Keynote Speaker: Sam Altman
CEO, OpenAI
Sam Altman is the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, the AI research and deployment company behind ChatGPT and Sora. Sam was president of the early-stage startup accelerator Y Combinator from 2014 to 2019. In 2015, Sam co-founded OpenAI with the mission to build general-purpose artificial intelligence that benefits all humanity.
Keynote Speaker: Marsha Blackburn
US Senator, Tennessee
Marsha Blackburn is the senior senator for Tennessee and the first woman to represent the Volunteer State in the United States Senate. She serves on the Deputy Whip Team and is a member of the Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee; the Veterans’ Affairs Committee; and the Judiciary Committee. She serves as the Ranking Member on the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security and on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Before her election to the Senate, Marsha represented Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She dedicates her public service to promoting opportunities for all Tennesseans, including by breaking barriers for women, and making America a more prosperous place to live.
Keynote Speaker: Mark Green
US Congress Representative, Tennessee's 7th District
Mark Green has represented Tennessee’s 7th District in the U.S. House of Representatives since January 2019.
A graduate of West Point, he served as an Army flight surgeon with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). As a Night Stalker, Green served three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan during the War on Terror. During one notable mission, he interviewed Saddam Hussein after Hussein’s capture, and his service was recognized with the Bronze Star and the Air Medal with V Device for Valor.
Following his military career, Green built a successful healthcare staffing company and founded free medical clinics to serve under-resourced communities. Elected to the Tennessee State Senate in 2012, he focused on legislation that reduced taxes and supported teachers. In Congress, he chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security and sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Green’s continued efforts reflect his commitment to national security, support for veterans and military families, and pursuit of strong leadership in global affairs.
Keynote Speaker: Chris Miller
(Professor, Tufts University; Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Member, Geopolitics Advisory Council, McKinsey & Company)
Chris Miller's latest book Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology reveals the geopolitical impact of the computer chip. It is a New York Times bestseller and a winner of the Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award, the Council on Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Book Award, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2024 History Prize. It was featured on many “Best of 2022” book lists, including in the New Yorker and the Economist.
Dr. Miller is professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank in Washington, D.C.
He also advises businesses and asset managers at Greenmantle, a consultancy, serves as a member of the Geopolitics Advisory Council at McKinsey & Company, and advises semiconductors and other technology startups and investors.
He is frequently featured and quoted in media such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times, as well as on NPR and CNBC.
In addition to Chip War, Dr. Miller’s books include We Shall Be Masters: Russian Pivots to East Asia from Peter the Great to Putin (Harvard University Press, 2021), Putinomics: Power and Money in Resurgent Russia (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), and The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy: Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of the USSR (University of North Carolina Press, 2016).
He has an MA and PhD in history from Yale University and a BA in history from Harvard University.
Keynote Speaker: General Paul M. Nakasone (Ret.)
Founding Director, Vanderbilt University Institute of National Security
General Paul M. Nakasone, a retired U.S. Army four-star general, serves as the founding director of Vanderbilt University's Institute for National Security. He is also a distinguished research professor of engineering science and management and special adviser to the chancellor. From 2018 to 2024, Nakasone led the U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, overseeing national cyber defense and global signals intelligence operations. A career military leader with more than three decades of experience, he has commanded at all levels, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, and has held key intelligence and joint staff roles. He currently sits on the board of OpenAI. A Minnesota native, he holds advanced degrees from USC, the National Defense Intelligence College and the U.S. Army War College.
Keynote Speaker: Lakshmi Raman
Director, Office of Artificial Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Ms. Lakshmi Raman is currently the Director for the Office of Artificial Intelligence for the CIA where she is working to champion, orchestrate, and integrate AI activities across the organization. She has been an officer in the Agency since 2002 when she entered on duty as a software developer. Since then, she served in various capacities including leading numerous software development efforts in support of the
Agency and the IC, directing large-scale data science and business analytics efforts, and promoting and facilitating intelligence integration and information sharing between the CIA and IC partners. Ms. Raman holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign and a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Chicago.
Summit Moderator: Erin Calipari
Director, Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University
Dr. Calipari is the Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research and an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Her work focuses on understanding the neural circuits that govern motivated behaviors, with particular attention to how these circuits are altered in addiction and psychiatric disorders. Dr. Calipari is known for her interdisciplinary approach, integrating behavioral, molecular, and circuit-level data to create comprehensive models of brain function. Over her career, she has won many prestigious awards – including The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) from The White House – and published over 95 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews on these topics. In her role as director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, she is leading a large group of faculty, students, and staff as they work together to understand the brain and the factors that confer risk to addiction. Through targeted outreach, the center has made an impact in the local and national community by educating the public on the science of addiction.
Summit Moderator: Lieutenant General Charlie “Tuna” Moore (Ret.)
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Vanderbilt University; Former Deputy Commander, U.S. Cyber Command
Retired Lt. Gen. Charles L. Moore Jr. was the Deputy Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland from 2020 until 2022. USCYBERCOM directs, synchronizes and coordinates cyberspace planning and operations to defend and advance national interests in collaboration with domestic and international partners.
Lt. Gen. Moore was commissioned in 1989 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He has served as an F-16 fighter pilot, instructor pilot, weapons officer, forward air controller and instructor at the U.S. Air Force Fighter Weapons School, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. His command experience includes the 555th Fighter Squadron, Aviano Air Base, Italy; 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group, Balad Air Base, Iraq; 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw AFB, South Carolina and the 57th Wing at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Prior to this position, Lt. Gen. Moore served as the Director of Operations, U.S. Cyber Command.
Lt. Gen. Moore is a command pilot with more than 3,000 hours in the F-16 and more than 640 hours of combat time.
