Colonel (Ret.) Richard Hansen

As Former Program Manager, Soldier Warrior, PEO Soldier, US Army COL (R) Hansen spent 26 years in the US Army in both the war fighting and acquisition fields. He held various command and staff positions in self-propelled, towed, and airborne artillery units and fire support elements. His research, development, and acquisition experience includes various assignments as a product,
project, or program manager in electric guns, armored vehicles, and precision guided munitions. In his last 4 years of service as the Project Manager for Soldier Warrior, he was responsible for weapons, clothing, and equipment for aviation crewmen (Air Warrior), dismounted Soldiers (Land Warrior, Ground Soldier Ensemble), and vehicle crewmen (Mounted Soldier).

Colonel Chris Budihas

In 1987, COL Budihas enlisted in the Marine Corps, later commissioned in 1994. After a short break in service working for General Elective, in 2001, COL Budihas commissioned in the Army. With experiences in Light, Mechanized, Stryker, and Marine infantry formations, he led at all levels from team to the brigade-level. Staff positions include Aide-de-Camp, Deputy Chief of Staff, Division Chief at U.S. Africa Command, and Chief of Staff, Fort Benning. COL Budihas’ has many combat and operational deployments that extend from Operations Desert Shield/Storm to most recently OIF and OEF.

 

Colonel Paul E. Alessio

A native of Grove City, Pennsylvania, Colonel Paul Alessio is a 1994 graduate of Slippery Rock University. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps, where he served in several leadership and staff positions in 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. These positions included Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, Maintenance Control Officer and Assistant Support Operations Officer.

As a company commander in 2002, Colonel Alessio deployed his Airborne maintenance company to Bagram, Afghanistan in support of 82nd Division (Airborne). He also served as Assistant G1, 18th Airborne Corps and Battalion Operations Officer, Corps Support Command, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Upon transition to the Acquisition Corps, Colonel Alessio served as Army Test and Evaluation Command System Team Chairman for Fire Support at Alexandria, Virginia.

Colonel Alessio had the privilege of serving in a variety of organizations at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. These included Group Leader, Defense Contract Management Agency; Administrative Contracting Officer (Forward), Camp Buehring, Kuwait; Deputy Product Manager for Non-Standard Ammunition; Assistant Product Manager for Large Caliber Ammunition; Assistant Product Manager and Fielding Officer for Precision Guided Munitions and Mortars (Forward) Bagram, Afghanistan; and Assistant Product Manager for Precision Guidance Kit, at both Picatinny Arsenal and forward at Bagram, Afghanistan.

Colonel Alessio transitioned from Program Executive Office Ammunition to Program Executive Office Soldier and served as Product Manager for Crew Served Weapons.

After departing Picatinny, Colonel Alessio served as Senior Acquisition Advisor for the Army Evaluation Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. In 2017, COL Alessio was assigned to United States Army, Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii as a liaison officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology.

Colonel Alessio is a graduate of the Ordnance Officer Basic Course, Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and U.S. Army War College. He is Airborne and Air Assault qualified. Colonel Alessio holds a Master’s degree in Acquisition and Project Management and a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies.

Colonel Alessio is married to Lieutenant Colonel Jenny Alessio. They have three children; Saoirse (10), Magnus (6), and Phaedra (4).

Colonel Rhett D. Thompson

COL Thompson earned his commission as an Infantry officer through ROTC in December 1996 at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He has served in numerous key command and staff positions and has served on multiple combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. Command experience includes OSUT Company Command, Mechanized Infantry Company Command, and Ranger Company Command. At the battalion level, he commanded 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. COL Thompson is most recently a graduate of the Navy War College, where he earned a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He and Stacy, his wife of over 22 years, have 2 children, Marshall (17) and Allison (14).

Colonel Scott J. Madore

Colonel Scott Madore received his commission in the Infantry through the Army Reserve Officer’s Training Corps from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell in December 1996. He holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from UMASS-Lowell, a Masters of Business Administration in Project Management from Trident University, and a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.

Colonel Madore previously served in numerous acquisition leadership positions to include the Assistant Product Manager for Hard Body Armor, ASA(ALT)-Kuwait Forward Operations Director, Department of the Army System Coordinator, Product Manager Ground Sensors, and Military Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Plans, Programs, and Resources. He currently serves as the Project Manager Soldier Lethality within Program Executive Office Soldier.

