Speakers

Matthew Dunlop

Dr. Matthew Dunlop is Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for Under Armour where he is responsible for global security across all of Under Armour’s corporate, retail, and eCommerce functions, as well as its numerous connected fitness applications.  He is also a retired Army Colonel with nearly 30 years of service.  During his time in the Army, Dunlop participated in the build of Cyber Command with his final position being the Director of Applied Research and Development. Dunlop also has a rich academic background that includes assistant professor of computer science at West Point, computer science faculty mentor at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, and adjunct faculty in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Virginia Tech.  He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech, a M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, a M.S. in Engineering Management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, and a B.S. in Mathematics from Gonzaga University.

J.R. Williamson

J.R. Williamson is the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer of Leidos. In that role, he is accountable for all aspects of information security strategy, governance, risk, and full cycle cybersecurity operations for the corporation.  Specific duties include the oversight and protection of the corporation’s intellectual and digital assets  against existing and emerging cybersecurity threats; developing and implementing effective and risk-based security policies, procedures, and operating practices; executing cyber risk assessments and designing appropriate remediation plans; development and retention of our global cybersecurity workforce, and the evolution of our global information security technology and innovation processes.

Williamson has formally held positions at Northrop Grumman from 1990 until joining Leidos in September 2018 and served as the Corporate CIO, Deputy Chief Information Security Officer, Chief Engineer, Chief Technologist, Director of the Enterprise OneNGC Program Office, and Executive Director of IT Infrastructure and Enterprise Services Operations.

Prior to Northrop Grumman, Williamson served a 4-year stint as a civilian working for Headquarters, United States Marine Corps in the Special Services unit.

Williamson holds a bachelor’s degree in decision sciences and information management from George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. and a master’s in information systems from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, a Six Sigma Black Belt, ITIL v3 Foundations-certified, and a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow Emeritus.  He chairs the Leidos Security Council, is a member of the Executive Security Action Forum, the Microsoft Chief Security Officer Council, serves on the CISO serves on the Gartner Advisory Board, serves on the Defense Industrial Base Sector Coordinating Council, and is the Vice Chairman of the Board of the Internet Security Alliance.

Williamson is blessed with a wonderful family of five and spends his free time with them and engaging in all things soccer (he is a professional soccer coach with a US Soccer National C license, a certified referee, and still plays the beautiful game every week in an over-40 league!).

Craig Parisot

ATA, LLC

is the Chief Executive Officer of ATA, LLC (Advanced Technology Applications) headquartered in the heart of Tysons Corner, Virginia. ATA is a Design+Build partner providing full stack data science solutions to multiple industry sectors serving commercial and government clients. Through its emphasis on merit-based hiring and promotion, ATA has built a diverse culture of high performing scientists, engineers and analysts. Through the companies unmanned systems practice area, ATA licenses capabilities that perform planning, compliance and optimization functions. Prior to ATA, Craig was an officer in the United States Air Force and held senior leadership roles with three acquired companies where he led strategy, operations and development. He is actively engaged in angel and growth stage technology investing and among his local start-ups, he is partnered with The Wine Outlet, a regional neighborhood-driven wine and gourmet food chain. Craig is a member of multiple civic and industry organizations and an experienced for profit and not for profit Board member where he maintains a focus on national security, economic growth and community development. He currently is a member of the Data Community DC Board of Directors where he founded Data Week DC, a Board Member of the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education (VA FREE), and a member of the UAS Working Group with Virginia’s Department of Aviation. Craig earned his MBA from Cal Poly and a BA in English from the University of South Carolina. He has pursued studies in computer science, engineering, law, and business at multiple universities and has continued his leadership and national security education with The Aspen Institute and the Kennedy School’s program for Senior Executives in National and International Security. Craig lives with his family in Great Falls.

Tom Walker

DroneUp

Tom is the founder and CEO of DroneUp. DroneUp provides end-to-end aerial data collection and processing services to private, public sector, and public safety organizations through its patent-pending verification platform, Mission Match ™ .

A former military officer, Tom is a recognized pioneer in military and government digital reform, having managed the extensive programming and web enablement of computer systems to support both the U.S. and International Special Forces.

As a result of his thesis, The Point of Mobile Confluence , Tom was tapped as an advisor to the White House on innovative technologies and their
impact on the emerging workforce. The data from the research, combined with his military search and rescue experience, led to the creation of
DroneUp.

Jill Ingrassia

AAA - Washington, DC

As Executive Director, Advocacy & Communications, Jill directs federal and state government relations and traffic safety advocacy, policy and programs for AAA, as well as leading internal and external communications efforts.  She manages a staff of policy and public health professionals and oversees the development and implementation of public policy strategy of concern to AAA members and AAA business operations, including mobility and transportation safety, energy, and consumer automotive issues.