Fireside Moderator: Douglas Adams
(Executive Director, Institute of National Security, Vanderbilt University;
Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University)
Dr. Adams is the Daniel F. Flowers Professor and Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Vanderbilt University, and he serves as Executive Director for Vanderbilt’s new Institute of National Security. His research in structural health monitoring develops resilient materials and machines through the use of novel sensing and system identification techniques that enable unprecedented performance of engineered systems while ensuring their safety and cost-effectiveness. His team has supported the development of many platforms utilized by the US Armed Forces including several aircraft like the UH60 Blackhawk and CH53K King Stallion and ground systems like the Stryker Vehicle. He founded and co-directs the 20,000 sq ft Laboratory for Systems Integrity and Reliability focused on demonstrating research-based solutions at a realistic scale in defense, energy, and manufacturing applications. He serves as a Technical Fellow for the $259M Department of Energy Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, which involves collaborations with Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee and serves over 130 industry partners. He has written 270 papers, been awarded 10 patents, and authored a textbook on structural health monitoring as well as several book chapters, including chapters on damage prognosis in aerospace structures and structural health monitoring of wind turbines. He has supervised 59 M.S. and Ph.D. students and 62 undergraduate research assistants. Research awards he has received include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Society of Experimental Mechanics DeMichele and Lazan Awards, Structural Health Monitoring Person of the Year Award, and he was elected a Fellow of American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society for Experimental Mechanics, and American Association for the Advancement of Science. He teaches courses in dynamic systems and has won awards for classroom and online teaching along with being elected to the Purdue Book of Great Teachers.
Fireside Moderator: Brett Benson
Associate Professor, Political Science and Asian Studies, Vanderbilt University
Brett Benson is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Asian Studies at Vanderbilt. My research focuses on international politics and security, political economy of conflict, and Chinese politics and East Asian relations. I am currently working on projects related to security cooperation, military alliances, economic interdependence and conflict, the global trade in small arms and light weapons, and China-Taiwan relations and security.
Benson received a Ph.D. (Political Science) and a M.A. (Economics) from Duke University.
Fireside Moderator: Nathan Green
Vice Chancellor for Government and Community Relations, Vanderbilt University
Nathan Green is vice chancellor for government and community relations at Vanderbilt University. He leads a 27-person team based in Nashville and Washington, D.C. that is responsible for the university’s advocacy work with all branches of government and for leading community initiatives and engagements.
Since his arrival at Vanderbilt, he has successfully advocated for the university on key policy topics, including student aid, the COVID pandemic response, and tax and employment issues. He and his team work daily on a variety of issues that impact higher education, Vanderbilt, and the community at large, ranging from fostering an ecosystem for research and discovery to providing access to education for all.
Green also plays a leading role in guiding the vision for Vanderbilt’s role in the greater Nashville area and directing the university’s approach for community involvement and economic development. He oversees the university’s Community Impact Fund which has supported more than 300 non-profits and community organizations across Nashville that are actively working to address challenges related to education, social justice, affordable housing, food insecurity, and more. The fund has provided long-term support for treasured Nashville non-profits like the Dismas House, Nashville Public Library, and The Oasis Center, and his division also forges partnerships with the city’s leading arts and culture institutions including the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Frist Art Museum.
Fireside Moderator: Padma Raghavan
Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, Chief Research Officer, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University
Padma Raghavan is the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation and Chief Research Officer, Senior Advisor to the Chancellor, and Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. As Vice Provost for Research and Innovation, Raghavan oversees the advancement of the university’s research and innovation portfolio, including development of strategic partnerships. These partnerships include the Ancora Innovation, with Deerfield Management, to accelerate the development and delivery of life-changing therapeutics from bench to patient, and Army Pathfinder, a program to rapidly advance mission-critical science and technology.
In her faculty role, Raghavan specializes in supercomputing. She has authored over one hundred peer- reviewed publications and supervised nearly fifty M.S and Ph.D. theses. Raghavan has received several recognitions, including the National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, elevation to Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is active in the profession, currently serving as a member of the President’s Committee on the National Medal of Science and the Council of Competitiveness’s Technology Leadership and Strategy Initiative, and is on the governing boards of the University-Industry Demonstration Partnership, UT-Battelle, which operates the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Southeastern University Research Association, which operates the Department of Energy’s Jefferson Lab.
Session Chair: Lieutenant General Ed Cardon (Ret.)
Session Chair: Niloofar Razi Howe
Special Advisor to the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University, Senior Operating Partner, Energy Impact Partners
Niloofar Razi Howe has been an investor, executive and entrepreneur in the technology industry for the past 30 years, with a focus on Cybersecurity for the past 20. Ms. Howe is an Operating Partner at Capitol Meridian Partners investing in companies at the intersection of government and technology. She serves on the Board of Directors of Morgan Stanley Private Bank, NA and Morgan Stanley Bank, NA, Pondurance (as Executive Chair), Tenable (NASDAQ: TENB), Composecure (NASDAQ: CMPO), Recorded Future, NetSPI, TAMR and on the Board of Advisors of Hidden Layer, Blackbird.ai, Altana.ai, Dragos, Enveil, Noetic Cyber, Red Queen Dynamics, and Picnic. She is a life member at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow at the International Security Program at New America, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Her non-profit work includes serving on the board of IREX, an international development and education organization working in over 120 countries focused on promoting social justice and lasting change, and as a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. Ms. Howe serves on a number of US government advisory boards, including the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency’s Advisory Council as well as the Department of Defense.
Previously, Ms. Howe served as Chief Strategy Officer and SVP of Strategy and Operations at RSA, a global cybersecurity company where she led corporate strategy, corporate development and planning, business development, global program management, business operations, security operations, and Federal business development. Prior to RSA, Ms. Howe served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Endgame, Inc., a leading enterprise software security company, where she was responsible for driving market and product strategy, as well as leading marketing, product management, corporate development, and planning. Prior to her operating roles, Ms. Howe spent twelve years leading deal teams in private equity and venture capital; first as a Principal at Zone Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles, and then as Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group, a Washington DC based private equity fund focused on investing in next generation security companies. Ms. Howe started her professional career as a lawyer with O’Melveny & Myers and as a consultant with McKinsey & Co.
Ms. Howe’s previous board roles include serving on the Board Directors of Initiate Systems (acquired by IBM), Courion Corporation (acquired by K1 Investment), Command Information (acquired by Salient), Safeview (acquired by L-3), Neven Vision (acquired by Google), Global Rights, an international human rights organization, as Chair, Sibley Memorial Hospital (a member of Johns Hopkins Medicine), as chair of its Investment Committee, and Sibley Memorial Hospital Foundation, as Vice Chair. Ms. Howe graduated with honors from Columbia College and holds a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School.
