Management Team

Timothy E. Conver has served as our President since 1991, as our Chief Executive Officer since 1993, and as a member of our board of directors since 1988. Prior to joining AeroVironment, Mr. Conver served as President of Whittaker Electronic Resources, a supplier of engineered products for military electronics and industrial instrumentation, for ten years. Mr. Conver is a graduate of the University of Montana and has an M.B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jikun Kim has served as our Vice President and Controller since joining the company in June 2009. Before working at AV Mr. Kim served for four years as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Raytheon Vision Systems, a $240 million revenue business within Raytheon Company. Mr. Kim received his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, his M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Los Angeles and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Cathleen S. Cline has served as our Senior Vice President of Administration since 1992. Prior to joining us, Ms. Cline was the Human Resources Manager at both Whittaker Electronic Resources and the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Ms. Cline has a B.S. in psychology and a B.S. in business management from the University of Oregon.

John F. Grabowsky joined us in April 2003, serving initially as our Director of Programs from April 2003 to March 2004, as our Vice President and General Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems from April 2004 to August 2006, and as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems from September 2006 to February 2010. In February 2010 John became AV's Chief Technology Officer.  Prior to joining us, Mr. Grabowsky served as the Vice President and General Manager of the OptoElectronics business unit of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated, a leading provider of sophisticated electronics and communications products, systems engineering solutions, and aerospace products and components, from March 2000 to April 2003. From 1997 to 2000, he served as the Vice President of Teledyne's Broadband Communications division. Mr. Grabowsky has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Lehigh University.

Mike Bissonette joined AV in 2007 as Assistant General Manager of the Energy Technology Center. Prior to joining AV, Mike spent 11 years at Western Digital Corporation where he held executive level positions directing groups within Engineering, New Product Development, Product Assurance, Procurement, and Program and Product Management. He began his career as a radar systems engineer at McDonnell Douglas, and spent 17 years in the Aerospace industry, including key positions in Business Development, Strategic Planning and Program Management at Lockheed Martin (formerly Ford Aerospace). Mike earned his Bachelor's of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Clarkson University, a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach and a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Irvine.

Tom Herring joined AV as Vice President of Strategy, Unmanned Aircraft Systems in November 2008.  In December 2009 Tom assumed the role of Vice President business Development, Unmanned Aircraft Systems and was promoted to Senior Vice President and General Manager, Unmanned Aircraft Systems in February 2010.  Before joining AV, Mr. Herring held various leadership positions during his 27-year tenure with BAE Systems.  Most recently, he served as Vice President and General Manager of Integrated Solutions, a $150M BAE Systems business unit providing solutions for commercial and general aviation aircraft, attack rotorcraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, precision munitions, international military aircraft and ground systems.  He also served as vice president of National Upgrade Programs, vice president of Display Systems and director of programs for the Display Systems product line.  A native of Long Island, Mr. Herring holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hofstra University and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University. He is an active member of a number of professional organizations including, the Navy League, the American Management Association and the British American Business Council.