Ms. Aine Nakai is the Deputy Director of Atlas Corps, Space Systems Command, providing critical mission support functions across all mission areas including Command resourcing and talent management, contracting, financial management, innovation, and logistics. Prior to this role, Ms. Nakai was the Director of Guardian Generation overseeing recruiting, hiring, outreach, and interservice transfers for the
United States Space Force. Previously, she was the Director of Talent Management for Space Systems Command, formerly the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. She established the Talent Management Organization to oversee the career development, training, recruitment, hiring, retention, and engagement for SMC and geographically separated units in Peterson AFB and Kirtland AFB. In her role, she was responsible for monitoring the career of nearly 5,000 military and civilian personnel in the Contracting, Finance, Program Management, Engineering, Cyber, Security, Human
Resources, and Logistic career fields.

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Ms. Nakai entered the Air Force as a commissioned officer when she graduated from Officer Training School in 2000. She earned her contracting warrant and was stationed at Langley AFB, Air Combat Command prior to being stationed at Yokota AB, Japan where she served as a Flight Commander for the 374th Contracting Squadron. Her final assignment as an Active Duty officer was at LA AFB where she
managed the EELV Launch Capability contract, procured the $3 billion Spacelift Range modernization, and deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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Ms. Nakai worked as an Acquisition Manager in the Space Superiority Systems Directorate at LA AFB where she served as a business advisor on various classified programs with a portfolio of over $30 million. Prior to moving to Enterprise Talent Management, she served as the Contracting Directorate Division Chief for Resource Management & Force Development. In that role, she was responsible for recruiting, retention, personnel & career development of more than 250 contracting professionals.
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EDUCATION
2014 Masters of Business & Organizational Security Management, Webster University
2007 Master of Business Administration, Webster University
2000 Officer Training School
1999 Bachelor of Arts, Economics, University of New Hampshire
DAWIA Contracting Level III
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CAREER CHRONOLOGY
1. November 2000 – November 2002, Contract Specialist, Air Combat Command (ACC), Langley AFB, VA
2. November 2002 – May 2004, Commander, Commercial Purchases Flight 374th Contracting Squadron, Yokota AB, Japan
3. October 2004 – February 2005, Contracting Officer, BALIKITAN, Manila, Philippine Islands (PI)
4. May 2004 – April 2005, Protocol Officer, 374th Airlift Wing Commander, Yokota AB, Japan
5. April 2005 – October 2008, Contract Buyer, Launch & Range Systems Wing, Los Angeles AFB, CA
6. September 2006 – January 2007, Contracting Branch Chief, Joint Contracting Command Iraq-Afghanistan, Kandahar
7. October 2008 – February 2015, Acquisition Manager, Scitor, Space Superiority Systems Directorate, Los Angeles AFB, CA
8. February 2015 – June 2018, Deputy Division Chief, Resource Management & Force Development, Contracting Directorate, Los
Angeles AFB, CA
9. June 2018 – November 2018, Division Chief (Acting), Resource Management & Force Development, Contracting Directorate,
Los Angeles AFB, CA
10. November 2018 – February 2019, Division Chief, Resource Management & Force Development, Contracting Directorate, Los
Angeles AFB, CA
11. February 2019 – September 2021, Director, Talent Management, Los Angeles AFB, CA
12. September 2021 – July 2023, Director, Guardian Generation, USSF Enterprise Talent Management Office
13. July 2023 – Present, Deputy Director, Atlas Corps, Space Systems Command, Los Angeles AFB, CA

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After an early career in product management and telecommunications at Eicon, Primary Access, and 3Com, Alistair built web performance pioneer Coradiant and sold it to BMC for $135M. He launched the Year One Labs incubator, chaired O'Reilly's Strata and UBM's Cloud Connect, founded FWD50, and has taught at Stanford and Harvard Business School. He has co-written three books including Lean Analytics, widely considered required reading for startups. His latest book, Just Evil Enough, looks at subversiveness in business and will be available in early 2025.

