Mr. Van Buskirk is a Vice President at AE Industrial and a member of AE Ventures, the venture capital platform of AE Industrial Partners. He is a retired Navy Captain and accomplished aviator with over 2,500 flight hours across nine military and civil aircraft. With 25 years of Department of Defense experience, he is a founding member of both the Secretary of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital, whose mission is to align private capital with critical national security objectives, and the Navy’s Warfighting Development Directorate, where he was charged with running a framework focused on solving the Navy’s most pressing operational problems. He also served as Director of NavalX, the sea service’s innovation and agility cell, which addressed friction points between acquisition, fleet requirements, R&D, budgeting, end users and industry. As an operational squadron commander, his unit was honored as the best helicopter sea-combat squadron in the Pacific Fleet and for having the best aviation maintenance program in the U.S. Department of Defense. Over his tenure, he has advised numerous startups, investors and senior industry leaders and operated at the highest level of government.