Jay Wynn

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Jay Wynn

Jay Wynn is the co-founder and Managing Director of Fairmont Consulting Group LLC. Over the course of his career, Jay has led or supported more than one-hundred strategy engagements and M&A transactions in the aerospace, defense, and government services sectors. As the co-founder of Fairmont, Jay has worked to build a firm that focuses on outstanding client service, providing new, unique, data-driven analysis in support of clients’ most complex and challenging business questions.

Jay began his career as an advisor in the aerospace and defense sector more than twenty years ago, working as a consultant with ANSER Corporation serving clients at the Pentagon. Prior to founding Fairmont, Jay served as a managing director with CSP Associates, a leading aerospace and defense advisory firm. During his time at CSP Jay led or played a key supporting role in more than one hundred transaction and strategic advisory engagements for more than thirty clients in the United States and Europe.

Prior to CSP, Jay worked with Bain & Company in their Private Equity Group, providing due diligence advisory services to clients across a range of industries. He previously worked with Gartner Group as a senior consultant, providing strategy and market analysis to clients in enterprise IT and telecommunications.

Jay received an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. He studied under a NASA fellowship at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where he received an MA in Science, Technology, and Public Policy. Jay was a President’s Scholar at Georgia Tech and received a BS with Honors in Aerospace Engineering.

Ben Harper

Ben Harper

Ben Harper joined with Jay Wynn to co-found Fairmont Consulting Group LLC in 2012. Ben leads Fairmont’s commercial aerospace practice, and plays a key role in Fairmont’s strategic and transaction advisory engagements across all of the firm’s served markets. His thought leadership and expertise in commercial aerospace have played a critical role in helping clients understand the challenges and opportunities they face, whether through transaction due diligence or through long-range strategic planning.

Prior to founding Fairmont, Ben was a Director at CSP Associates, a leading aerospace and defense advisory firm, where he joined as a Senior Associate in 2008. Earlier in his career, he worked at Deloitte Consulting, providing management consulting across several industries, with an emphasis in telecom and technology strategy.

Ben was a Fellow in MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations program, the world’s preeminent program for operations and supply chain management. He received an MBA and an MS in Materials Science and Engineering through this program. His fellowship research focused on operations improvement and organizational strategy while at Spirit Aerosystems. Ben has also received a BS in Chemical Engineering and BA in Economics from Rice University.

Mark Shaheen

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Mark Shaheen

Mark Shaheen is a Senior Director at Fairmont Consulting Group. He has over twenty-five years of experience in the national security sector as a military officer, diplomat, and business executive. In the private sector, he has served as a  strategy consultant, equity investor, and investment banker, advising numerous corporations and financial sponsors on growth strategy in the government sector.

At Fairmont, he leads strategy engagements and diligence support in the Federal services sector. He has extensive expertise supporting clients’ strategies in the defense, intelligence, and services support sectors.

Prior to joining Fairmont, Mr. Shaheen was a Managing Director at Aronson Capital Partners, a boutique investment bank focused on the national security sector.

Previously, he was a Managing Director at Paladin Global, where he focuses on international investments and operations in the defense, intelligence, government services, infrastructure, cyber security, and alternative energy sectors.

Prior to joining Paladin Global, he was President and Managing Director of Civitas Group, a strategy and management consulting firm focused on the national security and government sectors. At Civitas Group, he led the firm’s  efforts in the commercial and government markets including strategy consulting, acquisition support, and investment due diligence in the defense, intelligence, cyber security, homeland security, and government services sectors. In addition, he led numerous strategy and M&A support engagements for leading corporations, investment banks, and private equity firms.

He has worked frequently with technology and services companies of all sizes and phases to build effective growth strategies in the government security market, and has a strong record of assisting clients with growth and strategic expansion. He has particular experience in the intelligence sector, as well as significant work with government contractors providing security and expeditionary support services, including private military contractors.