Andrés Vega is the founder and CEO of M42, focusing on critical infrastructure security and secure data exchange for defense environments. With extensive experience in regulated software delivery, his work spans security architecture, state-of-the-art networking and compute, and compliance automation. He specializes in helping organizations maintain system sovereignty while meeting stringent security requirements and operational needs.

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Angie Brown is senior vice president of technology for The Home Depot. She and her team are responsible for developing solutions for merchandising, online, customer, marketing, pro and supply chain functions. Angie has been with The Home Depot since 1998, when she started her career as an associate systems engineer. She has held roles of increasing responsibility in the technology organization and was most recently the vice president of technology for merchandising. Angie was honored as the 2022 Woman of the Year in Technology by Women in Technology (WIT).

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Angie holds a BBA in Management Information Systems and Services from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business and has completed Harvard Business School’s Authentic Leadership Development Program and Carnegie Mellon Heinz College’s CIO Program. She serves as a board member for Junior Achievement of Georgia.

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Barry O’Reilly is a globally recognized business advisor, entrepreneur, and author driving innovation at the intersection of business models, product development, and organizational transformation. He co-founded Nobody Studios, a high-velocity venture studio aiming to launch 100 companies in five years, and founded ExecCamp, an entrepreneurial experience for executives.

Barry’s books, Unlearn and Lean Enterprise (part of Eric Ries’ series), are international bestsellers and essential reads for leaders driving high-performance innovation. A faculty member at Singularity University, he advises global executive and accelerator programs while serving on the boards of several high-growth startups, including AgileCraft, acquired by Atlassian. Barry’s mission is clear: to empower technology-driven businesses to innovate and scale with purpose.

Bess Dopkeen just wrapped up three years as the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering where she championed and guided policy, issues, and programs spanning from basic research through prototyping and experimentation. Previously Bess was a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee and the majority's lead for the Science and Technology and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction portfolios. Before the Hill she was a senior analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Cost Assessment & Program Evaluation. She led the Defense Innovation Board's 2018 congressionally mandated Software Acquisition and Practices study for the Under Secretary of Acquisition and Sustainment, and she was the Program Manager for the Cost Assessment Data Enterprise. Bess holds degrees from Tufts University and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at National Defense University. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband and their two children.

Brian "BP" Panarello is a passionate cybersecurity professional with over 10 years of experience directly supporting the Department of Defense. Leveraging his Master of Science (MS) in information security and assurance, BP transitioned his systems administration and engineering background into secure system designs, applying this expertise to the growing Cloud Cybersecurity and DevSecOps domains. BP is a zero trust advocate with Dark Wolf Solutions, helping to bring applied zero trust concepts to his partners in the United States Space Force, Air Force, and beyond!

Bryon Kroger is Founder and CEO of Rise8. Before that, he spent seven years as a targeteer using terrible software, which led him to cross-train to acquisitions and spend his first year building a transformation at AFLCMC, ultimately becoming one of three co-founders of Kessel Run. Bryon served as Kessel Run COO for two years, leading acquisitions, development, and operations for the enterprise-scale software lab that defined DoD DevSecOps. Frustrated by the path the DoD was taking to scale the team’s success across the rest of the enterprise, he separated and decided to tackle the problem as a digital services provider. Bryon launched Rise8 in 2019 to help change agents overcome bureaucracy and transform the way they build and deploy software to create national security outcomes in prod.

Chris brings nearly 20 years of IT and cybersecurity experience to his role as CEO at Aquia. As a United States Air Force veteran and former civil servant in the U.S. Navy and the General Services Administration’s FedRAMP program, Chris is passionate about making a lasting impact on his country and our global community at large. He participates in industry working groups, such as the Cloud Security Alliance’s Incident Response and SaaS Security Working Group, and serves as the Membership Chair for Cloud Security Alliance D.C. Chris is also the co-author of the book, “Software Transparency: Supply Chain Security in an Era of a Software-Driven Society.” He regularly contributes pieces on software supply chain security and presents on the topic at a variety of industry conferences.

