Welcome to Spotlight on Dynamism, where we shine a light on CEOs and companies at the intersection of innovation and national interest. Covering sectors from defense to public safety and supply chain, we delve into the stories of mission-driven leaders committed to civic responsibility, whose ventures not only cross verticals but also redefine business models in their quest to address critical national challenges.
This month, we turn our focus to Ben Van Roo of Legion Intelligence (formerly Yurts AI) and Paul Touw of Otto Aviation, visionaries harnessing technology to ensure safety and innovation in both national security and aviation. Legion employs its advanced data analytics platform to provide comprehensive intelligence solutions, significantly enhancing decision-making capabilities for the defense and public safety sectors. Meanwhile, Otto is transforming air travel with its innovative aircraft design, promising unparalleled efficiency and reduced environmental impact.
In a rapidly changing world where challenges are multifaceted, Legion and Otto exemplify the use of cutting-edge technology to navigate uncertainty and ensure progress and security at home and abroad. These companies are not just innovators, but rather essential components in shaping our future.
Please read our full interviews with Ben and Paul below.
Legion (formerly Yurts AI) is an agent-orchestration platform for defense, government, and enterprise organizations. It enables secure deployment, management, and scaling of intelligent agents for coordination in sensitive environments. With advanced MLOps, robust security, dynamic decision-making, and human-centric design, Legion supports critical missions with a versatile team of autonomous agents.
Ben Van Roo
CEO
“Legion isn’t just building AI tools; we’re enabling transformations. We’ve seen analysts reduce mission-critical tasks from hours to minutes, defense teams orchestrate hundreds of AI agents securely across sensitive networks, and enterprises unlock innovation by simplifying complexity.”
Otto Aviation leads aerospace innovation, advancing next-generation airframe design with its laminar flow technology. The company is redefining flight by optimizing aerodynamic efficiency and performance. This breakthrough approach delivers unprecedented fuel savings, enhanced range, and significantly reduced environmental impact, marking a bold step toward a more sustainable and transformative era in aviation.
Paul Touw
CEO
“At Otto, we developed advanced computational fluid dynamics technology to accurately predict and optimize fluid behavior, allowing us to refine aircraft shapes and reduce the number of prototypes needed from hundreds to just one.”
Ben Van Roo, CEO
Ben’s career has been at the intersection of technology and national security. He is the CEO/Co-Founder of Legion. Previously, Ben served as Executive Vice President of National Security at Primer AI, Vice President of Data Science at Chegg, and as a researcher at The RAND Corporation, a global policy nonprofit that provides research and analysis for the U.S. and international governments. Ben has spent his career building technology companies serving the Public and the Private sector.
- Hometown: Madison, Wisconsin
- University: University of Wisconsin Madison (BS, MBA, PhD)
- Book Recommendation: American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road by Nick Bilton
Lazard: Can you share the journey that led you to found Legion, and how your background influenced your vision for the company?
BVR: My journey began with a PhD in Operations Research and working at RAND Corporation, solving military logistics and operational problems in challenging environments like Iraq and Afghanistan. Later, leading data science teams in both education technology and national security AI gave me a unique perspective on technology adoption in high-stakes industries.
By 2018, I saw a critical gap: Fortune 2000 companies and the national security community struggled to scale generative AI (GenAI) due to outdated applications, siloed data, and complex infrastructure. I realized the problem wasn’t the AI itself but the integration and orchestration of the software around it. This insight led me to found Legion in 2022, just before the mainstream boom of GenAI.
“Unlike other solutions that confine AI capabilities to individual apps, Legion creates unified workflows by connecting to the vast majority of internal data sources and serving them through a single interface, making trusted data instantly accessible and actionable.”
Lazard: What is fundamentally unique about Legion’s technology? What critical challenges does it solve that other companies struggle to address?
BVR: Legion’s technology seamlessly embeds and orchestrates AI agents across workflows by connecting to virtually any system, tool, or environment – all while ensuring enterprise-grade security and scalability. Unlike other solutions that confine AI capabilities to individual apps, Legion creates unified agent-based workflows by connecting to the vast majority of internal data sources and serving them through a single interface, making trusted data instantly accessible and actionable.
Central to Legion’s approach is retrieval augmented generation (RAG), which amplifies the capabilities of models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Llama, and Mistral, ensuring insights are tailored specifically to your enterprise's needs – not generic outputs. By supporting flexible deployments – whether in the cloud, on private servers, in sensitive networks, or at the edge – Legion enables organizations to integrate AI securely into even the most critical environments.
This technical adaptability, combined with comprehensive orchestration, is why even the world’s most security-conscious organizations, like the U.S. DoD, rely on Legion to transform their workflows efficiently and securely at scale.