Dr Clifford Cook

Dr. Clifford Cook received his Ph.D. in chemistry at The George Washington University in 2011. In his 10 year career he has made significant contributions to the research and development of Soldier Tactical Power (STP) Systems including Li-ion batteries, fuel cells, man portable generators, battery chargers, and power managers. He has served as the Assistant Product Manager of the STP team and managed the acquisition process of multiple systems including those listed above. He is currently serving as the Chief Engineer at Product Manager Ground Soldier Systems (PdM GSS) where he represents PdM GSS across the Army on three lines of effort including Nett Warrior system of systems, Soldier Tactical Power, and Production of Integrated Visual Augmentation System products.

Dr Elizabeth Mezzacappa

Elizabeth Mezzacappa, PhD, is the Human Research Lead at the US Army’s Tactical Behavior Research Laboratory. Her research spans a wide range of human behavioral experiments related to armaments, including non-lethal weapon effectiveness, machine learning from human data for artificial intelligence, performance evaluation for counter-terrorism exercises, and psychophysiological methods for Soldier-Armament Integration. She has received a 2008 Army Science Best Paper Award, 2012 and 2013 Army Research and Development Achievement Awards, and the 2018 Military Operations Research Society Journal Award. Mezzacappa received her BAs from the University of Pennsylvania, her PhD from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Dr Gene Stark

Gene Stark has worked in the DoD chem/bio defense arena for over 20 years. After completing his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Utah in 1997, he was awarded a German fellowship with the Technical University of Munich where he developed novel synthetic routes to key pharmaceutical intermediates. Following his post-doc, he worked for a small biotech company in Salt Lake City preparing cell signaling molecules used for cancer research. In 1999, he began his government career managing chemical agent swatch testing at Dugway Proving Ground (DPG). In 2003 he was promoted to group leader of the individual protection equipment testing group at DPG where he managed all individual protective equipment testing. Since Dec 2006, Gene has worked at the Joint Project Manager Office for Protection as the Test & Evaluation (T&E) Director, the Systems Engineering (SE) Director, the Science & Technology Advisor and the Transport Isolation System (TIS) Product Manager. He is currently the Director of Future Acquisition.

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Dawe

Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Dawe joined the Army in 2001, commissioning into the Scots Guards. Initially posted to London on ceremonial duties, he then served as a Platoon Commander in the Guards Training Division, Catterick. Further postings included Poland, Canada and Germany where he was an Armoured Infantry Platoon and Company Commander. He worked in Joint Capabilities in the MoD during SDSR15 and is experienced in several other key Staff appointment roles, both in the MoD and in the Field Army. He has completed multiple tours of duty in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan and overseas short-term training tasks (STTT).

Lieutenant Colonel Gareth Davies

Lt Col Gareth Davies took over as SO1 Soldier Systems in Jan 2019. His main role is to deliver new Dismounted Close Combat capabilities to service across the Defence Lines of Development. He is the lead in setting up TommyWorks, a new organisation focussing on Soldier System Integration and more agile and iterative delivery of future capabilities. Career wise, he has completed 5 operational tours as an infantry commander including Iraq and Afghanistan twice and has previous experience as a Requirements Manager for the FIST programme and Chief of Staff of Soldier, Training and Special Projects team within DE&S.

Lieutenant Colonel John M. Lancaster

LTC John Lancaster, “Tosh”, a native of Oak Grove, Louisiana, began his career in the Army as an infantry officer upon graduation from the United States Air Force Academy in 2003. Completing infantry officer training in 2004, he was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Calvary Regiment as a Bradley platoon leader, and subsequently, scout platoon leader. In 2006 LTC Lancaster was selected for training at Special Forces Assessment and Selection and began training at the Special Forces Qualification Course in Fort Bragg, NC.

Donning the Green Beret in August 2008, LTC Lancaster was assigned to 3rd BN, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), where he served as company executive officer and commanded two Operational Detachments – Alpha.

LTC Lancaster began his career in defense acquisitions in August 2013 when he was assigned to PEO Ground Combat Systems (GCS). While there, he served as Assistant Product Manager (APM) for PM Stryker, PM Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle, and PdM Bradley Fighting Vehicle. Following PEO GCS, he was assigned to PM Special Programs in PEO SOF Warrior to serve as APM Mobility and APM Enterprise Communications. After serving with PEO SOF Warrior, LTC Lancaster was selected for a fellowship in the Training with Industry program with duties at Samsung in Washington, D.C. Completing this tour, LTC Lancaster assumed duties as Program Manager Special Operations Forces Lethality at MacDill AFB, FL in February 2021.