Ms. Howe speaks regularly on national security, cybersecurity, technology, innovation, corporate governance and corporate culture. She also created a TEDx talk entitled “The Gift of Exile” about the long-term opportunities that can arise from the most difficult challenges encountered in childhood for both the individuals who suffer the adversity and the communities that can accept and integrate such individuals. She is a regular judge at innovation competitions, including the RSA Conference Innovation Sandbox Competition and the RSA Conference Launchpad Competition.
Session Chair: Gillian Tett
Provost, King’s College, Cambridge,
Columnist and Editorial Board Member, Financial Times
Gillian Tett serves as Provost of King’s College, Cambridge University in the UK, while also writing a weekly op-ed column for the Financial Times on global finance and business. She is a member of the FT editorial board.
Before her role at Cambridge, she chaired the FT editorial board, US, and during the last decade has written two weekly columns, covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues. She also co-founded FT Moral Money, a thrice weekly newsletter that tracks the ESG revolution in business.
Tett was the FT’s US managing editor from 2013 to 2019. She has also served as FT’s financial editor, capital markets editor, acting editor of the Lex column, Tokyo bureau chief, economics reporter and a reporter in Russia and Brussels.
Tett is the author of Anthro-Vision, A New Way to See Life and Business published in 2021, which won the Porchlight best business book award and the Columbia Business School Eccles prize. She is also the author of The Silo Effect (2015); Fool’s Gold (2009), a New York Times best seller and Saving the Sun (2003).
Tett has been named Columnist of the Year (2014), Journalist of the Year (2009), Business Journalist of the Year (2008) in British Press awards and won three American SABEW awards. She has a PhD in social anthropology from Cambridge University based on field work in the former Soviet Union. She was awarded the American Anthropological Association President’s 2021 medal and the 2009 British Academy President medal for her work in social sciences and has received honorary degrees from the University of Exeter, the University of Miami, St Andrew’s, London University (Goldsmiths), Carnegie Mellon, Baruch and an honorary doctorate from Lancaster University in the UK. She is a CFA fellow in the UK.
Session Chair: Julie Wernau
Reporter, Wall Street Journal Health and Science Bureau
Julie Wernau writes about health and medicine across the U.S. for The Wall Street Journal's health and science bureau in New York. She tends toward stories that reveal the on-the-ground impact of health policy across America.
She previously covered China's consumer market for the Journal in Beijing and emerging markets and commodities for the Journal in New York, including distressed debt in Venezuela, Mozambique and Argentina and frozen concentrated orange juice.
Julie came to the Journal from the Chicago Tribune's business desk, where she covered energy and green technology and was a Livingston Award finalist for her coverage of the break-up of the Pritzker family empire. She launched her career as a crime reporter at the Day in New London, Conn., where her work uncovering a predatory lending scheme earned her the Thomas K. Brindley Award for Public Service.
Speaker: Brett Goldstein
Special Advisor to the Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
Brett Goldstein is a pioneering innovator recognized for dismantling bureaucratic barriers and driving cross-industry transformation, from the Department of Defense to Silicon Valley. Goldstein has advised Cabinet Secretaries, C-suite executives, and start-ups on national security, finance, cybersecurity, AI, and data analytics. With leadership roles spanning government, the private sector, and academia, he remains committed to enhancing government through data and technology.
Goldstein began his technology career at OpenTable, where he helped grow the company from an early-stage startup to a multinational corporation. Following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he joined the Chicago Police Department where he earned the rank of Commander. He made history as the nation’s first municipal Chief Data Officer in Chicago’s government and later served as the city’s Chief Information Officer. In these roles, Goldstein was critical in leading successful efforts to use data and technology to improve the lives of Chicago-area residents. To accomplish this, he established one of the premier analytics programs in the country, accelerating Chicago’s growth as a global hub of innovation and technology.
As Director of the Defense Digital Service, he led a team dedicated to tackling critical technical and national security challenges for the Department of Defense, reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense. He also served as Special Advisor to the United States Department of the Navy where he provided technical expertise on special projects, including overhauling the Navy’s personnel and manpower systems and infrastructure, developing data analytics and machine learning with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), and using commercial technology and algorithms to improve force protection for service members in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission.
Goldstein co-founded and served as Managing Partner of Ekistic Ventures, a venture capital fund dedicated to cultivating a portfolio of technology start-ups that bring new solutions to critical urban problems. Before his work at Ekistic, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of GCM Grosvenor, a global investment and advisory firm.
Academically, he served as a Senior Fellow and Special Advisor for Urban Science at the University of Chicago and as a Senior Advisor to the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. He also held a fellowship appointment at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is the Special Advisor to the Chancellor on National Security and Strategic Initiatives and a Research Professor in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University.
Goldstein earned a master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in Criminal Justice from Suffolk University. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Government from Connecticut College. He has received numerous recognitions and awards and is a sought-after speaker at national and international forums. He lives in Illinois with his wife, three children, two dogs, and a flourishing hive of bees.
Panelist: Morgan Adamski
Executive Director, USCYBERCOM
Ms. Morgan Adamski assumed her current position as Executive Director (EXDIR), United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) on June 10, 2024. As the highest-ranking civilian, she supports the Commander and Deputy Commander of CYBERCOM to manage the Cyber Operations Force, to include the Headquarters, six large Service Cyber Components, Cyber Mission Force Teams, and the Department of Defense enterprise defense forces. As the Executive Director, she leads initiatives to mature CYBERCOM and subordinate Command functions in the areas of strategic communication, talent management, foreign and domestic partnerships, innovation, and capability development. As an NSA senior executive, Ms. Adamski is also responsible for helping to maintain the strong partnership and alignment between NSA and U.S. Cyber Command.
Previously, Ms. Morgan Adamski was the Chief of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center for NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate where she led the Agency’s open private sector relationships to secure the Defense Industrial Base and its service providers. During her time there, she revitalized the way NSA collaborates with the private sector to harden billions of endpoints against nation-state cyber threats. Ms. Adamski also served as the Deputy Strategic Mission Manager for NSA’s Cybersecurity Directorate and was responsible for leading complex and groundbreaking initiatives for the agency specifically aimed at gaining insights against nation-state cyber actors and collaborating with the private sector.
