HS Diversified Solutions

Mr. Steve Hanvey, CEO and founder of HS Diversified Solutions, brings over 50 years' experience in the aerospace business flying, test flying, and managing companies and programs. Steve has been a senior aerospace executive, most recently CEO of Alaka'i Technologies, a hydrogen fueled eVTOL startup. He has also served on various aerospace boards and was the founding Chairman of the Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments (AGATE) Executive Council and the AGATE Alliance Association Inc, which established new ways of doing R&D collaborative work with NASA. He has been recognized for his work by the state of South Carolina, Aviation Week, AIN, B&CA, Naval Air Test Center, The Early and Pioneer Naval Aviators Association, and including Fellow, Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He holds two rotorcraft class time to climb world records. BS Naval Engineering US Naval Academy, MBA Clemson University, Aerodynamics MS equivalent US Navy Test Pilot School.

Mr. Bobby Hanvey, President of HS Diversified Solutions, has 30 years leadership experience across government, operational and entrepreneurial organizations. Most recently he was the co-founder of the U.S. Dept. of the Navy’s NavalX Tech Bridge program, which bridged the gap between entrepreneurial small businesses and the Navy and Marine Corps needs and grew them from an idea to over 20 locations worldwide in less than 2 years. He led operations management of private jet operations with over 150 evolutions daily and crafted and led organizational change for the US Naval Reserve. His background includes leading a multi-service Dept. of Defense organization as the Commander, thousands of hours in tactical jets as an instructor and trainer, and a lead facilitator of design thinking and human centered design workshops tackling complex organizational problems. BS in General Engineering from US Naval Academy, MA Strategic Studies from Naval War College and Graduate programs from Stanford University, Ignite and Tuck School of Business, Next Step. 

Dr. Holmes is a five-decade veteran of aviation leadership in research and development, air taxi operations, aircraft development, and disruptive innovations in his field. His background includes industry and government roles in Senior Executive Service leadership at NASA, in the commercial on-demand air carrier world (DayJet), with aviation software startups (AirMarkets, NextGen AeroSciences), on the U.S. NextGen founding team, and most recently on an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air vehicle (Alaka'i Technologies). He is serving on numerous industry and academia Board, government advisory councils, and served in the White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy, which included consolidating interagency and industry working groups contributions to transportation policy concepts. He has received numerous NASA awards and international recognition for aerospace contributions, including Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society. BS, MS and PhD Aeronautics Kansas University.

Vice Admiral Gaffney, U.S. Navy (Ret.), served as the seventh president of Monmouth University from 2003 to 2013; he is President Emeritus and a fellow in Monmouth’s Urban Coast Institute. He is counselor to the Dean of Engineering at the University of South Carolina. He was president of the National Defense University from 2000 to 2003. Prior to that, he was the Chief of Naval Research. He was appointed to the statutory U.S. Ocean Policy Commission and served during its full tenure from 2001 to 2004. In his military career he headed the Navy’s worldwide operational meteorology and oceanography program, and he commanded the Naval Research Laboratory. He is a Member of the National Academy of Engineering. He was a member of the National Research Council’s Ocean Studies Board and The National Academies Gulf Research Program Advisory Board. He chaired the Federal Ocean Research Advisory Panel and was the first chair of the Federal Ocean Exploration Advisory Board. He served as a director of Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. for over a decade. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and holds an M.S. in Ocean Engineering from Catholic University. He graduated from the Naval War College with Highest Distinction. He earned an M.B.A. from Jacksonville University. 

Mr. Denning is a product innovator and AI/ML/NLP scientist with significant experience in leading teams in developing cutting edge intelligent systems using disparate data sources. With many years of experience in developing large- scale production software, he has led the creation of significant products in the consumer, healthcare, legal, and defense industries. These have resulted in teams taking 39 products from conception to production, authoring the world’s fastest prime number generating algorithm, writing 2.5 million lines of program code, primarily Python, C and C++, analyzing ~65,000 patents, and principal architect on 2 families of massively parallel high-performance computers including hardware, system software, and math and communications libraries for military RADAR and reconnaissance aircraft applications. He attended University of Colorado and is a Ph.D. Candidate, Machine Learning and Computational Linguistics and has a BS in Computer Science - Southern College of Technology. 

Mr. James (Jay) Ladd has 40 years of C-level business leadership experience covering multiple market areas, including 20 years of commercial aviation and other leading edge technology developments areas including hydrogen, advanced weather technologies, wireless communications, and technical product development. Jay currently serves as a corporate strategy advisor to SmartSky Networks, advisor to multiple commercial weather organizations, and a board member of Alaka’i Technologies, a developer of hydrogen powered eVTOL vehicles. Jay has served on various industry advisory boards and committees including: Forecast Improvement Group (FIG), International Air Transport Association (IATA) Flight Operations Support Task Force (FOSTF), Global Connected Aircraft Summit (GCAS), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analysis (BEA), NextGen, NGATS 2020 Task, FAA and NASA Great Lakes Fleet Experiment (GLFE)

Mr. McLendon has held multiple CEO and C-level positions in successful aerospace ventures with extensive experience as a business leader in private equity backed ventures, has provided Congressional liaison services for National Air Transportation Association, worked closely with the International Civil Aviation Organization on simulation technology. He oversaw operations at some of the largest aerial terminals in the world for the Department of Defense, led technical services for a chain of several hundred private jet aircraft, and oversaw key ground support for major airlines at the nation's business airports. He has led large organizations in the aerospace and defense industry, including product development, engineering, manufacturing, and services for the high tech 5th generation aircraft. BS Engineering Mechanics US Air Force and attended Oxford University, England, as a Rhodes Scholar, M.A. Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.

Mr. Quist has over 30 years in multiple program and operational leadership roles and industry experience consulting with and serving major North American airlines, large systems integrations, manufactures, maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) providers and technology firms. He has been a thought leader and key program manager for Tech Ops systems and process integrations for the three largest US airline mergers leading multiple engagements in systems & technology integration, technology enhancements, operations strategy and key program management, including operational leadership roles for business and defense aviation Tech Ops clients. Engineering & Technologies Associates (Tri-County Technical College) and Computer Engineering studies Clemson University.