Lazard: What are some of the most common challenges your customers face, and how does Legion address these challenges with its AI solutions?
BVR: Organizations often struggle to bring AI into their existing workflows due to siloed systems, fragmented data, and the difficulty of scaling securely across hybrid environments. These challenges can stall innovation, lock away critical insights, or create inefficiencies that prevent companies from realizing AI’s full potential.
Legion addresses these issues head-on by transforming how businesses access and use their data. Instead of forcing users to piece together information from multiple systems, Legion surfaces insights instantly – whether they come from legacy tools, proprietary databases, or hybrid clouds. By embedding AI directly into existing workflows, Legion empowers users to automate repetitive tasks, uncover lost insights, and improve decision-making, all without requiring disruptive custom deployments or massive compute costs.
IT teams get the governance and security tools needed to manage AI adoption at scale, while users benefit from streamlined workflows tailored to enterprise-grade complexity. This approach ensures that organizations move beyond general-purpose tools and create transformative outcomes – unlocking innovation, boosting productivity, and driving ROI.
Lazard: Was there a pivotal moment or breakthrough in technology or partnership that significantly accelerated Legion’s growth?
BVR: Strategic partnerships have been the cornerstone of Legion’s growth and validation as a leader in secure, scalable AI orchestration. A defining moment for our company was our collaboration with the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), which demonstrated the viability of deploying large-scale GenAI platforms in sensitive environments. At the start of this partnership, Legion was a six-person team. Today, we've grown tenfold to become a 60-person operation deployed on numerous critical defense networks – both in the cloud and bare metal.
Similarly, our collaboration with a Department of Energy National Lab enabled us to refine our platform to operate seamlessly in air-gapped, highly sensitive networks. These projects not only validated Legion’s ability to meet the most stringent security and operational requirements but also expanded the technical frontiers for what GenAI can achieve in mission-critical contexts.
More recently, we announced a key partnership with Palantir to integrate Legion’s secure GenAI platform into their Apollo Mission Manager. This integration accelerates the scalable deployment of LLMs, enhancing decision-making, situational awareness, and operational coordination across SOCOM’s diverse environments – cloud, hybrid, and on-premises. Together, these partnerships have established Legion’s platform as uniquely capable and trusted for the most demanding use cases, including deployments that will soon support tens of thousands of users.
“With Legion’s secure AI orchestration platform, we deployed multiple specialized agents capable of securely retrieving, synthesizing, and delivering precise intelligence summaries directly within the analysts' workflow. The results were transformative – tasks that once took hours were reduced to minutes, enabling faster, more informed decision-making at critical moments.”
Lazard: Could you share a standout success story or case study that exemplifies the value Legion brings to its customers?
BVR: Legion’s AI orchestration doesn’t just streamline operations – it transforms them. One example comes from analysts tasked with analyzing vast amounts of sensitive information scattered across secure systems. Before implementing Legion, this process required hours of manual effort to search for insights and synthesize actionable intelligence.
With Legion’s secure AI orchestration platform, we deployed multiple specialized agents capable of securely retrieving, synthesizing, and delivering precise intelligence summaries directly within the analysts' workflow. The results were transformative – tasks that once took hours were reduced to minutes, enabling faster, more informed decision-making at critical moments.
Lazard: Looking ahead, where do you see Legion in the next five to 10 years? Are there specific milestones or goals you're aiming to achieve?
BVR: Over the next five years, our vision is for Legion to become the industry standard for secure, mission-critical agentic AI. We aim to achieve widespread adoption across defense, intelligence, and key enterprise sectors, demonstrating the value of our platform in high-stakes, complex environments.
A critical milestone will be further enhancing the autonomous capabilities of our AI agents, enabling them to deliver even greater efficiency and decision-making support for our customers.
In parallel, we plan to significantly expand the versatility of our integrations, ensuring seamless compatibility with an ever-evolving landscape of systems, tools, and workflows. By doing so, we will continue to lead at the forefront of operationally reliable AI solutions, setting the benchmark for trust, scalability, and innovation on a global scale.
“Legion is intentionally designed as a dual-use platform, adaptable to the unique demands of both commercial and government sectors, balancing mission-critical security for sensitive environments with rapid deployment and scalability for enterprises.”
Lazard: How does Legion tailor its solutions to meet the distinct needs of commercial enterprises compared to government agencies?
BVR: Legion is built as a dual-use platform, tailored to the specific demands of both government and commercial sectors. Government deployments, especially in defense and intelligence, demand rigorous security, compliance, and reliability, including seamless integration into sensitive and air-gapped environments. Commercial enterprises prioritize rapid deployment, scalability, and measurable ROI, but still require robust security standards.
