The Graham Plaster Podcast

Jade Baranski, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, Mobilize

Having led multiple successful SBIR awards, Jade is passionate about connecting and growing the community of small businesses that make up our nation’s competitive advantage.‍ They have personally created, purchased, and sold multiple companies in their career, ranging from full-service marketing to data collection and analytics platforms.

Jerry Ramey, TECHNICAL CO-FOUNDER, Mobilize Jerry is the resident problem solver, and most notably, a connoisseur of Kentucky bourbon. ‍As a first-generation college graduate, he created the bioinformatics program at Transylvania University in Kentucky. Jerry then went on to his PhD candidacy at the School of Mines before launching his first development company. ‍A few of his most notable achievements include analyzing, iterating, and building an advanced data collaboration model for the DOD innovation ecosystem and creating and researching an algorithm to analyze genetic sequences for HIV resistance.

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Art Trevethan, with a 30-year career as an entrepreneurial pioneer, has significantly influenced the startup and innovation landscape, particularly in his role within the U.S. Army's Army Futures Command and as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Army Applications Laboratory. His work has bridged the gap between traditional and unconventional Army suppliers, fostering growth and collaboration. Art's diverse experience spans various sectors like AITech, MedTech, and SocialTech, where he has played key roles in founding, financing, and leading businesses. Currently, as a Partner at RIIS Technologies, he continues to leverage his technical know-how and entrepreneurial spirit to promote innovation. His deep understanding of industry needs and trends aids RIIS in navigating the wider community's demands and avoiding pitfalls, thereby supporting warfighters and enhancing the government's ties with non-traditional companies.

Erin has worked inside the financial crimes and compliance industry in a variety of roles as the Senior Manager for the Cyber Intelligence Unit at Western Union, identifying risk on the TOR network (dark web markets). Before that
spent five years with Bank of America serving as a fraud intelligence analyst and then as an anti-money laundering investigator within the terrorist financing group of Bank of America. While at BofA she closed over 2,000 suspected money laundering cases and worked closely with law enforcement to service grand jury subpoenas and special law enforcement requests. Prior to entering the private sector, Erin served in the Central Intelligence Agency for ten years, specializing in Counter Terrorism, conflict resolution, mediation, and due diligence, serving in multiple active war zones.

​Merritt is Field CISO at Lacework, a cloud security unicorn. She served for over 5 years at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the Office of the CISO, serving as Deputy CISO to AWS. She has deep operational and strategic security experience in all three branches of government. She has a strong publication record and is frequently cited and interviewed in the press. She also advises young companies and sits on corporate boards, bringing her expertise in business risk, cybersecurity, legal considerations of technology, and entrepreneurialism.

Justin is the CEO and Founder of Executive Presence, providing a fully managed LinkedIn presence for CEOs & top executives. He is also a Podcast Founder and Host of ‘Beyond the Uniform’- the #1 iTunes rated podcast for military career transition advice with over 400 episodes and running. Previously he was the CEO of Storybox, a Silicon Valley marketing technology. He raised $3M in Venture Capital from Google’s Chairman, Eric Schmidt, sourced and sold $5M+ in contracts to 35+ Fortune 500 companies, and was profiled in Facebook case study for marketing technology excellence.
www.ExecutivePresence.io
justin@ExecutivePresence.io

Camille Tuutti’s journalism career in Washington, D.C., may have begun in earnest in 2008, but she has always been a storyteller. Growing up in Sweden, Camille had one dream and one dream only: to be a journalist. At age 5, Camille told her mom about her career plans — a goal she remained laser-focused on until she snagged her first reporting job. After Camille left Sweden to pursue her dream, she spent a few years in London and New York City honing her reporting skills. Eventually, she landed in D.C., where she began covering the government contracting industry and the federal government’s use of technology. With her natural knack for storytelling and captivating ledes, it didn’t take long for Camille to rise through the ranks, leading some of the area’s top government technology publications. In 2018, Camille launched Tuutti Frutti Strategies, an editorial consultancy that creates content for tech companies targeting government audiences. Camille’s 14 years of experience in tech journalism gives her a unique understanding of the pain points in government and how industry can help ease them. She’s able to narrate the connections between the exact challenges government faces and how tech brands can solve them with their services and solutions. Camille firmly believes every person and every business has a story worth telling — a compelling, unique narrative that can set them apart in a noisy marketplace. Camille’s goal is to help tell those stories in a way that reaches and resonates with her clients’ target audiences.  Camille is a frequent moderator, panelist and speaker. She serves as an adviser to BingeBuilderX, which helps creators and creative organizations turn intellectual property into digital-asset-based communities. She's also the co-host of the upcoming podcast "Technocracy," which highlights cool people doing cool stuff in tech. When Camille isn’t working, she enjoys traveling, working out and spending time with family, friends and her rescue French bulldog. If you’re looking for her on a Sunday morning, you’ll most likely find her at a local coffee shop or in the yoga studio.

