Leaders From FAA And The White House To Be Featured At October Event In Las Vegas

Commercial UAV Expo has announced the final line up of speakers for the keynote presentations taking place on Tuesday, October 2 at the Westgate Hotel in Las Vegas. Earl Lawrence, Executive Director of the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office of the FAA, and Michael Kratsios, Deputy Assistant to the President and the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House, will each sit down with Gretchen West, of Hogan Lovells and Commercial Drone Alliance, to provide perspective on the commercial drone industry from their respective vantage points. These industry experts will cover crucial topics related to commercial drones and discuss the future of this industry. Gretchen will then engage a panel comprised of top executives from BP, CNN, AES Corporation and Southern Company about pros and cons pertaining to recent progress in UAS and other key topics. The 4th annual trade show and conference will take place Monday, October 1 through Wednesday, October 3.

“Who better to share what’s coming next for commercial UAS than one of the nation’s top drone regulators and the CTO for the White House?” said Lisa Murray, Group Director of Diversified Communications, organizer of Commercial UAV Expo. “Our attendees have become accustomed to us bringing the best and brightest minds in the industry to share important perspectives on the commercial drone industry and share their insights and knowledge. Earl and Michael are joining an exciting line up of speakers at this 4th annual event, which has become a must-attend event for commercial drone users.”

As the Executive Director of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Office (or AUS), Earl Lawrence is responsible for facilitating all regulations, policies, and procedures required to support the FAA’s safe integration of unmanned aircraft systems (also known as UAS, or drones) into the National Airspace System (NAS). He played a fundamental role in the establishment of his organization – an organization that did not exist in FAA until a few years ago. When the need to facilitate UAS research, policy development, and technical coordination became evident, Mr. Lawrence helped marshal the Congressional approval that led to the creation of AUS in 2016.

Michael Kratsios is a Deputy Assistant to the President and the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer at the White House. Michael advises the President on a broad range of technology policy issues and drives U.S. technology priorities and strategic initiatives. Under his leadership, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy encourages the development of emerging technologies in the United States, empowers American companies to commercialize and adopt new technologies, and improves and expands access to the tools necessary for Americans to succeed in the 21st century economy.

Following the conversations with Earl Lawrence and Michael Kratsios, Gretchen West will moderate a “fireside chat” panel discussion with asset owners, including Dave Truch, Technology Director, Digital Innovation Organization, BP; Greg Agvent, Senior Director, Aerial Imagery & Reporting, CNN; Assel Ayapova, Global Drone Program Manager, AES Corporation; and Harry Nuttal, System Air Director and Unmanned Aerial Systems, Southern Company. The panelists will discuss pros and cons pertaining to recent progress in UAS; how these technologies connect to greater initiatives such as digital twin and remote operations and automation/removing human-in-the-loop; progress toward practical field needs; considerations for leading-edge vs. bleeding edge technology investments; leveraging data effectively for predictive analytics and risk management; what they’d like to see from vendors; best methods for private enterprise to influence change for broader use of UAS; looking in the crystal ball.

During the three-day event, attendees will also hear experts from AT&T, AiRxOS, a GE Venture, California Department of Transportation, DJI, Facebook, Los Angeles Fire Department, Menlo Park Fire District, Rio Tinto, San Diego Homeland Security, US Department of the Interior, Woolpert, and many more.

(Source: Commercial UAV Expo news release)

FMI: www.expouav.com