Prior to joining Civitas Group as one of the firm’s original principals, he was a Foreign Service Officer at the Department of State. His diplomatic assignments included serving as the Senior Advisor for the Middle East in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, a role he assumed in 2002, subsequent to the 9/11 attacks. In this capacity he led critical counterterrorism initiatives and coordinated interagency policy and numerous bi-lateral efforts in the Middle East. Previously, Mr. Shaheen served on the staff of two Secretaries of State. He also held overseas assignments as a Political/Economic Officer at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana, and as Special Assistant to the Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in London. He has worked in numerous advisory roles related to intelligence, homeland security, and foreign policy/national security for both corporations and policy organizations, as well as serving on the boards of growth-stage companies.

Mr. Shaheen served as an officer in the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Georgetown University.

Max Asterlin

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Max Asterlin

Max Asterlin joined Fairmont as an Associate in 2013, and joined the Partnership of the firm in 2023. He comes to Fairmont from United Technologies – Pratt & Whitney where he most recently served as the Project Lead for High Pressure Turbine Airfoils on Pratt & Whitney’s Geared Turbo Fan family (power plants for the Bombardier CSeries, Embraer’s E-Jet E2 Family, Mitsubishi Regional Jet, Irkut MS-21, and Gulfstream G500/G600) of engines for 3 years. In this role Max led a team of cross functional engineers through design, test & validation, and manufacturing activities. Max’s team held sole responsibility to meet program component requirements and test / production schedules during a major engine development program. These turbine airfoils incorporated the latest cooling technology and are the most advanced commercial turbine blades in Pratt & Whitney history. During this effort Max spearheaded the efforts to solve multiple manufacturing challenges arising from the numerous advanced manufacturing technologies utilized. Max’s Integrated Product Team successfully met all component delivery milestones for engine tests and customer shipments despite starting with a zero yield manufacturing process. Max holds design and utility patents relating to the internal cooling architecture and corresponding manufacturing processes for these components.

Max previously served as the Project Engineer on the F117 and PW2000 engine programs (power plants for the Boeing C-17 and Boeing 757) for 3 years. The F117 maintenance program was the largest military service program for Pratt & Whitney. In this role Max led teams through redesign and service investigation activity for the entire turbine section of the engine. He acted as the liaison to the FAA and the US Military on engineering related issues, reporting quarterly on open projects. Max also worked as a co-op with Pratt & Whitney from 2002-2004, providing him with a solid foundation in the design, test, and manufacturing of both commercial and military jet engines.

Max holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an MBA with Honors from Purdue University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, also from Purdue University. He is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, a Pratt & Whitney: Master Black Belt, and has received Professional Engineering-In-Training certification.

Annalisa Weigel, Ph.D.

Annalisa Weigel

Annalisa Weigel, Ph.D.

Annalisa Weigel, Ph.D., is currently a Director with Fairmont Consulting Group. She supports growth strategy and market due diligence engagements for various sponsors and strategic clients across Fairmont’s practice areas and leads the firm’s process improvement activities. Annalisa recently served as the CEO of Panoptes Systems, a company focused on creating innovative environment perception products and related services for commercial small unmanned aerial systems, during which she continued her involvement with Fairmont as a Director.

Annalisa initially came to Fairmont from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where for eight years she was a faculty member researching and teaching in aerospace and defense innovation, continuous process improvement, and systems design. At MIT, she did pioneering work in understanding innovation dynamics in the aerospace and defense sector. She is the author of over sixty journal and conference publications.

Prior to MIT, Annalisa worked at Lehman Brothers in the firm’s Macro Equity Strategy research group. She also supported the firm’s II-ranked aerospace and defense equity research team. Previously, she was a researcher with MIT’s Lean Aerospace Initiative. Before that, she worked as a consultant with Adroit Systems Inc. serving clients at the Pentagon and in the national security community.

Annalisa received her PhD in Technology, Management, and Policy from MIT, as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering. Studying under a NASA fellowship, she received an MA in Science, Technology, and Public Policy from the George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. Annalisa is a very active member in the aerospace community through AIAA and the Women in Aerospace Foundation.