For more than a decade, Ms. Adamski has been at the forefront of NSA’s Computer Network Defense, Computer Network Exploitation, and Cyber analysis missions. Prior to her position in CSD, she served as a senior Cyber Policy Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense (DASD) for Cyber Policy. Ms. Adamski acted as technical and operational subject matter expert to the DASD for Cyber Policy, specializing in operational issues in the Middle East and Eurasia area of responsibility. She was a primary contributor to the 2018 DoD Cyber Strategy and was responsible for orchestrating the Department’s new approach to cyber deterrence.
Panelist: Michael Brasseur
Chief Strategy Officer, Saab, Inc., General Manager, Skapa by Saab
Michael D. Brasseur serves as the Chief Strategy Officer and VP for Saab, Inc., a wholly owned US subsidiary of the leading Swedish defense and security company. Michael also serves as the General Manager of Skapa by Saab, which he founded in 2024 to help create novel solutions to our most challenging problems. Skapa is Swedish for “To create, To Make, To Shape” and leverages emerging disruptive technologies and a small, imaginative and hyper-talented team that iterates in the operational environment alongside end-users to create new capabilities fast.
Prior to joining Saab, Inc., Michael founded and served as the first Commodore of Task Force 59, a first of its kind organization dedicated to the rapid integration of robotics and artificial intelligence into 5th Fleet operations. Michael believes collaboration in diverse cross-functional teams is critical to solving complex challenges and has a history of building winning teams across all levels of government, including the White House, Pentagon and NATO. He has commanded two warships and served on four others and sailed the world’s oceans with friends and Allies.
Michael is a graduate of Vanderbilt University (B.S. Chemistry), George Washington University (M.A. Organizational Management) and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A. International Relations) and is an Honorary Practice Fellow at the Imperial College of London’s Institute for Security Science and Technology. His writings on leadership and emerging disruptive technologies have appeared in The Hill, Atlantic Council, Defense News, and the US Naval Institute among other well-respected publications. Michael and his family reside in Coronado, CA.
Panelist: Frank Cilluffo
Director, McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security, Auburn University
Frank J. Cilluffo is the Director of the McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security at Auburn University. Cilluffo was a member of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission and served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council where he chaired various initiatives on counterterrorism, cybersecurity and economic security. He’s routinely called upon to advise senior officials in the executive branch, U.S. Armed Services, and state and local governments on an array of matters related to national, homeland, and cyber security strategy and policy. He has publicly testified before Congress on dozens of occasions, serving as a subject matter expert on policies related to cyber threats, critical infrastructure security, counterterrorism, weapons proliferation, intelligence and threat assessments, emergency management, and border and transportation security.
Immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Cilluffo served as a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush in the newly created White House Office of Homeland Security. There, he was involved in a wide range of homeland security and counterterrorism strategies, policy initiatives and served as a principal advisor to Governor Tom Ridge and directed the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Cilluffo then joined George Washington University in 2003, establishing the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security as a prominent nonpartisan “think and do tank” dedicated to building bridges between theory and practice to advance U.S. security. He served as an associate vice president at GW where he led a number of national security and cybersecurity policy and research initiatives. He directed the Center for Cyber and Homeland Security and, with the School of Business, launched the university’s World Executive MBA in Cybersecurity program.
Prior to his White House appointment, Cilluffo spent eight years in senior policy positions with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank. There, he directed numerous committees and task forces on homeland defense, counterterrorism and transnational organized crime, as well as information warfare and information assurance.
He has published extensively in academic, law, business and policy journals, as well as magazines and newspapers worldwide. His work has been published through ABC News, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fox News, The Journal of International Security Affairs, The National Interest, Newsweek, Parameters, Politico, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Quarterly, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He previously served as an on-air consultant for CBS News and currently serves as a Trustee for the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering and is Chairman of the Advisory Board of Cyber Florida.
Panelist: Lizza Dwoskin
Silicon Valley Correspondent, The Washington Post
Lizza was hired at The Post in 2016 as the paper’s first Silicon Valley correspondent. Since then she’s broken major stories about the relationship between Silicon Valley and Washington, including being part of a team that broke the story of Russian online disinformation in the 2016 election, exposing tech company’s complicated relationships with Trump in his first term, and shedding light on the Silicon Valley players that have become a major force in politics.
Today her work straddles the future and the urgent present. She focuses on power: writing accountability-driven narratives about high-level figures, institutions, and ideas in the business world - those building the future and shaping the present, from politics to emerging military technologies to health.
Panelist: Emily Goldman
Director, Cyber Strategy and Policy, National Security Council
Dr. Emily Goldman is Director for Cyber Strategy and Policy at the National Security Council and a thought leader on cyber policy. She previously served as a strategist at U.S. Cyber Command and cyber advisor to the Director of Policy Planning at the Department of State, 2018–19. From 2014 to 2018 she directed the U.S. Cyber Command / National Security Agency Combined Action Group, leading a team that wrote the 2018 U.S. Cyber Command vision, Achieve and Maintain Cyberspace Superiority. She was a professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, for two decades and has published and lectured widely on strategy, cyberspace operations, and military innovation. Cyber Persistence Theory: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace, with Michael Fischerkeller and Richard Harknett, was published by Oxford University Press in 2022. Her most recent publication, with Robert Grossman, is "The Importance of Analytic Superiority in a World of Big Data and AI" (Cyber Defense Review, 2024).
Panelist: Sue Gordon
Former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence
The Honorable Susan M. “Sue” Gordon is a renowned leader in national security, intelligence, and technology, with a career spanning over three decades at the highest levels of government. As the former Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence (2017–2019), she advised the President on intelligence matters and provided operational leadership of the agencies and organizations of the Intelligence Community (IC). Today, as President of GordonVentures, LLC, she advises global leaders and organizations on risk, strategy, and innovation, with a focus on national security, space, cyber, AI, and quantum technologies.
