Leadership

Ethan Thornton is the CEO and founder of Mach Industries, a next-generation defense technology and manufacturing company. Thornton's passion for manufacturing began in his youth, helping on his grandparents' farm. His early experiences solving tough challenges through hands-on work sparked a lifelong respect for the industry and led to the realization that hardware solutions could fill critical gaps in the U.S. defense ecosystem. Working as an auto technician, Thornton used his savings to fund early prototypes for defense-related technologies. He attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) before launching Mach in 2023. Thornton's ultimate goal is to create decentralized strategic capabilities that guarantee the defense of freedom worldwide.

Under Thornton's leadership, Mach Industries is focused on advancing national security and supporting the U.S. and its allies in preparing for and addressing the challenges of modern warfare. With a mission to integrate into the U.S. defense and aerospace manufacturing base, the company is deploying innovative platforms aimed at creating decentralized strategic capabilities. Mach exists to invent the future of unmanned warfare—developing, manufacturing, and deploying asymmetric systems faster, at greater scale, and more enduringly than anyone on Earth.

Nathan Diller is the President and Chief Strategy Officer. Prior to Mach, Nathan was the CEO of Divergent Industries where he established and led the aerospace and defense subsidiary of Divergent Technologies.

Prior to joining industry, Nathan served on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, where he exercised oversight of a $42 billion annual defense-wide research, development, and procurement portfolio. Nathan spent 22 years in the United States Air Force, retiring as a colonel. In his final military assignment, he served as Director of AFWERX, a 300-person enterprise with more than $1 billion annual budget authority. Earlier, Nathan served in operational combat squadrons, flight test units, program management offices, requirements staffs, and senior budgeting positions. His assignments included service as Director of Aeronautics in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as well as roles at DARPA, the Joint Staff J-8, the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, the Strategic Capabilities Office, and the Space and Missile Center. In uniform he was a member of the Acquisition Corps and is an FAA Airline Transport Pilot and Certified Flight Instructor, with more than 2,900 flight hours across more than 60 aircraft.

Nathan holds degrees in engineering, public policy, and national security strategy from the Airforce Academy, Harvard, MIT, the French Test Pilot School, and the National Defense University.

Zach is the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Mach, he served as Deputy Chief Financial Officer at General Motors ("GM") from September 2024 to March 2026, where he led the Corporate Development, GM Ventures, Treasury, and Long Term FP&A teams, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer. Zach joined GM in January 2023 as Vice President, Global Corporate Development. Before GM, he co-founded the Corporate Development function at Tesla, Inc. in August 2016, and lead the team from September 2019 until December 2022. Prior to Tesla, Zach began his career at Apple, Inc as a member of the Corporate Development team. He also served as a Director of Lithium Americas Corp., a public mining company, from 2023 to 2026.

Zach has extensive M&A, capital allocation, and strategy experience across technology and automotive sectors. He holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Anand Gopalan is a senior technology executive and autonomy leader with over two decades of experience building mission-critical systems across semiconductors, sensing, AI, and robotics. His career spans the full hardware–software stack, from analog and mixed-signal IC design and high-speed interconnects to perception, guidance, and autonomous decision-making systems. Anand has held senior engineering and product leadership roles at Avago, K-Micro, and Rambus, where he delivered high-reliability semiconductor platforms for performance-critical applications. He later served as CEO of Velodyne Lidar, guiding the company through its transition to a publicly listed enterprise.

Anand is currently Chief Autonomy and Systems Officer at Mach Industries, where he leads the company's Autonomy, Avionics, Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC), and Advanced AI organizations. In this role, he is responsible for system-level architecture, autonomy strategy, sensor fusion, and the development of novel AI technologies designed for contested, denied, and safety-critical operational environments. His work integrates tightly coupled avionics, control systems, and learning-based autonomy to enable robust, adaptive mission execution. Previously, Anand was the Founder and CEO of Vayu Robotics, where he pioneered lidar-less, foundation-model-based autonomy and led the company through institutional fundraising, large-scale deployment programs, and acquisition by Serve Robotics (NASDAQ: SERV).

Matthew Gann is a senior aerospace and defense executive serving as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Mach. He leads engineering strategy and execution across complex, mission-critical systems, aligning technology development with business growth, operational discipline, and long-term competitive advantage.

With experience spanning Raytheon, L3, Terran Orbital, and Sierra Space, Matthew brings a proven ability to scale high-performing engineering organizations, deliver differentiated platforms, and translate customer and market needs into executable technical roadmaps. His leadership emphasizes disciplined program execution, accelerated innovation, and building systems designed for reliability, scalability, and mission readiness.

Throughout his career, Matthew has supported the capture and execution of major Department of Defense programs and NASA missions. Known for bridging engineering, product strategy, and business development, he builds accountable, high-performance teams and delivers technologies that expand market presence, strengthen strategic partnerships, and create durable shareholder value.

