Who Builds the Sky? Why Economic Partnerships — Not Tech Companies — May Hold the Key to Unlocking Advanced Air Mobility: Lavera Alexander, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership

Lavera Alexander is Chief Growth Officer at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MPED).  MBEP is a cross-sector nonprofit that convenes business, government, education, and community leaders to drive economic growth across the tri-county Monterey Bay region, and it sits at the heart of what may be the highest concentration of advanced air mobility companies anywhere in the United States. For years, much of the conversation around drones and advanced air mobility has focused on the aircraft themselves—better batteries, new sensors, autonomy, and the promise of electric air taxis and drone delivery. But as the technology matures, it's becoming clear that building the aircraft may be the easy part. Building the infrastructure and the operational ecosystem needed to support them may be the bigger challenge. Lavera is leading a $7.45 million state-funded initiative that aims to connect four Central Coast airports into one of the nation's first multi-airport advanced air mobility networks. The project is designed to help answer some of the key questions facing the industry today: How do we integrate drones and future air mobility systems into existing airport operations? What infrastructure will be needed? How do communities benefit? And what role can regions play in helping shape the future of aviation? Lavera is an experienced executive with more than two decades of leadership in cross-sector collaboration, and she's now steering one of the most ambitious AAM infrastructure projects in the country. In this episode, we'll talk about how a regional economic partnership found itself at the center of the drone industry, why infrastructure has become one of the biggest challenges facing advanced air mobility, and what this ambitious project could mean for the future movement of goods, services, and people.