Chris Corgnati

President & CEO

Chris Corgnati is a retired Navy Captain and business executive with extensive experience in both the federal and private sectors in executive leadership, strategic planning, operational execution, and unmanned aircraft systems.

As a Commanding Officer in the United States Navy, he led complex high tempo military operations around the globe. As a senior executive, he oversaw the Navy’s $2.5B portfolio of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs. As a Chief Operating Officer, he led a startup unmanned aircraft manufacturing company. He also consulted for a diverse set of commercial and government clients.

As President and CEO of MissionGO, Corgnati appreciates the collaborative, mission-based approach leveraging cutting edge technology for initiatives that matter. Under his leadership, Corgnati seeks to establish MissionGO as the premiere UAS provider in the country.

Corgnati holds a Bachelor of Science from Villanova University in business administration, and a Master of Science from the Naval Postgraduate School in information technology management.

Scott Plank

Co-Founder & Executive Chairman

Scott Plank serves as Executive Chairman of MissionGO, where he oversees a team that is setting a new standard for next-generation transportation logistics. Scott’s team is working to deliver improved reliability and reduced costs by leveraging the power of unmanned systems.

Scott also serves as CEO of War Horse Cities, which he founded in 2010 to pursue his passion in exploring how built environments can magnify our lives and relationships. War Horse develops a diverse range of projects, including entertainment venues and a portfolio and pipeline of over 850 apartments, 80,000 square feet of office, 150,000 square feet of retail and philanthropic public service programs driven by this philosophy. Scott began pursuing his love and curiosity for cities by studying Urban Planning at the University of Maryland, years of world traveling, and eventually financing thousands of multi-family homes at Freddie Mac from 1995 to 2000.

As his brother, Kevin Plank, began selling Under Armour t-shirts in 1996, Scott joined in 2000, also dedicating himself to Making All Athletes Better. It was at Under Armour where Scott learned that a place is more than just a jumble of bricks. Our buildings are as important to our personal and professional mission as a computer or a sewing machine. He learned that customers and teammates need inspiring environments: playing fields, gyms, stores, and offices. By 2010, Scott’s leadership across the organization was broad and impactful; being responsible for half of the company’s then 7,000 employees, a robust retail platform of 100 stores, 2 million SF of real estate, e-commerce, expansion into China, and a third of the company’s revenue, and half of its profits.

Scott also began to diversify his portfolio by investing in his love for the entrepreneur and tech companies. In 2006, as Scott became an early start up investor in Transplant Connect. He worked to actively support innovative technologies increasing the viability and improvement to the organ transplant supply chain. His passion for this work continues today with MissionGO.

Dr. Joseph R. Scalea, MD

Co-Founder

Joseph R. Scalea, MD (Joe) is a multi-organ transplant surgeon at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.  As Dr. Scalea’s first academic loves were engineering and math, he graduated with honors from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Va Tech) with a degree in information technology. He attended medical school at the University of Maryland before entering a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University to study transplantation immunology. After completing formal transplant surgical training at the University of Wisconsin he was recruited to lead the pancreas and islet transplant program at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Under Dr. Scalea’s leadership, the University of Maryland combined kidney-pancreas program grew to the become the largest in the United States as of 2018. Dr. Scalea is passionately interested in eliminating the ongoing organ shortage which has devastating effects on patients with organ failure. Accordingly, he leads a translational immunology laboratory focused on identifying mechanisms to maximize organ efficiency through antirejection medicine avoidance, thus allowing patients “one transplant for life.” Further, he has most recently become interested in reducing the frictions in the organ delivery supply chain with the greater goal of maximizing the number of available organs. To this end, his pioneering work with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) demonstrates that innovated organ transportation could reduce cost, reduce time, and improve organ quality. Dr. Scalea and his research team were recently recognized for performing the first-ever shipment of an organ by UAS as well as for the first-ever transplant of a human organ (kidney) transported by UAS. These events were published in/on the NYT, NPR, CNN live, the Today Show, as well as scientific reports in JAMA-Surgery, the Annals of Surgery, as well as the IEEE and the American Journal of Transplantation. He has published more than 60 peer reviewed articles and numerous book chapters in addition to speaking all over the world on the subject of transplantation innovation. While saving one life through surgical transplantation is gratifying, saving thousands through research and innovation is to what Dr. Scalea has devoted his career.