LTC Lancaster’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal (2OLC), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal (3OLC), the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal (3), the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the NATO Medal, Ranger tab, Special Forces tab, Special Forces Combat Diver Badge, and the Parachutist’s Badge. Additional unit awards include the Meritorious Unit Citation and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (1OLC).

LTC Lancaster’s deployments include the following: Al Anbar and Hilla Provinces, Iraq (OIF - 2005) as a Bradley Rifle Platoon Leader; Sala’adin Province, Iraq (OIF – 2009) as Special Forces (SF) Company Executive Officer; Kuwait (JCET – 2010) as SFOD-A commander; Ninevah Province, Iraq (OIF & OND – 2010-2011) as SFOD-A commander; and Helmand Province, Afghanistan (OEF - 2012) as SFOD-A commander.

LTC Lancaster holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the US Air Force Academy and an MBA from Mississippi State University. His military training and education include the Infantry Officer Basic Course, Infantry Mortar Leader’s Course, Infantry Captain’s Career Course, U.S. Army Airborne, Ranger School, Special Forces Qualification Course, Jumpmaster Course, Command and General Staff College (Intermediate Level Education), Acquisition Officer Basic Course, Intermediate Qualification Course and numerous Defense Acquisition University Courses leading up to and beyond a Defense Acquisition Level III Certification in Program Management.

LTC Lancaster lives in Tampa, FL with his wife, Johanna; his son, Miles (10); and daughter, Tut (8).

Lieutenant Colonel Melissa E. Johnson

Lieutenant Colonel Melissa E. Johnson is a native of Augusta, Georgia and received her Commission through the U.S. Army Reserve Officer’s Training Program in 2002, upon graduation from Augusta State University. She was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Branch, where she served in operational units at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Gordon and Fort Stewart, GA. Previous operational assignments for Lieutenant Colonel Johnson include Battalion Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Staff Officer, Commander, Charlie Company, 369th Signal Battalion, and a deployment to Iraq as the Battle Captain, ACoS G-2, 3d Infantry Division.
Lieutenant Colonel Johnson was assessed in the Army Acquisition Corps in 2011. In 2011, she was assigned to the Night Vision Electronics and Sensors Directorate as a Science and Technology Project Officer and later as an Assistant Product Director for Threat Detection Systems. She was later assigned to Project Management Office, Soldier Sensors and Lasers where she served as an Assistant Product Manager for the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle. Following her tenure as an Assistant Product Manager, she was selected to serve as the Executive Officer to the Program Executive Officer Soldier. Lieutenant Colonel Johnson was later assigned to the Pentagon, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology (ASA(ALT)) where she served as a Department of the Army Systems Coordinator (DASC) for the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle Program (AMPV). Upon completion of her tenure as a DASC, she was selected to serve as the Assistant Executive Officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology). Lieutenant Colonel Johnson completed a Training with Industry tour with partner Motorola Solutions, and recently completed an assignment as a Program Manager for the International Solutions Office, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. She is currently serving as the Product Manager for Soldier Maneuver Sensors, Program Executive Office Soldier, Fort Belvoir, VA.
Lieutenant Colonel Johnson’s education includes a Bachelor of Science Degree from Augusta State University in Biology and a Master of Business Administration specializing in Human Resource Management from the University of Phoenix. Her military education includes the Chemical Officer Basic Course, the Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, Army Acquisition Basic Course, and the Command and General Staff College Intermediate Level Education. She is a certified member of the Army Acquisition Corps with Level III certification in Program Management and Level II certification in Science and Technology Management.
Lieutenant Colonel Johnson’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and the Army Meritorious Unit Commendation Award.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Percy

