The Women of Hydrogen Aviation: How Five Leaders Are Reshaping the Future of Hydrogen Flight
- HYSKY Society
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
For decades, aviation has been one of the hardest industries to decarbonize. Jet fuel powers 90,000 flights daily across the globe, and commercial aviation alone accounts for roughly 2-3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge isn't just enormous—it's urgent.
But a quiet revolution is underway. While the aviation industry has historically been male-dominated, particularly in engineering and leadership, a new generation of women is steering the hydrogen aviation movement. These leaders aren't waiting for permission to innovate; they're building the propulsion systems, infrastructure, funding, and educational frameworks that will transform flight from a carbon-intensive industry into a clean-energy one.
For the first time, HYSKY Society's FLYING HY 2025 conference is featuring enough female pioneers in hydrogen aviation to dedicate an entire article to their work. Five remarkable women—plus HYSKY founder Danielle McLean—are leading efforts across aircraft design, airport infrastructure, venture capital, education, and propulsion technology. Their combined impact is reshaping what's possible in sustainable aviation.
The Case for Hydrogen Flight
Before diving into the women leading this transformation, it's important to understand why hydrogen-electric fuel cells represent aviation's cleanest path forward.
Commercial aviation needs a propulsion system that's energy-dense, lightweight, and produces zero carbon emissions. Battery-electric planes work well for short regional flights, but their weight and energy density limitations make them impractical for longer routes. Hydrogen-electric fuel cells solve this problem. These systems convert hydrogen into electricity through a electrochemical reaction, powering electric motors with only water vapor as a byproduct—no CO2, no emissions, no environmental impact.
The advantage over burning hydrogen directly is significant: fuel cell systems are more efficient, more controllable, and integrate seamlessly with electric motor technology. They represent the most promising near-term path to decarbonizing commercial aviation.
But commercializing hydrogen-electric propulsion requires solving interconnected challenges. Aircraft need to be redesigned around new propulsion systems. Fuel cells must be proven reliable and certified for aviation use. Airports need hydrogen refueling infrastructure. The entire supply chain—from hydrogen production to storage to aircraft integration—must be built from scratch.
These barriers aren't merely technical; they're systemic. And solving them requires diverse expertise, bold capital allocation, and leadership willing to take risks.
This is where the women of hydrogen aviation come in.
Dr. Anita Sengupta: Founder and CEO of Hydroplane
Dr. Anita Sengupta didn't set out to revolutionize aircraft propulsion. But after years working in advanced propulsion systems at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she recognized a critical gap: the technology to power hydrogen-electric aircraft existed, but nobody was commercializing it.
In 2022, she founded Hydroplane with a singular mission: develop practical, scalable hydrogen-electric propulsion systems for commercial aircraft. Hydroplane isn't building aircraft itself—it's building the engine that will power them.
What makes Sengupta's leadership distinctive is her ability to translate cutting-edge physics into business reality. She's navigated regulatory frameworks, secured funding, and built partnerships with aircraft manufacturers. More importantly, she's proven that women can lead the most technically complex challenges in aviation.
Dr. Anita Sengupta and William Shatner
Sengupta is quite the celebrity in the aerospace community and was even interviewed on William Shatners TV show, "I Don't Understand."
Her work at Hydroplane demonstrates that the future of aircraft propulsion isn't just about fuel—it's about reimagining the entire system. And she's doing it from the CEO's office.
Irwin Kerboriou: Reimagining Airports with Beyond Aero
If hydrogen aircraft are the future, then airports must evolve to support them. This is where Irwin Kerboriou's work becomes essential.
Beyond Aero CEO Eloa Guillotin with Sir Richard Branson
As Lead H₂ Airport Operations Manager at Beyond Aero, who's also led by woman CEO Eloa Guillotin and co-founder, Kerboriou oversees the infrastructure side of hydrogen aviation adoption. This means designing hydrogen refueling systems, coordinating with airport authorities, managing safety protocols, and ensuring that the practical logistics of hydrogen ground operations work seamlessly.
Kerboriou's role is particularly critical because infrastructure has historically been overlooked in aviation's sustainability conversation. The focus tends to be on aircraft and engines, but if airports can't fuel hydrogen planes, the technology never reaches commercial viability.
Her work exemplifies how hydrogen aviation success requires thinking beyond the aircraft itself—it demands systems thinking, coordination, and leadership from someone who understands both aviation operations and emerging energy systems.
Dr. Eva Maleviti: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Innovation only sustains itself if it's taught. Dr. Eva Maleviti recognized this early in her career at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, one of the world's leading aviation institutions.
Maleviti has published two books on sustainable aviation and even taught HYSKY's H2 Aircraft Certification Online Short Course.
Her teachings cover MRO, fuel cell technology, propulsion systems, safety protocols, and the regulatory landscape. But more than that, she's shaping how a generation of aviation professionals thinks about decarbonization from day one of their education.
Maleviti's work is transformative because it addresses a critical bottleneck: talent. The hydrogen aviation industry can't scale without engineers, technicians, and aviation professionals who understand the technology. By training them at Embry-Riddle—and by her example as a female leader in technical education—she's expanding who feels welcome and capable in aerospace innovation.