Ms. Gordon serves as an independent director on the boards of CACI International, BlackSky, SecurityScorecard, and BCore; is Vice Chairman of the MITRE Corporation; and advises several leading technology companies. She is a university fellow, the President of the Pallas Foundation, an advisor to the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, and contributes to national security as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ms. Gordon joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1980 and served for 29 years, rising to senior executive positions in each of the Agency’s four directorates: operations, analysis, science and technology, and support. Her career was defined by transformative leadership and groundbreaking initiatives, including the creation of In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm. She drove intelligence integration across the IC and as Deputy Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (2015–2017), where she modernized operations, championed agile decision-making, and expanded geospatial intelligence into the commercial domain. Her numerous awards for creative executive leadership include the Distinguished Intelligence and Distinguished Career Intelligence medals, Presidential Rank awards, and the Oliver Baker, Lundahl-Finnie, and William Webster leadership awards.
A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Ms. Gordon is celebrated for mentoring future leaders and advancing public-private partnerships to meet global challenges.
A Duke University graduate and three-time captain of the Women’s Basketball team, Ms. Gordon embodies resilience and leadership. She cherishes the memory of her late husband Jim Gordon, also a Duke graduate, is a devoted mother to two grown children, and a loving grandmother to four grandchildren.
Panelist: David Graham
Biosecurity Programs Lead, Distinguished Scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
David leads multidisciplinary teams that address challenges at the intersection of Biology and National Security. Leveraging capabilities for researching microbial and plant biology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), he has more than 115 research publications in microbial biochemistry, geochemistry, genomics, molecular evolution, enzyme discovery, structural biology, analytical assay development and biosynthetic pathway characterization. Recent studies include validating plant sensors for warfighter protection, synthetic biology of nitration reactions and thermal stabilizers for energetic materials, and a technology assessment of methods to detect plant disease in cross-border trade. He has investigated how large language models could affect security of biotechnology and the bioeconomy.
He received an A.B. degree from Cornell University (Biological Sciences and Economics) in 1995 and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Microbiology) in 2000. Following an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Biology at Virginia Tech, he moved to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin before joining ORNL.
Panelist: Robert L. Grossman
Robert L. Grossman, Director, Center for Translational Data Science at the University of Chicago
Robert L. Grossman is the Frederick H. Rawson Professor of Medicine and Computer Science and the Jim and Karen Frank Director of the Center for Translational Data Science at the University of Chicago. He is also the Chief of the Section of Biomedical Data Science in the Department of Medicine. His research focuses on data science, machine learning, deep learning and AI. He is a fellow of the AAAS and the ACM.
He is the principal investigator for the National Cancer Institute Genomic Data Commons (GDC), a platform for the cancer research community that manages, analyzes, integrates, and shares large-scale genomic datasets in support of precision medicine. The GDC is used by more than 100,000 researchers each year. He has also built data commons and data meshes to support research in other areas, including liquid biopsies, Veterans’ health, infectious diseases, heart and lung diseases, and the environment.
Recently, his research group has been developing algorithms for building small and midscale large language models and generative AI models over data commons of biomedical data and developing systems and applications for research using these models.
Panelist: Karl Hanmore
First Assistant Director and Chief Technology Officer, General Mission Capability, Australian Signals Directorate, Australian Government
Mr. Karl Hanmore was appointed to the role of First Assistant Director-General Mission Capability in May 2022, having served in a former iteration of this role from August 2021.
As the First Assistant Director-General Mission Capability, Karl manages ASD's offensive cyber, access and cyber defense capabilities. He is also responsible for the delivery of a significant portion of ASD’s capability uplift under the REDSPICE Program.
Karl has an additional role as ASD’s Chief Technology Officer, which promotes coherence across mission and enterprise architecture, advocacy for the identification and introduction of leading-edge technology into ASD’s mission, and research and development.
Prior to this Karl was the First Assistant Director-General Cyber Security Services at the ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) from January 2019. In this role Karl was responsible for leading the provision of advice, assistance and guidance to Australian Government, industry and the general public. In this role he held responsibility for a wide range of capabilities ranging from incident response and threat intelligence through to providing technical advice on contemporary and emerging security issues at a national level.
Karl has previously held the role of Assistant Director-General Access and Effects Enablement Branch, where he brought his strong technical management to what is arguably one of the most technical and technically diverse branches within ASD. Karl undertook a number of roles within ASD prior to joining the Senior Executive Service, across a number of sections in both technical and management expertise to advance their mission.
Karl joined the Government from a role in Microsoft where he worked within the Microsoft Security Response Centre (MSRC). Prior to this, Karl held a number of roles within industry including at AusCERT (which at the time was the National Computer Emergency Response Team for Australia), at a regional bank and for a regional Internet Service Provider in the mid 1990’s.
Karl is married to Helen and has two young daughters, Cassandra and Alessandra. He enjoys playing with his kids, online gaming, and electronics and considers himself a bit of a geek. Karl holds a Masters of Information Security and Intelligence from Edith Cowan University.
Panelist: Ethan Jackson
Senior Director, Strategic Missions and Technologies, Microsoft
Ethan Jackson is Senior Director at Microsoft in the Strategic Missions and Technologies (SMT) Division where he leads Microsoft’s biosecurity solutions. The capabilities developed by Dr. Jackson’s team range from cloud-scale AI for detecting biothreats to robotic bio-sampling and biosensing platforms embodying state-of-the-art edge AI. He has deep experience shaping and delivering biosecurity technology for commercial, health security, and national security sectors both domestically and internationally. In addition, Dr. Jackson supports Microsoft’s activities to assess the potential risks of general-purpose and biology-specific AI systems to create biological threats. These efforts included recommendations to policymakers and federal agencies across domestic and national security missions, in collaboration with Microsoft’s Office of Responsible AI and Microsoft’s National Security teams.
Dr. Jackson joined Microsoft Research in 2007, after completing a PhD in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. His initial work focused on methods to improve the security and reliability of cyber systems, which have been applied to the Windows operating system, Microsoft HoloLens, and Azure cloud platforms. He was a founding member of the Microsoft Health Futures team focused on research-led moonshots in the health and life science domains. He is a member of the senior leadership team of SMT’s Office of the CTO and continues to guide the technology transition process from AI research to productization.
