Archer announces further additions to its leadership team, with new VPs of Program Management and Manufacturing

Archer con­tin­ues to expand its work­force and has announced two more appoint­ments, with Bob Ellithor­pe join­ing as Vice Pres­i­dent of Pro­gram Man­age­ment and Glen Burks as Vice Pres­i­dent of Man­u­fac­tur­ing.

Ellithor­pe will over­see the devel­op­ment and pro­duc­tion of Archer’s com­mer­cial eVTOL air­craft, while Burks will strength­en the com­pa­ny’s core man­u­fac­tur­ing team as it pre­pares for high vol­ume pro­duc­tion ahead of a 2024 launch.

Com­ment­ing on his new role, Ellithor­pe said: “My whole life, I have loved being at the fore­front of aero­space pro­duc­tion, and the eVTOL indus­try is poised to lead the next trans­porta­tion rev­o­lu­tion. “I’m eager to start my next chap­ter in man­u­fac­tur­ing at Archer, work­ing to bring the future of sus­tain­able trav­el to mar­ket and trans­form urban mobil­i­ty.”

With exten­sive aero­space man­age­ment expe­ri­ence, Ellithor­pe will play a vital role in the prod­uct man­age­ment process as Archer works towards cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and com­mer­cial flight.

Pre­vi­ous­ly, he was Pres­i­dent and CEO for Tribus Aero­space Organ­i­sa­tion where he added to his exec­u­tive expe­ri­ence earned in the Aero­space and Defense indus­try with P&L expe­ri­ences in CEO, GM, and PM roles in sev­er­al man­u­fac­tur­ing busi­ness­es.

Pri­or to Tribus Aero­space Orga­ni­za­tion, Ellithor­pe served 13 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and spent sub­se­quent years in var­i­ous man­age­ment roles with­in the avi­a­tion and defense spaces.

While Burks will focus on lead­ing the man­u­fac­tur­ing efforts that come with cre­at­ing a cer­ti­fied, com­mer­cial air­line. Burks’ decades-long expe­ri­ence in man­u­fac­tur­ing will con­tin­ue ele­vat­ing Archer’s ongo­ing engi­neer­ing efforts, sup­port­ing the recent hir­ing of the new VP of Engi­neer­ing Dave Den­ni­son.

Burks pre­vi­ous­ly served as Head of Qual­i­ty for Tri­umph Group and direct­ly led 766 aero­space pro­fes­sion­als across 37 sites with­in the US, Europe, and Asia. Pri­or to Tri­umph Group, he spent 17 years with Bell Flight serv­ing in pro­gres­sive lead­er­ship roles with­in man­u­fac­tur­ing and qual­i­ty. Burks start­ed his avi­a­tion career in the Unit­ed States Marine Corps work­ing on FA-18 & AH1W/UH1N air­craft.

He said: “Through­out my career, I’ve been hands-on in air­craft man­u­fac­tur­ing and pro­duc­tion. I am excit­ed to bring my expe­ri­ence to Archer and work with the best and bright­est eVTOL tal­ent. Archer will bring forth an unri­valled trav­el expe­ri­ence and increased urban acces­si­bil­i­ty. I am ecsta­t­ic to take part in the man­u­fac­tur­ing efforts mak­ing this new age of explo­ration a real­i­ty.”

Burks and Ellithor­pe join Archer’s lead­er­ship team at a time of con­tin­ued momen­tum for the com­pa­ny. It unveiled its inau­gur­al air­craft, Mak­er, dur­ing a live event in Los Ange­les which was livestreamed to audi­ences across the world.

The com­pa­ny has already announced two city part­ner­ships, with Los Ange­les and Mia­mi — and is on track to com­plete its joint busi­ness merg­er with Atlas Crest Invest­ment Corp. This includ­ed a defin­i­tive agree­ment with Unit­ed Air­lines for $1 bil­lion worth of Archer’s air­craft, with an option of an addi­tion­al $500 mil­lion of air­craft.

Brett Adcock, co-founder and co-CEO of Archer, added: “We are thrilled to watch our team con­tin­ue to grow and work towards erad­i­cat­ing traf­fic and car­bon emis­sions in the world’s biggest cities. By expand­ing our man­u­fac­tur­ing team, we’re one step clos­er to bring­ing acces­si­ble eVTOL flight to the mass­es and allow­ing mankind to take to the skies.”