Jessica Nelson: New North Ventures
Technology alone doesn't scale. It needs funding.
Jessica Nelson, Principal at New North Ventures, understands this better than most. As a venture investor focused on climate tech and clean energy, she's in the position to identify which startups have the potential to transform the industry—and to provide the capital they need to survive long enough to prove it.
Nelson's role is unique because she's filtering thousands of potential investments to identify the founders, teams, and technologies that will actually move the needle on decarbonization. She's not just writing checks; she's helping shape the industry's direction through capital allocation.
Sara Mitran: Nathe MC
While breakthrough hydrogen-electric technology is essential, it means nothing if it never reaches the market. This is where Sara Mitran, Founder and Principal of Nathe Management Consulting, plays a critical role.
With 16 years of experience commercializing new technologies across seven companies—including serving as C-level executive—Mitran understands what separates promising innovations from successful products. She's guided technologies from concept through growth scale, steered startups toward next-stage funding, and transformed early prototypes into products that close half-million-dollar deals.
NatheMC, founded in 2021, helps emerging technologies thrive by aligning corporate strategy, product development, and commercialization roadmaps with real customer and stakeholder feedback. A key part of her work involves helping early-stage companies navigate government funding programs, particularly the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. These programs are critical for hydrogen-electric aviation startups—they provide non-dilutive capital to develop and validate technology without giving away equity. Mitran's expertise in positioning companies for SBIR and STTR success has helped multiple startups secure the resources they need during those critical early validation phases.
Danielle McLean: Building the Community
The individual achievements of Sengupta, Kerboriou, Maleviti, Nelson, and Mitran are remarkable. But they exist within a broader ecosystem that didn't happen by accident.
Danielle McLean, CEO & Founder of HYSKY Society, created the platform and community that brought these leaders together. HYSKY is the nonprofit organizing the hydrogen aviation movement—convening stakeholders, accelerating adoption, and ensuring that the conversation includes diverse voices and perspectives.
"When I started HYSKY, the hydrogen aviation community was fragmented," McLean reflects. "You had researchers at NASA, startups trying to commercialize technology, airport authorities thinking about infrastructure, investors looking for opportunities, and educators preparing the workforce. But these groups weren't really talking to each other."
HYSKY created the connective tissue. FLYING HY—the annual conference—brings everyone together. But the work runs deeper: policy advocacy, research coordination, workforce development, and crucially, ensuring that the movement doesn't default to the same homogeneous leadership that has historically dominated aviation.
By consciously building a platform where women lead, McLean is doing something that matters beyond symbolism. She's expanding whose ideas get heard, whose problems get solved, and whose futures are considered when designing the aviation industry of tomorrow.
Why This Moment Matters
The presence of five leading women in hydrogen aviation at FLYING HY 2025 isn't coincidental. It reflects a deliberate shift in how the aviation industry is approaching decarbonization.
Research consistently shows that diverse teams solve problems better, particularly complex systems problems like decarbonizing an entire industry. The women featured here bring different backgrounds, perspectives, and approaches. Sengupta's deep physics and engineering expertise differs from Nelson's capital-allocation perspective, which differs from Maleviti's educational focus. This diversity of thought is exactly what hydrogen aviation needs.
But representation matters for another reason too: it shapes who enters the field. When young women see women leading aircraft propulsion companies, designing airport infrastructure, training the next generation, and directing climate-tech investment, they're more likely to see these careers as possible for themselves. Representation isn't just fair; it's practical. The hydrogen aviation industry needs more engineers, more investors, more educators, more leaders. Expanding who feels welcome in these roles directly expands the talent pool solving these problems.
What Comes Next: Meet the Women of Hydrogen Aviation
FLYING HY 2025 will bring together hundreds of professionals from across the hydrogen aviation ecosystem. Attendees will hear directly from Sengupta, Kerboriou, Maleviti, Nelson, and Mitran about their work, their vision, and their insights on what it will take to scale hydrogen aviation globally.
But beyond the conference, the momentum is building. Hydrogen aircraft are moving from concept toward commercialization. Airports are beginning hydrogen infrastructure projects. Universities are training engineers in hydrogen systems. Investors are allocating billions toward clean aviation. And women are leading across all of these domains.
The future of aviation is being written right now. And for the first time, that future is being shaped not by a handful of men in boardrooms, but by a diverse community of innovators—women and men working together toward a common goal.
Aviation has been carbon-intensive for a century. Decarbonizing it will be one of the defining achievements of the 21st century. And the women of hydrogen aviation are making sure that future is not just clean, but also inclusive.
About FLYING HY 2025
FLYING HY 2025 brings together the leaders, innovators, and advocates advancing hydrogen-powered aviation. Hear directly from the women reshaping the industry, explore the latest hydrogen propulsion technologies, discover airport infrastructure solutions, and connect with investors, policymakers, and partners driving decarbonization forward.
November 5, 2025 | 9 AM – 3 PM CDT | Virtual on Zoom
Tickets: $30 | Register at zeffy.com/ticketing/flying-hy--2025
If it defies gravity and uses hydrogen, it belongs here. Batteries included!
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