Panelist: Ron Keesing
Chief AI Officer, Leidos
Ron Keesing is the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at Leidos, where he oversees the Enterprise strategy for Artificial Intelligence (AI), guiding internal and customer-facing initiatives, technology partnerships, workforce initiatives in AI, and risk-based governance.
Ron has been leading groundbreaking research and delivering advanced mission solutions in AI for over 25 years. He has done pioneering work addressing many of the nation’s toughest challenges, from forecasting cyber threats and political instability to discovering new potential cancer treatments to creating the first generation of agentic systems for spacecraft command and control. He has successfully transitioned numerous research technologies into operational programs for the DoD and Intelligence Community. As a Leidos Technical Fellow, he has authored papers and patents in diverse computer science and AI subfields and serves on various governmental and non-governmental advisory boards.
His current research focuses on enhancing resilience, security, assurance, and user trust in AI, particularly with emerging agentic AI technologies. Ron holds a B.S. and M.S. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from the University of Maryland.
Panelist: Major General Akitsugu Kimura
Commanding General, Japan Self-Defense Forces Cyber Defense Command (JCDC)
Major General Kimura holds multiple advanced degrees, including a Master of Engineering from the National Defense Academy, a Master of Strategy from the U.S. Army War College, and a Master of Government Information Leadership from the National War College in Washington, D.C.
Since joining the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) in 1995, Major General Kimura has held key leadership roles in cyber defense, intelligence, and operations. His extensive career includes serving as Director of C4 Systems, Commander of the C4 Systems Command, and various strategic positions within the JGSDF and Joint Staff Office.
He assumed his current role in March 2022, overseeing Japan’s cyber defense strategy and international collaboration on cybersecurity.
Panelist: Joe Larson
Senior Vice President, National Security Operations, Anduril Industries
Joseph P. Larson III is Senior Vice President, National Security Operations, at Anduril Industries, a defense technology company specializing in advanced and autonomous systems. Prior to this role, Joseph served as the inaugural Deputy Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer for Algorithmic Warfare (DCDAO(AW)) within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) from 2022 to 2024. In this position, he led multiple initiatives related to warfighting autonomy, AI, and machine learning infrastructure, including the establishment of Task Force Lima, OSD’s Task Force for generative artificial intelligence. Before his CDAO role, Joseph led the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (Project Maven) from 2021 to 2022 with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, detailed to the Pentagon.
Before his federal service, Joseph held various private-sector positions in data, policy, technology, and national security. He was previously a Senior Director at Anduril Industries, leading efforts in joint all-domain command and control, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and battle management. He also served as Head of Business Operations at Tulco Labs, a private equity firm focused on transforming regulated industries through machine learning. Earlier in his career, he worked as a Deployment Strategist at Palantir Technologies, focusing on AI, defense, intelligence, and cybersecurity, and as an associate in the antitrust and bankruptcy practice at Sidley Austin, LLP, a top national law firm.
Joseph has served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for twenty-four years as an intelligence and information operations officer. He currently serves as an intelligence officer at the MAGTF Staff Training Program in Quantico, VA. His last active-duty assignment was as Deputy Chief of Project Maven in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security from 2016 to 2019. He is a graduate of both the Marine Corps Command and Staff College (Distance Education Program) and the Army War College (Distance Education Program).
Joseph holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a Masters degree in Strategic Studies from the Army War College, and a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of San Diego.
Panelist: Cristina Martina
Cristina Martina, Research Associate Professor, Meiler Lab, Vanderbilt University
Cristina is a Research Associate Professor in the Meiler Lab at Vanderbilt University, specializing in computational vaccine and antibody design for infectious diseases and cancer. Her research focuses on developing immunogens against high-priority viruses, including influenza, filoviruses (Ebola, Marburg), and alphaviruses (Eastern-, Venezuelan-, Western- Equine Encephalitis, Chikungunya). She earned her bachelor's degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology (University of Pisa) and her master’s in molecular and industrial biotechnology (Alma Mater University of Bologna), both summa cum laude, before obtaining a Ph.D. in Science from the University of Liège, Belgium.
Cristina led the computational chemistry team in the Bayer-Vanderbilt Alliance (2022-2024) and played a key role in securing the prestigious ARPA-H-funded APECx program, which she now leads in collaboration with 13 principal investigators across eight institutions and one industrial partner. APECx aims to leverage AI-driven computational design to create next-generation vaccines that provide broad protection against entire viral families rather than single strains. With the rapid advancement of AI technologies such as AlphaFold, ProteinMPNN, and ChatGPT, Cristina is particularly interested in the dual-use implications of AI in biotechnology—balancing its potential to revolutionize vaccine development with the emerging security risks of AI-enabled biological threats.
Panelist: Mark Montgomery
Senior Director, Center on Cyber and Technology; Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Mark Montgomery is the Senior Director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation and a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He serves as the Executive Director of Cybersolarium.org, a non-profit organization which works to implement the recommendations of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where he was Executive Director from 2019 to 2021. Prior to this, Mark was Policy Director for the Senate Armed Services Committee under the leadership of Senator John S. McCain and completed 32 years as a nuclear trained surface warfare officer in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a Rear Admiral in 2017. As a flag officer his assignments included Director of Operations at U.S. Indo- Pacific Command; Commander of Carrier Strike Group 5 homeported in Japan; and Deputy Director, Plans, Policy and Strategy at U.S. European Command.
Panelist: Andrew Moore
Founder, Lovelace AI
Andrew is the founder of Lovelace AI. Lovelace is a new startup currently in stealth mode, dedicated to providing AI to support national security missions. In addition, Andrew is a Special Government Employee advising CENTCOM on advanced AI and robotics use cases.
Prior to Lovelace, Andrew has spent his career in roles within Google and within Carnegie Mellon University. He was General Manager and VP for the AI division of Google Cloud, responsible for products such as Vertex AI platform, Contact Center AI, Anti Money Laundering AI, Vertex AI Computer Vision suite and AI applications in Logistics. Before that, Andrew was Dean of the School of Computer Science at CMU, and prior to his deanship founded the Google Pittsburgh office.
