Team

The people building LuftCar.

A team of engineers building a complete air and space mobility platform.

Santh Sathya

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Founded LuftCar in March 2021; CEO and board director. A relentless innovator focused on sustainability and solving complex problems.

Tiffany Nesbit

Chief Technology Officer

Leads LuftCar's technology and engineering organization across the hybrid VTOL vehicle program.

Dr. Wanita Dixon

Chief of Staff & Director of Business Growth

Advances operations, strategic partnerships, commercialization, and fundraising alongside the CEO. 10+ years at Pratt & Whitney and Carrier in engineering and program leadership.

Andre Smith, MBA

Chief Operating Officer

Leads operations and propulsion systems engineering.

Siddharth Sathya

Vehicle Autonomy & AI · Cofounding Member

A cofounding member with a passion for autonomy, AI, and data modeling; now developing hydrogen production systems for LuftCar's infrastructure.

Layne Merritt

VP, Defense Strategy & Government Relations

39 years in aerospace as an Army test pilot, Chief Engineer at PEO Aviation, and CTO at Elbit America. Leads defense opportunities across US and NATO missions.

George Likourezos

VP, Growth Strategy

Leads growth strategy for LuftCar across commercial and government markets.

Doug Lampe

VP, Customer & Investor Relations, Digital Systems

Leads customer relations and market entry. Previously six years at Deloitte Consulting as VP of Technical Architecture and Chief Architect.

Alan Spring

VP, Design Engineering

Brought a novel wind turbine design from concept to prototype as COO and Chief Engineer at BarberWind Turbines. BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering, Ohio State.

Manzoor Ali

VP, Business Development, MENA

Leads marketing and business development across the Middle East (KSA, UAE, Oman), based in Dubai. Three decades of experience across telecom and IT.

Aaryan Lath

Manager, SkyBase Growth

Drives growth for SkyBase™, LuftCar's dual use vertiport platform.

Advisory Board

Advisors

Daphne Dixon

Business Development Consultant, Americas

Grows markets, customer acquisition, government relations, and community engagement in the US. Executive Director of Live Green with 10+ years working with community decision makers on sustainability and clean mobility initiatives.

Gao Liu, PhD

Technology Advisor

Leads the Applied Energy Materials group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; lithium battery R&D and PI in the US DOE BATT program. PhD in Chemistry from Michigan State University and BSc in Chemistry from Peking University.

Jan-Frederic Kulow

Advisor, European Markets

LuftCar Advisory Board member advising on European market entry and partnerships.