American financier and Marine Corps veteran Gary Lawson joined the advisory board of Buntar Aerospace

Gary Lawson has become the second announced member of the advisory board of the Ukrainian defense company Buntar Aerospace. He founded Tactical Edge Ventures, previously worked at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, and served as an infantry officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Buntar Aerospace told AIN about this.

The company explained that it was looking for a board member who combines capital markets experience with an understanding of military needs.

At Goldman Sachs, Lawson worked with companies in the aerospace, defense, and other industrial sectors. He later joined Merrill Lynch’s mergers and acquisitions team. Through Tactical Edge Ventures, he helps defense companies and dual-use technology manufacturers find financial and strategic solutions for scaling.

Lawson is also an advisor to the board of the U.S. National Drone Association and a member of the Clearspeed advisory board. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and, after his service, earned JD and MBA degrees from the University of Virginia.

According to Lawson, to grow, defense companies need to think from the outset about how to finance development, whom to partner with, and how the military will use their technologies. Buntar Aerospace co-founder Bohdan Sas noted that the company is bringing onto the board specialists who will help it develop partnerships and prepare for scaling.

Buntar Aerospace announced the creation of its advisory board on October 27. It will help the company determine development directions, improve unmanned systems and software, and expand international cooperation.

The first board member was Marat Utyushev, one of the co-creators of the DELTA situational awareness system. He is a retired colonel and former head of the Center for Innovation and Development of Defense Technologies at Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense.

According to Utyushev, what interested him at Buntar Aerospace was that one team develops both unmanned platforms and software for them. On the board, he will help determine which technologies should be developed in light of the military’s needs.