Lieutenant-Colonel Percy was born in Collingwood, Ontario. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1990 and attended the Royal Military College of Canada. He was commissioned into The Royal Canadian Regiment in 1994 and was posted to 1 RCR. While with 1 RCR he served as a mechanized platoon commander and as Anti-Armour Platoon Commander in Bosnia as part of the NATO Sustainment Force. After his first regimental tour, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy attended the Land Force Technical Staff Programme at RMC Kingston. In 1999 he was posted to the Directorate of Land Requirements. In 2002, he joined CANSOFCOM as a deputy operations officer. In 2004, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy completed the Army Operations Course and was subsequently appointed as a unit Adjutant. Following the Combat Team Commanders Course in 2006, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy was posted to 3 RCR as Officer Commanding Oscar Company. He commanded 3 RCR Rear Party for Rotation 6 of Op ATHENA. In 2009, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy was posted to 1 RCR as OC Foxtrot Company and deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Commanding Officer of 1 RCR. In June 2012 Lieutenant-Colonel Percy joined the Pakistan Army Command and Staff College in Quetta. He returned to Canada in June 2013 and was posted to the J5 Branch of 1st Canadian Division. As Deputy Commanding Officer of the Disaster Assistance Response Team, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy deployed to the Philippines in November 2013. After a year as Executive Assistant to the Division Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy was promoted to his current rank in 2015 and appointed J5 of 1st Canadian Division. In 2017 he became J3 of 1st Canadian Division. In 2018, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy deployed to the Middle East for Operation PROTEUS where he served as the Training Operations Officer for the United States Security Coordinator. His principal duties involved assisting the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to modernize and improve their training methods. After returning from the Middle East, he served with Chief of Programme as Director Defence Programme Coordination 3, responsible for Army and CANSOFCOM capital equipment projects before moving to his current position as Director Land Requirements 5. Lieutenant-Colonel Percy has been married to Annalisa for 16 years. They have no children but Annalisa's penchant for rescuing Dalmatians ensures they stay active.

Major General (Ret.) Brian P. Cummings

Before joining Cypress International, Brian served at in all levels of Department of Defense acquisition management organizations and was a Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Ground Combat Systems, PEO Soldier Programs, and Deputy PEO for Combat Support & Combat Service Support. As a PEO and DPEO, he was responsible for budgeting, development, production, and fielding of components and systems to support the Army. Brian is an Infantry officer with numerous tactical assignments to include the 1st Infantry and 101st Airborne Division. Brian also had numerous previous assignments both operational and acquisition which includes service in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars.

Brian has led and conducted many strategic engagements with senior leaders of companies operating in the Defense Industrial Base. His experience includes network systems, energy programs, weapons programs, soldier programs and technology development, and legacy and future combat vehicle development and associated technologies, and the enabling combat support and service support programs.

Major Magnus Hallberg

Infantry officer, the career consists of a mix of different positions within infantry and Mechanized battalions.
Graduated from Staff collage 2002 and completed Battalion Commander Course 2003, since 2004 at Land Warfare Centre development department.
Test and trial manager on Swedish soldier modernization, PM/ReqM on Combat clothing and PPE.
A member of LCG DSS since 2004, Deputy Chairman 2012-18, Chairman 2019---
Involved in the NORDEFCO project on Nordic Combat Uniform as leader of the User Working Group.
 

Major Yoav Galster

Education
2015-2017 - M.B.A Business Management, Executive program
2006-2010 - B.Sc Industrial Engineering

Employment & Military
IMOD \ DDR&D \ Land Systems Division \ Infantry & SF Branch
2017-Now - Major, Head of Infantry & Commando section. Manage dismounted soldier R&D.
IDF - Weapon Systems Department, Planning Division, Ground Forces Command
Artillery branch
2014-2017 - Major, Head of Rocket section. PM - budget, supervise tests, development and purchase of rockets & launchers.
Infantry branch
2009-2014 - Major, Head of Combat gear section. PM - budget, supervise tests, development and purchase of small arms, munitions, optics (sights, NVG, etc.), LCP.
2005-2009 – Captain, Weapons section. Lead field tests, define combat needs - SMG's, mortars, RCWS, sniping etc.
2004-2005 – Lieutenant, SF section. Lead field tests, define combat needs with the user etc.
2000-2004 - Combat paratrooper & officer (Infantry Company Commander).
2011-2020 – Reserve Infantry Company Commander

Mr Andrew Murdoch

Mr Andrew Murdoch has been with Glenair since 2018 working as the Business Development Manager and Subject Matter Expert on the STAR-PAN product line. Initially based in the UK, Andrew recently relocated to the United States where he is responsible for tactical interconnect solutions in USA/CAN/NZ/AUS/ASIA and Israel. Prior to this position, Andrew served 15 years as a Royal Marines Commando and member of United Kingdom Special Forces with multiple tours of Iraq, Afghanistan and other Global operational theatres. As a communications specialist and qualified JTAC, Andrew spent his final few years of military employment developing and testing soldier worn situational awareness and DACAS systems.

