Meet the Transpose Team: A Q&A with Margaret Viola, Project Manager of Transpose
In honor of National Aviation Day, we’re excited to kick off our first in a series of blogs, “Meet the Transpose Team.” In these posts, we’ll introduce you to the people behind the project and go into what they do and how they got to be where they are today.
First off is project manager Margaret Viola, who is integral to keeping the team on task.
What do you do in your role?
I’m responsible for overall project objective execution, ensuring that all aspects of this multidisciplinary project from engineering to passenger experience to business modeling to certification are completed within budget and on schedule, while also ensuring that we remain flexible so as to capitalize on strategic learning and new information when opportunities arise. Tactically, on any given day this means working through schedule analysis, contract negotiations, managing aspects of the project’s facility operations, financial management, and also finding time to stay current with news and research in the relevant fields of passenger experience, commercial aviation, travel, and aviation regulations. I use Program Management Professional (PMP) methodology everyday — combining my passions for well-orchestrated project execution and aviation/aerospace.
Tell us about how you got to your current role.
Prior to joining A³, I served as a program manager and master scheduler at The Spaceship Company (TSC — the spaceship manufacturing subsidiary of Virgin Galactic.) I also worked as the Air Tours Program Manager for EAA — The Experimental Aircraft Association (lots of acronyms in aerospace!) based in Oshkosh WI — (I’m a proud Oshkosh native). In my role at EAA, I managed all aspects of the program which sends historic aircraft on public tours around the continental US, giving rides and offering an immersive experience into aviation’s “Golden Age” and WWII military aviation. Before joining EAA, I spent a year in Somaliland, East Africa, where I taught math and science at The Abaarso School. While in Somaliland I volunteered at Hargeisa Egal International airport (HGA), which is where I realized I wanted to pursue my passion and begin a career in aviation.
In 2010, I earned my B.A. in Physics from The University of Chicago. So I have a long history with many facets of aviation and a particular love for the history around the Golden Age of aviation — I view Transpose and A³ as a way of advancing the “Golden Age” allure of aviation and travel with today’s cutting edge tech.
What’s a milestone from your flying career?
I love to fly privately, and in 2015 I competed in the Air Race Classic — an all-women’s cross country air race. My racing partner and I came in 24th place out of 50 racing teams that year, taking first on one race-leg in the midwest. I’m also proud to be involved in many flying organizations: Women in Aviation, International (WAI), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) (so many acronyms!)
Do you have any projects you’re particularly proud of?
I’m happy to see so many of the initiatives I’ve worked on still flourishing. In college, a friend and I founded the Society of Women in Physics (SWiP) at The University of Chicago and have received news of the difference that this group has made for female undergraduate students pursuing Physics at UofC. Former students from The Abaarso School are now thriving — many are attending elite universities and preparatory schools in the US and abroad on full scholarships including MIT, Harvard, and Yale. Some of my favorite side-projects: starting a morning Yoga practice in the hangar at TSC (The Spaceship Company) and starting an employee ground-school program at TSC to make flight training more accessible there.
How was your EAA AirVenture talk at Oshkosh?
It was very exciting to talk about what it’s like to build an aircraft mockup — which now holds fully operable prototype modules less than one year after first concepts — in the middle of an office park in Silicon Valley. It was so great to see the people reacting to the behind-the-scenes photos and learnings from the project, and of course to be in my home town.
