
Our Team
Zach Adams

CEO & Co-Founder
Zach serves as CEO and chief engineer for Pitch. He is recognized as a leading authority on cyclorotor technology and is the named inventor on multiple cyclorotor patents. Zachary holds a BS in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue. He served as an F-15E Pilot & Flight Lead in the USAF.
Ian Gibson

COO & Co-Founder
Ian oversees business operations and provides strategic direction for Pitch. He has significant experience in the defense acquisitions industry-leading multiple U.S. Government advanced technology programs valued in excess of $2B. Ian is a Marshall Scholar. He holds degrees from the U.S. Air Force Academy, The London School of Economics, and The London Business School.
Adam Newell

Lead Engineer
Adam is one of those guys who can put the magic smoke back into electronics. He oversees electronics and embedded coding on Astria. Before working at Pitch, Adam performed electronics design for a Latitude VTOL drone and participated in the acquition by L3-Harris. Subsequently he worked for OnePointOne on driverless high-voltage LED lighting for hydroponics.
Ken Sample

Head of Technology
Ken can solve any puzzle and will beat you at any strategy game. When you take this and couple it with AI and code he is unstoppable. Ken is leading our software expansion and overseeing broader technology development.
Ricardo Marquez

Application Engineer
Ricardo is a software innovator at the intersection of power lines and meteorology. Ricardo obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from UC Merced before working as a developer a weather forecasting firm, then an emergency management firm, and also a transmission analytics company. Ricardo knows how to wrestle big data and craft meaningful insights.
Julianna Buzzard

Mechanical Engineer
Julianna oversees the mechanical design of Astria. In tandem she leads the development effort of our bird diverter payload arm, and drone-deployable bird diverters, which she invented. Julianna was the top mechanical engineering graduate from Boise State University.
Ben Robinson

Mechanical Engineer
Ben Robinson is Pitch Aeronautic's newest mechanical engineer. Ben previously worked as an intern for Pitch where he devised a new Force Balance for cyclorotor testing and contributed to many aspects of drone development.
David Monahan

Business Development Lead
David is no stranger to startups. With a PhD in Industrial Engineering and experience founding five companies, he’s developed impactful solutions across industries. Prior to joining Pitch, David was an executive at Power Line Sentry, where he drove growth and strategy in wildlife mitigation technologies. At Pitch, he leads business development, expanding the reach of our FeatherFender bird diverters and other grid solutions.
Alex Peterson

State Estimation Engineer
Alex is leading development of Astria's state estimation system. Alex worked as an Intern at Pitch Aeronautics as an undergraduate before accepting a graduate research assistantship at Boise State University under professor Aykut Satici. Alex developed the mechanical and electrical design of our active thermography sensor and crack-width measurment sensor.
Kevin Williams

Drone Technician & Drone Pilot
Kevin gets our drones in the air and keeps them flying. Kevin has a wealth of experience building and fixing bicycles, flying drones, performing geospatial analysis, and even driving snowcats!
Zach D. Adams

Engineering Intern
Zach is an engineering intern for Pitch Aeronautics and a senior at Boise State University. Zach is concentrating on our various payload arms for installing bird diverters, IoT sensors, and more.
Derek Hedstrom

Aviation Operations Manager
Derek is a veteran drone pilot and operations leader. That's not just a manner of speaking, as he served two tours in Afghanistan and other undisclosed locations flying every type of drone in the Army inventory. He has thousands of drone flying hours and a cool under pressure that keeps our team safe and focused in the field.
James Shawver

Electrical Engineer
James is a master of IoT. He's made all sorts of electronics that securely communicate with eachother and the internet. Power in his mind is measured in microwatts and reliability is measured in decades. James is pushing our WireWarrior sensor and other electronic projects forward.