Throughout her 22 years with AAA, Jill has worked on a number of comprehensive initiatives to address distracted driving and impaired driving, improve teen and senior driver safety, and advocate for transportation funding and innovation.  She has represented AAA on a number of coalitions with national transportation and safety organizations, including service as Chairman of the ITS America Board of Directors, membership on the Transportation Safety Advancement Group, service on the steering committee of the Road to Zero coalition, and 2008 Chairman of The Road Gang, an affiliation of transportation professionals based in Washington, DC.   She also serves on the Board of the Public Affairs Council.

Before joining AAA, Ingrassia worked as legislative assistant to former Governor and U.S. Senator Jim Exon of Nebraska. She holds a B.A. from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Spanish and Global Studies.

Tracy Tynan

CIT

Tracy Tynan is the Director for the Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at CIT with the goal of growing unmanned systems economic activity and benefit in the Commonwealth. She had been a consistent producer within Virginia’s economic development community for over 15 years. Her initial position was as an International Project Manager at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, where she focused on the rapidly developing investments coming from Japan and other Asian countries. She then joined the regional team at The Greater Richmond Partnership and served as a Vice President for Business Investment. In that capacity she worked to promote the City of Richmond, Hanover, Henrico and Chesterfield counties. Returning to VEDP in 2011, Ms. Tynan worked highly visible corporate headquarters relocation and expansion projects while also pursuing opportunities for growth within the aerospace and unmanned systems sectors. She forged numerous strategic relationships within the aero community and gained first hand understanding of the issues and challenges of growing this important industry in Virginia.

Prior to her economic development experience, Ms. Tynan held several positions within commercial airlines. She was hired by Japan’s All Nippon Airways after their inaugural USA flight service from Tokyo to Washington DC, as their Senior Sales and Marketing Manager. Her background also includes more entrepreneurial experience as she was part of the start-up teams at People Express, Presidential and Jet Aspen airlines.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Tracy earned her B.S. in Education while being the University’s top competitive diver and record holder on the Swimming and Diving Team. She was also a professional ski instructor in Colorado prior to meeting her husband Joe Croce and settling in Midlothian Virginia.

Tom McMahon

AUVSI

Tom McMahon is senior vice president of Advocacy and Government Relations at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. In this role, he leads AUVSI’s public affairs and communications organization. He also manages initiatives to reach policy decision makers and influencers with information about unmanned systems and how the technology will benefit the economy and generate business opportunities and jobs.

Before joining AUVSI in 2015, McMahon was director of Global Communications and Government Affairs at Motorola Solutions, a leading provider of public safety communications systems. Previously, he was director of Corporate Communications and Government Relations at CenturyLink and Qwest Communications, two of the nation’s largest telecommunications providers. He managed media relations during the $22 billion CenturyLink-Qwest merger, a transaction that required approval from the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and more than 30 state public service commissions.

Earlier in his career, McMahon was vice president of Communications and Government Affairs at WaveCrest Laboratories, an electric vehicle systems developer. He helped promote the company’s patented electric propulsion technology in the international transportation market. Before that he was vice president at the public affairs firms Powell Tate and Brodeur Worldwide, where he consulted clients on policy issues concerning several industries, including technology, telecommunications and transportation. He has also worked in the U.S. Congress, serving as a spokesperson and advisor for members and committees in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

McMahon is a graduate of Auburn University and was general manager of its public radio station. Currently, he is a member of the National Press Club and formerly served on its the Board of Governors. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Advanced Mobility Consortium.

Scott C. Kordella

MITRE

Scott Kordella is a systems engineer specializing in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems engineering with over 35 years of experience in radio frequency system design and operations. He works across the National Security, Civil, Commercial and International Space domains, to develop and implement strategies that are shared between MITRE’s National Security Sector and Public Sector sponsors.

He holds a B.S. in physics from the University of Maryland, an M.S.E.E. (electrophysics) and Doctor of Science (electrophysics) from George Washington University. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia, a Senior Member of the I.E.E.E., and an adjunct professor at Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Patrick Cushing

Williams Mullen

Patrick Cushing is an attorney and seasoned state lobbyist with experience crafting policy in both the public and private sectors. Patrick uses his blend of public sector, business development, marketing and legal experience to help clients develop a cohesive legislative and executive advocacy strategy. Patrick’s clients include large state-wide associations, multinational corporations, Virginia-based businesses and small startups.

Patrick offers his clients a perspective gained over the course of five years serving as a nonpartisan staff attorney within the General Assembly. During this time, Patrick was the lead attorney for the House Science and Technology and the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services committees. He was also involved in planning, organizing and staffing meetings for the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS). As a lobbyist, Patrick has first-hand experience working with legislators, agency heads and members of the Governor’s Cabinet to transform policy initiatives into legislative solutions.

In 2016 Patrick helped form and now lobbies on behalf of the Unmanned Systems Association of Virginia, which works to identify opportunities to protect and grow Virginia’s leadership in the unmanned industry.

