James DeLaPorte
Partner and Business Transformation Leader
NexTec
James DeLaPorte has been a driving force of change in the aerospace and defense Industry since 2003 and is currently the Partner and Business Transformation Leader at NexTec. As the principal architect and project lead behind a very successful PLM initiative at Gulfstream Aerospace, Mr. DeLaPorte led a team of multidisciplinary experts in defining (from scratch) a new 3D Model Based Definition (MBD) business model that revolutionized how the company engineers, manufactures, and certifies aircraft. This leading edge business model features highly advanced and productive business processes for engineering data development, bill of material reporting, data approval and distribution, manufacturing planning, supplier integration, FAA approval, FAA conformity inspection and FAA data access. Mr. DeLaPorte holds an A.A.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology from SUNY NY and a B.S. in Business from the University of South Carolina.
John O’Connor
Director of Product and Market Strategy for Aerospace
VISTAGY, Inc.
John O'Connor is the Director of Product & Market Strategy for Aerospace at VISTAGY. Mr. O'Connor has served in many roles at VISTAGY ranging from application support and technical sales management to business development. Prior to VISTAGY, Mr. O'Connor was a Senior Design Engineer at Lockheed Martin where he led a variety of product design teams. Mr. O'Connor holds an M.S. in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.