Adam Hesch is a US Navy veteran with a passion for the intersection between veterans and technology. In March of 2015 he joined UPLIFT Aeronautics as the social media manager and head of the digital fundraising team, where he led the effort that raised over $35,000 via the IndieGoGo crowdfunding platform. UPLIFT Aeronautics is a non-profit based out of Stanford, California that is developing humanitarian aid delivery drones (featured on the BBC, NPR, Washington Post, Fast Company, and more).  Adam actively networks to build meaningful relationships with veterans across industry, with a focus on tech. To this end, he has attended the TechStars Patriot Boot Camp; Stanford Graduate School of Business Post-9/11 Veterans IGNITE program; VetTechTrek tech-immersion trip; and has been a speaker at the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. He is also learning iOS app development via the bloc.io veteran’s scholarship, and helps with business development for stubble & stache, a veteran-owned beard care company (featured on CNN and Washington Post) where 15% of proceeds go to veterans struggling with the mental wounds of war.  In the Navy he was a surface warfare officer and graduate of the US Naval Academy, the Defense Language Institute, Navy Dive school, and Army Mountain Warfare school.

Ben’s mission is to promote widespread and sustainable human flourishing by empowering talented individuals to drive innovation within large organizations. While on active duty with the U.S. Navy as an F/A-18 Super Hornet pilot, Ben founded the Chief of Naval Operations Rapid Innovation Cell. This effort formally linked technologically savvy junior officers to four star admirals for the first time. The CRIC sponsored cutting edge technology programs, such as putting 3D printers on ships and fundamentally reshaping maritime cyber defense efforts. Ben’s leadership was chronicled in Adam Grant’s NYT best-selling book “Originals.” He later helped stand up the Defense Innovation Unit (Experimental) in Silicon Valley.  Ben also co-founded and led the non-profit Defense Entrepreneurs Forum. Now in it’s 8th year, DEF has a membership of over 2,500 military innovators across three continents. DEF hosts national and regional design thinking events for defense innovators, shaping many entrepreneurial and personnel reform efforts within DoD.  In his current professional capacity, Ben is an engagement manager at McKinsey & Co, focused on transformational change within the energy and public sectors. He has driven front-line operator reforms within railroads and pipeline companies in addition to helping public sector clients rethink legacy acquisition strategies. Most recently, his work has focused on COVID-crisis response efforts within a large US city and an elite East Coast University.  Ben received an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Tillman Scholar and helped found Hacking 4 Defense. He was a 2018 Presidential Leadership Scholar and 2020 Leadership Dallas fellow. In his free time, he hosts “A Random Walk with Ben Kohlmann,” a weekly podcast featuring interviews with a wide range of experts, including astronauts, architects, and policy reformers.

