BIll Bihlman

Founder & President, Aerolytics LLC

Bill Bihlman founded Aerolytics in 2012, a strategic management consultancy dedicated to aerospace materials, manufacturing, and the global supply chain. He started his career in 1995 as an engineer at Raytheon Aircraft. Bill supports SAE International’s AMS (Aerospace Material Specifications) consensus standards for advanced materials and manufacturing. Bill has a BSME, MSME, and PhD in IE from Purdue University. He also has an MBA and MPA from Cornell University, and is a licensed private pilot.

Paul Beaker

Vice President Engineering, Manufacturing, and Quality, GM Defense

Paul Beaker joined the business in 2021 and leads advanced program and technology development with direct interface to our military and government customers. Beaker brings over 25 years of GM engineering experience to GM Defense. Beaker most recently served as engineering director of Chassis Architecture and Integration, where he led chassis teams responsible for architecture development, program execution, and product quality. Previously, Beaker served as engineering director of Fuel Systems where he led the team responsible for all GM programs including, gasoline, diesel, CNG, and LPG products. In earlier roles, Beaker served as program engineering manager for the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain programs where he managed the design, integration, development, validation, and quality of both product lines. Prior to this, Beaker served as engineering group manager for the Cadillac CTS, STS and SRX, where he led the team responsible for powertrain integration components including, driveline, induction, mechanical controls, exhaust, and powertrain mounts. Before the manager role, Beaker was a chassis architect, responsible for chassis architecture on many initial vehicle programs and transitioned to vehicle systems engineer where he was principal chassis engineer for the 2008 Cadillac CTS. Beaker began his GM career in 1997 as a chassis design engineer working on various Cadillac programs. Beaker earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.