Carter Copeland serves as Chief Strategy Officer and is a member of CAE’s Executive Management Committee. In this role, he leads the development of strategic initiatives aimed at accelerating growth in priority areas and enhancing overall organizational performance. Carter partners closely with the Executive Management Committee to shape the company’s capital deployment strategy, optimize resource allocation, and refine organizational design. He also oversees the ongoing evaluation of CAE’s business portfolio and spearheads enterprise-wide special projects under the Office of the CEO. In addition, Carter leads CAE’s Structured Finance and M&A team and has executive responsibility for the company’s Marketing function.
Prior to joining CAE in 2021 as Senior Vice President, Global Strategy, Copeland served as the President and co-founder of Melius Research, an independent research, consulting, and data analytics firm. At Melius, Copeland also served as Senior Analyst for the firm’s Global Aerospace and Defense research practice. He is a co-author of the book Lessons from the Titans, which details the successes and failures of some of the world’s largest and most influential companies in an effort to help new economy firms avoid longstanding pitfalls and achieve sustainable, long-term success.
Before co-founding Melius, Copeland was Managing Director and Senior Analyst covering the Global Aerospace and Defense sector for Barclays PLC. Prior to Barclays, he held various roles of increasing responsibility in the aerospace and defense research practice at Lehman Brothers. During this time, he was consistently rated by Institutional Investor magazine as one of the most influential aerospace and defense analysts on Wall Street. Before beginning his career on Wall Street, Copeland served on the staff of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., aiding in monetary policy work and conducting corporate finance research.
Copeland graduated with honors from the University of Alabama, with a degree in Economics. He also holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Wood Fellowship. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and formerly served as a member of the Corporate Leaders program on the Council of Foreign Relations.