Jason Criss Howk has spent over 30 years in the national security arena in defense, diplomacy, and intelligence roles. He educates, writes, and speaks about Afghanistan, Interfaith issues, Islam, and other foreign policy and national security topics.  He holds a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern and South-Asian studies, was a term-member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a Malone Fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies.  He also studied Afghan Farsi (Dari) and Arabic, and has published numerous works on the Broader Middle East and Islam. Jason is currently a national security and career advice columnist at Clearance Jobs News and a professor of Islamic and Afghan studies at the Air Force Special Operations School. He has bylines in over two dozen journals and magazines and regularly appears on news outlets to discuss Afghanistan.   Jason has worked on Afghanistan since 2002 assisting the most senior Generals, Ambassadors, and policy-makers in building the Afghan National Army; developing the International Security Sector Reform (SSR) program in Kabul; conducting the U.S. and NATO strategic assessment of the Afghan War in 2009; helping the Afghan government create an Afghan Peace, Reintegration, and Reconciliation policy; and also leading two teams that monitored Afghanistan and Pakistan issues for senior Defense and Joint Staff leaders and the National Security Staff at the White House. He continues to monitor Afghanistan and advise various entities on conflict resolution and security prospects. In his spare time Jason works on conflict resolution and tolerance building as an interfaith leader. In 2017 he published an award-winning chronological modern-English interpretation of the Qur’an.

Kevin Landtroop is a leader and entrepreneur with 20+ years of National Security experience. Having founded, designed, and executed programs connecting startups, DoDX, VC, academic research, and defense industry, including the Center for Defense Innovation at Capital Factory and the Texas Defense Innovation Forum, Kevin has emerged as a plankholder for the national security innovation ecosystem centered in Austin Texas (ATX). A founding moment for DoDX came in Austin in early 2018: DIUx had completed its first full year, AFWERX was in launch, and the Army announced that Army Futures Command would be activated – all in ATX. Kevin founded the Texas Defense Innovation Forum to scale this effort and bring more educational resources and meaningful connections for the assembling mass of dual-use tech startups. In early 2019, Capital Factory opened the Center for Defense Innovation and Kevin joined Vice President, providing greater reach to core programs he designed, such as Defense Academy and SBIR Accelerator. Kevin left to help launch SGS, the DoD-focused spinout of applied Artificial Intelligence powerhouse SparkCognition.  Prior to coming to ATX, Kevin served the Army as a Soldier, lawyer, strategist, and leader. Kevin holds a B.S. from West Point (1998), a Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Texas School of Law (2005), and a Master of Laws (LL.M) from the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School (2010) (concentration in National Security and government contracts). He has two operational deployments, leading a platoon of cavalry in Srebrenica, Bosnia in 2000 and serving as National Security Law advisor to an Army Brigade in Al Anbar, Iraq from 2007-2008. Kevin helped rebuild Iraqi criminal justice institutions for Al Anbar Province and performed National Security Law reviews for over 500 detained terrorist suspects.

Dr. Frank DiGiovanni aka "D9", has 41 years of government service and 26 years as a U.S. Air Force officer holding aviation ratings as a B-52H navigator and F-15A and A-37B pilot. He retired from the Air Force at the rank of colonel. Dr. DiGiovanni also held several command, director, and staff positions across the Air Force related to training policy, advanced training technologies, and sustaining the military's access to land, sea, and air training resources. He has served three operational deployments with the last in Pakistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). Dr. DiGiovanni is a member of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Navy Senior Executive Service, serving in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for 11 years as the deputy director, where he was responsible for the programming and execution of the $900 million the DoD invests in worldwide joint training and training technologies.

James Farwell is a National security expert, attorney, Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), expert in cyber policy, strategy and cybersecurity; information warfare. He advises the U.S. Department of Defense and companies on cyber, information warfare, and strategic communication. He has seven published non-fiction books; and has written a new opera, THE FABULIST, to open in London.  Mr. Farwell is an Associate Fellow, King's Centre for Strategic Communications, Department of War Studies, King's College, London and non-resident Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute, Washington, D.C.

Barbara Estes is an All-Source Intelligence Analyst for the United States Air Force, National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Mrs. Estes served as the Chairman of the Weapons and Space Intelligence Committee (WSSIC), Electronic Warfare Systems Subcommittee (EWSS), 2018-2021, and was Head of Delegation (HOD) for Electronic Warfare Radar Intelligence Exchange (EWRIE) under the Chiefs of Scientific and Technical Intelligence (CSTI) program. To mitigate strategic surprise and risk, Mrs. Estes leads intelligence community (IC) collaboration on simultaneous ongoing research efforts to deliver all-source intelligence analysis and products to drive policy makers, acquisition customers, and operators to modify doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), and system designs to improve U.S. survivability in threat environments. Mrs. Estes, a native of Cheyenne, Wyoming, began her Air Force career upon graduation from Advanced Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC), Dayton, Ohio. With twelve  years of intelligence analysis experience, customers recognize her as a subject matter expert on PACOM and EUCOM adversary deception capabilities across the information spectrum. Resides with her spouse, Mr. Jay Estes in Beavercreek, Ohio, and their son, Jace and daughter, Ani.

