I spent 33 years in aviation — from Air Canada engineering to building Avianor into a world-recognized cabin-integration MRO. After the 2022 exit I work with founders, boards, and labs that are trying to make hard things work in the real world.
McGill mechanical engineer and MBA. Airline operator, then owner-operator. The useful part for startups is not the titles — it is having scaled a physical business, sold it, and still being in the room with people who are building the next one.
I listen to customers, suppliers, and partners before I talk strategy. Most of the good moves at Avianor came from noticing what people actually needed — cabin reuse instead of landfill, integration instead of parts-only, M&A when organic growth was not enough.
Creative Destruction Lab mentor (Space and Climate streams — Paris, Toronto, Vancouver). Board director at Reaction Dynamics, a Canadian hybrid-propulsion launch company. Selective advisory and project work where operating experience is the missing piece.
A short version. The longer stories belong in conversation — and in the videos and photos below once they are added.
Undergraduate engineering and a master’s in business administration focused on international marketing. The combination still shows up: technical systems plus how you sell and partner across borders.
Started in Powerplant Engineering. Nine years as engineer and project manager across most aircraft systems — maintenance, modification, reliability. Finished the airline chapter in flight operations and sales.
Acquired 50% of a small catering-equipment and interiors shop. Grew it into a commercial and military MRO at Mirabel specializing in cabin integration: design and certification, in-house products from pilot seats to galleys, surplus interiors reused instead of scrapped. As CEO in the later years I also led the M&A path that ended in a full sale in 2022.
The brief I gave myself after the exit: help companies in aerospace and adjacent fields that are trying to improve life on Earth. That is the CDL work, the Reaction Dynamics board seat, and the project work I take on when the fit is real.
I am not a generalist coach. I am most useful when the problem looks like operations, customers, capital, or the gap between a prototype and a business that can actually deliver.
Hangars, certification, technicians, inventory, customers who cannot wait. I have lived the jump from a 3,000 sq ft shop to hundreds of thousands of square feet.
A global network in maintenance and modifications. The skill is listening hard enough to invent the offer that was not obvious on the first call.
Years of looking for the right partner, then completing a sale. Useful if you are thinking about capital, control, or what “done” should look like.
CDL streams I sit in, plus a board role at a launch company. I understand regulated hardware businesses and why they break.
This section is ready for your material. Drop in YouTube links and photos from the Avianor years, hangar work, cabin programs, and anything you want a founder or partner to see before a first meeting.
Mentorship, board, or a scoped advisory project. Send a short note about the company and the problem. This form is a template — point it at your email or replace it with a Calendly / LinkedIn link.
Public affiliations: Creative Destruction Lab (Associate, Space & Climate) · Reaction Dynamics (Board) · former CEO & partner, Avianor.