Clinton Herget is Field CTO at Snyk, the leader in Developer Security, where he focuses on crafting and evangelizing our strategic vision for the evolution of DevSecOps. A seasoned technologist, Clinton spent his 20-year career prior to Snyk as a web software developer, DevOps consultant, cloud solutions architect, and engineering director. Clinton is passionate about empowering software engineers to do their best work in the chaotic cloud-native world, and is a frequent conference speaker, developer advocate, and technical thought leader.

D.J. Angelini is a Senior Architect in Palantir's Federal practice based in New York, NY. In his role, D.J. oversees the technical strategy of Palantir's work across the company's Defense, Federal Health and Civilian portfolios. Since joining Palantir in 2016, D.J. has worked globally across many facets of Palantir's business — including its Commercial and Product Development arms. D.J. is passionate about accelerating the adoption of the latest technology to transform the lives of America's Federal workforce.

D.J. holds a BSBA in Finance and Operations and Information Management (OPIM) from Georgetown University.

David helps organizations rapidly reduce risk using lean experimentation. He’s the co-author of Testing Business Ideas with Alex Osterwalder. David has enabled experimentation at Microsoft, IBM, GE and even helped Toyota apply lean startup practices. Before his transition into consulting, David spent over 10 years of his career at deep tech startups ranging from financial services to defense.

Donnie Hasseltine is the Vice President for Security at Second Front Systems (2F), a public benefit software company accelerating the delivery of mission-critical software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions to government. Donnie is a cybersecurity professional with deep experience in tech private equity and business to business software as a service (B2B SaaS) products. He formerly served as the Chief Security Officer at Xenon Partners, building the cybersecurity program and leading due diligence acquisitions. He additionally led operations for ScoutAPM, before leading and growing TeamPassword and Packagecloud.

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A 22-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Donnie completed combat deployments to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. His Marine Corps assignments included multiple infantry, recruiting, and staff positions, including command of the First Reconnaissance Battalion. Hasseltine currently serves as the information technology sector chief for the Bay Area chapter of Infragard, a public-private partnership with the FBI to protect critical infrastructure. He is a board member of the Marine Reconnaissance Foundation, which works to support reconnaissance Marines and their families. Additionally, he was selected as a 2022 Presidential Leadership Scholar and a Veteran Fellow at the Hoover Institution for 2021-2022.

He holds a BA in history from the Virginia Military Institute, a diploma in strategic intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College, an MA in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College, and an executive master’s degree in cybersecurity from Brown University.

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Doug developed a decision analysis method called Applied Information Economics (AIE) that has been his specialty for the last 25 years of his over 35-year management consulting career specializing in the application of quantitative methods in management. He is the author of How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business (Wiley 2007, 2010, 2014). Doug also wrote The Failure of Risk Management: Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It (Wiley 2009, 2020), Pulse: The New Science of Harnessing Internet Buzz to Track Threats and Opportunities (Wiley 2011) and, with co-author Richard Seiersen, How to Measure Anything in Cybersecurity Risk (Wiley 2016).

He has used AIE to solve difficult forecasting, measurement and decision analysis problems in business and government and has completed over 150 risk/return analyses of large, critical projects, investments and other management decisions. He's done enterprise implementations of the AIE method in several organizations. Doug's experience spans insurance, banking, utilities, federal and state government, entertainment media, military logistics, pharma and manufacturing. In addition to his books, he has published articles in Nature, The American Statistician, and many other journals and magazines.

Dr. Hoffman is CEO, Knowledge Strategies, LLC.  Knowledge Strategies is engaged in research, education, and consulting services in support of organization performance. His clients for presentations and workshops have included NASA, Amazon, Microsoft, Hitachi, Boeing, Citi, Salesforce, John Deere, the UK Ministry of Defense, and numerous others. He was the first NASA Chief Knowledge Officer, and founder of the NASA Academy of Program Project & Engineering Leadership. Following the Columbia Shuttle failure, he led the team that designed the Strategic Management and Governance Handbook. He received the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal in 2010. Dr. Hoffman is currently a Professor at the Columbia University School of Professional Studies researching and teaching on the future of work. Dr. Hoffman has co-authored The Smart Mission: NASA’s Lessons for Managing Knowledge, People, and Projects (MIT Press, 2022) which received Axiom award recognition for Business Intelligence and Innovation book. Dr. Hoffman consults to organizations on ‘The Smart Mission’ leadership canvas for sustained team performance, as well as strategies for navigating for the future of work His other books include Shared Voyage: Learning and Unlearning from Remarkable Projects (NASA, 2005) and Project Management Success Stories: Lessons of Project Leaders (Wiley, 2000).

