<?= STD_PAGE_TITLE ?>

About Aerion

Robert M Bass
Robert M. Bass
Chairman

Mr. Bass is president of Keystone, Inc. and the founder of the Oak Hill investment partnerships, comprised of over $30 billion of investments across multiple asset classes. Since inception 22 years ago, Keystone and its affiliates have made significant investments in many leading companies. Mr. Bass received his B.A. from Yale and M.B.A. from Stanford. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he has devoted much of his time to public service for national and local organizations.

Brian Barents color Brian E. Barents
Vice Chairman

Mr. Barents leads Aerion's effort to develop a consortium to produce supersonic aircraft. He is the former CEO of two business jet manufacturers, Learjet and Galazy Aerospace At both companies he was responsible for the development and successful introduction of new-technology business jets. He is a past chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and a retired Brigadier General in the United States Air Force and Kansas Air National Guard. He serves on a number of corporate and charitable boards.

Michael L Henderson Michael L. Henderson
Chief Operating Officer, Director

As Boeing’s chief project engineer for enabling technologies, Mr. Henderson led a team of 600 in developing advanced design and manufacturing technologies. Earlier, he served for eight years as Boeing’s program manager for High Speed Civil Transport, leading a team of 1,500 professionals. He also led Boeing’s High-Lift Research Unit, which developed advanced computational tools for high-lift system design. He is a founding member and past president of the Flight Research Institute. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Doug Nichols
Doug Nichols
Chief Financial Officer

Doug Nichols is Aerion’s Chief Financial Officer, overseeing the financial operations of the company and playing a key role in structuring partner and supplier relationships for the production of the Aerion’s supersonic business jet. Nichols joined the company in 2008 following a distinguished 28-year career in a range of senior financial positions at Boeing. Among his roles there, Nichols served as CFO at the company’s Commercial Airplane Group 747/767 unit and also for Boeing Business Jets. Over the course of his Boeing career he gained extensive experience in all aspects of the operational and financial management of airplane programs, as well as in new aircraft market evaluation and product development, aircraft preliminary and detailed design processes, advanced final assembly processes, supply base management, support logistics, and marketing and sales.

James Stewart James Stewart
Director

Mr. Stewart has held several senior positions within Bombardier Inc, including that of Chief Financial Officer of Bombardier Aerospace. He also served as Vice President Finance, New Commercial Aircraft Programs, where his duties were similar to those he now holds at Aerion. He has served as a Senior Auditor for Ernst & Young in their Belfast Office. He received his Bachelor of Social Sciences degree from Queen University Belfast with honors in Business Administration and Accounting. Stewart was accepted into the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland as an associate member in 1990 and as a fellow of the Institute in 2000.

Richard R Tracy Richard R. Tracy
Chief Technology Officer, Director

Dr. Tracy developed the natural laminar flow supersonic wing, and conducted research on its capabilities privately and under subsequent DARPA grants. He has worked on both civil aircraft and defense programs, including the Global Hawk and the single-stage-to-orbit X-30. He led the initial design on the Learstar 600 for Bill Lear, later produced as the Canadair Challenger. He holds B.S., M.S. and PhD degrees from Cal Tech, the latter in Hypersonic Aerodynamics.

Robert L Morse Robert Morse
Director

Mr. Morse is a principal of Oak Hill Capital Management, Inc., which manages private equity funds with more than $4 billion in committed capital. He is responsible for investments in the technology sector. Prior to his ten years of private equity experience, he worked as a research fellow at NASA Goddard Space Center. Mr. Morse earned an M.B.A. from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar, and a B.S.E. degree, summa cum laude, from Princeton University.

James D Chase James D. Chase
Chief Engineer

Mr. Chase has worked with Dr. Tracy as principal engineer for advanced laminar flow supersonic aircraft. Over a 25-year career, he has participated in the design of a number of executive aircraft, starting with the Citation III. Mr Chase has consulted on many general aviation and DARPA projects in the areas of configuration, performance, propulsion integration, weights and structures. He has also served as chief engineer of Abaris corporation, leading the design of advanced composite aerospace structures. He earned a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Idaho.

Ilan M Kroo Ilan M. Kroo
Principal Scientist

Dr. Kroo is professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He has been a key collaborator in the development of natural laminar flow technology, particularly in establishing methods to determine the extent of laminar flow and optimize the configuration of a supersonic aircraft. Dr. Kroo received B.S., M.S. and PhD degrees from Stanford University, the latter in 1983 for research in aeroelasticity and flutter. He has consulted for all major airframe manufacturers and serves on numerous government committees and research organization.

Holding John Holding
Senior Advisor

He was previously Bombardier Aerospace’s Executive Vice President, Integrated Product Definition and Planning. Over a 16-year period, Holding led the introduction of at least one new aircraft product every year – an unprecedented performance in the aerospace industry. Holding was instrumental in creating innovative supplier partnerships and processes for the development and engineering of new aircraft. His industry influence has extended well beyond Bombardier. Among his many efforts to advance the field of aerospace engineering, Holding was a founding member of the Consortium for Research and Innovation in Aerospace in Quebec (CRIAQ), and was its chairman up to 2005. He is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Holding has been recognized for his contribution to the industry on several occasions. He was the 1998 recipient of the International Council of Aeronautical Sciences’ ICAS Von Karman award for his work in promoting international cooperation in aeronautics. In 1999, he received an Aviation and Space Technology Laurels Award for his outstanding achievements in the field of aeronautics/propulsion. In 2002, he received the SAE Aerospace Engineering Leadership Award.

John Holding joined Aerion in July 2008 to lead the advanced design phase of the Aerion supersonic business jet program. Holding has led more successful business aircraft development programs than anyone in the industry today. He has been in the aerospace business for over 40 years and received an M.Sc. from Manchester University of England in 1967.