Christopher (Chris) Lay is the Co-Founder and CEO of LEONID, a leading financial services provider to US national security, defense, and space entrepreneurs. His team has seen first-hand how a lack of resources can deny many people the chance to fully use their talents- which is why LEONID invests 50% of their profits towards supporting veterans, veterans’ families, and their communities. Chris holds a B.S. in Biology form the College of Idaho, a Ph.D. in Neurobiology from the University of California (Irvine), and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He lives with his wife Katelyn and their three children in Southern California.

Pete Newell is a nationally recognized innovation expert whose work is transforming how the  government and other large organizations compete and drive growth. He is the CEO of BMNT, an internationally recognized innovation consultancy and early-stage tech  accelerator that helps solve some of the hardest real-world problems in national security, state and  local governments, and beyond. Founded in Silicon Valley, BMNT has offices in Palo Alto, Washington  DC, Austin, London, and Canberra. BMNT uses a framework, called H4X®, to drive innovation at speed. H4X® is an adaptation of the  problem curation techniques honed on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan combined with the best  practices employed by successful Silicon Valley startups. The result is a disciplined, evidence-based,  data-driven process for connecting innovation activities into an accountable system that delivers  solutions and overcome obstacles to innovation. Pete is a founder and co-author, with Lean Startup founder Steve Blank, of Hacking for Defense (H4D)®,  an academic program taught at 47+ universities in the U.S., as well as universities in the UK and  Australia. H4D® focuses on solving national security problems. It has in turned created a series of sister  courses – Hacking for Diplomacy, Hacking for Oceans, Hacking for Sustainability, Hacking for Local and  others – that use the H4X® framework to solve critical real-world problems while providing students  with a platform to gain crucial problem-solving experience while performing a national service. Pete  continues to advise and teach the original H4D® course at Stanford University with Steve Blank.  In addition, Pete is Co-Founder and Board Director of The Common Mission Project, the 501c3 non profit responsible for creating an international network of mission-driven entrepreneurs, including through programs like H4D®.  Prior to joining BMNT, Pete served as the Director of the US Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF).  Reporting directly to the senior leadership of the Army, he was charged with rapidly finding, integrating,  and employing solutions to emerging problems faced by Soldiers on the battlefield.  From 2010 to 2013 Pete led the REF in the investment of over $1.4B in efforts designed to counter the  effects of improvised explosive devices, reduce small units exposure to suicide bombers and rocket  attacks and to reduce their reliance on long resupply chains. He was responsible for the Army’s first  deployment of mobile manufacturing labs as well as the use of smart phones merged with tactical radio  networks. Pete retired from the US Army as a Colonel in 2013. During his 32 years in uniform he served as both an  enlisted national guardsman and as an active duty officer. He commanded Infantry units at the platoon  through brigade level, while performing special operations, combat, and peace support operations in  Panama, Kosovo, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is an Army Ranger who has received  numerous awards to include the Silver Star and Presidential Unit Citation.  Pete holds a BS from Kansas State University, an MS from the US Army Command & General Staff  College, an MS from the National Defense University and advanced certificates from the MIT Sloan  School and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tom Suder is Founder and President of the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC).  Tom is a two-time winner of a Federal 100 Award, a prestigious honor that recognizes government and industry leaders who played pivotal roles in Federal IT and made a made a difference in the way technology transformed the government. He is the co-author of over 25 White Papers that were jointly published by MITRE and ATARC following collaboration sessions during the ATARC Federal IT Summit Series. Topics of these educational symposiums include Mobile Technology, Cloud & Data Center, Data & Analytics, DevOps, Cybersecurity, Health IT, Network Transformation and the Internet of Things.  Tom is also the Founder & President of Apcerto, a mobile DevSecOps company, and he serves on a variety of technology advisory boards, including the Professional Science Master’s Advisory Board, which is a part of the Telecommunications Management graduate program at the University of Maryland University College (UMUC).

