GUTMA Board of Directors 2025
MATTHEW SATTERLEY
Co-President (Wing)
Matthew Satterley is a senior member of the Policy and Government Relations team at Wing, where he leads federal and international policy efforts focused on UAS Traffic Management. He has played a pivotal role in shaping UTM frameworks in the United States and abroad, contributing to key initiatives such as the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC), the UAS Integration Pilot Program, the UTM Pilot Program, and the Remote ID Cohort. His work has supported the development and deployment of UTM systems in countries around the world, helping to advance safe and scalable drone operations globally.
Sebastian Babiarz
Co-President (Skypuzzler)
Sebastian is the Business Development Director of Skypuzzler, a Danish startup that provides digital air traffic control solutions. Additionally, Sebastian advises and collaborates with European regulators and standards organisations as they work to build regional regulatory frameworks to enable safe and scalable drone operations. With more than 16 years of business experience in the drone and telecom industry, Sebastian is passionate about new technology and automation and how they can improve lives. Sebastian is co-founder, board member and for the last 2 years co-president of the Global UTM Association.
Luke Gumley
Head of Airservices Australia’s Integrated Airspace Program
Luke Gumley is Head of Airservices Australia’s Integrated Airspace Program, responsible for the implementation of Airservices’ Flight Information Management System as part of Australia’s UAS Traffic Management ecosystem, UAS detection capabilities at civil controlled aerodromes, and tailoring Airservices’ data for UAS operations. He has over 11 years’ experience in senior management roles within the Australian Government’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) including as inaugural manager of the Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems branch. Luke was instrumental in CASA’s adoption of the JARUS SORA as an assessment framework for BVLOS and complex operations, and the development of CASA’s RPAS and AAM strategic regulatory roadmap co-designed with industry. In previous roles in CASA, Luke worked as Regional Manager of CASA’s Central and Southern regions, and as a senior advisor. He has over a decade of experience as a pilot in general aviation and holds an Air Transport Pilot Licence (Aeroplane), Bachelor of Science in Aviation and an MBA.
Thomas Neubauer
Co-founder and CEO of Dimetor.
Thomas Neubauer is Co-founder and CEO of Dimetor.
He has about 20 years of experience in the management of wireless networks. Among other innovations, Thomas is a co-creator and inventor of AirborneRF, a software solution specialized for connecting cellular network operators with aviation (ATM/UTM/FIMS) systems. On behalf of GSMA and GUTMA, Thomas is leading the “Interface for data exchange between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and UTM ecosystem” Work Group of ACJA (Aerial Connectivity Joint Activity), since it was formed in 2019. As such he is focusing on global standardization of interfaces between cellular and unmanned aviation systems including 4G, 5G and satcom technologies. He holds a Ph.D. in telecommunications engineering from the Vienna University of Technology.
Ralph Schepp
co-founder and COO of Droniq GmbH
Ralph Schepp is co-founder and COO of Droniq GmbH, a joint venture of DFS the German Air Navigation Service Provider and Deutsche Telekom.
The 45-year-old is driven to create the future by bridging upcoming next generation technology to the market. Prior to Droniq, Ralph led the units Spectrum and Technology Strategy for the Deutsche Telekom Group as Vice President for technology innovations. 2016 Ralph initiated the project “Connected Drones“ which was the origin of today‘s Droniq.
As COO of Droniq Ralph continues to pursue his passion for identifying, developing and bringing disruptive ideas to market. At Droniq he leads technology, IT and product development. In this role Ralph benefits from over 15 years of professional experience in information and communication technology (ICT).
Ralph holds a Master in business administration of Lüneburg university. He has three kids.
Amanda Boekholt
head of the Strategy and Innovation Unit of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation
Amanda is deputy head of the Strategy and Innovation Unit of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation. She is leading the legal implementation of the U-space regulatory package in Switzerland. She acts also as the industry stakeholders lead for the Unit. In parallel, Amanda is Secretary General of the SUSI (Swiss U-space Implementation) partnership. Amanda is a legal advisor and holds a Master’s degree in law with a specialisation in innovation, intellectual property and SMEs.
Shinji Nakadai
Founder and CEO of Intent Exchange Inc
Shinji Nakadai is the Founder and CEO of Intent Exchange Inc. He researches on market mechanism and automated negotiation for UTM and SCM (Supply Chain Management). He was involved in DRESS Project, which is a national project on UTM in Japan, from 2017 to 2022. He proposed eNegotiation protocol for SCM in UN/CEFACT, and it was accepted and published in 2021.
He used to work on an auction mechanism for UTM, and now he is working on negotiation and audit mechanism. The motivation of these research topics is to achieve fair and efficient use of airspace.
He has expertise in machine learning, market mechanism, wireless technology, network protocols and distributed databases. In 2003, he received his master’s degree from Tokyo University and joined NEC. In 2012, he was at UC Berkeley as a visiting scholar. Currently, he is a research member of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), and he also works for BIRD INITIATIVE, Inc.
Hrishikesh Ballal
Founder and Managing Director of OpenUTM LTD.
Dr. Hrishikesh Ballal is the Founder and Managing Director of OpenUTM Ltd. He has extensive experience developing technologies, protocols, and interfaces in the context of secure drone operations and UTM. He is the Founder / Primary Technical Lead to well-established open-source projects in the context of UTM: Flight Blender + Flight Spotlight.
Dr. Ballal has expertise in building and managing complex engineering systems. Prior to his work in OpenUTM, he worked as a Systems Architect within the Microsoft Business Division and later as a Hardware Compliance Engineer in the Microsoft Devices Division. Prior to Microsoft, he worked in the automotive industry. In 2015, he completed his PhD in geodesign from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. He is a Mechanical Engineer by training with a specialization in Engineering Systems Design. His engineering background includes Masters degrees from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA and a Bachelors degree from Nagpur University in Nagpur, India.
Chris Lyons
Head of UTM at Zipline
Chris Lyons is the Head of UTM at Zipline, where he leads product development for Zipline’s UTM platform. Chris and his team enable safe, scalable, and interoperable drone operations for the largest autonomous delivery service on Earth. He leverages operational insights from 75 million autonomous flight miles across seven countries to build world-class UTM capabilities for scaled operations in shared airspace. Chris collaborates closely with global regulators, technical standards groups, the FAA, NASA, and the open-source community to operationalize key concepts and capabilities for the industry. Before joining Zipline, Chris held various product management leadership roles at Uber, General Electric, and Aurora, gaining diverse experiences across the mobility, autonomous vehicle, and IoT industries. He brings over 15 years of experience in commercializing nascent technologies with a proven track record of creating valuable products at the intersection of the digital and physical worlds. Chris looks forward to contributing as a Board member of GUTMA and is motivated to operationalize UTM as an enabler for the industry, promoting flexible standards for sustainable growth in the ecosystem.
Secretary General
Koen De Vos
Koen had been working as senior drone expert since 2015
Koen De Vos retired from the European Commission in April 2020 and took a sabbatical. In the Commission, Koen had been working as senior drone expert since 2015. Before becoming drone expert, Koen had worked on airport noise and was between 2002 and 2009 attached to the Single European Sky team. He joined the services of the European Commission in 1993 to work on social and employment issues. Before the Commission Koen worked at the University of Antwerp and at the Higher Institute for Labour Studies in Leuven, Belgium