Andrew began his career as a professor of Computer Science and Robotics at CMU. His main technology interests are the underlying algorithmic issues in blending classic statistics and probability for rational decision making based on colossal amounts of real time data.
Andrew serves as an expert advisor to SCSP, is a member of the congressionally mandated National AI Research Roadmap and was a member (and lead for the research section of) the congressionally mandated National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Andrew is a Fellow of AAAI and in 2021 was awarded the Key to the City of Pittsburgh for his contributions to Pittsburgh’s growth as a center of AI technology.
Panelist: Jeff Moss
Founder, DEF CON and Black Hat
A career spent at the intersection of hacking, cybersecurity and Internet governance gives Mr. Moss a unique perspective as the founder of both DEF CON and Black Hat, two of the world's most influential information security events. Mr. Moss serves on the Board of Directors for Compagnie Financière Richemont SA., and is a member of the UK Government Cyber Advisory Board (GCAB). Mr. Moss was a member of the CISA Cyber Security Advisory Council (CSAC) where he led the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) and was an SGE at ONCD. For 10 years he was a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Cyber Statecraft Initiative. He served as the first Chief Security Officer at ICANN, a commissioner on the Global Council on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC), and a member of DHS HSAC for 11 years. His most fun work was as a technical advisor for the Mr. Robot series.
Panelist: Thompson Paine
Product and Operations Leader, Anthropic PBC
Thompson Paine leads Product Management at Anthropic PBC. He is also a member of the Adjunct Faculty at Vanderbilt Law School, lecturing on law and emerging technologies in U.S.-China competition. Paine has spent the last decade and more helping scale global tech companies in AI, financial technology, and education software. Previously, Paine served in the Political Section of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, reporting on CCP leadership politics, human rights, and other topics related to China’s domestic and foreign policies. He has co-authored papers on navigating U.S.-China tech competition, and he is a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Paine is proficient in Mandarin Chinese, and studied PRC law as an exchange student at Peking University Law School in Beijing. He earned a J.D. and M.B.A from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Political Science and Asian Studies from the University of North Carolina.
Panelist: Admiral Michael Rogers (Ret.)
Senior Fellow, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management & Former U.S. Cyber Command Commander
Admiral Rogers is a member of the Board of Directors or Advisory Board to multiple companies in the private sector. He also works in the consulting and venture capital arenas across the globe while also speaking internationally to various business and academic groups in the areas of cyber security, geopolitics, technology, leadership, and crisis response. He can be seen on major media outlets across the globe on occasion addressing those same issues. He is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor with Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s and works with DoD in the mentoring and professional development of its General and Flag officers.
Mike served in the U.S. Navy for nearly 37 years ending his service as a four-star admiral. Admiral Rogers retired from the U.S. Navy in 2018 and culminated his career in uniform with a four plus year tour as both the Commander of U.S. Cyber Command and Director, National Security Agency – creating the DoD’s then newest combatant command (the senior-most war-fighting organizations within the DoD) and leading the largest intelligence organization in the free world. In those roles, he worked with the senior-most leadership of the U.S. government, the DoD and the Intelligence community as well as their international counterparts in the conduct of cyber and intelligence activity across the globe. He also assisted in the development of national and international policy with respect to cyber, intelligence, privacy and technology – including extensive work with corporate leadership in the finance, IT, telecommunications and technology – and global security more broadly.
Prior to his final duties he also served as Commander, U.S TENTH FLEET/Fleet Cyber Command and the Director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the INDO-PACIFIC Command. He served afloat and ashore around the world during his career.
He is a graduate of Auburn University and holds a Masters in National Security (East Asia) and is a distinguished graduate of the National War College and a graduate of highest distinction from the Naval War College. He is also an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow and a Harvard Senior Executive in National Security alum.
Panelist: Will Roper
CEO/Founder, Istari Digital; Distinguished Professor of the Practice, Georgia Institute of Technology
The Honorable Dr. Will Roper is the founder and CEO of Istari Digital, a pioneering tech startup backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Istari Digital is building the world's first engineering metaverse, where technologies ranging from medicine to satellites are created entirely digitally. This year, they are on track to design the world's first digitally-certified aircraft.
In addition to entrepreneurial aims, Will is a Distinguished Professor at Georgia Tech, member of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, and Honorary Group Captain in the U.K. Royal Air Force. He previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force and Space Force, overseeing $60 billion of annual development and operations of 5,300 aircraft and satellites. His tenure was marked both by reforms to open the defense market to tech startups and advanced weapons programs ranging from artificial intelligence to hypersonic aircraft. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he dramatically ramped U.S. production of vital medical equipment as the executive agent for the Defense Production Act. Prior to departing government service, Will overturned 50-year-old body standards for all Air Force programs, increasing access to flight careers for women.
A recipient of the Pentagon’s and Air Force's highest awards for public service, Will's published features in Wired, Time, WSJ, Popular Mechanics and Matrix-inspired digital engineering guide, “There is No Spoon,” continue to shape thought around technology and defense.
Will holds a bachelor's and master's degree in physics from Georgia Tech and a doctorate in mathematics from Oxford University, where he studied string theory as a Rhodes Scholar. He is an active traveler, avid hiker, able Pelotoner, and ardent father.
Panelist: Peter Singer
Senior Fellow, New America and Managing Partner, Useful Fiction
Peter Warren Singer is Strategist at New America, a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University, and Founder & Managing Partner at Useful Fiction LLC, a company specializing in strategic narrative.
A New York Times Bestselling author, described in the Wall Street Journal as “the premier futurist in the national-security environment” and “all-around smart guy” in the Washington Post, he has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. No author, living or dead, has more books on the professional US military reading lists. His non-fiction books include Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry, Children at War, Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century; Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know and most recently LikeWar, which explores how social media has changed war and politics. It was named an Amazon and Foreign Affairs book of the year and reviewed by Booklist as “LikeWar should be required reading for everyone living in a democracy and all who aspire to.” He is also the co-author of a new type of novel, using the format of a technothriller to communicate nonfiction research. Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War was both a top summer read and led to briefings everywhere from the White House to the Pentagon. His latest is Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution. It has been described by the creator of Lost and Watchmen as “A visionary new form of storytelling—a rollercoaster ride of science fiction blended with science fact,” and by the head of Army Cyber Command as “I loved Burn-In so much that I’ve already read it twice.”
