Andy McCutcheon began his professional career in the Military, serving with the 3rd Battalion PPCLI and as a Special Forces Commando with Canada’s Airborne Regiment. He was tasked in many operational deployments, including security for delegates of Commonwealth Heads of Government, security for EXPO 86’ and supervising the end to the Iran/Iraq war in 1988 for which he was awarded the 1988 Nobel Prize for Peace under the United Nations Peacekeeping Force.

In 1989, Andy left the Military and returned to school acquiring a Commercial Pilot’s License. To build his aviation experience, he started and operated an air-charter company flying a Cessna C206 on Floats in Canada’s near north called ‘Advantage Air.’ He later moved to Toronto, taking on a senior role as the Base Operations Manager and First Officer, on a Dassault Falcon, 10 passenger private jet for an on-demand charter operator called Sky Charter.

A corporate restructure at Sky Charter led to the sale of their charter fleet and created an opportunity for Andy to reinvent himself by combining his extensive operational military experience with his recent flying experience. Andy founded, ‘The Saint Security & Transportation Inc’ and created a bespoke, seamless service to the entertainment industry that combined celebrity personal protection and complex global transportation logistics.

Andy grew his operation into a 7-figure company, which was founded on the reputation of his personal brand, by the largest entertainment companies in the world. Andy has worked with the biggest celebrities in Music, Film, Sports, and Government.

In 2001, Andy sold his company and moved to Australia taking a year off to re-focus his goals. Andy joined Sydney based ‘Ocean,’ a globally distributed Superyacht Magazine. From his technical background and extensive travel experiences, Andy worked as a monthly technical contributor, reviewing all new Aircraft, Vehicles, Superyachts and Resorts in Australia.

Several years later Andy accepted a senior role at Telstra owned Yellow Pages, in enterprise sales of print and digital media, before being head-hunted to Reach Local, the global leader in digital media solutions.

In 2007, while being recognised as a global sales leader at Reach Local, Andy simultaneously pioneered the first new alcoholic beverages category in Australia in 75 years, with the creation of his patented 3.5% ABV alcoholic tea beverage. With the market moving towards healthier drinking options, Andy founded ‘The Hard Iced Tea Brewing Company Pty Ltd and was capturing 25% beer market share in ‘on premise sales,’ which led to a buyout of the brand in 2013.

Later that year, Andy authored two books published by New World Publishing. The first, ‘Saviour,’ was an autobiographical account of his life as a celebrity bodyguard. The second publication was a coffee table book, borne from his passion of classic boats manufactured between 1920 and 1960, called ‘100 Years of Wooden Glory.’

After the sale of The Hard Iced Tea Brewing Company in 2013, Andy founded Wayfarer Tiny Homes Pty Ltd, that looked to solve Australia’s emerging social housing crisis, by creating bespoke micro-luxury, transportable accommodation solutions. His architect designed homes were innovative for their time and the company was nominated for an international design award in 2018. A controlling share of Wayfarer Tiny Homes Pty Ltd was sold in 2023 to the South Burnett Cabin Company.

In 2015 Andy worked as the Director of Sales and Marketing for Shangri-La Hotel and Resorts, transforming their existing ‘Traders Hotels’ into their newly branded, millennial focused, Hotel Jen brand. Andy opened the first ten hotel properties in Australia and SE Asia alongside two bespoke restaurants in Brisbane and Hong Kong called ‘Nest’ and ‘Malacca’ respectively.

In 2018 Andy joined ‘Axiom Holographics,’ the global leaders in multi-user hologram entertainment. Andy applied his personal battlefield experience, integrating several existing military and civilian technology platforms with Axioms unlimited data processing algorithm to create the ‘Omnipresence” system, a bespoke C2 and C4iRS live mission operations capability, which revolutionised battlespace management, situational awareness and joint forces interoperability by mapping the live locations of soldiers, vehicles aircraft and ships overlayed onto a volumetric 3D holographic map in real time.

His extensive military operational experience led to significant developments within Axiom’s core technology and related product development. Andy was promoted to Head of Aerospace & Defence. In that role, he partnered with Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies and Northrup Grumman overseeing the integration of virtual battle systems, 2D to 3D training environments, developing a joint-venture partnership with Indian company ‘Holosuit,’ integrating software platforms for advanced high value and high-risk immersive training using full haptic feedback suits for enhanced human v machine interoperability.

Over an 18-month period, Andy grew and managed Axiom’s global distribution network from 1 location in Vienna, to locations in Brisbane, Los Angeles, Dubai, London, Singapore, Jakarta, Delhi, and Stuttgart. In 2020, Andy was directly involved with LMOC-SIL and Georgia Tech Research Institute in creating the new United States Air Force synthetic training platform that used Axioms data processing algorithm to consolidate live air-combat data from fighter jets and missile defence systems.

In 2021, Andy left Axiom Holographics for a role in his own company as CEO of Global Aerospace & Defence Technologies Pty Ltd, working as a consultant, leveraging his global relationships to fast-track defence-centric emerging technologies that can service gaps in sovereign or defence export capabilities. Andy is a respected member of the Aerospace & Defence community and has significant sales and distribution networks that encompass high-level Aerospace and Defence strategic partnerships globally. He is regularly featured in the media and as a motivational and keynote speaker.

In 2022, Global Aerospace and Defence Technologies Pty Ltd acquired the assets of Smooth Cravings Nutrition Studios, a retail business dedicated to providing healthy food options for active individuals. The company faced challenges due to government-imposed travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led them to focus full-time on their smoothie shop. This shift allowed them to streamline products and processes, innovate new healthy food options, and expand the Smooth Cravings brand online. Their high-energy "breakfast of champions" posts garnered 13K followers on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, leading to continued success and the availability of franchise opportunities.