Jeremy Klyde leads the Mach Propulsion division, focused on developing solutions for UAS and munition applications. He spent 18 years specializing in advanced propulsion systems, with hands-on experience developing small turbine engines and piston engines for aerospace and automotive applications. Jeremy combines deep technical expertise with practical test and high-volume manufacturing knowledge, leading projects from concept to production while maintaining a strong focus on reliability, performance, and scalable design.

Jeremy previously served as Director of Propulsion Engineering at Anduril Industries.

As Anduril's first propulsion engineer, he stood up a 25-member Propulsion Engineering organization and oversaw the design, development, testing, and production of engines for their Roadrunner, Barracuda and Omen product lines. He previously held technical roles at Lockheed Martin Corporation, Zone 5 Technologies, and Volvo Group Trucks. Jeremy has rebuilt his personal aircraft and holds an FAA Part 107 and Private Pilot License.

Tyler Pancake is a seasoned manufacturing leader with deep experience scaling high-complexity aerospace systems from early development to sustained, high-rate production. As Head of Manufacturing at Mach Industries, he is responsible for building the production infrastructure, factory systems, and execution discipline required to deliver advanced defense hardware at scale.

Prior to Mach Industries, Tyler spent nearly a decade at SpaceX, where he held multiple manufacturing leadership roles across propulsion and spacecraft production. During his tenure, he helped scale some of the most demanding manufacturing programs in the world, supporting rapid iteration, flight-critical hardware, and sustained production under extreme schedule pressure across the Dragon, Falcon, and Starship programs. Earlier in his career, Tyler worked as an engineer at Rolls-Royce, where he developed his foundational passion for manufacturing.

Tyler holds a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering.

Chris Gentile is Mach's Head of Test and Autonomy, overseeing developmental and acceptance testing as well as leading the development of advanced mission skills and collaborative autonomy capabilities for the Mach family of systems. A retired USAF Lieutenant Colonel, Chris is a test pilot with over 2000 flight hours in tactical aircraft including the F-15E, F-16, and F-22, including over 200 hours of combat flight experience. He has led both operational and developmental test programs representing over $2B of delivered capability, and commanded the USAF's only uncrewed system acceptance and test organization.

Previously, he was the Vice President of Tactical Autonomous Systems at EpiSci, where he delivered novel, high performance autonomy systems, accomplishing the first live, unscripted air-to-air dogfight between an AI agent and a human fighter pilot. Under his leadership, EpiSci scaled headcount and revenue over 200%/yr for four years, resulting in a successful exit.

Chris holds a bachelor's degree in Astronautical Engineering from the US Air Force Academy, and a Master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering & Flight Test Engineering from NC State University and USAF Test Pilot School. He is currently completing the MIT Sloan Executive MBA program.

Ashton Bennett serves as Director of Programs at Mach Industries, where he oversees engineering, manufacturing, and execution across all vehicle programs. As one of the company's founding employees, Ashton has played a pivotal role in building and scaling Mach's vehicle development efforts since the company's inception in 2022, leading multidisciplinary teams from concept through production and fielding.

With expertise spanning avionics, systems engineering, prototyping, and testing, Ashton drives cross-functional execution across design, integration, manufacturing, and flight operations. He is responsible for aligning technical execution with program objectives, accelerating development timelines, and delivering mission-ready systems with speed, reliability, and operational effectiveness.

Prior to joining Mach Industries as employee number one, Ashton pursued a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he left to help build the company from the ground up.

Felix van der Vaart is the Vice President of Business Operations at Mach Industries, where he oversees Talent Acquisition, HR, IT and Facilities. Felix joined Mach following three years at SpaceX, where he was responsible for the global talent organization and oversaw a 100+ person organization. While leading the team, Felix increased SpaceX's hiring capacity by 35% while improving recruiter efficiency (hires per head) by 22%; delivering over 100 net-new hires personally, including the company's first two external VP hires in 10+ years. Prior to SpaceX, Felix spent time at major technology companies, including Amazon and Google, and premier services firms.

Felix began his career as an Associate for The Boston Consulting Group, where he worked closely with Financial Services and Government customers. He holds a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.

Brendan joined as Mach's General Counsel in June 2024 to build out Mach's legal function and related areas. Prior to joining Mach, Brendan was in-house counsel at Palantir Technologies in California and London, leading legal efforts in commercial and international governmental contracting, compliance, data privacy, cybersecurity, media and government relations, and internal investigations in Palantir's global operations. Brendan moved to technology law after initially working in litigation and investigations O'Melveny & Myers LLP, representing financial institutions, telecommunications companies, energy companies, and entertainment companies in managing internal and government investigations, regulatory compliance, and criminal and civil litigation matters.

