Marc Viggiano is the CEO and Founder of Niteopark and a Member of the Board of Directors at SRC Ventures, Inc. Marc has over 35 years of experience in the design and development of advanced sensor and communication systems including ground, air and space-based radar, air traffic control equipment, medical instrumentation, automatic ID equipment and communication-based train control systems, and holds multiple patents in these areas.

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Ken Stewart has served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of NUAIR since Dec 2020.  Prior to joining NUAIR, Stewart held several leadership positions at General Electric including CEO of AiRXOS, a GE aviation company, where he led innovation, development, and commercialization of Unmanned Traffic Management services, and Managing Director at GE Ventures overseeing the new business creation function for GE.  Prior to that Mr. Stewart served in executive roles with several venture capital and private equity-backed companies commercializing and scaling pre-revenue start-ups and transforming organizations for growth.  Mr. Stewart also serves on the board of New York Aviation Management Association (NYAMA) as well as the Commercial Drone Alliance, (CDA) organizations that work with federal policymakers and industry stakeholders to help create relevant rules to scale commercial UAS and Advanced Air Mobility operations.

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Craig Marcinkowski is the Director of Strategy for Saab, Inc. Prior to Saab, Marcinkowski worked as the Senior VP of Business Development for Fotokite, a GENIUS NY grand prize winner. Fotokite combines aerial and ground-based robotics with flight control algorithms to create a kite-like tethered aerial camera system that can fly fully autonomously for over 24 hours. Marcinkowski has nearly two decades of experience in the defense and aerospace industry, including software engineering, capture and program management, and domestic and international business development.

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David Montanaro is a leading expert in the telecommunications and data networking industries with extensive knowledge in the convergence of voice, data, video and wireless solutions in managed, hosted and cloud computing environments. He is the Founder and CEO of Strategic Advisory Associates, a consulting firm that specializes in helping companies with progressive growth. And he’s a Founding Member and Angel Investor with the Seed capital Fund of Central New York, as well as an Advisory Board Member of 3Pound Health. David built a career in developing, restructuring and turning around high-growth technology businesses.

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Andrew Carter is the co-founder and CTO of ResilienX, a startup founded to address in-time system-wide safety assurance (ISSA) of complex system of systems. Mr. Carter has been involved with integrating drones into the US NAS since 2007 as the software architect of the US Army’s Ground Based Sense and Avoid system, which was certified by the FAA for routine BVLOS drone operations in 2016. Mr. Carter has led UTM programs in NY and Ohio and was the RTCA SC-228 architecture working group co-lead.

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Luke Nicolette began his career in Syracuse in 1989 with General Electric, later Lockheed Martin, as a Process/Product Engineer, optimizing product manufacturability. Transitioning to Program Management in 1997, he managed radar programs for both the US Government and international clients. Later, he led Lockheed’s Radar Product Support organization, focusing on global radar upgrades.

In 2003, Luke joined Sensis Corporation to help win a major Expeditionary Radar Program for the Marine Corps. He was instrumental in designing and costing the radar, building a factory, and establishing a Supply Chain organization. After Sensis and Northrop Grumman secured the contract, Luke oversaw the factory setup and procurement processes. Following Saab’s acquisition of Sensis in 2011, he became the Director of Manufacturing for the Defense business. He implemented an MRP System and transitioned the Sea Giraffe Shipboard Radar production to the US. Luke retired at the end of 2022, concluding a distinguished career in aerospace and defense.

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Ken Kaminski has over 40 years of experience in the aerospace and defense industry, primarily focused on ground-based and airborne sensor systems. He has led domestic and international business units while working at Lockheed Martin, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Saab, and Sensis. He currently enjoys advising early stage technology companies.

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Somak Chattopadhyay has been operating and investing in early-stage startups in New York State and other emerging venture regions since 1999. Before launching ASV in 2014, he was a partner at Tribeca Venture Partners (formerly Greenhill SAVP, “Tribeca”), where he was instrumental in nearly every investment of its first fund and helped launch its second fund. As a venture capitalist at Edison Ventures, Somak sourced and evaluated investments in the tech-enabled service sectors, managed deal flow referral networks and identified emerging growth companies in under-venture-invested regions across the Northeast.

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Dr. Emad Rahim serves as the Surge Entrepreneurship Manager at The Tech Garden and the Kotouc Family Endowed Professor at Bellevue University. The Syracuse Surge Accelerator is a one-year in-person accelerator to provide direct resources and support for Black-Indigenous-Persons of Color (BIPOC) entrepreneurs who want to launch and accelerate tech-related and tech-adjacent startups. Dr. Rahim is an Equity Partner at Ztudium (intelligentHQ.com), co-founder of Inclusive 360 LLC and was the former Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Oklahoma State University.

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