Building a Resilient Drone Program Workflow

Today’s drone industry is ever-changing, and keeping a workflow resilient to these changes is not a simple task. Regulations shift. Fleets age out. Vendors' product availability changes. If your drone program's workflow can't flex with those realities, you end up rebuilding your process every time something outside of your control moves, which becomes expensive, slow, and frustrating for everyone who depends on your program.

This webinar is for drone project managers running a program within a larger company, the ones responsible for keeping operations compliant, aircraft flying, and stakeholders confident, even when the ground shifts underneath them.

We'll cover:

• Designing for change, not around it: building workflows with built-in flexibility points instead of rigid, single-path processes
• Regulatory resilience: how to structure documentation, training, and approval processes so a rule change doesn't mean starting over
• Aircraft availability contingencies: reducing single-platform dependency and building fallback paths into your ops planning
• Communicating workflow health upward: how to show leadership that your program is stable and adaptable, not just busy

Between producing a program from scratch or trying to future-proof one that already exists, you'll leave with a practical framework for building a workflow that holds up, not just today, but as the landscape around you keeps changing.

Speakers

Brian Owens, VDC Field Solutions Engineer, The Weitz Company

Brian Owens is a Field Solutions Engineer at The Weitz Company, where he drives the adoption of emerging construction technologies, including drones, robotics, reality capture, and other innovative solutions. Brian leads a nationwide team of more than 50 drone pilots and has successfully scaled enterprise drone operations through achievements such as securing a National BVLOS waiver and implementing drone dock programs. Holding a Mechanical Engineering degree from BYU–Idaho, Brian specializes in integrating the right technologies to solve real-world construction challenges.

Woody Duncan, Senior Vice President – Technology, Aegean Energy Group

Kenneth Y. “Woody” Duncan is the Senior Vice President of Technology at Aegean Energy Group, where he brings over two decades of expertise in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and emerging technologies to the renewable energy sector. His career began as an archaeologist in New Mexico and evolved into national leadership roles, including GIS Program Manager at The Trust for Public Land, where he developed the award-winning “Greenprinting” framework. He later co-founded Santa Fe GIS, delivering innovative geospatial solutions for large-scale energy and environmental projects across North and South America. At Cielo Wind Services, he led GIS and IT operations, supporting regulatory compliance and project development. As a founding member of Aegean, Woody continues to drive technological innovation, integrating advanced GIS systems and data frameworks that shape industry-leading approaches to sustainable infrastructure and project delivery.

Garrett Connolly, Distributed Program Manager, MassDOT Aeronautics Drone Operations Program

After spending years training drone pilots from public safety and federal agencies around the world, Garrett now serves as the UAS Distributed Program Manager for the MassDOT Aeronautics Division. A pilot of both manned and unmanned aircraft, he brings 13+ years of combined aviation experience to complex drone operations and to the MassDOT UAS training program.

Ania Burgess, Senior Systems Engineer, Altimetis

Ania Burgess is a systems engineer specializing in autonomous UAS and ground-based systems, with experience spanning system architecture, requirements, and operational validation. Her work focuses on translating autonomy concepts into deployable infrastructure by addressing site selection, system integration, and human-in-the-loop realities. She has led cross-functional engineering efforts across aircraft, ground control, communications, and data services for safety-critical autonomous systems. Her experience includes supporting utility-focused autonomous UAS deployments, where site selection, communications reliability, and installation constraints directly determine whether systems scale beyond pilot programs. 

Moderator

Erin Williams, Content Specialist, Commercial UAV News

Erin is the Content Specialist for Commercial UAV News and Expo. Prior to joining Diversified Communications, Erin contributed to news sources for a major outdoor retail company. Erin graduated from the University of Maine with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, horseback riding, and reading. She is a Maine native and currently resides in Portland, Maine.