Somewhere tonight, a KC-135 is taking off. The jet is older than almost everyone on board. It'll fly for hours, refuel aircraft that couldn't finish the mission without it, and land in the morning so maintainers can get it ready to go again.

Hardly anyone thinks about what it takes to keep that routine going. A large part of Kevin's 38 years has been thinking about how to keep legacy platforms like KC-135 ready and relevant.

Kevin started in 1988 as an aerospace engineer at Tinker Air Force Base. He went on to be chief engineer for the cruise missile fleet and the E-3, ran engineering for several of the Air Force's largest centers, and served as executive director of the Air Force Sustainment Center: three depots and more than 40,000 people whose job is keeping aircraft ready. He finished his career as the Program Executive Officer for Mobility, responsible for the C-5, C-17, C-130, KC-46, and KC-135. He retired this spring. He recently joined Beacon as an advisor.

Here's why he matters to us. Beacon builds AI pilot assistance for crews flying real missions, and the mobility fleet is a big part of that. Tanker and airlift crews fly long, demanding sorties week after week, and that's where our system has to earn its place.

Most of our team comes from software and autonomy. We're good at building things, and we keep aircrew at the core of our team to represent users. Kevin has spent his career on what comes after: getting new capability onto an aircraft, keeping it working for decades, and making sure crews actually trust it. That's the part startups usually learn the hard way. We'd rather learn it from him.

“Throughout my 38 years with the Air Force, it has always been about making a difference for our warfighters, and I’m excited about joining Beacon because that is exactly what they are doing. Beacon’s AI pilot assistant is going to reduce crew workload, improve mission effectiveness, and make flying safer.”

He joins Ali Bahrami and Robert Sumwalt on our advisor team. That KC-135 will land in the morning, and someone will get it ready to fly again. We want to make every one of those flights a little easier on the crew. Kevin will help us get there.

Welcome, Kevin.

Note: Kevin is observing a one-year cooling-off period from his government service.