Nathan Ruff brings more than 10 years of experience in the UAS industry and over 20 years of management consulting experience in strategy and operations with Fortune 500 companies globally. He co-founded UASidekick to improve airspace safety and make controlled-airspace authorization faster and more accessible for drone operators.
Following UASidekick’s acquisition by AirWise Solutions, Nathan joined AirWise, where he leads UAS Traffic Management (UTM) and Strategic Partnerships. His work focuses on enabling the safe, scalable, and inclusive integration of uncrewed aircraft into the National Airspace System, with particular emphasis on UTM, advanced airspace management, public safety, and emerging BVLOS operations.
Nathan was educated at Brown University, Georgetown University, and the Institut d’Études Politiques in France. He holds FAA Part 61 Private Pilot and FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certificates and is also a USPA-certified skydiver and USPPA power paraglider pilot.
He was an original member of the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team, participated in NASA’s UTM Data Exchange, and served on the FAA UAS in Controlled Airspace Aviation Rulemaking Committee. Nathan has contributed to ASTM F38 standards work involving Remote Identification and UTM and currently participates in the U.S. UTM Implementation Operations and Technical Committees, as well as task groups focused on airspace efficiency and Drone as First Responder/public-safety operations.
Nathan lives in Boulder, Colorado.