Jim Wetherly serves as chief systems engineer for Crown Consulting Inc.  He leads the application of systems engineering and lifecycle strategy development efforts in support of customer and corporate needs.

Wetherly joined Crown in 2023 after a 30-year career with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He last served the agency as a senior technical advisor for air traffic organization (ATO) strategy, where he helped lead the ATO to address complex operational and corporate challenges. His skills and leadership while at the FAA were instrumental in enhancing and implementing several system-wide improvements to the traffic flow management systems of the National Airspace System (NAS).

Wetherly brings extensive air traffic management domain expertise in strategic planning, research and development, systems engineering, system acquisitions and operations, financial and program management, and policy implementation. His experience in air traffic flow management operations led to pioneering efforts in novel operational data exchange and procedures with airline operators to mitigate air traffic system delays. His successful deployment of collaborative decision making (CDM) enhancements established new standards of excellence for modern traffic flow management, significantly contributing to the efficiency of the NAS.

He holds a Master of Science degree in operations research from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.