ABOUT

Air Energy is a Chicago-based energy storage company developing solid-state lithium-air batteries to deliver transformational improvements in energy density, safety, and mission capability for aerial and autonomous platforms and back-up AI power resilience systems.

MEET OUR
LEADERSHIP TEAM

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Benjamin Drake

Benjamin (Ben) is an accomplished leader with 20+ years of experience spanning national security, emerging technology, and commercialization. Prior to co-founding Air Energy Inc., Ben served as an executive at Workhorse, led energy resilience for the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, and was the emerging technology lead on the Secretary of Defense's strategy team. He also held senior roles across NASA, the U.S. Department of State, and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. A former Presidential Management Fellow and U.S. Navy Reserve S&T Officer, his career bridges engineering, finance, business development across electric vehicle manufacturing and autonomous platforms, including drones and maritime systems. Earlier in his career, he served as a science deck officer and research diver aboard the global Scripps Institution of Oceanography fleet. He holds a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Michigan State University; a Master’s in Energy Engineering from the University of Illinois Chicago; a Space Systems certificate from the Naval Postgraduate School; and is an alum of the University of Chicago Booth Executive Finance Program.

CO-FOUNDER &
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

Mohammad Asadi, PhD

Mohammad brings over a decade of experience in next-generation battery research, including the recent breakthrough solid-state lithium-air battery technology. He is an Associate Professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at IIT, where he leads the Electrochemical Energy Materials & Devices Lab (e2MDL). Before joining IIT in 2017, he completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at UIC, a M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Sharif University, and spent seven years in the oil and gas industry. His research focuses on advanced materials, electrocatalysis, and electrochemical energy storage, including metal-air and metal-ion batteries. A co-inventor on multiple lithium-air battery patents, he is dedicated to developing efficient, cost-effective energy storage systems aimed at replacing fossil fuels and advancing sustainable energy storage technologies.

CO-FOUNDER &
CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER

Larry Curtiss, PhD

Larry is an Argonne Distinguished Fellow with a career spanning over four decades in quantum science and next-generation battery research. He has led significant initiatives, including serving as Senior Investigator at the DOE’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (2021–2023) and Deputy Director of the Center for Electrical Energy Storage (2019–2021). Larry is a pioneer in computational chemistry, authoring over 460 publications and developed quantum chemical methods critical for accurate energy calculations, and holds a PhD from the University of Wisconsin (1974). His recent focus is on designing novel electrolytes and understanding charge and discharge chemistries in Li-ion, Li-O2, and Li-S batteries. As a co-inventor on multiple patents and a Highly Cited Chemistry Researcher by ISI, his innovations continue to shape the future of energy storage.