Edward Hieatt serves as Chief Customer Officer at Mechanical Orchard, where he spearheads the company's customer excellence strategy to scale its success with large enterprise clients. A seasoned software engineer, Edward began his career at Pivotal Labs in 2003, playing a pivotal role in its growth from a nascent organization to a global leader acquired in 2012. As SVP of Customer Success at Pivotal, he led the rapid expansion of the technical field organization, managing thousands of employees and hundreds of global customers. After Pivotal’s IPO and subsequent acquisition by VMware, Edward oversaw Customer Experience and Success at VMware Tanzu, further refining his expertise in enterprise transformation.

Joining Mechanical Orchard at a critical growth juncture, Edward is dedicated to helping enterprises overcome legacy modernization challenges. His leadership aligns with the company’s mission of enabling faster innovation and risk-free transitions to cloud-first capabilities through advanced, AI-driven methodologies.

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A seasoned Product Manager with extensive experience in human-centered design, Holly has spent over a decade aligning innovative strategies with impactful outcomes. Her portfolio spans a wide range of initiatives including leading product teams through major cloud-based transformations. Holly’s work has supported organizations such as the Department of Defense, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, and National Institutes of Health, driving meaningful results through collaboration and strategic focus.

Jamie Whitehouse is a Product Director at Sonatype where he works with customers to solve big problems.  Over his 10+ year tenure at Sonatype, Jamie has co-created industry-defining products like Sonatype Lifecycle, and the next-gen Repository Firewall.  Despite being from Ontario, Canada, he doesn’t follow hockey but does enjoy building with Lego.

Jason is an impact strategy consultant with years of experience leading software product and design teams in the public sector space. Jason applies his product strategy approach to help teams drive successful mission outcomes. His work spans a wide range of mission-driven clients, from the US Dept of Defense, to small nonprofits, and even the White House Presidential Personnel Office.

Jason’s work focuses on identifying and aligning on key challenges and developing and implementing cross-functional solutions to drive mission outcomes.

He is also the co-author of Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama, an actionable guide to equip a new generation of humble, humane, and collaborative leaders.

A former Product Manager with a Master’s Degree in Educational Technology, Jeff has been developing learning solutions and bringing learning products to market over the last 15 years. His portfolio includes a variety of emergent learning technology including NLP just-in-time support for clinicians (on Amazon Alexa), immersive game-based simulations, and a blockchain-based learning credential network for clinical professionals.

More on Joe soon, we're excited to have him as part of the most unique speaker lineup in GovTech!

John Lowry is a recognized authority on negotiation through his experience as a lawyer, business leader, consultant, negotiation coach, and university administrator. John serves as the Co-Founder and Principal of Thrivence, a management consulting firm based in Nashville, TN. In addition to helping lead the firm, John counsels clients on leadership, executive team effectiveness, strategy, revenue growth, and conflict management. 

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John also serves as president of The Lowry Group, LLC (“TLG”). At TLG, he provides negotiation training and consulting for governmental entities, major insurance companies, health care organizations, and other businesses. John is the author of top selling book Negotiation Made Simple released by HarperCollins Publishing in 2023. He is also the host of the Negotiation Made Simple podcast focused on helping leaders find their next level of success through negotiation.

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Jonathan Mostowski is the President of Agile Acquisitions, LLC, and a published author with deep expertise in federal acquisitions for both government and industry. He has held pivotal roles, including Chief of Staff at Rebellion Defense and Senior Director of Contracting and Business Operations, where he blended strategy with execution. His career also includes significant contributions as an Acquisitions Strategist for the US Digital Service and Defense Digital Service, advising the OMB and Pentagon on rapid procurement methods for advanced technologies.

