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Keynote Speaker  ·  Author  ·  39 Years in Aviation

Dana Kirchmar

Women in Aviation and Aerospace Keynote Speaker

"I didn't study the aviation leadership gap from the outside. I lived inside it for thirty-nine years."

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Dana Kirchmar

About Dana

She Didn't Study the Problem.
She Lived It.

Dana Kirchmar is a 39-year aviation and aerospace engineer and executive whose career began at Lockheed Martin Space Systems — integrating classified spacecraft and supporting "go/no go" decisions for satellite launches on Space Shuttle and Titan vehicles. She moved through Honeywell Aerospace, where she co-designed the autopilot for the Citation X and Citation Excel and logged over 100 hours as a flight test engineer. From there: Director of Systems Engineering on a clean-sheet aircraft prototype, a decade building the sales engineering organization at Gogo Business Aviation, VP and General Manager roles at two in-flight connectivity startups, and now Supply Chain Program Manager at Sierra Nevada Company. She has held a DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance, built teams from zero, and been the only woman in the room more times than she can count.

In 2021, Dana founded The Elevate Initiative — the first program specifically designed to attract and retain female talent in aviation and aerospace. Her work there, and her four decades of operational experience, are what she brings to the stage: not a values case, not an outsider's analysis, but a peer who has been in the room longer and knows exactly where the traps are.

She is a Board Member of Women in Aviation International, Board Treasurer of Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, Board Member of the Captain Jeppesen Foundation, and an Industry Advisory Board member for Colorado State University's Electrical & Computer Engineering Department — her alma mater. SmartSky's connectivity product, developed under her product leadership, earned both the Robb Report "Best in Aviation" recognition and the Aviation Week Laureate Award in 2024.

Signature Talks

Talks That Move Rooms,
Not Just Audiences

Each talk is built from thirty-nine years of operational experience. No motivational fluff. No outsider analysis. Just a peer who has been in the room longer — and knows where the traps are.

Keynote  ·  45–60 min

The Navigation Problem: Why Your Best Women Leaders Are Still Proving Themselves

Most high-performing women in aviation don't have a confidence problem. They have a navigation problem — and those require different solutions. This keynote reframes career friction as a structural, diagnosable challenge and gives audiences a precise vocabulary and a practical framework for what to do next.

Key Takeaways

  • Why framing career friction as a confidence deficit misdiagnoses the problem — and slows women down
  • The three structural patterns that derail high performers in technical aviation environments
  • A practical navigation framework for the next career decision in the room

Keynote  ·  Leadership Audiences  ·  45–60 min

The Cost of the Empty Seat: What Technical Talent Attrition Is Actually Doing to Your Operation

Aviation has a technical talent retention problem, and it disproportionately affects its women. Designed for leadership audiences — male and female — this talk translates the systemic problem into the operational and financial language executives actually use. No values case. No DEI framing. A business problem, presented by a peer.

Key Takeaways

  • The real cost of attrition in technical aviation roles — and why the standard numbers undercount it
  • What retention failures look like in MRO, OEM, and airline operations specifically
  • Three leadership behaviors that measurably change outcomes — with a specific action for Monday morning

Keynote  ·  General / Mixed Audience  ·  60 min

39 Years in the Hangar: What Aviation's Leadership Gap Looks Like From the Inside

A narrative keynote for general aviation audiences. Dana walks through four decades as the only woman in the room — and what she learned about the unwritten rules, the quiet exits, and the difference between surviving and actually building a career. This talk leaves every person in the room with something they can do differently.

Key Takeaways

  • The hidden rules that govern advancement in male-dominated technical environments
  • What the industry's most successful women do differently — and what it cost them to figure it out
  • A direct, honest message to the next generation entering aviation

Workshop  ·  Half Day

NAVIGATE™: A Career Operations Framework for Women in Aviation

A hands-on half-day workshop for women aviation professionals. Not a mindset session. A working session. Participants work through all 8 elements of the NAVIGATE™ framework — Non-Negotiables, Authenticity, Voice, Intuition, Guts, Authority, T-30, and Evolution — and leave with a personalized career navigation map, a diagnosis of their specific friction points, and a 90-day action plan they can execute without anyone's permission.

What Participants Build

  • A written diagnosis of the structural barriers currently in their path
  • A career navigation map tailored to their specific role and environment
  • A 90-day action plan — three moves, no fluff, no waiting for the organization to change first

Who Dana Speaks To

Two Audiences.
One Industry. One Problem.

