corporate Strategy; Northwestern’s Value Creation through M&A; Caltech’s Management of Technology and Innovation; Caltech’s Strategic Marketing of Technology Products; UCLA’s Executive Marketing; and Defense Acquisition University’s Advanced Program Management course.
Tom serves on the board of directors of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA); the board of governors of the Aerospace Industries Associations (AIA); the board of directors of Local Motors Industries, a technology-enabled manufacturer focus on mobility products; the board of councilors for USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering; the board of advisors for Purdue University’s School of Astronautics and Aeronautics; and previously served on the board of governors for the USO; the board of trustees for the Florida Institute of Technology; and the board of Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.Tom is the recipient of the 2016 Daniel J. Epstein Engineering Management Award from the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering. The Engineering Management Award was founded in 1978 to recognize industry leaders who have made lasting contributions to science and engineering through exemplary professional accomplishments and contributions to the field of engineering management.
Tom and his wife, Kim, have been married for 33 years and have two daughters, Shannon and Hailey.


Matthew Mejía
Chief Financial Officer & EVP Strategy and Investor Relations
Matthew joins us from Renaissance Strategic Advisors, where he led the Commercial Aerospace and Financial Sponsor & Due Diligence Services practices. Prior to joining Renaissance Strategic Advisors in 2009, Matthew held leadership positions with the aerospace & defense practices at Booz & Company (formerly Booz Allen Hamilton) and Charles River Associates International. His responsibilities included business development, client relations, and project management, as well as extensive interaction with industry media including collaborative publications, interviews, and speaking engagements.
Matthew also spent eight years as an investment banker at First Equity Development, a boutique investment bank focused on aerospace & defense advisory and merchant banking activities. As Vice President, Matthew had direct responsibility for new business generation, transaction execution, and client development and relations. Specific transaction experience included numerous international and domestic advisory assignments including sell side, buy side, M&A strategy, due diligence, and capital raising as well as extensive support for portfolio companies owned by First Equity’s merchant bank.
Matthew is a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Management & Technology program at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.S., Economics from Wharton and a B.A.S., Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering & Applied Science. He is a past fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center and was a student private pilot. Matthew lives in New York City with his wife and children.


Dr. Richard Tracy
Founder, Chief Technology Officer & EVP Technology and Advanced Programs
He formed the ASSET Group in 1991, and later Asset Research Corp., to commercialize development of civil supersonic technology. Asset Research Corp. became Aerion Corporation in 2003.
He has worked on a number of classified defense programs and civil aircraft development and certification projects, including the single stage to orbit X-30 and the Northrop Grumman “Global Hawk.” As chief engineer for Bill Lear’s LearAvia in the 1970s, he led the advanced design of the LearStar 600, which was later developed as the Canadair CL- 600 Challenger. He initiated the design of the carbon composite Lear Fan and led the development effort on that aircraft through its successful first flight.
Richard holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Caltech, the latter in hypersonic aerodynamics, which he earned in 1964. He attended the Brussels-based NATO Von Karman Institute in 1959-60 as the General Motors Fellow and was awarded the Von Karman Prize for his thesis on heat transfer in separated supersonic flows.


Steve Berroth
Chief Operating Officer & EVP Aircraft Development
Steve has extensive experience in leading large aerospace organizations and aircraft development programs. He joined Aerion from Triumph Aerospace where he served as Vice President of Metallic and Composite Components Programs and Operations. In that role, he led six site presidents with more than 3,000 employees in operating companies around the globe.
Prior to Triumph, he worked at Northrop Grumman for 31 years in various leadership positions, including Director of Production Operations and Program Manager for numerous advanced aircraft and rotorcraft programs. He also led flight test operations for several aircraft programs prior to his program manager responsibilities.
Steve holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also a graduate of the Defense Acquisition University Program at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and the University of Michigan’s Executive Program at the Ross School of Business. He isa Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.


Doug Coleman
General Counsel & EVP Governance and Compliance
Doug brings extensive experience in commercial and corporate law, intellectual property, and compliance in the aerospace and defense industry. He joins Aerion from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, where he served as Deputy General Counsel of the $7.2 billion aerostructures manufacturer. Previously, Doug served in a variety of legal positions at BAE Systems, a global defense, aerospace and security company; Curtiss-Wright Corporation; and the U.S. Department of Justice, where he was a trial attorney in the Aviation & Admiralty Section.
Doug received his Juris Doctor degree from the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University and graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. His passion for aviation extends to his personal interests as a licensed commercial pilot and Certified Flight Instructor.