Brendan holds his JD from Harvard Law School and an LL.M from Cambridge University focused on public international law, along with a master's degree in Education from Loyola Marymount University following his undergraduate degree from Duke University.

Paul Arcangeli is the Senior Vice President for Government Relations at Mach Industries. He also serves as a Commissioner on the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. From 2022 to 2025, Paul was a Principal at Invariant Government Relations, advising clients on national security and defense policy.

Paul spent thirty-four years in public service, including 13 years in the U.S. Army, service as a Department of Defense civilian, and nearly two decades on the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee the last twelve of those years as Staff Director. In that role, he was the committee's senior advisor to the chairman, members of Congress, and House leadership, overseeing defense policy, legislation, and the development of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Before his time on Capitol Hill, Paul was Director of the Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Training Center, where he led the training of special operations forces to establish landmine clearance programs in forty-three countries.

He holds a master's degree in Information Technology Management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of North Georgia. He has been awarded the Distinguished Public Service Medal by the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Rob Mark is Senior Vice President of Forge, Mach's component and contract manufacturing division, responsible for building and scaling manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and allied countries in support of Mach and select strategic partners' defense programs. Rob joined Mach after more than a decade at Apple, where he held senior leadership roles in Global Supply Chain. His experience spans U.S. manufacturing, advanced hardware programs, and supply chain development for Special Projects Group, supporting autonomous and next-generation systems from development through production ramp.

Earlier in his career, Rob served eight years as a U.S. Army intelligence officer across multiple operational commands and began his career as a firefighter and EMT. He holds an MBA from Rice University and a bachelor's degree in History from Davidson College. Rob also interned in the White House National Security Affairs office and later served as a White House Advance staffer.

Amanda Sustak serves as the SVP for Business Development at Mach Industries. She leads the BD team and collaborates closely with Mach's customers on their most challenging operational problems, delivering mission-critical solutions across the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Intelligence Community, and National and Homeland Security sectors.

Most recently, Amanda served as the Head of Business Development at Somewear Labs, a startup specializing in tactical communications for both manned and unmanned systems. Under her leadership, Somewear doubled its revenue year over year and built two new products widely adopted in both government and commercial sectors. Amanda's previous leadership positions include Division Vice President for Advancing National Security Growth at Jacobs Engineering Group, Deputy Program Manager at the Department of Homeland Security, and Senior Duty Officer with the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the U.S. National Security Council.

Amanda earned her MBA from Georgetown University and her bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Mary Washington.

Kevin "Astro" Murray is the Vice President of Capability Development at Mach Industries, where he leads the development of next-generation defense capabilities.

Before joining Mach, Kevin served as Senior Director of Strategic Growth at Anduril Industries, leading strategic growth efforts focused on CJADC2, runway-independent unmanned aircraft systems, affordable mass, and contested logistics. He previously completed a 30-year career in the United States Marine Corps, retiring after serving as the Marine Corps' Chief Technology Officer. During his military career, he led operational aviation, unmanned systems, science and technology, and rapid capability development efforts, including command of VMU-1 and leadership roles at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory and the Joint Staff.

Kevin is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and holds a master's degree in National Security and Economic Policy from the Eisenhower School, with a focus in Robotics and Autonomous Systems. He is a naval aviator and weapons and tactics instructor with more than 4,800 flight hours across fighter aircraft and unmanned aircraft systems.

Kevin Lord is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Mach, where he leads partnerships across the defense and aerospace industrial base and helps expand the company's component business and direct government relationships. He works with military customers, government organizations, defense primes, emerging technology companies, and aerospace manufacturers to identify opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Before joining Mach, Kevin worked in advanced electronic warfare strategy and requirements at L3Harris Technologies. He previously served more than 26 years in the United States Air Force, retiring as a colonel. A command pilot with more than 1,900 flight hours, Kevin commanded the 39th Air Base Wing and the 20th Operations Group and served in operational, nuclear operations, strategy, special-access-program, joint staff, and academic assignments. His career included extensive experience translating operational requirements into actionable strategies and connecting military needs with emerging technologies.

Kevin is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and holds multiple graduate degrees in international relations and national security strategy.

Clare Timmis joined Mach Industries back in Austin, Texas, in January of 2024. As Chief of Staff, Clare ensured cohesive execution across the company (wearing a variety of hats along the way), and supported mission-critical initiatives, including Mach's move to California and its Series B raise.

Clare has subsequently shifted into oversight of Mach's international growth strategy. Drawing upon her understanding of Mach's core capabilities and its trajectory, she aligns an interdisciplinary team of customer, operations, and manufacturing (Forge) to provide robust, mission aligned solutions to allied partners.

Prior to Mach, she received her MBA from the University of Oxford and ran international operations for a non-profit founded by the co-principal of Cook Pine Capital. She holds a bachelor's degree in History from the University of Mary Washington.