Anthony Pucciarella

Co-Founder & Board Member

Tony “Pooch” Pucciarella is a retired U.S. Navy Commander, serving as a Patrol Plane Mission Commander, Operational Test Pilot, VIP Pilot, and Aviation Engineering Duty Officer (AEDO). Before starting his career in the Navy, Tony received an aeronautical and astronautical engineering degree from The Ohio State University. He later received an MBA from Loyola University Maryland’s Executive Program. He is certified as an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) and is rated in aircraft ranging from the iconic B-25 to the fastest business jets flying today. Tony is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with extensive experience in managing projects of all sizes and complexities. He is an active multi-rotor and fixed-wing UAS Pilot with extensive experience in small and large UAS operations. Tony served as the Airspace Integration Certification Lead for the Navy’s Triton UAS program and led the development of the program’s safety case for Sense and Avoid (SAA). He is active in ongoing rulemaking and standards development as a member of the FAA’s UAST and ASTM’s F-38 Committee. Tony co-led a workgroup supporting the larger Detect and Avoid (DAA) group on FAA Special Committee 228 (SC-228). With an established background in manned and unmanned aviation, engineering, aircraft systems integration, operational testing, and business, Tony was well-poised to address the growing critical needs gap in the UAS Industry. He assembled a team of highly skilled individuals in 2013 to design the architecture for what became AlarisPro – the most comprehensive UAS Operations and Maintenance program available.

Ryan Henderson

Director of Flight Operations

Originally from Knoxville Tennessee, Mr. Henderson is a Southern Maryland transplant. He attended the University of Tennessee where he earned a B.S. in Business.

His UAV experience started several years ago with RC planes. Since then, Ryan has been involved in a variety of projects ranging from search and rescue, precision agriculture, Counter UAS detection data acquisition, maritime operations, and cinematography. Certificated both as a manned and remote pilot, Ryan has hundreds of hours logged for both fixed and rotary-wing aircraft and has piloted UAS ranging in size from 250 grams to 450 pounds. Ryan is certified as both a Private Pilot and FAA Part 107 UAS Pilot and was the Chief Pilot at the University of Maryland UAS Test Site. Further, Ryan has extensive knowledge in flight control systems, command and control links, and radio relay. He is a subject matter expert on airworthiness analysis and has participated in global operational deployments including disaster stricken and harsh environments.

Among his various and storied accomplishments, Ryan was the remote operator for the first transportation and delivery of a transplanted organ via an unmanned aircraft, conducted the first civil commercial delivery of medical supplies across the Chesapeake Bay via unmanned aircraft, extended command and control of an Army EOD robot from hundreds of yards to 50 miles via unmanned aircraft and mesh networks, demonstrated prototype solar supplemented flight for DOD and the Thai military, created an over the horizon command and control network for surface vessels via unmanned aircraft and mesh networks, successfully completed satellite reflectively validation on both the east and west coast for NOAA, and mapped over 80% of the country Dominica in support of hurricane disaster recovery efforts.

At MissionGO, Ryan’s responsibilities include overseeing all flight operations, managing pilot and crew currency and qualifications, managing all SOP’s/Instructions, directing all Operation Readiness Reviews, curriculum creation and facilitation, and maintaining all UAS records. He is an airspace analysis expert that has been called upon multiple times for Certificates of Waiver or Authorization (COA) and Part 107 Waivers. He is at the forefront of gaining FAA certification for unmanned vehicles flying Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), at night, and over populated areas. He was part of the team that created the first FAA COA for flying transplant organs in an urban environment.

As wide-ranging and unique as his many accomplishments, Ryan enjoyed conducting aerial filming for the CBS series “Hunted”. In his spare time, he embraces his passion for all vehicles whether they fly, float, sail, or roll.

