Penny Leach

Investment Attraction and External Relations

Background

As the lead on Investment Attraction and External Relations, Penny has the opportunity to create meaningful relationships that help advance the evolution of the RPAS industry; most recently working to establish the BVLOS Innovation Centre (BVLOS InC). The Centre combines the restricted airspace of the Foremost UAS Test Range with the professional support services of UxS Consulting Limited (UxS).

Prior she worked to align the UxS capabilities with the interests of Aerium Analytics and Canadian UAVS to create Project SkySensus, an R&D partnership with Peraton (now Arcfield) Canada to develop BVLOS technologies in the RPAS industry. Structured as an investment framework within Canada’s Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) Framework, Penny was involved in the project’s design and initial implementation as its Project Manager.

Penny has more than twenty years’ experience working in the aerospace and defence sectors with deep connections within the ITB community. She has designed and executed projects with Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins, Sikorsky, Peraton, Provincial and Federal Governments and Airport Authorities. She delivered ‘Getting in the Game’, a Western Canada Defence Industry Association (WCDIA) seminar that armed SME’s, academia and government with the tools, particularly the design of a strong value proposition, to create stronger positioning with aerospace and defence primes involved with federal procurement.

Prior, Penny worked within her consulting firm to provide policy analysis and planning; project design/modeling based on empirical research; business development; negotiation, and investment attraction services to senior industry executives and government. She has worked extensively with Indigenous communities and negotiated large devolution of authorities and major funding arrangements within the context of self- government. She was the Project Architect for the development of the Saskatchewan Aviation Training Centre, a Transport Canada approved Aircraft Maintenance Engineer-M, and pilot training facility. She has international experience and holds a Master of Science Degree from the University of Toronto. She is a PMP and an associate of NYRAD, a business development and ITB specialist firm based in Ottawa.

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