CHICAGO, IL. – October 3, 2019: Rocket Wagon Venture Studios today announced Christopher J. Bonanti joined the company to establish and lead their Strategic Advisory Services practice.
Bonanti’s expertise involves more than 25 years of professional experience leading and managing regulatory, legislative, safety, and infrastructure projects for all modes of transportation, including motor vehicle, rail, and aviation.
The new practice group will provide a diverse array of strategic solutions based on industry and business process knowledge. This strategic expertise has been gained from Internet of Things (IoT) implementation and operations, case studies, strategic regulatory and compliance perspectives, and the transformation and increased business efficiencies of the manufacturing processes within several industries.
“Although many businesses are interested in exploring IoT to take their business processes to the next level by incorporating increased efficiencies that provide positive revenue, they may need to increase their overall knowledge and strategy on how to incorporate IoT into their business model,” said Don DeLoach, founder and CEO of Rocket Wagon Venture Studios. “We are thrilled Chris is joining us to establish and grow this important new aspect of our offering.”
“The IoT is now a distinctive part of every business, government, and personal landscape, impacting all aspects of our lives,” Bonanti said. “The technology, ranging from sensor technology, communications, data analytics, security, privacy and more, has advanced to a point that would have been unrecognizable less than a decade ago. We’re at a tipping point in IoT, and it’s time to advance what’s possible across so many industries. I am honored to join the Rocket Wagon Venture Studios team to advance lifesaving and life changing solutions bringing the physical and digital worlds together.”
Prior to joining the company, Bonanti was CEO of The Baluster Group, a boutique consulting firm focused on management, engineering, and regulatory and compliance consulting. Before that, he was a Director and Senior Managing Consultant at a major consulting firm in D.C. focused on regulatory and compliance matters and their integration into the management and business sectors of transportation. He also recently served as the Director for Environmental Planning at All Aboard Florida, now Brightline/Virgin Rail, where he was accountable for the management, technical, and strategic direction of the company’s environmental regulatory strategy, schedule, mitigation and permitting processes.
As a former member of the U.S. Senior Executive Service (SES) and the Associate Administrator for Rulemaking at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Bonanti was the senior executive responsible for developing, writing, and implementing rules, regulations, and standards for all ground transportation vehicles sold within the U.S., including the auto, trucking, motor coach, and motorcycle industries. Bonanti was responsible for moving the Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication research and agency’s regulations forward as well as coauthored the agency’s original autonomous vehicle policy and guidance for the United States.
He also served as Head of the U.S. Delegation to United Nations World Forum for the Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations.
Previous work experience included serving as the Director for the Office of Hazardous Materials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as a staff member on Committees of both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, as a Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), as Deputy Executive Director for the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, and as an investigator-in-charge (IIC) at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). He is also a former U.S. Marine and served during Desert Shield.
Bonanti is a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, with an MBA focused on Finance, Marketing and Innovation. He has a Master of Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science from Rutgers University.
About Rocket Wagon Venture Studios
Rocket Wagon Venture Studios helps to build startups for the cyber-physical world by providing a team of experienced entrepreneurs who also have strong experience in IoT and specific vertical expertise. The RWVS parent organization provides the architectural cyber-physical framework including considerations regarding devices, security, privacy, data governance and ownership, communications, and a broad range of analytics, as well as shared legal and financial services, underlying operational systems, and corporate relationships. The related subsidiary studios are vertically focused venture studios that combine entrepreneurial expertise to de-risk startups and accelerate them to market with vertically aligned, IoT specific expertise to drive targeted startups at higher valuations.
Learn more at rwvstudios.com.