Joe Piazza

Director of Infrastructure Inspections

Mr. Piazza was born to a military family in Texas and began to travel the world during his father’s career. After spending his youth traveling with his family (including four years spent in Spain), he settled in Charles County, Maryland to finish school and marry the love of his life.

He spent 20 years as a member of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office where he served in the Patrol Division, Criminal Investigations Division, and the Special Operations Division, he retired from the Emergency Services Team. During his time in law enforcement, he commanded hundreds of raids and barricade situations and was one of the first operators to become an explosive breacher. Continuing to contribute to public safety, Joe was assigned to the Southern Maryland Criminal Justice Academy as a sworn instructor teaching topics including Defensive Tactics, Firearms, Taser, Interview, Interrogation, and Patrol Procedures.

Joe’s Aviation accomplishments include being certified as an FAA Part 107 Pilot as well as achieving Flight Safety International’s Safety Management Certification. He received numerous awards and commendations over an illustrious career of keeping the peace that include Officer of the Year, Meritorious Service Award for life saving actions following an officer involved shooting, Meritorious Service Award for life saving efforts during a barricade situation, Commendation for effective police work and court preparation by the Assistant State Attorney during a murder investigation and trial, Integrity and Valor Award for actions displayed during a barricade situation, and a Commendation for the apprehension of a robbery subject.

Joe is an advocate for the professional use of UAS and robotics to improve the overall safety of operators and subjects. He began flying unmanned aircraft in 2012 and has lead integration efforts to adopt them for law enforcement training and operations. He was instrumental in forming and leading the Charles County Sheriff’s Office’s sUAS effort and has trained countless other public safety offices as part of the MissionGO UAS Startup Program. Joe is certified as a FAA Part 107 UAS pilot and remote pilot instructor. He grew up flying planes with his father and grandfather.

Joe joined MissionGO’s Division full time in 2019 where he is responsible for safety training and upkeep of the safety management program. His initial efforts at MissionGO had Joe conducting UAS Program and safety inspections for a major California utility company. In this role, he managed the company’s safety program for all UAS utility inspection crews in the field on the largest UAS inspection effort ever conducted. For the safety management program, his duties included investigations of incidents and accidents, writing of policies and procedures, making safety improvement recommendations, and implementing new operating procedures.

As the Director of Critical Infrastructure, Joe has been an integral part of standing up aviation divisions from the ground up and customizing these programs for any companies individual needs.  Furthermore, Joe continues to lead all projects for critical infrastructure inspections from inception to final deliverables. He specializes in working directly with companies to customize programs to their specific needs.  Directly impacting the financial savings for our customers, risk mitigation, and optimization of deliverable data are primary successful tasks that Joe has driven as the lead for MissionGO Infrastructure Inspections.

When not flying UAVs or teaching, Joe spends time with his family running marathons, playing the guitar, and cheering his daughter as she competes in horse shows.

Rodney Manuel

Director of Training

Mr. Manuel was born in Lexington, KY and spent most of his life in Maryland where he attended school in both Delaware and Maryland. He has studied Criminal Justice and Electrical Engineering. Rodney acquired a diverse background during his 30 years in the law enforcement community. He retired from the Maryland State Police in 2011 after more than 22 years of service. Rodney spent his first 12 years patrolling the highways of Maryland and responding to calls at a full-service barrack. After serving in the Patrol Division of the state police, Rodney became a member and supervisor of the Maryland State Police Crash Team for the remainder of his career. The last three years of his career were spent as the agency’s Collision Reconstruction Coordinator — the final reviewer of serious and fatal motor vehicle crashes for the State of Maryland.  Rodney also maintains the highly coveted Accreditation Commission for Traffic Accident Reconstruction certification (ACTAR #2164) in 2009.  While on the crash team, he was the lead investigator for the largest motor vehicle collision in the state of Maryland’s history – the collision involving 72 vehicles. Rodney pioneered new techniques within the department to allow for the proper investigation of such a large-scale crash.