The cross-sector nature of Legion unlocks unique synergies. Security and compliance innovations developed for sensitive government operations often translate into trusted solutions for commercial clients, while user-centric innovations in enterprise workflows enhance usability and efficiency in government applications. This feedback loop allows Legion to continuously refine its platform, meeting the needs of both sectors with exceptional adaptability.
Lazard: Who do you see as your closest competitors, and what differentiates Legion from them? Why do you believe Legion wins in the market?
BVR: Legion competes in a complex environment alongside hyperscalers, specialized AI startups, and DIY or internal solutions developed by customers. Hyperscalers offer powerful, generalized AI tools, but often fall short in high-stakes use cases requiring stringent security and tailored workflows. Specialized AI startups excel in specific niches but struggle to scale securely or deliver orchestration across hybrid infrastructures. DIY solutions provide full customization but are usually expensive, overly complex, and unsustainable at scale.
Legion bridges these gaps by combining scalability, specialization, and customization – while uniquely delivering the security, orchestration, and flexibility needed for mission-critical environments. This allows us to scale AI seamlessly across hybrid, multi-cloud, and sensitive systems without reliance on a single technology stack.
Paul Touw, CEO
Paul Touw is a seasoned entrepreneur and the CEO of Otto Aviation, where he is leading efforts to transform private air travel with the groundbreaking Phantom 3500 aircraft. With over two decades of experience, Paul has founded and led successful ventures across aviation and technology. Before Otto Aviation, he was the founder and CEO of XOJET, one of North America’s largest private aviation companies, and co-founded Ariba, a procurement software company that grew into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
- Hometown: Hailey, Idaho
- University: University of the Pacific (BS)
- Book Recommendation: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Lazard: What is Otto’s founding story?
PT: Otto Aviation was founded by Bill Otto Sr., a laminar flow physicist who had already achieved remarkable results applying the concept to torpedoes, doubling their range by reducing drag.
Around 2008, Bill committed to building an aircraft to prove his ideas around laminar flow could work, and that’s how Otto Aviation began. Over the next decade, the team worked to raise capital and iterate on designs, which eventually culminated in a prototype that successfully validated Bill’s vision.
As you know, aerospace development is famously expensive, but they managed to build a full-scale, functional prototype for under $50M that flew for two years. In this industry, that level of capital efficiency is almost unheard of and remains a core value for us today. Today, we’re taking that legacy of efficiency and innovation and pushing the concept to the next level. It’s an exciting journey!
“Laminar flow is what drew me here. It represents a complete game-changer in how aircraft are designed. The dramatic reduction in fuel consumption and efficiency improvements don’t just happen every day. This is the most significant advancement in aviation since the jet engine and pressurization systems were introduced 70 years ago.”
Lazard: Why did you join Otto?
PT: Laminar flow is what drew me here. Laminar flow is when air (or any molecule) flows evenly over the surface of a plane, without getting bumpy or chaotic. This is super important because when the air stays smooth, the plane needs less energy (or fuel) to move forward. Less energy means the plane can fly farther, faster, and cheaper, while using less fuel—which is better for saving money and helping the environment. Designing an aircraft for laminar flow is a complete game-changer. The dramatic reduction in fuel consumption and efficiency improvements don’t just happen every day. In fact, I’d say this is the most significant advancement in aviation since the jet engine and pressurization systems were introduced over 70 years ago. This is by far the biggest shift in aircraft design since the 707 debuted in the 1950s, and it’s thrilling to be part of something so monumental.
It’s a chance to create a product that could be highly profitable, better for the environment thanks to reduced fuel usage, and transformative for the industry overall. For me, it checked every box.
Another big factor was the team. This is one of the most talented groups of people in aerospace. I’ve been in this industry for years, but to collaborate with the best of the best on the first clean-sheet, revolutionary aerodynamic aircraft program in the U.S. in decades? If your dream is to work on a groundbreaking new aircraft, this is where you want to be.
Lazard: What is Laminar flow?
PT: Laminar flow is the smooth and orderly movement of molecules (whether it’s a liquid or gas) over a surface. When flow transitions to turbulence, the friction between the surface and the fluid becomes chaotic, causing drag and energy consumption to spike by a factor of five.
To put it into simpler terms, imagine cars moving efficiently on a highway, all traveling at the same speed in smooth, predictable lanes. That’s laminar flow. Now picture a car pulling over suddenly, triggering an accident or congestion. The traffic becomes disorganized and chaotic, like turbulent flow. Laminar flow is the difference between a streamlined, energy-efficient system and one that’s messy and wasteful.
By keeping molecules in an organized, smooth flow over a surface, you can massively reduce the drag and energy needed to move making it much more efficient.
Lazard: What is the breakthrough Otto made to make a laminar flow aircraft possible?