Panelist: Jesse Spencer-Smith
Associate Dean for Partnerships and Innovation for the College of Connected Computing; Chief Data Scientist and Interim Director for the Data Science Institute; Professor of the Practice of Computer Science, Vanderbilt University
Jesse Spencer-Smith, PhD is Associate Dean for Partnerships and Innovation for the College of Connected Computing, Chief Data Scientist and Interim Director for the Data Science Institute at Vanderbilt University, and is Professor of the Practice of Computer Science. He leads a team of data scientists and postdoctoral fellows who collaborate with researchers across the university and medical center and with industry partners, and teaches graduate courses on artificial intelligence. He consults with researchers and business leaders on using, training and developing new AI models, and has developed and led workshops on AI for audiences from senior executives in industry to high schoolers. He has been invited to speak on AI at national academic, industry, and government conferences focused on science, healthcare, financial services, executive leadership, and service industries internationally. He has published on AI and its applications in areas ranging from astrophysics to archeology to negotiation. He holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science from Indiana University, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Florida. He was previously at HCA Healthcare for nine years, where as Director of Data Science he built the first data science team for the company and was charged with enabling data science across the enterprise through training, mentoring, skills assessments and consulting with business units on data science and AI preparedness. At the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he was an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Quantitative Methods and was a Beckman Fellow at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. In high school, he founded an early software technology company that developed solutions for civil engineering using the first generations of personal computers.
Panelist: General Glen VanHerck (Ret.)
Founder and Principal, Glen VanHerck Advisors
Glen VanHerck is a visionary senior leader leveraging more than 36 years of service culminating as commander of both the North American Aerospace Defense Command and United States Northern Command. He brings a wealth of experience in strategy and policy development, and joint planning and operations. Glen is the Principal at Glen VanHerck Advisors, LLC, and he serves as a strategic advisor and board member to multiple companies spanning various industry sectors.
Glen served for nearly 37 years on active duty in the United States Air Force, in multiple assignments spanning fighter, bomber, and training operations, including serving as a United States Air Force Weapons School Instructor in the F-15C and the B-2A. He commanded two squadrons, an operations group, and two operational wings. He also commanded the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis AFB, Nevada.
Glen spent his last seven years on active duty serving in joint assignments. Prior to commanding NORAD and NORTHCOM, he served as Director of the Joint Staff. In this role he advised the Chairman, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in their roles as advisors to the Secretary of Defense and President, served as the Joint Staff Inspector General, and led daily operations for the Joint Staff. He also served as the Vice Director of the Joint Staff and the Vice Director of Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J5). Glen played critical roles in the development of the 2018 National Defense Strategy and the National Military Strategy, the Missile Defense Review, Nuclear Posture Review, stand up of United States Space Command, and responses to COVID, civil unrest, and global instability. At NORAD and NORTHCOM he led the commands and the Dept of Defense in the implementation of the Global Information Dominance Experiments (GIDE). Other joint assignments include serving as the Director, Plans and Integration, JFCC-GS, United States Strategic Command. He is a command pilot with more than 4,000 flying hours in the F-15C, F-35A, B-2A, and B-1B and a FAA licensed Airline Transport Pilot.
Glen is a graduate of the University of Missouri. He received graduate degrees from the University of Central Missouri and the Naval War College. He is passionate about growing leader’s, homeland defense, the use of emerging technologies such as AI/ML to create time, decision space, and organizational efficiencies, and globally integrated all domain operations and planning.
Glen and his wife Marilyn have been married since 1988 and reside in Missouri.
Panelist: Major General Lee Yi-Jin
Chief of Digital and Intelligence Service; Director Military Intelligence, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF)
MG Lee Yi-Jin joined the SAF in 1999 and spent his formative years in the Artillery. He went on to serve in various command appointments, including Commanding Officer of the 21st Battalion, Singapore Artillery; Commander of the 3rd Singapore Infantry Brigade; and Commander of the 6th Singapore Division/ Headquarters Sense and Strike. During the national fight against COVID-19, MG Lee oversaw national contact tracing operations as the Commander of the Health Surveillance Task Force.
MG Lee also held various staff appointments within MINDEF and the SAF, including Assistant Chief of the General Staff (Plans) in the Army; and Group Chief, Policy and Strategy/MINDEF Transformation at MINDEF. As Director Military Intelligence (DMI)/Chief of Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (C4I), he helped to lay the foundations for the establishment of the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS).
MG Lee graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago and a Master of Arts in International Policy Studies from Stanford University. He attended the United States Army Command and General Staff College, where he was awarded the General Dwight D. Eisenhower Award as the top international graduate. MG Lee was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) (Military) in 2016, and the Public Administration Medal (Gold) (COVID-19) in 2023.
Panelist: Angel Zajkowski
Senior Counselor, Palantir Technologies USG; Founder, Deplhi Solutions
Angel is a Senior Counselor at Palantir Technologies USG, advisor to start-up firms, and founder of Delphi Solutions that enables companies with leadership development. She is also a civil servant on both the weapons committee and the intelligence committee of the Army Science Board, and advises senior military and government leaders on strategy, organizational change, technology and innovation, special operations, and intelligence activities. She gives back to the community as a Board Director for Team Red, White, and Blue and investor in local businesses.
Angel has a long military service record that started in the intelligence community, and was posted in Korea, Japan, and various US locations. She then completed selection, assessment, and training for Army special missions and served in various roles from tactical to strategic levels, including Deputy Chief Technology Officer, Chief Restructuring Officer, and Chief of Staff.
She is a highly experienced teammate, manager, and leader with multiple operational and training deployments to combat zones and conflict areas around the world. Angel is a recipient of a medal for valor for actions in combat and co-founded the SOCOM Ignite program at Massachusetts Institute for Technology to develop technology leaders in the military. Angel holds degrees from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Methodist University, Cochise College, and Monterey Peninsula College as well as executive certificates from Harvard Business School and Duke University. She is a native of California and currently resides in Hawaii with her family.