Jonathan's 13-year tenure as a Senior Contracting Officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency highlighted his adaptability and impact on IT modernization strategies. Recognized for his role in driving organizational transformation, he has also been honored in Marquis Who’s Who in America 2023. Jonathan continues to influence the federal acquisition landscape through public speaking, writing, and advisory roles. For more details, visit his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonmost/.

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Josh Kruck is responsible for Kohl’s digital business and marketing technology.

Prior to joining Kohl’s in 2020, Kruck held various leadership positions in digital transformation and innovation strategy at Dell and Pivotal. He has extensive experience working across industries to solve tough challenges, drive innovation, and improve efficiency. Kruck started his career as an engineer and has also held roles in product management and architecture. He’s stumbled his way to being a digital transformation leader by delivering solutions that create meaningful value for customers and businesses.

Kruck believes in the power of collaboration, rapid iteration, and staying deeply connected to customer needs. His approach focuses on reducing waste, delivering value quickly, and ensuring every solution serves a real purpose for both businesses and their customers. Kruck has more than 20 years of technology experience.

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Mr. Justin Fanelli is the Acting CTO for the Department of Navy and Technical Director of PEO Digital, driving mission-critical IT transformations and cost-efficient innovations. He has held key roles including Chief Data Architect for Defense Health and Technical Director for Navy MPTE, earning accolades like the Etter Award for impactful service delivery and multi-billion-dollar cost savings. A DARPA Service Chiefs Fellow, he has led groundbreaking advancements in healthcare data systems and Navy enterprise solutions. Outside work, Mr. Fanelli teaches at Georgetown, advises startups, and contributes to nonprofits like TechImpact. Holding degrees from Penn State and UPenn, he is a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School with numerous certifications. Recognized by awards such as the Secretary of the Navy’s Innovation Award and FedHealth 100 honors, he resides in Arlington, VA, and enjoys sharing book recommendations.

Karen Martin, President of the global consulting firm TKMG, Inc. and President and Founder of TKMG Academy, Inc., is a leading authority on business performance improvement, problem solving, and Lean management systems.

Known for her keen diagnostic skills and rapid-results approach, Karen and her team have worked with clients such as Adventist Health, AT&T, Chevron, Epson, GlaxoSmithKline, International Monetary Fund, Lenovo, Mayo Clinic, Prudential Insurance, Qualcomm, and the United States Department of Defense to develop more efficient work systems, grow market share, solve business problems, and accelerate performance.

An in-demand speaker, she’s the three-time Award-winning author of Clarity First, The Outstanding Organization, and Value Stream Mapping.

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Kim Crider is a Founding Partner of Elara Nova. She brings more than 35 years of experience managing multibillion-dollar global operations and technology programs in space, aerospace, cybersecurity, IT, data, and AI to the core team. A recently retired U.S. Air Force (USAF) Major General, Crider was the first Chief Technology and Innovation Officer for the newly established U. S. Space Force (USSF) where she oversaw a $2.5B Space Science & Technology portfolio and directed a $750M digital services and cybersecurity portfolio to advance the $15B global military space enterprise for 16,000 personnel. Prior to that, Crider was the Air Force Chief Data Officer, a first in the DoD, where she led the implementation of a $100M enterprise data management portfolio to assure availability of operational and business data to over 850,000 military, civilian and contract users across the Department of the Air Force’s $126B enterprise, and established a strategy for enterprise data management that has seminally influenced other DoD level data strategies and initiatives. Crider regularly advises US Political Appointees, Service Secretaries, Military Service Chiefs, and Civil Agency leaders, as well as international military, civilian and industry leaders, on the strategic use of technology to achieve competitive advantage. She has extensive international experience having served in Europe, Australia, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, and has been a seminal leader in global space, air and cyberspace operations, coalition and NATO command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and international information sharing. She built and led two multimillion-dollar specialty consulting firms focused on IT/data strategy, cybersecurity, and digital services in the education, architecture & engineering, financial services and health technology sectors. A senior engineer at the MITRE Corporation for over 15 years, Crider led the engineering for global enterprise networks, cybersecurity, and advanced surveillance radar systems across the DoD and Homeland Security. Crider earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University, an M.B.A. from Western New England University, and a Graduate certificate degree in Organizational Behavior from Harvard University. She graduated with distinction from the USAF Air Command and Staff College and the National Defense University Industrial College of the Armed Forces and has been an executive fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the University of Tennessee.

