One of Europe’s big names in unmanned traffic management (UTM) has announced a shift in leadership.  Unifly announces new CEO Leon van de Pas will succeed well known drone industry figure Marc Kegelaers.

Belgium-based Unifly has been a major player in UTM since the field emerged.  Unifly has been instrumental in trials and the development of UTM standards around the world.  

Van de Pas is an expert in bringing disruptive innovations to market, having worked in medical, wireless, navigation, lighting and IoT services.  The drone industry will be a new field of play – one that van de Pas says represents “vast potential”:

Unifl“When I first came across Unifly three years ago, for me that was the first time I truly realized the vast potential of unmanned vehicles moving along all three dimensions. I was struck by the opportunity of “mapping” the low altitude airspace. It is even more thrilling to imagine that all solutions currently built on a two-dimensional map for traditional manned vehicles will have to be brought to the third dimension for autonomous vehicles and ultimately in real-time. I want to thank Marc Kegelaers for bringing Unifly where it is today and I am honored to lead the Unifly team through its next growth phase.”

“When I met Leon for the first time three years ago, I was impressed with his business-minded “get-up and-go” mentality as well as the energy and the drive with which he can motivate teams to excel,” says Marc Kegelaers. “I am thrilled that Leon has accepted the role of CEO of the company and I am convinced that he is the right captain of the ship for the next phase of development of the company.”

Unifly Announces New CEO

Filip Tack, Chairman of the Board, announced the change: “The Board wishes to thank Marc for the collaboration and his leadership during the past years. In a concerted effort, we lifted the company from the start-up ranks to the scale-up league.

As Unifly’s growth spurt continues within the rapidly evolving UTM-market, we are extremely proud to appoint Leon van de Pas as our new, experienced Chief Executive Officer to guide us to maturity. His appointment will undoubtedly lead to a further strengthening of the executive management team in its entirety.”