Matt Nelson

Matt Nelson, C.M., ATP, serves as the Airport Manager at the Salinas Municipal Airport, home of Archer’s eVTOL flight testing and research. Previously, Nelson served as the Airport Manager at the Marina Municipal Airport where he provided support to Joby Aviation’s growth and expansion. Key successes include FAA authorization to construct a state of the art 224,000 sq. ft. facility for R&D, testing and composite fabrication and assembly, and approval to conduct powered hydrogen flight and its associated research. Other career highlights include serving as the Director of Operations at the Mojave Air & Space Port, lending support to rocket motor testing and the commercial space industry (Mojave is home of the National test Pilot School, Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company, Masten, and Stratolaunch Systems). Prior to airport management, Nelson flew the line at Southwest Airlines as a captain qualified pilot on the Boeing 737. He is a proud Gaucho from the University of California at Santa Barbara and has called the Central Coast home for thirty-six years.