Louis B. Tucker is the CEO of Mission Sync, a national security sector consulting firm focusing on the intelligence and special operations communities. He serves on George Washington University’s Counterterrorism Task Force, on the advisory board of multiple technology companies and on the advisory board of Mission Link - an executive level forum designed to foster collaboration and innovation among CEOs, decision makers, critical thinkers and pacesetters from the most promising companies dedicated to the mission of defense, intelligence and national security. Within the federal government, Louis advises several intelligence/defense principals. From 2007 - early 2011 Louis served as the Republican Staff Director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). As staff director, he led a team of legal, policy and intelligence professionals overseeing the $80B+ operations of the Intelligence Community and crafting landmark legislation like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act of 2008. Louis is a Navy Reserve Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) Commander who mobilized on active duty from June-December 2009 at the request of General Stanley McChrystal to serve on his Strategic Advisory Group and in Ambassador Karl Eichenberry’s Interagency Provincial Affairs Office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Louis served from 1996-2003 on active duty as a Navy SEAL, from 2003-2004 as a Central Intelligence Agency officer overseas, and in 2005 as U.S. Senator Richard Shelby’s Chief of Staff on Capitol Hill. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1995 with a B.A. in History and earned a Master’s of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in 2006. Louis learned the importance of timing when he formed an internet start-up company in 1995-6 and unsuccessfully tried to convince businesses that the Internet could be used to sell their products (most businesses caught on in 1997).

Joy is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Boone Group—a firm driving advancement and adoption of superior technologies within the national security, energy, and infrastructure markets. A specialist in defense acquisition and cybersecurity, Joy is frequently sought after for her ability to turn strategic theory into successful, detailed tactical approaches that move the needle for Boone’s clients.  With offices in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas, Boone is actively redefining the defense technology and procurement process; as Founder and CEO, she is responsible for overseeing company growth (both in revenue and process) and providing senior tactical oversight to clients.  Prior to founding Boone, Joy worked in a variety of roles spanning federal and local governments and the private sector. Most recently, she served as a Senior Strategist in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where she was responsible for communications as it applied to the defense industrial base and international weapons program development. Joy also served as the primary speechwriter for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics (AT&L) and was routinely sought after by communications teams for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense for assistance on communications within the AT&L domain.   Joy received her M.B.A with a specialization in Cybersecurity from the George Washington School of Business in 2015 and is a graduate of Columbia College, Chicago, where she earned a B.A. in Marketing Communications and Political Science. She also studied program management at Defense Acquisition University.   In addition to leading growth and execution for Boone, Joy is a Board Member for the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum, a certified yoga instructor, mentor for transitioning servicemen and women and their families, and spends much of her free time training as a USA boxing amateur for an annual charity boxing match benefiting the military and veteran communities.

Kristen R. Hajduk works with Federal Partnerships at Golden, where she leverages AI and NLP to build the world’s first self-constructing knowledge database.  Previously, Kristen was the Director of Operations for National Security Innovation Network (NSIN). Kristen lead a nation-wide team that enabled communities of innovators to solve national security challenges.  Prior to joining NSIN, Kristen served as a Senior Advisor for Special Operations and Unconventional Warfare and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she provided technical oversight and guidance to U.S. Special Operations Command, advocated for Special Operations policies within the Department of Defense, the interagency, and the Legislature. She also served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, advising on all issues relating to special operations, strategy, force development, and planning. Prior to this, she was the Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, consulting on executive management and strategic-level issues. During this time, Kristen served as the Co-Founder and Co-Director of No Exceptions, a successful advocacy initiative to open all military positions to women, removing the last legal professional barrier to women in the United States. Kristen spent the first five years of her career as a researcher, authoring over 20 reports on counterterrorism, nuclear verification, and homeland defense issues.  Kristen is a National Security Institute Fellow, a Center for New American Security Next Generation National Security Leader alum, a German Marshall Fund Fellow, and a Truman National Security Project Defense Council member. Kristen received her Master of Public Policy degree in National Security Policy from the University of Chicago. During this time, she interned for the Chicago Policy Review and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Kristen holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) with dual majors of International Relations and English Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University.