Lt Col Williams is an Air Force operations research analyst currently serving as a Materiel Leader in the Space C2 program of record at SSC.  He leads the Space Defense branch, whose mission is to deliver Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) software systems that enable space combat power forces to defeat threats and integrate with the joint force to achieve our nation's military objectives.  His previous assignments include AFRL, SMC, Air Staff, Air Force Red Team, and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.  He has a passion for transforming & challenging DoD acquisition to enable agile, continuous delivery of software capabilities, as well as approaching military challenges with the mindset of a scientist and empathetic leader.

Colonel Homan is responsible for promoting innovative processes within SpOC to deliver rapid, impactful, and sustainable solutions for space operations with a focus on digital proponency for future operations.  Previously, Colonel Homan has served within several military organizations with mission areas in major systems acquisitions, education and research, security cooperation, operational test & evaluation, combat operations and planning, and more.  Colonel Homan is an INCOSE Certified Systems Engineering Professional with a Master’s degree in both Systems Engineering and Business Administration with a keen interest in delivering rapid and sustainable capability.

Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant is Commander, Space Systems Command, headquartered at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California. He is responsible for more than 15,000 military, civilian and contractor personnel worldwide and an annual budget of $15.6 billion, while managing the research, design, development, acquisition, launch, and sustainment of satellites and the associated command and control systems. His extensive portfolio includes military satellite communication, missile warning, navigation and timing, space-based weather, space launch and test ranges, space superiority, responsive space and other emerging evolutionary space programs.

Prior to Space Systems Command, Lt. Gen. Garrant served as the Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs, and Requirements, and had the overall responsibility for the strategies, requirements, and budget of the United States Space Force.

Lt. Gen. Garrant received his commission from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Maryland in 1991.  During his career, he has served in a variety of acquisition positions including Systems Engineer, Program Manager, Program Element Monitor, Squadron Commander, Senior Materiel Leader, Deputy Program Executive Officer and Program Executive.

EDUCATION
1991 Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.
1995 Master of Science, Systems Management, Capitol College, Laurel, Md.
1996 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
2003 Air Command and Staff College, by correspondence
2004 Master of Science, Systems Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
2006 Air War College, by correspondence
2011 Master of Strategic Studies, Army War College, Carlisle, Pa.
2014 Enterprise Leadership Program, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2016 Leadership Development Program, Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, N.C.
2023 Leadership at the Peak, Center for Creative Leadership, Colorado Springs, Colo.

ASSIGNMENTS
1. March 1992–June 1995, Systems Engineer then Program Manager, Document and Data Networks Division, National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Md.
2. June 1995–June 1999, Systems Engineer then Program Manager, Data Masked
3. June 1999–March 2001, Air Combat Training Manager, Weapons and Tactics Branch, HQ USAFE, Ramstein Air Base, Germany
4. March 2001–June 2002, Executive Officer, Director of Air and Space Operations, HQ USAFE, Ramstein AB, Germany
5. August 2002–August 2003, Program Manager, F-16 Structures Branch, Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah
6. August 2003–September 2004, Intermediate Developmental Education Student, Systems Engineering Department, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
7. September 2004–July 2006, Chief, Advanced Sensors Branch, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Rosslyn, Va.
8. July 2006–June 2007, Chief, Predator, Reaper, and Big Safari Programs Branch, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Rosslyn, Va.
9. June 2007–June 2009, Commander, 689 ARSS, Air Armament Center, Eglin AFB, Fla.
10. July 2008–January 2009, MNC-I C-8 Acquisition Liaison Officer, Camp Victory, Iraq
11. June 2009–June 2010, Deputy Director, 808 ARSG, Air Armament Center, Eglin AFB, Fla.
12. July 2010–June 2011, Senior Developmental Education Student, Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa.
13. July 2011–May 2014, Senior Material Leader, EELV Systems Division, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
14. October 2013–April 2014, Deputy Director for Regional Teams, Operational Contract Support and Chief, Audit Readiness, HQ USFOR-A, Kabul, Afghanistan and Al Udeid, Qatar
15. May 2014–June 2017, Director, Space Superiority Systems Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
16. June 2017–June 2019, Vice Commander and Deputy Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.
17. June 2019–June 2022, Program Executive for Ground-based Weapon Systems, Missile Defense Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
18. August 2022–December 2023, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Strategy, Plans, Programs, and Requirements, United States Space Force, the Pentagon, Arlington, Va.
19. December 2023–present, Commander, Space Systems Command, Los Angeles AFB, Calif.

SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS
1. July 2008–January 2009, MNC-I C-8 Acquisition Liaison Officer, Camp Victory, Iraq, as a lieutenant colonel
2. October 2013–April 2014, Deputy Director for Regional Teams, Operational Contract Support and Chief, Audit Readiness, HQ USFOR-A, Kabul, Afghanistan and Al Udeid, Qatar, as a colonel
3. June 2019–June 2022, Program Executive for Ground-based Weapon Systems, Missile Defense Agency, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., as a brigadier general and major general

MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Distinguished Service Medal
Defense Superior Service Medal
Legion of Merit
Defense Meritorious Service Medal
Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters

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Mackenzie Wartenberger brings more than a decade of leadership experience to her role as a security architect at Aquia, where she specializes in zero trust architecture. Formerly an NCAA collegiate athletics coach, Mack broke into cybersecurity with no technical background or skills through the Aquia Accelerator apprenticeship program. An advocate for the power of authentic talent and soft skills in cybersecurity, Mack leverages her unique strengths to unlock greater impact, and encourages others to do the same.Today, Mack guides application teams in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) through strengthening their security posture and defending critical data. She believes in the importance of cultivating core support communities, emphasizing the power of team building, and leveraging soft skills to advance people-management, service-oriented leadership, and transformative problem-solving. It's never too late to pursue a new passion, overcome barriers, and thrive in a fresh career.

Martin Eriksson is an entrepreneur and product leader with nearly 30 years experience building businesses, products, and teams in multiple markets and industries. He is an internationally renowned author, advisor, and speaker on product and strategy, and is an influential thinker in the space.

He has worked at The Financial Times, Monster, Huddle, Covestor, and Cazoo, and literally wrote the book on Product Leadership. Most recently, Martin has served as the Product Partner at EQT, the world’s third largest private investor with over $225 billion AUM.

As the Founder of ProductTank and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Mind the Product, Martin has helped define the industry and shaped the practices of a generation of product managers.

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As Chief, Mr. Contoveros leads all support to Deltas’ Combat Development Teams and Supra Coders. He also leads a team of professional software developers charged with delivering digital tools to the force. Mr. Contoveros is the lead for Digital Proponency for the Command.

Upon retiring from the USAF with 26 years of military service, Mr. Contoveros worked as a contractor supporting the HQ AFSPC S5/9 Advanced Capabilities Team, which morphed into the Directorate of Innovation upon the standup of HQ SpOC. In this role he created the monthly Delta Innovation Collaboration Exchange (DICE), authored the Accelerated Delta Innovation Process (ADIP) and co-authored the command’s first ever, nearly completed, Innovation Operations Instruction. Mr. Contoveros joined the government team in July of 2023 as Director of Innovation, re-branded as the Combat Enhancement Division as part of the SpOC re-organization in 2024.

Nick spent the last 15+ years leading teams delivering mission-critical systems in tight timelines. Notable examples are the Adverse Event Reporting for the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and the complete rebuild of the broadcasting system for News Corp following the Disney M&A.