Lisa Holden
Chief Human Resources Officer & EVP Culture and Talent
Since joining Aerion, Lisa has worked to craft an integrated and complete human resources architecture that will effectively and efficiently serve the company as it grows. She oversees the corporate direction and strategy for managing Aerion’s workforce nationwide, including organizational design, talent acquisition, leadership development, talent optimization and retention, recognition, compensation and benefits, and compliance.
Prior to joining Aerion, Lisa served as the Director of People for The Spaceship Company, the manufacturing division of Virgin Galactic, where her focus on strategic recruiting and leadership coaching allowed the company to successfully double in headcount six times.
She spent nearly a decade in the health care industry at Anthem and MED3000, a subsidiary of McKesson. There she led efforts to develop and reinforce a successful corporate culture, improve employee engagement, cultivate leadership skills, and drive operational efficiencies. Lisa has extensive experience in leading organizational transformations, driving large-scale change, delivering improved cycle times and satisfaction results and building a world-class human resources team.
Lisa holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Long Beach, focusing on industrial/organizational psychology. She is also certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources(SPHR) by the Society of Human Resource Management.


Kristi Finney
Chief of Staff
Previously, Kristi operated as Tom’s Executive Assistant in addition to her position as Manager of Administration and Special Projects. She advised and offered business support to C-Suite Executives as well as managed the daily operations, often implementing administrative solutions to address and evolve the business so it remained relevant in a rapidly changing environment.
Upon joining Aerion in 2008, Kristi utilized her previous experience in executive support, recruiting, human resources, sales management and marketing to assist in those same areas of the business.
Kristi holds a Bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in sociology from the University of California Davis


Matt Cram
Chief Sustainability Officer & Chief Commercial Officer
Bringing more than 20 years’ experience in the aerospace industry from a broad range of leadership roles, Matt is responsible for global Aerion sales and marketing while also leading the company’s objective to become a leader in environmental responsibility and sustainability. Matt also has responsibility for developing Aerion ConnectTM, Aerion’s vision for a future global mobility ecosystem. Previously Matt served as Aerion’s General Counsel and Corporate Secretary with oversight of legal, contractual, compliance, corporative governance and administrative matters.
Before joining Aerion, Matt was a partner at Aero Law Group, a leading aviation transactional law firm. His practice included representing commercial airlines and lessors in the acquisition and sale of hundreds of billions of dollars of aircraft. He also represented corporate clients and high net worth individuals in the purchase, sale, lease, exchange, ownership structuring and tax planning of new and pre-owned corporate aircraft.
Prior to that, Matt graduated through The Boeing Company’s renowned Business Career Foundation Program, where he amassed a full spectrum of experience across several key business and finance functions,. Latterly at Boeing he held a variety of contractual positions where he developed proposals, led negotiations and administered contracts for the sale of commercial aircraft and aviation services with a diverse group of customer airlines and leasing companies in the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia. In addition, Matt supported negotiations and administered military contracts with foreign governments. He also has experience in revenue management, financial planning and procurement.
Matt earned his J.D. from Seattle University’s School of Law in 2005, graduating cum laude, and received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Economics from the University of Idaho in 2001, graduating with honors. He also studied international finance at the Luleå University of Technology in Sweden.
Matt is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and serves on the University of Idaho’s Advisory Board for the College of Business and Economics.


Bissell Smith
Chief Information Officer & EVP Enterprise Systems
Bissell brings to our team more than three decades of experience at Northrop Grumman in enterprise systems (IT, PLM, and ERP) implementations, advanced manufacturing technology and automation, data science and analytics, integrated digital environments (Model Based Enterprise, Digital Thread/Twin) and the implementation of innovative new operating models to improve program execution. Bissell also brings strong financial management and strategic planning experience to our team. Bissell previously served as the Chairman of SAP’s Aerospace & Defense Executive Advisory Council.
Bissell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in management and political science from Marquette University; a Master of Business Administration degree in corporate finance from the University of Texas at Arlington; a Master of Arts Degree in conflict management and dispute resolution from Southern Methodist University; and a Computer Engineering Certification in Client Server Computing for the University of California Irvine.


Alex Egeler
EVP, Aerion Technologies
Prior to Aerion, Alex worked as a systems engineer innovating new performance analysis capabilities at Northrop Grumman in their Marine Systems division. He has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and an M.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Stanford.


Tim Fagan
Head of Industrial Design & Cabin Experience
Since joining Aerion, Tim has been leading the team developing the interior design and user experience of the new AS2 supersonic business jet ahead of manufacturing start at Aerion Park, Florida in 2023. Tim and his team will curate a unique blend of visionary technologies and traditional craftsmanship to set a new standard in business jet cabin comfort for the AS2.
Prior to joining Aerion, Tim became widely recognized as a leading expert in aviation industrial design and an innovator in aircraft interior development. He brings extensive experience in product development with projects that include leadership roles in the industrial design of the Bombardier Global 7500 interior and the Bombardier Global 5000 & Global 6000 Premier Cabin. Tim also led industrial design activity for the Bombardier Vision Flight Deck, the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 interior and the 2010 Olympic Torch as well as holding several positions in customer-facing roles in business jet completion.
Tim holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial design from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.