ADVANCE
WITH CONVICTION

Aviation is rapidly evolving.
We bring real-world clarity so you can act decisively

We help investors and industry leaders pressure-test critical decisions with experienced practitioners—operators, regulators, and buyers—so you can act with confidence, avoid costly delays, and accelerate revenue

Client Work

Validated.
Before launch.
At scale.

See how a global aviation OEM pressure-tested a new efficiency capability against real airline, regulatory, and commercial realities — before going to market.

Read the case study →

Aspect Signals

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For Investors

Pressure-test your aviation technology investment against real-world market, regulatory, and operational forces—reduce risk, find hidden opportunities, and build confidence before you commit capital.

For Business Leaders

Pressure-test your company or product commercial plan to find new value, clear roadblocks, sharpen execution, and accelerate growth.

Strategic Advisory Solutions

Custom-built insights and hands-on support from aviation industry practitioners to solve your most complex technology or investment challenges.

Who We Are - The Aspect Group

Our network of practitioners and decision makers has been on every side of aviation technology deployment—introducing technologies to market, assessing and reviewing them within government agencies, and purchasing them for airlines, airports, and government operations.

We're not theorists or change-management generalists. We’re seasoned professionals whose distinctive expertise informs better investments.

The right questions: We’ve seen what kills investments in aviation technology. Our process pressure-tests ideas with multiple independent, experienced experts and surfaces the confirmation biases and blind spots that plague internal assessments.

The right people: Our network reaches every corner of aviation–from C-suites, to certification offices, to flight operations, to users, to the engineers who have designed those few transformative successes of the 21st century.

The results: We provide actionable investment intelligence in 4 to 6 weeks–identifying gaps, disconnects, and risks that can delay time-to-market, and devising solutions to get back on track.

Jim barry
Partner

35+ years in aviation and executive leadership
Founder & CEO, Celerity05
CEO & Director, PASSUR Aerospace
VP Tech and Mktg & Director, DIANON Systems
Captain, United States Marine Corps

MIKE WHITAKER
Partner

35+ years in aviation leadership
FAA Administrator
COO, Supernal
NextGen Lead
SVP, United Airlines

MIKE LEWIS
Partner

35+ years in research & executive leadership
Advanced air traffic mgmt design
Global OEM services, business growth, aviation safety
Boeing, VP Jeppesen, NASA

WILL MESSENGER
Partner

35+ years in executive leadership
McKinsey & Co
Harvard Business School
Board of Directors, ArQule, Inc.

Tony krug
Partner

35+ years in executive and financial leadership
CFO, Mack-Cali
Capital strategy and board-level financial oversight

Our Senior AdvisorsBridget Blaise-Shamai — Commercial strategy and revenue growth executive; former American Airlines leader with expertise in data, AI, loyalty, and digital partnerships.
Peter Bowler — 26+ year American Airlines veteran and former President & CEO of American Eagle Airlines with broad commercial and operational leadership.
Tim Campbell — Airline operations executive with 35+ years spanning Boeing, Northwest, and American Airlines; specialist in engineering, technology, and eVTOL/ATM strategy.
Lorne Cass — Airline and FAA air traffic management leader with deep expertise in CDM, airport efficiency, UAS, AAM, and eVTOL integration.
Dave Dickson — Former Ernst & Young aviation advisor specializing in financial risk, governance, transaction readiness, and capital decisions in regulated environments.
Charles Duncan — Airline President four times over, including Norse Atlantic; former WestJet Chief Strategy Officer with deep M&A, network, and fleet expertise.
Craig Fuller — Former Reagan White House Chief of Staff and AOPA President; senior advisor on aviation policy, regulatory strategy, and government affairs.
Mike Hertzendorf — Aviation executive and 29-year Army veteran; former CEO and COO with expertise in UAS, eVTOL, business development, and defense aviation.
Mark Hopkins — Retired Delta Air Lines Director of Air Traffic Management with four decades of CDM, FAA liaison, and NextGen modernization experience.
Ray Johns — Former FlightSafety International Co-CEO and test pilot with 5,000+ flight hours; expert in certification, system development, and scalable aviation technology.
Leo Prusak — 43-year air traffic control veteran and Booz Allen Hamilton senior associate; specialist in NAS operations, predictive analytics, and ATM decision support.
Jill Surdek — Former American Airlines senior executive with 20+ years leading revenue management, customer experience, branding, and airport operations.
Tom White — ATM strategy leader with 30+ years in surface and terminal operations, trajectory modeling, predictive analytics, and UAM/NAS integration.

What Makes Us Diﬀerent

The Aspect Group disrupts traditional diligence and breaks through barriers that prevent the aviation industry from adopting transformative technology. We provide bespoke commercial diligence to allocate capital effectively and realize returns sooner.

With a premier thought leadership network, we convene and connect aviation’s brightest minds to pioneer advances for a new era.

We Know the Field

With individuals averaging 35+ years of experience, we are the people who’ve built, bought, regulated, operated, and invested in aviation technology–we don’t study the industry, we've shaped it.

Invested.

We Know the Problems to Solve

Our thought leadership, academic ties, and industry presence help you separate the problems worth solving from the mirages that waste capital.

Connected.

We Know the Playbook

From safety culture to regulatory pathways, funding realities to deployment hurdles —we know what it really takes to bring aviation tech to market.

Informed.

We Pressure-Test for Success

Our assessments put your investment or strategy through real-world forces to reveal its true chances of success or failure.

Tested.

Experience our:

CHALLENGE BRIEFING

1. Your product meets real customers.

2. Your leadership team presents to simulated buying teams composed of real operational decision-makers in the target market segment.

3. You know exactly how the market will respond—no speculation, no models, just reality.

4. You get focused, actionable feedback including value proposition, market fit, customer buying process, pricing, barriers to entry, competition, credibility, and your team’s presentation.