Major Lauren Serrano (formerly Reisinger) is currently serving as the Aide-De-Camp to the Chief of Naval Operations. Maj Serrano is from San Francisco, California. She commissioned in June 2009 through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program and graduated from Drexel University with a Major in Middle Eastern Studies and dual Minors in Arabic and World Politics. She has studied abroad in Cairo, Egypt and Amman, Jordan.  Maj Serrano’s military occupational specialties include: Counterintelligence/Human Intelligence (CI/HUMINT) officer, Middle Eastern Foreign Area Officer and Weapons and Tactics Instructor. Her first assignment was to CI/HUMINT Company, 3d Intelligence Battalion in Okinawa, Japan from October 2010 to May 2014.  From August 2012 – July 2013 Maj Serrano deployed to the Office of Security Cooperation-Iraq (OSC-I), Department of State Embassy - Baghdad. At OSC-I, Maj Serrano first served as the Executive Assistant to the Chief of Staff, then as an Intelligence Analyst in the J-2 shop and Collector with the Defense Attaché Office. She spent part of her deployment in Erbil, Iraq providing security assistance to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces.  From 2014 – 2017 Maj Serrano completed a fellowship in the Junior Officer’s Strategic Intelligence Program (JOSIP). Her assignments included fellowships at the Department of State Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and as a resident master’s student at the National Intelligence University (NIU).  From 2017 – 2019 Maj Serrano served as the Intelligence Fusion officer on the I Marine Expeditionary Force staff in Camp Pendleton, California. From June 2019 – 2020 she served a Company Commander and subsequently the Battalion Operations Officer at the Marine Cryptologic Support Battalion, National Security Agency, Fort Meade, Maryland.  Maj Serrano is the recipient of the 2014 Chase writing award and the 2020 Hogaboom Leadership writing award from the Marine Corps Association, and the 2015 LtCol Kuszewski NIU writing award recipient for the best Master’s Thesis on the Operations-Intelligence Relationship. She is published in the Marine Corps Gazette, Small Wars Journal, and Foreign Area Officer Association Journal. Maj Serrano is also an elected member and secretary for the FAO Association Board of Governors.  Maj Lauren Serrano is married to Maj David Serrano, who is currently serving as the USMC Cyber Instructor at the United States Naval Academy. Together they have two children, Alexander (5) and Christine (4).

CAPT Van Buskirk was born and raised in Menlo Park, CA. He attended the University of Arizona, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance in 1998 and his commission in January, 1999. He attended naval flight training in Pensacola, Florida, graduating with distinction in September, 2000. After advanced training in Coronado, CA he was qualified as an SH-60F/HH-60H Seahawk pilot. 

At sea, CAPT Van Buskirk served as Commanding Officer and Executive Officer of the “World Famous Golden Falcons” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 12 in Atsugi, Japan. During this tour, his command earned his 3rd “Battle E” and the  Secretary of Defense Phoenix award for the best maintenance practices in the Department of  Defense. Prior to HSC-12, he served with the “Chargers” of HS-14 in Atsugi, Japan. During this tour he earned his second “Battle E” and participated in OPERATION TOMODACHI relief  operations. Prior to arriving at HS-14, he served with Expeditionary Sea Combat Unit ONE as  Director of Operations, where he flew multiple combat missions in support of JOINT SPECIAL  OPERATIONS TASK FORCE - PHILIPPINES. Prior to arriving at HS-14, he served with the  “Dusty Dogs” of HS-7 in Jacksonville. During this tour he deployed in support of OPERATION  IRAQI FREEDOM, where his squadron earned the “Battle E”.  