Mr Chris Woodburn

Mr. Woodburn was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps in 1987 and graduated from The Basic School and the Infantry Officers Course in 1988. As an infantry officer, he held the billets of Rifle Platoon Commander, Heavy Machine Gun Platoon Commander, 81mm Mortar Platoon Commander, Company Commander, Battalion Logistics Officer, Battalion Operations Officer, and Battalion Executive Officer. He also served as the Deputy, Current Operations and Future Operations Officer at the Marine Expeditionary Force level. Mr. Woodburn’s combat deployments include OPERATION DESERT SHIELD/STORM and two tours to OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM.
Mr. Woodburn also served as a training company commander at the School of Infantry and commanding officer for a Marine Corps Recruiting Station. He is certified in Program Management from a tour at Marine Corps Systems Command and earned a Master’s Degree in Military Studies from the Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 2003. He completed his military career as a lieutenant colonel while serving as the Infantry Combat Equipment and Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad Capabilities Integration Officer, Ground Combat Element – Fires and Maneuver, Capabilities Development Directorate at Quantico, VA.
Upon retirement in 2013, Mr. Woodburn joined the U.S. civil service and continues to work at the Capabilities Development Directorate. He worked initially as the requirements officer for Marine Corps small arms and combat optics and now supervises capabilities development for the infantry and reconnaissance communities as the Deputy for the Maneuver Branch.

Mr Dan Gager

Dan is the Chief Commercial at Ovzon LLC. and has over 20 years of SATCOM experience in a broad range of civilian and government positions. Before starting at Ovzon, Dan held commercial positions as the Vice President of business development at COMSAT, Executive Vice President at satellite hardware and engineering firm NAL Research, and Director of Government Business Development at Iridium Satellite. Dan’s government experience includes satellite program manager at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) where he served as the Chief of the DoD’s Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services Division, Program Manager of the U.S. Government’s $2B Future COMSATCOM Services Acquisition, Satellite Gateway Systems Expert GIG Operations, and as DISA’s liaison to the CJ6, Multi-National Forces, Baghdad Iraq. As an active duty Army officer, Dan served as the assistant operations officer, 1st Satellite Control Battalion and Commander of the Defense Satellite Communications Certification Facility, Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado. Dan currently holds the rank Lieutenant Colonel in the D.C. National Guard where he serves as a Congressional Affairs Officer in support of the National Guard Bureau.

Dan holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Cameron University, an Associate’s Degree from Keystone College, and is a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College. Dan’s other affiliations include the Army Signal Regiment, Society of Satellite Professionals International, Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association, Association of the United States Army, Army Reserve Officers Association, and Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

Mr David May

Mr. David May assumed duties as the Senior Cyber Intelligence Advisor, U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence, TRADOC, and Fort Gordon, Georgia on 13 June 2016. He is responsible for providing authoritative technical advice and recommendations to senior officials regarding Army policy, doctrine, and cyber intelligence programs to include planning, resourcing and execution of cyberspace and other multi-discipline support operations.

Career Chronology:

• Senior Cyber Advisor, MHM Innovations, Fort Gordon, Georgia
• Deputy Director, Joint Force Headquarters, Army Cyber Command, Fort Gordon, Georgia.
• Retired from the Army at the rank of Colonel following 26 years of active service
• Director of Intelligence, Cyber National Mission Force, US Cyber Command, Fort Meade
• Deputy Director, Cyber National Mission Force, US Cyber Command, Fort Meade, Maryland
• Chief, Afghanistan Remote Operations Cryptologic Center (AROCC), Bagram, Afghanistan
• Commander, 707th & 206th Military Intelligence Battalions, NSA/CSS Georgia
• Deputy Chief, Analysis and Production, NSA/CSS Georgia
• Director of Operations, European Security Operations Center, NSA/CSS Europe
• Deputy Division Chief for SIGINT Operations, NSA/CSS Europe
• Chief, Theater Cryptologic Operations Center, NSA/CSS Europe
• XO, 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion, NSA/CSS Colorado
• S3, 743rd Military Intelligence Battalion, NSA/CSS Colorado
• Operations officer, 741st Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Meade, NSA/CSS Washington
• Company Commander, 297th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Gordon, Georgia
• ACE Collection Manager, 297th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Gordon, Georgia
• S4, 297th Military Intelligence Battalion, Fort Gordon, Georgia
• Chief, Intelligence Support Group Element, Camp Doha, Kuwait
• BDE Assistant S2, 2nd BDE, 3rd Infantry Division, Germany
• Ground Surveillance Radar Platoon Leader, 501st Military Intelligence Battalion, Germany
• S2, 16th Engineer Battalion, both in Nurnberg, Germany, and during Desert Shield/Storm

Mr Derek Harberts

Mr. Harberts has co-led the Army Acquisition Category 1C Handheld, Manpack, and Small Form Fit program since 2019 where he successfully planned and oversaw execution of the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation, which subsequently led to a successful Full Rate Production decision for the Leader and Manpack Radio product lines in August 2021. Mr. Harberts has a Master’s degree in engineering from the Johns Hopkins University, a Bachelor of Science from Salisbury University, is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps, and has Defense Acquisition University Level 3 certifications in both System Planning Research Development and Engineering (SPRDE) and Program Management.

