People in composites: July 2023
The ACMA, Archer Aviation, TPI Composites and Cobra International welcome new hires to their teams.
ACMA welcomes new board chairwoman
On July 1, the American Composites Manufacturers Assn. (ACMA, Arlington, Va., U.S.) officially welcomed its first female chair of the board, Megan Multanen, MPA. She is currently an owner and CEO of long-time ACMA member, Bestbath.
An Idaho native, Multanen earned her undergraduate degree in sociology and conomics from Boise State University (Idaho, U.S.), followed by a masters of public administration from the University of Arizona (Tuscon, U.S.). In 2010, she returned to Idaho to work for Bestbath and has worked in the marketing, commercial sales and dealer sales departments.
“Having previously served as the treasurer/chair-elect for ACMA’s Board of Directors, Megan brings a wealth of experience into her new role as board chairwoman,” Cindy Squires, ACMA president and CEO, says. “I look forward to her leadership as ACMA continues to work toward making composites the sustainable material of choice.”
Archer hires chief commercial officer
On July 20th, Archer Aviation Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif., U.S.) announced that Nikhil Goel has joined as the company’s chief commercial officer (CCO). Goel will lead the execution of Archer’s global commercialization efforts as the company prepares to bring Midnight to market in 2025 in the U.S. in partnership with United Airlines. Goel brings deep industry expertise to Archer after cofounding Uber Elevate (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.), Uber’s air taxi division, and jointly authoring the Uber Elevate whitepaper that is widely credited with establishing the vision for the commercial electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft industry.
As CCO, Goel will be responsible for spearheading Archer’s commercialization strategy with a focus on bringing New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco online as Archer’s initial domestic markets and capturing additional international demand by stewarding partnership opportunities across several key markets, including the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Goel’s addition is timely as Archer is continuing to rapidly advance its commercialization efforts after receiving a $10 million pre-delivery payment from United Airlines for 100 eVTOL aircraft that it anticipates deploying into the multiple point-to-point routes it has announced alongside United in the U.S.
After starting at Uber as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams, Goel cofounded Uber Elevate. Working alongside NASA and Uber executives, Goel helped spearhead the vision for Uber Elevate which has, in turn, inspired the approach to commercializing the industry. In 2020, Goel helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a strategic sale to Joby Aviation.
Goel has been a senior advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Co., Google, Microsoft and NASA. He attended Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn., U.S.) and earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering with a double major in computer engineering and economics.
“Having recently traveled around the world to the largest international markets and seen firsthand how strong the demand for our aircraft is outside the U.S., it’s clear that now is the right time to make this strategic hire and bring Nikhil on to capitalize on the sizable market opportunity for domestic and global expansion,” Adam Goldstein, Archer’s founder and CEO, says. “Since day one, we’ve laid out an aggressive goal to be the first to bring an eVTOL aircraft to the UAM [urban air mobility] market, and adding Nikhil to our senior leadership team significantly bolsters our efforts to reach that goal.”
“My career has been focused on transforming the way people move in and around cities and enabling the future of on-demand, urban air transportation,” Goel points out. “I’ve been working with Adam and the team for several years, and I believe Archer is the most well-positioned eVTOL aircraft OEM to make this vision a reality with the industry’s leading team and product.”
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