Dana's talks are designed for the people living the problem and for the leaders in a position to solve it. Both rooms leave with something concrete.

The Insider

Women Professionals in Aviation & Aerospace

Engineers, pilots, executives, ATCs, and technicians who have earned their seat — and are tired of proving it.

These are the women who remained in aviation after 10+ years because they made an active choice to stay. They are not looking for validation. They are looking for a peer who has been here longer and knows where the traps are. Dana speaks with them — not to them.

The Reluctant Champion

Male Leaders in Aviation & Aerospace

Program directors, VPs, SVPs, C-suite decision-makers who know something is broken and don't know what to actually do.

These leaders will dismiss a values case in thirty seconds. They will engage with a business problem presented by a credible operational peer. Dana gives them the data, the framework, and a specific behavior they can implement before the next quarter review.

Available Formats

  • Keynote
  • Workshop
  • Panel Moderation
  • Virtual Keynote
  • Executive Roundtable
  • Conference Breakout

Media & Credentials

The Credential Stack

Award

Aviation Week Laureate Award 2024

Recognizes the most innovative and transformational technologies in aviation — awarded for SmartSky's connectivity product developed under Dana's product leadership

Award

Robb Report "Best in Aviation" 2024

SmartSky's LITE connectivity product, which Dana's strategic direction brought to market, recognized as best in class

Career

Lockheed Martin Space Systems

Spacecraft integration and testing; on-site support for satellite launches aboard Space Shuttle and Titan vehicles; DoD Top Secret/SCI clearance

Career

Honeywell Aerospace & Gogo Business Aviation

Co-designer of the Citation X and Citation Excel autopilot; 100+ hours as flight test engineer; built the sales engineering organization at Gogo, achieving top customer support rankings six consecutive years

Career

Aviation Technology Group & Ulterius Aviation

Director of Systems Engineering at ATG, leading development of the Javelin prototype; VP & GM at Ulterius Aviation, overseeing business aviation operations and strategic direction

Career

SmartSky Networks

VP Product Management and VP Customer Support Operations; led product strategy and customer operations for next-generation aviation connectivity; Aviation Week Laureate and Robb Report "Best in Aviation" recognized under her leadership

Career

The Elevate Initiative

Founded 2021. The only leadership development practice in aviation and aerospace built by someone who has designed the systems, held the clearances, and run the C-suite — built to close the industry's most expensive talent gap from the inside out

Board Leadership

WAI · Wings Over the Rockies · Captain Jeppesen Foundation

Board Member, Women in Aviation International (2025–present); Board Treasurer, Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum (2021–present); Board Member, Captain Jeppesen Foundation (2022–present)

Education & Certifications

BS EE, Colorado State University

AIPMM Certified Product Manager · Six Sigma Greenbelt · Coursework toward MS Aerospace Engineering, University of Colorado · Industry Advisory Board, CSU ECE Department (2004–present)

Signature Programs

Beyond the Keynote

For organizations and individuals ready to move from recognition to action, Dana offers two distinct programs built from the same 39 years of operational experience.

NAVIGATE™

An 8-element career operations framework for women in aviation & aerospace

NAVIGATE™ gives women aviation professionals the precise diagnosis, vocabulary, and action framework to stop proving themselves and start advancing. It is not a coaching program. It is a career operations tool — built for the professional who already knows what she brings and needs a system for the terrain ahead. The eight elements: Non-Negotiables · Authenticity · Voice · Intuition · Guts · Authority · T-30 · Evolution

Designed For

Women professionals in aviation and aerospace — engineers, pilots, executives, ATCs, technicians

ELEVATE™

A leadership performance and talent retention program for aviation executives

ELEVATE™ is a leadership development and operational performance tool for aviation executives who want to solve a real retention problem — not participate in a DEI initiative. It gives leaders the data, the operational framework, and the specific behaviors that measurably change outcomes in technical aviation environments.

Designed For

Program directors, VPs, SVPs, and C-suite leaders in aviation and aerospace organizations

Book Dana

Let's Talk About
Your Event

Whether you're programming a keynote, a workshop, or an executive roundtable, Dana works directly with event organizers to make sure the talk lands — not just the booking.

Email dana@danakirchmar.com
Website danakirchmar.com

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