James Powell Email & Phone Number

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

At Dawn I lead Spaceplane Engineering, Finance and HR. Major achievements at Dawn, roughly in chronological order include: - Developed all financial modelling, strategy to always get to revenue fast, such that we aren't reliant on VC. - Provided founding investment- Obtained majority of first ~$700k of grants. Exports worth 6X generated within ~3 years. - Creating culture, tenets, career progression, compensation and ESOP structure that although still needs work and is far from perfect, has created extremely high retention despite very high demands. - Obtained terms, negotiated and closed NZ$3.4m Seed investment round, one of the largest in NZ at the time. - Developed entire company infrastructure for first CAA part 102 license. I am the Prime Person for Dawn. - Bridge (NZ$7m) and Series A (NZ$21m) investment pitching, obtaining term sheets, negotiation and 17X valuation uplift at close. - Identified and directed method for NZSA and CAA collaboration for substantially streamlined license procedure between government agencies. - Ideation and liaison with NZSA to develop airline style broad payload licensing, significantly increasing payload license scope. - Flight Director for highest risk and performance test campaigns. - Chief engineer for Mk-II program, over 50 flights to date with perfect safety record and near ideal balance of mission risk and assurance. - Finance and resource management over 6 years and NZ$60m in expenditure, through pandemic, deep tech hubris, etc.- Architected, directed and finalised analysis and compliance for supersonic rocket powered BVLOS license without segregated airspace. This is the only license with this scope globally as far as I know. - Motivated, architected and specified runway size, hangar config and associated infrastructure for Tawhaki. - Lead and obtained multi million dollar trade finance banking facility through competitive tender process. Get in there, figure it out, get it built, go fly!

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

External advisor to the Mechanical Engineering Department, covering:Curriculum and course contentStandardsRecruiting staffGuest Lecturer on Aerospace, Systems Engineering and Entrepreneurship.

Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Coach for Alimentary, winners of both the People's Choice award and the Most Impactful Solution award.Alimentary Systems have a proprietary technology to convert bio-waste to clean energy. They participated in the Orion Energy Startup Accelerator program and won two of the three main awards of the program. They are now working on scaling up and deploying their technology. I helped with business planning, strategy and pitch development.

Auckland, New Zealand

Authorised to act in the power of The Director to approve aircraft design modifications. This is similar to an FAA DER or EASA CVE. I hold mechanical and electrical authorisation and was one of the youngest people to hold a delegation.

Auckland, New Zealand

I lead these teams to produce new aircraft equipment. We design, analyse, prototype, ground & flight test, refine and manufacture. I keep everyone's priorities aligned and focussed. I am a Design Delegate (of the director of CAA NZ). Airwork are one of the largest design and manufacturing organisations in the country. Airwork are a CAA NZ approved Part 146 and 148 organisation (AW also holds other CAA, FAA, EASA and other certificates). We have experience selling throughout NZ and also internationally with experience with CASA, FAA, TCCA, EASA and others. Hence we can undertake a wide range of design/certification/manufacturing project for aircraft both in NZ and internationally. From engine upgrades to EFIS systems and rescue hoists to film equipment, we've STC'd a lot!I work closely with operators and other customers to establish requirements and identify opportunities for operational improvements in performance and/or cost.We work constantly on internal improvement through peer review, professional training and development. This allows us to remain the the forefront of aircraft engineering capability in NZ.

Ardmore Airport, Auckland

Manager of helicopter design team. Senior engineer in the Airwork CAA NZ Part 146 design office. CAA Class B Delegate (similar to FAA DER or EASA CVE). CASA PNG Class B DelegateProject lead for new helicopter based STCs and other large projects. Experience with CAA and TC STCs. Some experience with FAA, EASA and CASA STCs. Broad experience with CAA, CASA and CASA PNG modifications. Expanding capability, product range and markets.Broad experience with FAA Part 29 rotorcraft. Also experienced with FAA Part 23, 25, 27 and 33.

Auckland

Management:Quoting jobs, client liaison, planning and strategy. Engineering:Designing aircraft (fixed and rotary wing) modificationsSpecialist repair designPreparing, checking and approving compliance documentation (to CAA and FAA requirements), descriptive and maintenance data, test documentation (structural tests, flight tests, etc). Preparing and checking operational data (Flight manuals). Preparing and submitting STCs to CAA and CASA.

Quoting jobs, client liaison Designing aircraft (fixed and rotary wing) modificationsSpecialist repair designPreparing, checking and approving compliance documentation (to CAA and FAA requirements), descriptive and maintenance data, test documentation (structural tests, flight tests, etc). Preparing and checking operational data (Flight manuals). Preparing and submitting STCs to CAA and CASA.

Bachelor Of Engineering (Be), Mechanical Engineering

Education record