After more than a decade in the Navy as a TOPGUN fighter pilot, Ashley has spent her career in the startup aviation and autonomy space, including most recently leading Guardian Agriculture, a company developing autonomous electric-powered crop protection systems to enhance efficiency and sustainability in farming. She also served as Vice President of Business Operations at Merlin Labs, driving organizational operations, partnerships, fundraising, and government contracts to scale autonomous aviation. In the Navy, Ashley served as a Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor and flew multiple combat and humanitarian missions as an F/A-18F Weapon Systems Officer. She holds an MBA from MIT Sloan and a BS in political science from the U.S. Naval Academy.