John Vannoy brings a wealth of aviation and manufacturing expertise, along with proven leadership, to the COLSA Uncrewed Systems team as COLSA’s new Director of Uncrewed Systems.
As a retired U.S. Army Colonel with 32 years of service, he held many leadership positions to including Army Aviation Project Manager, USSOCOM Program Executive Officer, and Deputy to the USSOCOM Acquisition Executive. Upon retirement from the military, John became the President of Strata-G Solutions, an Alaska Native-owned engineering and manufacturing firm. In addition to leading Strata-G Solutions, he served concurrently as the CEO of the Aleut Strata-G Holding Company, providing executive oversight for two subsidiary companies and associated property assets in Huntsville, Alabama.
While at Strata-G Solutions, John successfully led his team to produce thousands of designs and parts for DOW, other government agencies, and businesses. In particular, he rapidly scaled production for a Department of War customer producing thousands of Group 2 and Group 3 drones to support the Ukrainian war effort. John also led industry research and development to produce cutting edge multi-mission drones and in producing drone parts in the U.S. that were formerly only accessible overseas.
John’s Role at COLSA
John will play a pivotal role in the strategic growth of our Uncrewed Systems team by leading our expansion into new facilities and expanding our commercial product line.
“It’s important that we focus on quickly responding to emerging customer requirements so that we can keep pace with our nation’s adversaries,” said John. “We want to lead the industry in countering emerging threats now, not tomorrow.”
For COLSA Uncrewed Systems, John says that no detail, requirement, or customer need is too small to consider. John’s team aims to deliver their products at an affordable price with the highest quality service that will meet or exceed customer expectations.
Why COLSA?
When we asked why John chose COLSA, he said it was because COLSA has a reputation for getting the job done right with no excuses and producing top notch results. He said that COLSA has a long, proven track record of taking on hard problems on our nation’s behalf and producing cost-effective, timely, and high-quality results.
“COLSA’s owner believes in decisiveness, taking business risk, and has a laser focus on taking care of the customers and the employees, principles that make this company one of the most respected in our business,” said John. “I’m excited to be part of such a reputable team with true mission focus.”
