David Manning. CEO, AEY Inc.
United States Marine Corps combat veteran. Former global supply chain executive at SpaceX, EssilorLuxottica, Amazon, and UPS. MBA, PMP, CSM, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Doctoral candidate at UNC Charlotte’s Belk College of Business, researching AI governance frameworks in public procurement.
Co-founded AEY Inc. in 2020 with Karl Schaefer to bring institutional-grade procurement discipline and field-tested construction expertise into one veteran-owned construction material supply operation.
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From the Marine Corps to global operations.
David enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school and served as an infantry squad leader with two combat deployments to Afghanistan. The experience defined how he approaches operations: unforgiving timelines, real consequences for process gaps, and an absolute requirement that the documentation reflect what actually happened on the ground.
He carried that operational philosophy through more than a decade of supply chain and procurement leadership roles in the private sector — across infrastructure that moved hardware to orbit, eyewear across continents, and consumer goods to hundreds of millions of doorsteps.
Twenty years of operations leadership.
SpaceX
Led global logistics for a ~$450M annual network supporting hardware movement across SpaceX’s production, launch, and recovery operations. The work spanned manufacturing facilities, launch sites, and worldwide downrange recovery — environments where logistics gaps don’t just delay schedules, they can jeopardize missions.
EssilorLuxottica
Directed international logistics across more than 20 countries for the world’s largest eyewear company. The role demanded precision at scale: thousands of SKUs, complex import/export regimes, and downstream distribution into both retail and wholesale channels.
Amazon
Program management leadership across European and US fulfillment operations. Built operational frameworks at the scale where small process inefficiencies multiply into large dollar impact, and where audit and compliance discipline is non-negotiable.
UPS
Enterprise technology deployment across UPS’s logistics operations — the early grounding in how to coordinate large field operations with the systems infrastructure they depend on.
Across these roles, David has personally directed more than $2 billion in procurement spend across six continents.
Why veteran-owned construction services.
David Manning and Karl Schaefer founded AEY Inc. as equal partners in 2020 to close two gaps simultaneously: the underrepresentation of disabled veterans in California construction services, and the operational difficulty primes face in meeting state and federal participation goals through reliable, audit-clean construction management, project management, procurement, and material supply.
Most DVBE-certified construction firms come from a trade-specialist background and entered certification programs after building a contracting business. AEY was built from the intersection of two careers — David’s decade leading global supply chain and procurement operations at SpaceX, EssilorLuxottica, Amazon, and UPS; Karl’s two decades delivering more than $5 billion in construction projects across commercial, industrial, civic, and aviation sectors as a CCM/DBIA/LEED-credentialed construction executive. The combination is what allows AEY to operate as a full construction services partner — providing CUF-compliant material supply alongside procurement strategy, project management, and construction management — with pricing, lead times, and execution discipline grounded in real understanding of the conditions on the ground.
Today AEY serves general contractors, public agencies, and prime contractors on California public works contracts, federal SDVOSB-set-aside contracts, and Los Angeles-area RAMP-track procurements — across construction management, project management, procurement, and material supply scope. The firm holds eight active certifications across three certification platforms.
Education and professional certifications.
What this background brings to AEY clients.
When a general contractor sources material through AEY for a California public works contract, three things show up that don’t always show up with other certified suppliers:
Documentation rigor. CUF-compliant workflows by default. Every order generates the manufacturer invoice trail, PO chain, delivery coordination record, and direct-payment evidence required to survive a 2 CCR § 1896.61 audit.
Procurement leverage. Direct manufacturer and distributor relationships across the trade scope, with negotiation experience from operating at SpaceX and Amazon scale. Pricing is competitive because the network is real, not borrowed.
Operational discipline. The same orientation toward process, accountability, and follow-through that infantry leadership and large-cap operations demand. AEY responds to quotes within 24 hours, and contracts execute the way they’re scoped.
Building AEY in partnership.
Karl Schaefer
AEY Inc. is a 50/50 partnership between David Manning and Karl Schaefer. Karl is a Certified Construction Manager (CCM), DBIA-credentialed design-build professional, and LEED Accredited Professional with more than $5 billion in delivered construction value across commercial, industrial, civic, and aviation projects. He currently serves as a construction executive on the $2 billion+ LAX Consolidated Rental Car Facility.
The combination of David’s procurement and supply chain operations background with Karl’s construction project delivery experience is what defines how AEY operates — and what differentiates AEY from material suppliers without that field perspective.
Connect with AEY Inc.
Email contact@aeyinc.net or estimating@aeyinc.net for quotes. Or reach David directly on LinkedIn.