Kyle O’Donnell, Director of Originations

Prior to Shearwater, Mr. O’Donnell was with Nomura Asset Management where he was a Business Analyst focused on operational projects. Prior to his role as Director of Originations Mr. O’Donnell has been responsible for loan portfolio management including loan invoicing, collections, maintenance monitoring and monthly reporting to investors. He also oversees research focused with current and residual values of potential and current portfolio aircraft. Mr. O’Donnell has been involved in financing more than $150M of aircraft assets. He is from the Atlanta metro area, coaches competitive youth Lacrosse. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia, where he studied Finance at the Terry College of Business.

Devin Carter, Director of Operations

Prior to Shearwater, Mr. Carter was with PNC Bank where he was a Branch Manager at various locations in charge of small business development and home equity lending. He has a degree in Finance from Auburn University and is active in a number of philanthropic activities associated with the University.

Katerina Barilov, Advisory Board Member

Ms. Barilov is currently the Co-Founder and Head of Business Development for Jump Aero. Jump Aero is an early stage startup working to leverage emerging eVTOL technology to help first responders save lives. She is actively involved in next-gen emerging aviation technologies and sits on the advisory boards of two other startups, Hermeus Aviation and Spike Aviation. She also serves on the NBAA Emerging Tech Committee.

Aside from her interest in eVTOL, Ms. Barilov has extensive experience in aviation, structured asset-backed finance, and corporate strategy. Prior to her experience with Shearwater, Ms. Barilov was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs’ Industrials Group in New York, focused on assisting top tier aviation, aerospace and defense clients. In this role, Ms. Barilov conduced analyses, created materials, and facilitated execution in all phases of the deal process, including pitching, industry research, valuation analysis, deal execution and due diligence for clients in aerospace and aviation. Ms. Barilov has been involved in numerous successful M&A, IPO and Spin-off processes.

Prior to Goldman Sachs, she ran the Structured Finance division for Europe Middle East and Africa at Hawker Beechcraft, a leading aerospace manufacturer based out of Wichita Kansas. She joined Hawker Beechcraft during an unprecedented downturn in general aviation as part of a small team of structured finance professionals formed to create a new solution for sales financing support of cross-border aircraft acquisitions. The team designed and launched a Structured Finance department which developed and maintained relationships with third party financiers, structured financing support and conducted credit analysis of potential clients. In her role, Ms. Barilov sourced transactions, developed and maintained a network of 200+ financiers, and structured and arranged complex transactions, liaising between lawyers, insurers, bankers and clients, overseeing due diligence, documentation, and credit processes.

She holds an MBA and Bachelors degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. She is an avid pilot with a passion for aerobatic competition with experience in a Pitts S2C. She spends her free time focused on adventure flying in her modified Piper Colt, cycling and running.

Mike Kahmann, Advisory Board Member

Mr. Kahmann has spent over 20 years leading teams that originate, underwrite, and service high yield structured debt transactions and equipment leases. Kahmann’s functional expertise spans sales and marketing, risk/underwriting, pricing/structuring, and operations. He has financed a broad variety of equipment types including business and commercial aircraft, railcars, trucks, trailers, and manufacturing equipment.

Kahmann started his career in finance and accounting, and his formal roles have been in new business development for banks and finance companies including CIT Group, GE Capital, and Emigrant Bank. From 2011 to 2017, Kahmann was Group Head of CIT’s Business Aircraft Finance Division. During that time, Kahmann’s team was able to successfully re-focus what had previously been a fractional jet sharefinancier into a world-leading whole aircraft funding source. Offices were opened and investment origination capabilities were developed around the globe: in Europe, Asia, and Latin America as well as throughout the United States. High-yield, low-loss secured loan assets were generated as the portfolio grew at a 19% CAGR.

Before his time at CIT, Kahmann started de novo Emigrant Bank’s business credit group, where he hired and trained a full team consisting of origination, risk/ underwriting, legal, and operations professionals. The group invests in high yield equipment leases as well as asset-based revolving loans. Kahmann has held origination as well as financial accounting and analysis positions at GE Capital, and has also been the COO/CFO of a start-up company in crisis/turnaround mode. Kahmann has a BA from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Chris Miller, Managing Partner

Chris Miller has over 30 years of experience in aviation and human capital. Prior to Shearwater, he oversaw Guggenheim Partners’ Business Aircraft Investment (BAI) Group. The BAI Group provided capital solutions to the business aviation industry, specifically asset-based lending on medium to large sized business aircraft. In recent years, Mr. Miller’s aircraft transactions and financings have been focused in Europe, emerging Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Prior to a career in business aviation finance, Mr. Miller ran the US Division of a UK based performance management consultancy working with management teams of both small and large organizations on the execution of their strategies. Notable projects include working with a private equity group to form a venture to fly cargo into geopolitically unstable regions of the world as well as working with large defense contractors to help fulfill urgent need requests from US military forces based in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Before entering the business world, Mr. Miller served in the United States Marine Corps, as an F/A-18 pilot, Aircraft Maintenance Officer and Aviation Safety Officer. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy & Marine Corps School of Aviation Safety and currently holds a commercial pilot rating. He is an accredited “Senior Aircraft Appraiser” with the American Society of Appraisers (ASA) and serves on its Investment Committee. He is also the former President of the National Aircraft Finance Association (NAFA). Mr. Miller received a BA from Denison University and an MBA from Columbia University.