Mr Jack Moore

Jack enlisted as a Combat Engineer and Commissioned through Office Candidate School as an Infantry Officer. He completed several deployments to Afghanistan. Notably, he deployed to Iraq where he served as the Land Warrior enabled Company Commander. Jack transitioned to the Acquisition Corp where he served in several positions as Assistant Program Manager (Land Warrior, Nett Warrior, Mounted Warrior, & Soldier Power) and as the Executive officer to PEO Soldier. He also served at the C5ISR and ATAK Product Manager for PM Special Program, USSOCOM before retirement in 2017. He has held positions within DARPA and Army TENCAP and now is the Vice President for Persistent Systems, responsible for the USSOCOM and US Army lines of business.

Mr Jack Overell

Mr John Geddes

Mr Josh Castrey

Mr. Josh Castrey joined Glenair in 2009, with primary focus on Small Form Factor connector solutions. Josh is currently the Senior Product Manager for Series 80 Mighty Mouse Connectors and Cables. His extensive knowledge of the miniature product lines and the applications they are used in, makes him a recognized Subject Matter Expert in this field of interconnect.

Mr Mark Stephens

Mr. Stephens was commissioned in 1982, serving in
multiple assignments in the Corps of Engineers and Army Acquisition Corps before retiring in 2004. His assignments included working in the 9th Infantry Division, 18th Engineer Brigade, Engineer Combat Developments, Army Research Laboratory, Staff Officer Assistant Secretary Army Acquisition Logistics and Technology, Assistant Product Manager for Countermines, Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General. Additionally, he worked for the Army’s Night Vision laboratory, Army Special Operations, and Program Manager Biometrics.

Mr. Stephens worked in the defense private sector for 12 years, before returning to Government Service working in Product Manager Soldier Maneuver Sensors, and Product Manager Soldier Precision Target Designators.

Recent, notable projects that Mr. Stephens led and participated in are the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle – Binocular, the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) prototype agreement, and the IVAS production agreement. He was the acquisition officer for the IVAS Middle Tier Prototype and Rapid Fielding.

As the Deputy Program Manager for IVAS, the portfolio of technologies range from sensors, lasers, power, advance computing, and software development and mini robotic platforms.

Mr. Stephens is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio, and has multiple educational degrees and awards.

Mr Michael T. McCarthy

 Mr. Michael T. McCarthy is a Department of the Army Civilian currently serving as the Deputy Director of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force, one of five Secretary of Defense Cross Functional Teams. Prior to his current assignment, Mike served as the Chief of Future Operations and Requirements Integration. His prior included serving as the Plans Officer to the Commanding General of for the Army Futures Command Task Force and as the Deputy to the Commanding General of the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence at Fort Leonard Wood, MO. From 2009 to 2016, Mr. McCarthy led the U.S. Army’s “Connecting Soldiers to Digital Applications” project for assessing the military utility of mobile technologies across the Army. Mr. McCarthy served various command and staff positions in the United States, Germany, and Korea following his commission into the Field Artillery upon graduation from the Virginia Military Institute. Mr. McCarthy is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College receiving a Master of Arts in Operations, Tactics, and Training. He is a 2015 graduate of the Air War College, earning a Master of Arts in National Security Studies and Theory from The U.S. Air War College Grand Strategy curriculum. Mr. McCarthy is a 2016 graduate of the prestigious Defense Senior Leader Development Program.

Mr Ralph Petroff

Ralph Petroff is President – North America, Marathon Robotics in Huntsville, Alabama. After graduating from Stanford University (cum laude), Petroff became CEO of a succession of breakthrough startups with disruptive technology. He has testified as a Congressional expert witness over four decades, and has been interviewed by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Economist, Fox News, and other global media. Petroff has written technology columns for national and industry publications, and many Conference Keynotes. He also organized the ‘50th Anniversary of America in Space’ for the US Space and Rocket Center. He has lived on four continents.