PT: There are three key breakthroughs that enabled laminar flow on faster aircraft: advanced computational modeling, precision manufacturing, and carbon fiber materials.
Laminar flow has long been seen on slow-moving aircraft like gliders, but scaling it for higher speeds has been a challenge. At Otto, we developed advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to accurately predict and optimize fluid behavior, allowing us to refine aircraft shapes and reduce the number of prototypes needed from hundreds to just one.
The second and third breakthroughs involve manufacturing. Turbulent flow occurs due to imperfections like rivets and gaps found in aluminum aircraft, which can’t achieve the precision required for laminar flow. By using carbon fiber and resin transfer molding, we create perfectly smooth, seamless components, like the finish of a high-performance race boat, making laminar flow possible at greater speeds.
“While incumbents are tied to legacy systems, we’ve designed everything around laminar flow from the start. This gives us agility while avoiding the need to spend billions of dollars to retool the traditional OEM supply chain.”
Lazard: What is your first product?
PT: The first product is a smaller business jet, certified under Part 23, with seating for nine passengers. We chose this segment because the business jet market is massive, with over 25,000 jets in operation in the U.S. alone.
One of the challenges in aerospace is that no one will finance something as ambitious as a commercial jet from design to certification without proof that the technology works. Developing and certifying a smaller aircraft first gives us that validation while significantly reducing upfront risk and capital requirements. This approach aligns with Otto’s innovative, scrappy culture.
Our long-term goal is to expand into larger-scale commercial aircraft, starting with what we call the "Future Large Aircraft" (FLA).
Lazard: Why does Otto win against the incumbents?
PT: Established OEMs face an Innovator’s Dilemma when it comes to adopting laminar flow. They’ve invested billions into their aluminum aircraft designs, manufacturing infrastructure, and certification processes. For example, it costs around a billion dollars to develop an aircraft like the Gulfstream G650, and it was designed 20 years ago.
These companies depend on the lifecycle of these products, which they plan to produce and support for years to maximize returns on their investment.
For an incumbent to adopt laminar flow, they’d have to fundamentally overhaul their entire process: scrap their aluminum factories, start fresh with carbon fiber manufacturing, rethink their engineering designs, and build an entirely new certification pathway.
We, on the other hand, are free of that legacy baggage. We’ve built everything around laminar flow from the start.
“Thanks to laminar flow technology, we achieve the performance of a 40,000-pound aircraft while staying under the 19,000-pound threshold, avoiding the longer, costlier process required for heavier planes. This lightweight design maximizes efficiency and aligns with our focus on using capital and innovation wisely.”
Lazard: Are there any regulatory or design advantages to your plane's design?
PT: Our aircraft is certified under Part 23, which follows the same rigorous safety standards as Part 25 aircraft, such as the 737 Max. The key advantage of Part 23 is the efficiency of the certification process. It’s faster and less expensive, as it applies to aircraft under 19,000 pounds.
Ultimately, our approach delivers uncompromising safety, faster certification, lower costs, and exceptional performance helping us bring our aircraft to market effectively and sustainably.
Select Lazard Transactions
Lazard Contacts
Christopher Britton
Co-Head & Managing Director, Venture & Growth Banking
Disclaimer
The information herein has been prepared by Lazard based solely upon publicly available information. These materials are preliminary and summary in nature and do not include all of the information that the Company should evaluate in considering a possible transaction. Portions of the information herein may be based upon certain publicly available statements, estimates and forecasts with respect to the anticipated future performance of the Company or other companies described herein. Lazard has relied upon the accuracy and completeness of the publicly available information used in connection with preparation with these materials, and has not assumed any responsibility for any independent verification of such information or any independent valuation or appraisal of any of the assets or liabilities of the Company or any other entity, or concerning solvency or fair value of the Company or any entity. With respect to financial forecasts, Lazard has assumed that they have been responsibly prepared on bases reflecting the best currently available estimates and judgments as to the future financial performance of the relevant entity; we assume no responsibility for and express no view as to such forecasts. Lazard has not had access to financial forecasts prepared by managements of the Company or the other companies described herein in connection with the preparation of these materials, which could be materially different from the forecasts utilized in connection with preparation of these materials. The information set forth herein is based upon economic, monetary, market and other conditions as in effect on, and the information made available to us as of, the date hereof, unless indicated otherwise. Nothing herein shall constitute a commitment or undertaking on the part of Lazard or any related party to provide any service. These materials do not constitute tax, accounting, actuarial, legal or other specialist advice, and Lazard shall have no duties or obligations to you in respect of these materials or other advice provided to you, except to the extent specifically set forth in an engagement or other written agreement, if any, that is entered into by Lazard and you.
