Kyle leverages more than 25 years of experience in the autonomous systems, unmanned technology, and aerospace sectors to provide business strategy guidance, regulatory compliance, and industry insights to clients who are developing or implementing autonomous technology solutions.
Kyle has been a driving force in the burgeoning unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) industry for decades. He brings a wealth of experience in both technological innovation and business strategy, from his early engineering and research roles at NASA and Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, to spearheading research and commercialization programs at several universities, to key private industry and trade organization management roles.
Before joining Michael Best Consulting to lead the Autonomous Insights advisory program, Kyle founded his own consulting firm, Flyabout Strategies, which served the aviation industry with a with a focus in unmanned systems. Kyle provided clients with strategic planning, analytics, development, integration, and technology transfer assistance.
During that time, Kyle also served as the Robotics Program Manager for Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs, where he managed a $10 million robotics integration program supporting the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Kyle led the testing and evaluation of air, ground, and maritime robotics systems to transfer technologies from industry and research laboratories to DHS routine operations. He had responsibility for product evaluation, project management, industry engagement, resource acquisition, and operational user interfacing.
Kyle’s deep industry experience also includes his prior roles with NASA and Lockheed Martin, and time spent at the intelligent software maker now known as Veloxiti. There, Kyle worked as an artificial intelligence (AI) product manager designing products for advanced aviation programs at NASA, Boeing, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD).
He also has significant experience in university research and commercialization settings. Kyle served as the first Director of North Carolina State University’s NextGen Air Transportation Consortium (NGAT), where he worked to establish and grow what is now a nation-leading drone ecosystem in North Carolina. Kyle was also the inaugural Program Director for Middle Tennessee University’s UAS Program, and was the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Technology Commercialization Manager at the Georgia Institute of Technology.