Our Team

The Senior Leadership team at Hummingbird Aero are experienced professionals with decades of experience in the aerospace and defence industries. Each member brings their own unique skillset and contributes towards the growth and development of the company.

Brian Barker

President & CEO

Brian leads the Hummingbird Aero organization with more than 35 years of aerospace systems development experience.

Previous to Hummingbird, Brian was employed with Moog Aircraft Group, and focused in the development of advanced fly-by-wire flight controls for military and commercial aircraft.  Brian played an  instrumental role in the development of early Electrohydrostatic actuation technology and demonstrators leading to their selection and development on the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

In 1998, Brian founded the hydraulic pump and motor product line for Moog dedicated to providing specialized hydraulic power components for internal actuation needs.  These products have been used on flight control actuation systems for the F-18E/F, F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Airbus A400M and A350 aircraft.

Brian started his career as a designer and developer of hydraulic pumps and motors for both Garrett Fluid Systems and Abex Aerospace, and developed hydraulic power transfer units for both the Airbus A320 and Boeing C-17 aircraft.  Brian has served as an executive engineering leader for large engineering organizations at Goodrich Engine Controls and Northrop Grumman Inertial Navigation Systems, supporting the development of complex control systems per ARP 4754. He is experienced in the development of safety critical electronics and software per DO-178/254. 

From 2011 to 2023, Brian served as Chairman for the SAE A-6B2 International Panel for Electrohydrostatic Actuation.  Brian holds three patents for hydraulic systems technology.


David Manzanares

VP of Engineering & COO

David leads Engineering Services and Operations at Hummingbird Aero, and also serves as Vice President & GM, EM Systems Business Area. David most recently served as Vice President of Engineering for UmbraGroup, based in Foligno, Italy, where he was responsible for the integration and coordination of eight companies in Italy, Germany and United States, focused on EM actuation products.  
 
Prior, David spent over 20 years with Moog in engineering design and management where he led the integrated product teams responsible for the B787 Horizontal Stabilizer Trim Actuator (HSTA) and also the B787 EM Spoiler Actuator, the first application of an EM actuator on a primary flight control surface for a large commercial transport.  David currently serves as secretary for the SAE A-6 panel for electromechanical actuation.  He holds three patents, speaks Spanish and Italian, and is recognized as a world-leading expert in EM actuation technology.  

Brett Hunter

VP/GM Military Aircraft Business Unit

Brett Leads Hummingbird’s Military Aircraft Business Unit following over 37 years in systems architecture design and integration in the Aerospace industry at General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Moog Aircraft Group. Brett’s main focus has been in air vehicle subsystem design and system integration. He has extensive experience in the emergency power, engine start, leading edge flap and flight control actuation areas.
 
Brett has over 10 years overseas experience as a technical advisor in both Taiwan and South Korea. In Taiwan, Brett represented General Dynamics as the in-country representative to AIDC for the Secondary Power and Hydraulic Systems on the IDF program. He later assumed a larger role as the Vehicle Subsystem lead before returning to Fort Worth, TX to work on the F-16 program. In South Korea, Brett represented Lockheed Martin as the in-country advisor to KAI as the Vehicle Subsystems Sr. Manager on the T-50 program.
 
After returning to Fort Worth, Brett worked on the F-35 program in the Vehicle Systems department in various capacities including Sr. Manager for both the Systems Engineering and Integration and Mechanical Systems Teams.
 
Brett left Lockheed to join Moog Aircraft Group in Torrance, CA as the Chief Engineer for Actuation for the Military Sector. Brett later took on roles as the Director of Engineering for the Military Sector which included, Systems Engineering, Electronics, Software as well as Actuation. Brett’s last role prior to joining Hummingbird was Director of Engineering for the Aircraft Group which included the Commercial and Components Sectors in addition to the Military Sector.

Gonzalo Rey

SVP Systems, Safety, & Control

Gonzalo Rey joins the Hummingbird Aero team as Senior Vice President and Technical Fellow for Systems, Safety, and Control, with a specific focus on enhancing our capabilities for new generations of air mobility vehicle control systems.  With a distinguished career that includes senior leadership roles at Moog, Pratt and Whitney, Zoox, and Skyryse, Gonzalo is a renowned expert in automation, vehicle and propulsion control, and system safety technologies.  Gonzalo works actively with Hummingbird Aero customers providing mentorship and guidance to their emerging development teams. 

After completing his master’s degree in mathematics and electrical engineering, and then a doctorate in electrical engineering – all at Cornell University – Gonzalo spent a significant portion of his career at Moog Inc., where he rose to become Head of Engineering and later Chief Technology Officer. During his tenure, he was responsible for Moog’s autonomous systems strategy for industrial and aircraft markets and led the development of fly-by-wire primary controls and high-lift systems for the Boeing 787, Airbus A350, and Gulfstream G650 and G280 aircraft.  During an interim period at Pratt and Whitney, Gonzalo became a Technical Fellow in Controls and Dynamic Systems, and integrated novel six-axis control laws for the F-135 engine.

As VP of System Design and Mission Assurance at Zoox, Gonzalo defined the certification approach for an autonomous driverless passenger car that successfully achieved the first-ever self-certification of its kind. Later, as CTO and Company Director at Skyryse, Gonzalo played a crucial role in establishing the product scope and architecture for a fly-by-wire pilot assistance system for General Aviation aircraft, leading a team that delivered the proof of concept that is advancing toward FAA certification.

With his extensive knowledge in air vehicle systems design for automation and safety criticality, Gonzalo Rey brings invaluable expertise to Hummingbird Aero’s growing air mobility customer base and underscores our commitment to providing exceptional system design capabilities to advance the future of air mobility. 




John Fuller

VP Strategic Development

John Fuller is a highly experienced aerospace industry professional with over 40 years of experience holding a range of engineering leadership positions at Lockheed Martin, General Atomics, BAE Systems, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Bell Helicopter-Textron.

John has served in various executive positions, including Vice President of Transport Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Vice President of the USAF MQ-9 Program at General Atomics, Executive Director of the Korean F-16 Upgrades FMS Program at BAE Systems, Director of Programs for Bell Aero MRO at Bell Helicopter-Textron and Executive Director of USMC H-1 Upgrades. John has also held key positions in engineering and product teams, including Director of Engineering at Aurora Flight Sciences, Chief Engineer for the F-16 and Vice President for the F-35 Air Vehicle Development at Lockheed Martin.

Sylvain Alaire

Principal Systems Engineer

Sylvain Alarie is a leading authority in flight control system architecture, logic and functional safety per ARP 4754. Sylvain has served in leadership roles for flight control system responsibilities for Bombardier, Thales, Rockwell Collins and was Chief Engineer for the Gulfstream 500/600 flight controls. His expertise spans system architectural develop for primary flight controls, spoiler systems, horizontal stabilizer trim systems, and slat/flap systems.
 
Sylvain is highly experienced in Embedded Systems design requirements definition and control logic and aircraft integration to the guidelines of SAE ARP4754A and ARP4761. He has participated in component qualification programs, integrated flight control system test rig testing, aircraft ‘iron bird’ testing, and aircraft ground and flight test programs.
 
Sylvain is an expert in aircraft systems integration and certification, and is trained for Transport Canada (TCA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) design approval delegation (DER).

It is a pleasure to work with and to learn from the subject matter experts and engineers within Hummingbird Aero. We receive great feedback from our customers about the level of expertise and service that our teams provide. Over the course of several customer projects, we have developed engagement models that enable our Hummingbird teams to expand customer capabilities and
capacity to achieve better results faster than their independent organizations can achieve alone.

David Manzanares

VP of Engineering & COO