Ashore, he served as a Secretary of Defense Executive Fellow at VMware, Inc. in Palo Alto, CA,  where he worked with senior executives on business strategy and technology innovation. He  also served on the Joint Staff, J-3 Directorate at the National Military Command Center,  Washington D.C. as Presidential Strike Advisor, and Assistant Deputy Director for Operations. Prior to arriving at the NMCC, he served as Aide to Commander, Navy Region Hawaii in Pearl  Harbor, Hawaii. Prior to that, he served as an FRS Instructor Pilot in Coronado, CA.  

Prior to assuming his role as Director of NavalX, CAPT Van Buskirk served as a founding  member of the Strategic Warfighting Innovation Cell, OPNAV N7 Warfighting Development  Directorate, Washington, D.C.  

He holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Defense Focus) from Naval  Postgraduate School at Monterey, California, and has completed executive programs at Harvard  Business School (Entrepreneurship) and University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business (Finance, Marketing, and Business Strategy). CAPT Van Buskirk has over 3,000 flight hours in  the SH/MH/HH-60 and holds numerous personal and unit level awards.

Jim Hunt began his career in Washington in the mid 70’s as a U.S. Government scientist. After eight years with the government, he founded “BDS, Incorporated” where he served as CEO for ten years. In 1991, BDS was merged with BTG, Incorporated and Jim assisted in the integration of the two companies. In 1992, BTG was taken public in a successful offering. Jim also served on the BTG board of directors.

Subsequent to his tenure at BDS/BTG, Jim went to Price Waterhouse where he started and ran the firm’s system integration practice. After two years at PW, Jim was recruited away with 17 PW colleagues and founded “Ernst & Young Technologies” (EYT), where he was CEO for eight years. EYT was subsequently sold to Cap Gemini and Jim served as President of Cap Gemini Technologies for two years, leaving Cap Gemini in 2006.

After leaving Cap Gemini Technologies, with two colleagues, Jim founded “The MITA Group” a Washington-based consultancy focused on public affairs and business strategy.

Jim began his angel investing activities in the mid 1990’s after the successful BTG IPO, with five investments in area companies. After over 25 years of seed stage investing, he expanded his portfolio since the early 2000’s to the present over 120 early stage investment. Jim sits on numerous corporate boards. He has exited over 30 investments over the past ten years, the last of which was January of 2019.

Jim’s investments are in the area of cyber and physical security, Internet-of-Things, data center management, social media, analytics, and mobile applications.

As an active member of multiple angel groups and managing partner of “Lavrock Ventures”, a recently formed early stage venture capital firm, Jim spends a significant amount of his time scouting for world-class, game changing technology.

In addition to his investing activities, Jim serves as a consultant to both government and corporate organizations in the area of overall strategy, product commercialization, channel strategies and M&A strategies.

Jim has been an Adjunct Professor at the McDonough School at Georgetown for the past 20 years as well as at Notre Dame and teaches cornerstone courses in business planning and start-up business management and investing. He has also created and taught courses to international angels and entrepreneurs and has successfully launched four overseas ventures in the past several years, with particular emphasis on technology incubation in developing countries.

Jim is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Rochester Institute of Technology and sits on the Notre Dame Engineering College Advisory Council. Additionally, Jim is a past president of the Computing Industry Technology Association.

Karl is Co-Founder of NeedCapial.AI. He also led a media company from launch to the Inc. 500 as Chairman in 2015. While holding positions within venture capital and family offices, Karl has advised projects across a multi-billion-dollar portfolio.