Upon retirement from the Maryland State Police, Rodney spent 7 years with the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office as their Training Coordinator and Collision Reconstruction Coordinator.  Early in 2016, he earned his FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification to fly UAS.  After standing up the agency’s UAS program in 2016, Rodney became their program manager and UAS Chief Pilot/Instructor.  Rodney has flown numerous UAS tactical missions for the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and numerous other UAS law enforcement missions to assist local and state agencies with various types of investigations.  Rodney has been flying RC helicopters for over 30 years.

As the Director of Training for MissionGO, Rodney is responsible for managing all aspects of current and future commercial and public safety clients desiring to standup a UAS program.  His role also includes curriculum development and teaching across multiple and diverse topics for internal and external UAS pilots. Rodney has been involved in the startup of over thirty (30) UAS programs across the country and has provided Part 107 test preparation training (with a 100% pass rate), as well as hands on flight training to more than 250 UAS pilots.  As a Part 107 UAS Pilot, he has logged hundreds of flight hours on UAS ranging in size from 250 grams to 55 pounds. Rodney serves as one of MissionGO’s single rotor UAV helicopter instructors and a senior UAS Remote Pilot within the infrastructure and cargo delivery divisions of the company when needed.  Rodney goal is to standup the safest, professional, and FAA compliant UAS programs possible.

Among his many UAS accomplishments, Rodney was the Remote Pilot in Command (RPIC) for the first ever human pancreas to be flown via uncrewed aircraft, was an RPIC for the first human corneas flown between two hospitals via an uncrewed aircraft system, served as the RPIC of four cargo delivery flights for the Navajo Nation (known as Operation Healing Eagle Feather), and flew numerous UAS cargo delivery flights across the Baltimore Inner Harbor in controlled “B” airspace.

When Rodney is not at work, he enjoys riding electric bikes with his wife and is proud of his son who continues the family tradition as a Maryland State Trooper.

Nate Ernst

Director of Business Development

SHAWN BARNEY

SALES LEAD

Mr. Barney grew up and has lived in several places throughout the mid-Atlantic, as his parents relocated while working in the Oil, Gas, and Utilities sector. Shawn attended high school in Maryland and decided to stay in the area for college, as his family continued to move. Shawn attended Towson University, where he received Bachelor’s Degrees in Criminal Justice and Sociology, and played D1-AA rugby throughout his four years at university. 

After graduating, Shawn stayed local to Baltimore, and dove headfirst into wireless technology and critical communications sales, which had always piqued his interest since getting his first set of walkie-talkies as a kid. Shawn has worked for large wireless technology resellers and equipment manufacturers, where he worked closely with law enforcement, first responders, and multiple Federal agencies, supplying them with high end communications equipment and technology, to help enhance safety and ensure clear communications while in dangerous situations. Shawn is a knowledgeable technology sales professional with a great understanding of the need to improve safety, visibility, and reliability with technology across various sectors and verticals. 

Shawn’s expertise has brought him to MissionGO, where he is excited to help change the utilities, infrastructure, critical cargo delivery, and first responder markets with MissionGO’s unmatched UAS solutions and services.

Outside of MissionGO, Shawn and his wife Angela enjoy traveling, good food, and anything active & outdoors to stay in shape and help tire out their dog.

MEGAN CROUT

Head of Marketing

 Ms. Crout comes from a diverse background of marketing in healthcare, technology, startups, private events and international corporations. Originally from Philadelphia, PA, she moved down to the Maryland area and began working in Washington, DC after graduating from Messiah University with a dual degree in Business and History.

Megan considers marketing the perfect intersection of people and stories, and loves nothing more than being able to connect and share the two. Megan began her career in non-profits working with an organization that helped underinsured patients gain access to funds needed to afford their medications. Having since moved into the public sector, Megan still holds on to the desire to help people, regardless of her line of work.

Megan brings over a decade of marketing and event experience and oversees all marketing operations at MissionGO.  When not storytelling, posting or editing, Megan enjoys traveling, house projects, and spending time with her husband, son and their rescue dog, Moose.