Paul Gaffney is a change agent who has led profound transformations in technology, operations, and overall business results for several iconic American brands. He has served as Chief Technology Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Supply Chain Officer, and Chief Executive Officer, but his focus is always on a human-centered approach to identifying and solving problems, motivating team members to contribute to success in ways they previously thought impossible. Paul was inducted in the Chief Information Officer Hall of Fame by CIO magazine and is a 2009 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute as well as a member of and moderator for the Aspen Global Leadership Network seminars program.

Brian serves as the enterprise Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the Commonwealth. In this capacity, he leads the Enterprise Technology Services Office (ETSO), overseeing critical domains such as cloud infrastructure, datacenter operations, networking, and unified communications. Brian is dedicated to driving innovation, enhancing operational efficiency, and delivering customer-focused solutions that meet the Commonwealth’s evolving technological needs.

With extensive experience in ETSO’s infrastructure and operations, Brian brings a wealth of expertise and a proven track record of strategic leadership. Before assuming the CTO role, he served as the Director of Network and Telecommunications for the Office of Administration, where he spearheaded transformative projects to modernize and optimize the Commonwealth’s communication networks. His career trajectory also includes roles as Deputy Director of Unified Telecommunications Services and Network Administrator for Voice Operations.

Brian began his career in mapmaking, photogrammetry, and project management before transitioning to IT in 2007, when he joined the Commonwealth as an IT Project Manager with the Department of Labor & Industry. His dedication to service extends beyond the IT field, as he proudly served for 23 years in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, completing deployments to Iraq, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Egypt.

Brian holds a Master of Science in Information Management from Syracuse University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems from Albright University. His commitment to lifelong learning and excellence continues to shape his leadership approach and drive his success in advancing technology for the Commonwealth.

Outside of work, Brian enjoys spending time with his wife, Kristen, and their two daughters, Gabrielle and Maddie. As a family, they love skiing and embarking on road trips to explore the beauty of America’s national parks.

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Siobhán Mc Feeney, chief technology and digital officer, is responsible for all technology, information and digital platforms supporting Kohl’s omnichannel business.

Mc Feeney joined Kohl’s in 2020 as Senior Vice President, Technology and was promoted to Executive Vice President, Technology in 2022. Prior to Kohl's, she led innovation and strategy at Pivotal Software, Inc., as well as held technology and finance leadership roles at AAA Northern California. Mc Feeney also worked as an accountant at Deloitte and KPMG Ireland. Mc Feeney has more than 30 years of information technology and finance experience.

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Steve Spear DBA MS MS is principal of HVE LLC, founder of the SaaS firm, See to Solve, a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School, and a senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. At MIT, he teaches in the MBA and exec ed programs, and he has advised some 50 masters theses. Spear’s work focuses on managing complex organizations (i.e., many people working across myriad functions towards common purpose) so they bring exceptional value to market at unmatchable speed with ease, with the capabilities that provide “value at speed with ease” being a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The core theme is that anything ‘designed’ will fail in unexpected ways (e.g., if the ways were expected they would be resolved), so everything needs an accelerated dynamic of error detection and correction to be reliable despite internal disruptions, resilient to external disturbances, and agile to stay ahead of changing circumstances.
As for ideas into action, Spear’s been advisor to a Treasury Secretary, an Undersecretary for VA Health Affairs, a Chief of Naval Operations, a Chief of Naval Research, two PACFLT commanders, the senior leaders of the Navy’s public shipyards, the director of the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, and the Unmanned Task Force, helping it stand up and move from a proof of concept phase to become the Disruptive Capabilities Office. Spear was advisor to the Fleet Forces commander for the “Comprehensive Review” of 2017 collisions and to the Chief of Naval Engineering about problems bringing innovative technology onto the Ford carriers.

Spear has a doctorate from Harvard, where disruptive innovation guru Clayton Christensen was a dissertation advisor, masters in engineering and in management from MIT, and a bachelors from Princeton, where Nobel Laureate economist David Card was an advisor. He’s on boards for New England ADL, and the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership. His wife, Miriam, is an architect who does commercial, civic, and some residential work in the Boston area, designing community buildings that help build community.

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