• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar

3

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar

3

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
MPWDrones

Meet the women shaping the future of the drone business

By
Matt McCue
Matt McCue
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Matt McCue
Matt McCue
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 1, 2015, 3:47 PM ET
CyPhy Works Photo Drone
BOSTON, MA - MAY 21: Helen Greiner, of CyPhy Works, demonstrates a personal photo drone. A cell phone is used to guide the drone. (Photo by Joanne Rathe/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)Photograph by Joanne Rathe — Boston Globe via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

The drone industry appears to be—ahem—taking off. GoPro has announced it will release a consumer drone in 2016. China-based DJI, the early industry leader, raised funding at an $8 billion valuation in May. And then there’s Amazon, which plans to eventually deliver customers’ packages via the unmanned machines.

A VisionGain research report valued the small drone market at $1.33 billion in 2014 and projects that it will grow to $10.2 billion by 2025. According to the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the industry is expected create 100,000 jobs between 2015 and 2025. Drones are a growing presence in a wide range of fields, including public safety, energy, media, agriculture and security.

The drone business closely mirrors the tech world in many ways—including, unfortunately, the dearth of women. While no group tracks the gender breakdown of the industry, a glance at the executive teams of the top companies tells a pretty clear story: All six top execs at 3D Robotics and Vires Aeronautics are men, while Skycatch and PrecisionHawk each have one woman on their executive teams.

Still, the industry does have its female power players. Here’s a look at four women who are shaping the future of the drone industry—and clearing a path for more.

Helen Greiner, CEO and founder of CyPhy Works

Helen Greiner has been enamored with robots ever since she developed a crush on R2-D2 while watching Star Wars as a girl. In 1990, she co-founded the company iRobot and brought the Roomba to the masses. In 2008 she moved on to a new challenge, launching CyPhy Works, a company dedicated to building aerial robots.

CyPhy Works, which is located just outside of Boston, has raised $13.5 million in funding and is cooking up aerial projects for Fortune 1000 companies—including a public safety drone for Motorola Solutions. Earlier this month, the company completed a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $880,000 to fund a consumer drone that can take pictures and post them to social media in real-time.

Greiner says she’s pushed to make sure women are well represented at CyPhy Works. “The pipeline [of workers coming into the industry] isn’t equal, but, when we have an executive team meeting at our company, women outnumber men,” she says. Greiner believes there’s plenty of potential to get women excited about drones. “We are encouraging young women to jump into these systems and make them how they want,” she says.

Dyan Gibbens, CEO and founder of Trumbull Unmanned

At Houston-based Trumbull Unmanned, Dyan Gibbens oversees a team of 10 people who give the oil industry access to eyes in the sky. “We map, monitor and inspect critical infrastructure in the energy sector,” she says. Due to non-disclosure agreements, Gibbens can’t name her clients other than to say they’re four of the largest oil companies in the world—not a bad for an 18-month-old start up.

Gibbens developed her love of aeronautics at the Air Force Academy where she was a pilot and part of the Air Force’s parachute team. (While she is now in the private sector, she still has a top-secret government clearance.) “Drones are the ideal STEM tool,” says Gibbens. “They encompass every engineering discipline and every other field.” To motivate future generations to enter the drone industry, Trumbull Unmanned is partnering with BP to hold a summer drone camp at Rice University for sixth, seventh and eight graders. “We want to get them excited about drones,” says Gibbens.

Lisa Ellman, law partner at Hogan Lovells

The laws surrounding drones are complex and evolving, but, in general, anyone flying a drone for business purposes needs special permission from the FAA. That’s where Lisa Ellman comes in. She helps businesses secure a Section 333 exemption that allows them to take flight. So far she has worked on “dozens” of exemptions for clients in the news broadcasting, agriculture, real estate and insurance fields.

Ellman, a former White House policy advisor, is now working with the Obama administration on policy efforts that will allow commercial drones to be flown in U.S. airspace. “The market has developed so quickly and the technology has taken off the point where the policy making has struggled to keep up,” say Ellman. Opening up the skies to commercial drones means asking tough questions: Should drones be allowed to fly out of eyesight of their controllers? Should drones be allowed in urban areas? “These are conversations that policymakers and innovators are having now, and they’re critical to moving the industry forward in a timely way,” says Ellman.

Sally French, social media editor, MarketWatch

Sally French started flying drones because they allowed to her to capture the kinds of aerial images she couldn’t otherwise access. She got so hooked that she launched her own website, TheDroneGirl.com. “While more men have engineering degrees, that doesn’t mean that women aren’t capable of working at a drone company,” she says. “There are so many other uses for drones.”

On TheDroneGirl.com, French is spending this year highlighting the industry’s female trailblazers and continuing to call out drone companies and organizations for sexist behavior. Exhibit A: using scantily-clad women to work the booths at drone conferences and having women in bikinis shill drones in video ads. “That sends the wrong message to a girl who wants to get involved with drones, telling her that they don’t see her as a pilot, but rather some girl who can make this room seem sexy,” says French.

Her real mission, though, is to preach the gospel of drones. “I really just want to tell readers the story that drones, though they often have a negative connotation, do serve a good purpose!” says French.

 

 

 

About the Author
By Matt McCue
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in MPW

Inside Flavor Flav’s unlikely effort to help female Olympians build their brands and careers
NewslettersMPW Daily
Inside Flavor Flav’s unlikely effort to help female Olympians build their brands and careers
By Ellie AustinJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Anthea Hartig, Director of the National Museum of American History, looks to her left at a House Committee.
PoliticsWhite House
Smithsonian director denies ‘woke’ label from Trump while defending exhibit on teen’s gender-identity diary
By Steven Sloan and The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Cleveland’s WNBA team doesn’t play until 2028 but Progressive just scored jersey sponsorship
SuccessSports
Cleveland’s WNBA team doesn’t play until 2028 but Progressive just scored jersey sponsorship
By Joe Reedy and The Associated PressJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
jd
PoliticsWhite House
JD Vance becomes first sitting vice president to welcome a child in office in over 150 years
By Darlene Superville and The Associated PressJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Backed by Daymond John and Post Malone, this Afghan-born founder built a $150M brand. Her real mission: the women back home
Successfemale founders
Backed by Daymond John and Post Malone, this Afghan-born founder built a $150M brand. Her real mission: the women back home
By Sydney LakeJuly 20, 2026
4 days ago
t
PoliticsWhite House
Analysis: Trump approves 80% of GOP disaster aid — and 60% for Democrats
By David A. Lieb, M.K. Wildeman and The Associated PressJuly 16, 2026
7 days ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
'The man who dies rich dies disgraced': The last time America had such wealth inequality, Andrew Carnegie knew he had to give it all away
Success
'The man who dies rich dies disgraced': The last time America had such wealth inequality, Andrew Carnegie knew he had to give it all away
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
1 day ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.