Chris Bley has a BA in Biology from UC Santa Cruz. He has been involved in renewable energy for 20 years and currently focused on the aviation industry. Chris founded Rope Partner in 2001, a rope access service company originally based in Santa Cruz. In 2012, Chris focused on the growing needs of Internet of Things in wind energy, solar and utility industries, thus co-founded InspecTools. This new company built drones, integrated sensors and developed software to capture imagery and deliver objective insights into a cloud based GIS software for OEM & owners of wind, solar and grid infrastructure assets. In September, 2018, InspecTools was acquired by PrecisionHawk and in January of 2020, Rope Partner was acquired by Magnesium Capital. Chris is currently focused on several drone/aviation related projects including Monterey Bay DART (a non-profit, supporting and connecting aviation innovations, training & collaborations between industry, academia and government). Insight Up Solutions (drone and sensor resale) and AirSpace Integration (managing CA66’s grass airfield, unmanned aircraft test range and shared workspaces). These companies are all located in the vicinity of the Central Coast that includes Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties.