Board of Directors

Mr. Liotta co-founded Volato and has served as a Director and Chief Executive Officer since its inception. Prior to co-founding Volato, in 2016, Mr. Liotta founded Agrify (NASDAQ: AGFY), an agricultural technology company where he served as President until 2019 and Chief Technology Officer from to 2019 to 2020. Prior to that, Mr. Liotta worked for several Silicon Valley venture capital backed portfolio companies, including gMoney Corporation, Yipes, TeamToolz, and DevX. Mr. Liotta has also held positions at Hudson Global, Pharmasset, and One Ring Networks. In 2019, Mr. Liotta also co-founded CEADS, a non-profit organization for the advancement of Controlled Environment Agriculture and served as its President until 2022. He currently serves as a Director for Fintainium, a cloud-based financial technology company that provides secure remote and mobile access for financial services.

Mr. Cooper co-founded Volato and has served as a Director and in various executive officer roles since its inception, including most recently as Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to co-founding Volato Mr. Cooper was at AGM Service Company. Prior to that, in 2015, Mr. Cooper founded Apptuto, a 500 Startups accelerator portfolio company focused on mobile-first consumer edtech, where he served as Chief Executive Officer until 2017. Before starting his entrepreneurial career, Mr. Cooper gained experience in investment banking serving as Investment Manager at Al Nahdha Investment and Abu Dhabi Capital Group, a prominent family office in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where he was responsible for managing the Private Equity and Venture Capital portfolios from 2010 to 2015. From 2003 to 2009, Mr. Cooper was a Senior Associate at Macquarie Bank, operating out of the London and Sydney offices. Mr. Cooper holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Sydney Australia, where he was a resident of St. Johns College and Ellwood Scholarship recipient. Mr. Cooper is a CFA® Charterholder, CFA Institute, and is a former Chartered Accountant and lapsed member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales.

Mr. Nichols has served as a Director of Volato since August 19, 2021 and as the Chief Executive Officer of the Malibu M-Class Owners & Pilots Association (MMOPA) since October 2022. In September 2021, Mr. Nichols founded Flieger Strategies, LLC, an aviation and business strategy consultancy, where he continues to serve as President. Previously, Mr. Nichols was a senior executive with the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), where he served in several executive roles over the course of an 18-year tenure from 2003 to 2021, most recently as its Vice President of Strategy & Innovation. He continues to serve as a director on the NBAA’s Certified Aviation Manager Governing Board. In addition to a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Nichols has earned Certified Aviation Manager (CAM), Certified Association Executive (CAE) and Institute for Organizational Management (IOM) credentials.

Chris Burger is a proven senior executive, C-level advisor, and Board member with extensive experience leading global organizations through critical business and technology transformation initiatives. Chris has direct international management experience spanning five continents and currently serves as President & CEO of Transform with a mission to help clients and team members achieve their greatest potential and fulfillment. Notable Transform Aviation clients include, among others, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, United Airlines, and USAF Air Mobility Command. Earlier in his career, Chris held roles of increasing responsibility at GE and Motorola across digitization, acquisition integration, program and project management, strategic programs, global business planning and competitive intelligence. Chris holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a Marketing Distinction Certificate from Emory University’s Roberto C. Goizueta Business School.

Alan D. Gaines, Executive Chairman/CEO and founder of ALG Corp., ALG Media, Inc., Tidal NRG, and Innov8 Gases Corp., is a globally respected and highly experienced transactional investment banker/advisor and entrepreneur, having led or participated in 200+ transactions during his career, raising capital far greater than $100 billion. Mr. Gaines is primarily active within the AI/data center space, industrial and rare gases, upstream fossil fuels, mining of critical minerals, AI/robotics, and grid infrastructure and BESS. Mr. Gaines specializes in scaled capital formation, mergers and acquisitions, restructuring, geophysics, and has significant oversight expertise regarding board protocol and governance. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Mr. Gaines founded and was chairman of Dune Energy, Inc. from 2001 through 2010. Dune held producing properties onshore and offshore in Louisiana and Texas. He sourced and spearheaded Dune's $540 million acquisition of Goldking Energy Corp., resulting in a proforma valuation of approximately $1 billion. Mr. Gaines co-founded Gaines, Berland Inc., a large independent full service energy investment bank serving small and mid-cap energy companies. Mr. Gaines sold his stake in Gaines, Berland in 1998. From 1984 - 2006, Mr. Gaines was an activist investor. He identified, analyzed and financed all energy opportunities for, and was Chief Strategic Advisor to financier Carl C. Icahn, initiating and administering all of Mr. Icahn's energy investments, including Gulf Oil, Texaco, Pennzoil, Phillips Petroleum, Williams Cos., USX/Marathon Oil, Tenneco, and many others. He has been widely quoted in global newspapers/magazines, media and industry outlets, such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, Forbes, Business Week, Financial Times, Bloomberg, etc. Mr. Gaines co-founded and is presently chairman of privately held Tidal NRG. Tidal NRG develops digital infrastructure and AI data center projects in Texas totaling 9-11 GW post construction. Mr. Gaines serves as executive chairman and co-founder of Innov8 Gases Corp., which develops helium and green hydrogen assets in the Holbrook Basin in Arizona, and as a strategic advisor to Indrocorp Technologies, which develops advanced solutions for the AI, drone, and robotics space for commercial and military deployment. Mr. Gaines holds a BBA in Finance from Baruch College (CUNY) and an MBA in Finance ("with Distinction" - Valedictorian) from the Zarb School, Hofstra University Graduate School of Management. He maintains homes in Summerlin, NV, and Los Angeles, CA.