Joy Schoffler, Principal of Distinctive Edge Partners, is an award-winning global communications and investor relations strategist, with decades of experience building, scaling and protecting global public and private brands.  Clients she has worked with have raised billions in capital, went from start-up to exit, built and scaled cutting edge technologies, executed profitable M&As, grew international sales and distribution channels, closed major customers and created significant share-holder value.  Joy founded and sold strategic marketing and communications firm Leverage PR which worked across technology, financial services and promoted global innovation by representing the Economic Ministries of Japan and Brazil and SXSW, among others. The firm also served numerous financial services firms, resulting in significant AUM increases.  She has devised strategies which educated global markets on blockchain’s applicability outside of bitcoin, worked across hardware, IOT, financial technology and extensively within the artificial intelligence space across both robotics and process automation.  As a financial services leader, Joy sat on the investment committee at Ascendant Industries, evaluating middle market cybersecurity, defense, maritime and engineering technology companies. She served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Casoro Capital. There she built and led the investor relations team which was responsible for raising capital for direct investments ranging from $18-80M and was responsible for building an award-winning, tech-enabled, public non-traded REIT, Upside Avenue. Built at a fraction of the cost of competitors, it won CREs’ best new online capital raising platform and created successful acquisition channels for retail, RIA and institutional investors. As Director of Acquisitions for The PPA Group, she underwrote and acquired $250M in real estate, helped grow the firm from 4 to 75 employees—making the “Inc. 5000” list, twice.  Past and current board positions include SXSW & AARP Accelerator, FinTech Professionals Association and spent 4 years with CFIRA working with the SEC and FINRA on JOBS Act implementation, enabling online investing as we know it today.  A sought-after speaker and media contributor, Joy won numerous awards including Women Communicators “Outstanding Communicators”, CEO Magazine “Entrepreneur of the Year” and Austin Under 40 award. Joy served as an officer in the Army Reserves & Texas State Guard.

Dr. David A. Bray is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center. He has served in a variety of leadership roles in turbulent environments, including bioterrorism preparedness and response from 2000-2005, time on the ground in Afghanistan in 2009, serving as the non-partisan executive director for a bipartisan National Commission on R&D, and providing leadership as a non-partisan federal agency senior executive. He accepted a leadership role in December 2019 to incubate a new global Center with the Atlantic Council. He also provides strategy to both boards and start-ups espousing human-centric principles to technology-enabled decision making in complex environments. He was also named a senior fellow with the Institute for Human-Machine Cognition in starting in 2018. Business Insider named him one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for 2016-2021. From 2017 to the start of 2020, David served as executive director for the People-Centered Internet coalition chaired by Internet co-originator Vint Cerf, focused on providing support and expertise for community-focused projects that measurably improve people’s lives using the internet. He also was named a Marshall Memorial Fellow and traveled to Europe in 2018 to discuss Trans-Atlantic issues of common concern including exponential technologies and the global future ahead. Later in 2018, he was invited to work with the US Navy and Marines on improving organizational adaptability and to work with US Special Operation Command’s J5 Directorate on the challenges of countering misinformation and disinformation online. He has received both the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal. David enjoys creative problem solving. He began working for the US government at age 15 on computer simulations at a high-energy physics facility investigating quarks and neutrinos. In later roles, he designed new telemedicine interfaces and space-based forest fire forecasting prototypes for the Department of Defense. From 1998-2000 he volunteered as a part-time crew lead with Habitat for Humanity International in the Philippines, Honduras, Romania, and Nepal while also working as a project manager with Yahoo! and a Microsoft partner firm. Bray then joined as IT chief for the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading the program’s technology response to during 9/11, anthrax in 2001, Severe Acute Respiratory System in 2003, and other international public health emergencies. He later completed a PhD from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and two post-doctoral associateships at MIT and Harvard in 2008. David likes to be a digital diplomat and a “human flak jacket” for teams of change agents working in turbulent environments. He volunteered in 2009 to deploy to Afghanistan to help “think differently” on military and humanitarian issues and in 2010 became a senior national intelligence service executive advocating for increased information interoperability, cybersecurity, and protection of civil liberties. In 2012, he became the executive director for the bipartisan National Commission for Review of Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community, leading an interagency team that received the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation. He received both the Arthur S. Flemming Award and Roger W. Jones Award for Executive Leadership in 2013. He also was chosen to be an Eisenhower Fellow to meet with leaders in Taiwan and Australia on multisector cyber strategies for the “Internet of Everything” in 2015. He is the author of 40+ academic papers and published publications. David’s passions include complicated, near impossible missions involving humans and technology in challenging circumstances. Through the efforts of a team of “

Welcome all you back-of-the-napkin ninjas, you elevator pitch artists, build a jet while you fly it, school of hard knocks Heroes, Dreamers and Doers; join us in the foxhole, in the arena of life.  This is the Graham Plaster Podcast, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders; and the origin stories that made them who they are today.