Our Team

Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria, Chairman of AIRO, is an Indian-American entrepreneur, physician, and philanthropist who leads the company with a focus on helping clients, investors and partners pioneer new frontiers in aerospace and defense.

He is a co-founder of AIRO and was the founding director of MirCorp, the first private company to launch manned space programs.

Dr. Kathuria has also co-founded leading digital healthcare and technology companies, including American Teleradiology NightHawks and The X-Stream Networks. Dr. Kathuria holds a B.S. and M.D. from Brown University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Joe Burns, a seasoned veteran of aerospace and defense boldly leads AIRO’s global business – building strong brands, faithful clients, collaborative partners, and forward thinking, problem-solving employees as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.

Joe draws on 35+ years of experience in aerospace, having founded and grown numerous companies such as AIRO Drone and Sensurion Aerospace.

Joe is an AIRO Co-founder, a certified pilot and former United Airlines Captain who oversaw $250M in NextGen technology programs as their Director of Operations.

Burns serves on NASA advisory boards and is the Chairman Emeritus for the Airline Operations Committee and the Air Traffic Control Council of Airlines for America, formerly known as the Air Transport Association of America. He earned an MBA and a B.S. in Aeronautics from Miami University.

Mariya serves as Chief Financial Officer of AIRO where she leads the finance organization across all global operations, overseeing financial strategy, capital markets, financial reporting, treasury, and strategic initiatives.

Mariya brings extensive experience across corporate finance, investment banking, M&A, capital markets, and public company strategy. Prior to AIRO, she held senior roles across investment banking, corporate development, and investment management, advising and leading companies through complex transactions, financings, and strategic growth initiatives.

She holds a PhD in Consumer and Family Economics from Purdue University, as well as bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Accounting. She is a graduate of the MIT Sloan Executive MBA program.

Ben serves as General Counsel for AIRO, leading the company’s global legal function and advising executive leadership and the Board on corporate governance, strategic transactions, regulatory compliance, government contracting, and enterprise risk management across its aerospace and defense portfolio.

With more than two decades of legal and executive leadership experience in the aerospace, defense, and national security sectors, Ben previously served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), where he led legal, compliance, and governance functions and advised leadership on strategy, risk, and mission-critical initiatives. Earlier in his career, he practiced at Reed Smith LLP, focusing on government investigations, international trade, export controls, sanctions, and corporate compliance matters, and also held legal roles with Williams Mullen and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Ben earned his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center, holds a bachelor’s degree in French from Brigham Young University, and is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School’s Leadership in Crises program.

Isabella serves as Chief of Staff and Corporate Secretary for AIRO, working closely with executive leadership and the Board of Directors to drive alignment, strategic execution, and operational effectiveness across the organization. She turns strategy into action, moving key initiatives forward with clarity and coordination.

Isabella joined AIRO as its first in-house counsel, where she led cross-functional initiatives and helped build the structure behind the company’s growth. That foundation in law and operations shapes how she leads today.

Dan leads marketing strategy and execution across the AIRO enterprise, from sales enablement to market activation. His focus is sharpening the AIRO brand and making its value clear to shareholders, clients, and employees alike, while uniting teams around a single One AIRO vision.

A co-founder of AIRO, Dan brings nearly 30 years of aerospace and defense experience. Before AIRO, he held business development and sales leadership roles at Honeywell, UTC Aerospace, Remmele Engineering, Wipaire, and Sensurion Aerospace.

Dan holds a degree in aeronautics from the University of North Dakota and completed graduate studies at the University of Kansas and the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Krissy serves as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at AIRO, where she leads the company’s global people strategy and operations. With over 20 years of experience, Krissy brings expertise in people operations, total rewards, talent strategy, organizational development, and HR transformation. Throughout her career, she has helped organizations navigate growth and change while building scalable people programs that align employees, culture, and business strategy. Krissy is passionate about building high performing, people focused organizations where employees and businesses can thrive.

As the CEO of Sky-Watch, AIRO’s prominent drone brand, Martin brings extensive leadership experience across multiple industries to his global role.

Prior to joining Sky-Watch, Martin held several senior leadership roles across European industrial and technology sectors.

From 2015 to 2018, Martin served as Chairman of the Management Board of Belmaflex Sp. z o.o., Poland, and concurrently as CEO of Belmaflex A/S, Denmark — a manufacturer of polyethylene casing joints, fittings, and insulation solutions for the energy sector.

He later served on the Board of Directors of Belmaflex A/S from January 2018 to January 2024.

Earlier in his career, Martin was Director of Sales and Marketing at Samson Agro, a leading European manufacturer of advanced agricultural machinery.

He was also Vice President of Sales and a founding team member at Asetek, a technology start-up specializing in microprocessor cooling solutions.

Martin is a veteran of the Danish Armed Forces with international mission experience.

Martin holds an MBA and a B.S. in Business Administration and Commercial Law from Copenhagen Business School and Aarhus School of Business.

Chris brings his storied career in aerospace and defense to AIRO, leading both military and commercial training groups.

Christopher Levy, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel with 37 years of aviation experience, has served as an F-15C and MC-12 instructor, logging over 400 combat hours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has led aviation units of over 1,000 personnel in both peacetime and wartime and currently flies international routes on the Boeing 777.

A commercial glider pilot with CFII, MEI, and ATP ratings, he also managed aircraft acquisition and training programs for the U.S. Air Force.

Christopher holds degrees in Human Factors Engineering, Aeronautical Science, and Operations Research.

Martin leads AIRO’s Electric Air Mobility division, with his 40+ years of aviation experience.

Martin is an expert in aircraft design, development, and certification, including leading two clean-sheet designs to commercialization.

He has held senior roles at Triumph Aerospace Structures and Bell Helicopter, managing multimillion-dollar budgets and cross-functional teams.

Martin specializes in rotorcraft aerodynamics, handling qualities, and advanced aerospace systems for commercial and military applications.

Martin has B.S. in Applied and Engineering Physics and a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

Francisco leads AIRO’s drone portfolio and corporate development strategy, driving the Company’s “buy-and-build” growth across Autonomous Systems, Advanced Avionics & Microelectronics, and Mission-Ready Training.

Francisco brings over two decades of experience across national security innovation, corporate venture capital, and investment banking, including senior roles as a prime contract lead at the Defense Innovation Unit, NY-based private placement banks, and dual-use / deeptech entrepreneurship.

Mark brings extensive leadership experience in avionics sales to his role as Vice President of Avionics and Electronics at AIRO. He previously served as Vice President, Business Aviation Sales and Marketing for The NORDAM Group, where he was responsible for delivering $350 million in annual revenue. Prior to NORDAM, Mark built a successful career at Honeywell’s Business, Regional & General Aviation division, advancing from sales representative to Director of Aftermarket Sales.

Mark is a Six Sigma Green Belt and a private pilot with an instrument rating.

Rich leads engineering strategy and execution across AIRO’s Autonomous Systems, Avionics and Electronics businesses, the core of AIRO’s Products platform, overseeing product development, systems and manufacturing engineering, certification, and technology roadmaps.

Rich brings more than 20 years of aerospace, defense, and autonomous systems leadership from Anduril Industries and Panasonic Avionics, where he built high-performing engineering teams and delivered complex mission-critical programs.