VoltAero has brought three executives from the industry, government and education sectors onto its advisory board, bringing expertise in aircraft development, production and programme management as the French company evolves its family of Cassio hybrid-electric aircraft.

The appointments are Pilar Albiac-Murillo, Charles Champion and Sean O'Keefe, who join Mikhail Lifshits on the advisory board.

Jean Botti, VoltAero's CEO and chief technical officer, says: “As we advance the Cassio electric-hybrid aircraft family into production and entry-in-service, we look forward to the knowledge and insights from our advisory board members, each of whom has earned their reputation as a leader and visionary.”

Sean O'Keefe's experience spans top-level positions in government, industry and education. Among them were administrator of NASA, deputy director for the Office of Management and Budget, Secretary of the Navy, and comptroller for the U.S. Department of Defense. From 2009 to 2014, he was chief executive for the U.S. operation of Airbus and its EADS predecessor. Currently, O'Keefe is the University Professor and the Howard and Louise Phanstiel endowed chair in Strategic Management and Leadership at the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Pilar Albiac-Murillo's responsibilities in the aerospace and automotive sectors included the chairman and chief executive officer of Saginaw Deutschland and the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Airbus Defence and Space division. She held executive and management positions at Philips Innovation Services, Delphi Corp. and Rémy de Mexico SA de CV.

Charles Champion's experience comes from management positions at Airbus and includes serving as Airbus executive vice president of engineering and a member of the Airbus executive committee. Among his previous responsibilities were as the product executive for Airbus' single-aisle programme, and executive vice president for the A380 programme during the aircraft development.