Bri Gray

Deputy Director of Critical Infrastructure Inspections

Ms. Gray grew up in Southern Maryland and graduated from Elon University with a degree in Psychology. She began her career teaching special needs children. After teaching, she learned she had a passion for Law Enforcement and decided to pursue a career as a police officer in her community for 15 years before joining MissionGO.  As a Police Officer, she served as a Patrol Officer, a Detective, Instructor and Supervisor. Several years were spent in specialized units to include Community Policing, Narcotics Interdiction, VICE/Narcotics Unit, DEA Task Force, and the Training Division. Throughout her career she taught at the Regional Academy due to her background and specialized skills. Once assigned as full-time instructor, she was chosen to lead the Defensive Tactics Program at the academy. She is a certified instructor in several disciplines including: Emergency Vehicle Operations, Firearms, Taser, Standardized Field Sobriety, Chemical Agents and more. As an additional assignment, Bri became a member of the Charles County Sheriff’s Office Drone Unit. Bri is a certified FAA Part 107 UAS pilot and has flown a number of missions. Utilizing UAS in several operations has driven Bri to become passionate about the use of UAS to better serve the community in any way possible.

At MissionGO Bri is the Deputy Director of Critical Infrastructure Inspections, a UAS Pilot on the operations team and an instructor.  As a Project Manager, she successfully guides teams of pilots to inspect critical infrastructure in a customizable program based on each companies individual objectives.  This involves training our teams to complete the task safely and efficiently.  Collecting this data drives Bri and her team as they see it serving the communities by preventing fires in high risk areas, keeping grids up and running to capacity with healthy working components.

When not at work Bri loves to spend time with family and friends. She enjoys watching the Washington Capitals hockey and Maryland Terps basketball games. She also finds time to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for exercise and fun.

Allan Burtness

Director of Maintenance

Originally born and raised in Wisconsin, Mr. Burtness is currently a Virginia resident. He attended a two-year program at Blackhawk Tech, located at Rock County Airport in Wisconsin, graduating in 1976 where he received his Airframe and Power Plant certificate (A&P).

Allan is a lifetime aviation professional with 44 years of helicopter experience as an A&P working for PHI.  During that time he was certified by PHI to maintain Bell 205, Bell 212, Bell 412, Bell 206 series, Bell 214ST, Sikorski S-76 helicopters, and EC-135. Beginning as a flight line junior mechanic in 1976 on Bell 205 and 212 helicopters he advanced to senior, then lead mechanic, working maintenance crews both on the flight line and in the hanger. In gaining that experience he moved to the classroom for 12 years as maintenance instructor teaching approximately 300 mechanics, both customer and PHI, initial and annual recurrent training on Bell medium and heavy ship helicopters.  After his work as maintenance instructor he worked two years as an overhaul hanger supervisor for PHI at the main facility in Lafayette, LA where he was responsible for the complete airframe overhaul of the medium and heavy ship fleet. Then, he moved to the EMS sector with PHI Air Medical where he performed the duties of east coast area maintenance manager for 16 years working in Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky and Florida being responsible for a crew of 22 mechanics and 14 EMS aircraft.

His work has taken him overseas to Saudi Arabia where he spent seven years during the late 1970’s and 1980’s as a PHI helicopter mechanic working the Persian Gulf oil fields. During that time he had the opportunity to act as a hoist operator flying in the Bell 212 and later the Bell 214ST transferring harbor pilots to and from supertankers as they came into port to fill up with oil and then depart. In that role, PHI executed thousands of hoist cycles, servicing all the world’s supertankers safely. During Allan’s extensive aviation experience he is proud to say he has never had a safety violation with the FAA. Now as Director of Maintenance, Allan is responsible for all aspects of the building and maintenance of MissionGO’s UAVs and to protect MissionGo’s FAR 135 certificate.

When Allan is not at work he enjoys spending time with his fantastic wife, Candace, and delving deeper into his passion for all things aviation — full scale and model. In the ’80s and ’90s, he scratch built and flew control line model airplanes, competing in the expert category of aerobatics in sanctioned Gulf Coast AMA events. Today he loves capturing all the action through photography and video.