Patrick has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Virginia Super Lawyers magazine (2013-present). He also served on Governor-elect Ralph Northam’s Policy Council on Transportation.
He earned his undergraduate degree from James Madison University with double majors in integrated science and technology and political science and his Juris Doctor degree from Roger Williams University School of Law.

Jerry Sgobbo

Dive Technologies

Jerry is a 1994 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy and served a 20-year career in the Coast Guard retiring at the rank of Commander in 2014. During that period, Jerry served in several operational afloat assignments, two major ship acquisition programs, and served his final assignment as Commanding Officer, Naval Engineering Support Unit Boston, MA.

After retiring from active duty, Jerry was hired by Bluefin Robotics, located in Quincy, MA, and worked as the program manager supporting a U. S. Navy program of record that used a Bluefin autonomous underwater vehicle in a mine hunting role.

In 2018, Jerry co-founded Dive Technologies and is currently the President and CEO. The goal of Dive Technologies is to develop a large autonomous underwater vehicle platform that is reliable, highly customizable, and long-range at a disruptive price point to serve the fast growing AUV market.

In addition to graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Jerry holds engineering graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Suzi McBride

Iridium Communications Inc.

Suzi McBride is the Chief Operations Officer at Iridium Communications Inc., the only satellite communications company that offers truly global voice and data coverage.

In this role, she is responsible for leading all Iridium^® network operations, including the satellite constellation and associated ground gateways and terminals. Mrs. McBride will also be responsible for all technology innovation on Iridium’s new network, including the development and manufacturing of subscriber equipment, new services and applications.

Prior to this role, Mrs. McBride served as the COO and Senior Vice President of OneWeb’s Program Office.  While in this position, she built up OneWeb’s team of engineers and oversaw the system design, production and testing of the ground and space networks as well as user terminal development.

Mrs. McBride has more than 25 years of experience, including building and launching the original Iridium satellite constellation while at Motorola’s Satellite Communications Group as a senior engineer in the 1990s. During her first tenure at Iridium, lasting over nine years, Mrs. McBride served as Vice President of Program Management and Launch Services, playing a key leadership role in developing the Iridium NEXT system, leading launch strategy, engineering and hosted payload programs.  Mrs. McBride also held the position of Program Manager at General Dynamics (later Orbital ATK and now Northrup Grumman) where she managed NASA and U.S. Air Force satellite programs.

Mrs. McBride received her MBA from the University of Tennessee in the Executive Aerospace and Defense program, and her dual undergraduate degrees from Columbia University in Industrial Engineering and Claremont McKenna College in Management Engineering. Mrs. McBride also holds a master’s degree in Program Management from George Washington University and is Project Management Institute certified.

Jonathan Redway

Dickinson Wright PLLC

Jon is a nationally recognized intellectual property strategist and trial attorney.  Jon has extensive experience representing clients in complex patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret cases before federal and state courts throughout the United States, as well as before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and the International Trade Commission (“ITC”).  Jon regularly works with automotive industry partners and suppliers in areas related to autonomous technology.

Captain Ben Worcester

Stafford County Sheriff’s Office

Captain Ben Worcester is a division commander for the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia.  The Stafford County Sheriff’s Office is a full service law enforcement agency protecting 277 square miles with a population of approximately 149,000.  Stafford County is located in northern Virginia approximately 45 miles south of Washington D.C.

Captain Worcester began his service to the country and community in 1998.  As a United States Marine he learned the fundamentals of leadership and tactical planning.  The experience as a member of the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team would later play a role in the successful deployments of Unmanned Aircraft Systems on law enforcement, and search and rescue missions.

Captain Worcester progressed through the ranks within Stafford County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia having spent time in Patrol, Criminal Investigations, Administrative Services and Special Operations.  He has completed various leadership courses including the FBI-LEEDA course for executives and the Weldon-Cooper Center, LEAD program.  Currently Ben is a Captain and Division Commander of the Special Operations Division of the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office, where one of his many responsibilities includes running the Unmanned Aircraft Systems team.

Captain Worcester founded, and leads a successful 16-member Unmanned Aircraft System Team for the Sheriff’s Office.  He has implemented the training and UAS policy, as well as, obtained the Certificate of Authorization from the FAA for the agency. Captain Worcester is a 14 CFR Part 107 pilot, and a level 1 thermographer for UAS.  Members of the team have obtained their Part 107 licenses and Captain Worcester continues to train the team to overcome all of the challenges associated with this technology.

Captain Worcester presents regularly to law enforcement agencies on the topic of Unmanned Aircraft System implementation and as a result, many neighboring jurisdictions have modeled their programs after the Stafford County Sheriff’s Office program. Captain Worcester continues to stay informed on the ever-changing technology and regulations by participating in national focus groups, International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) events, training events, technology panels, and constant collaboration with professionals across the nation.

John Eberhardt

ATA, LLC

Mr. Eberhardt is the Chief Technology Officer ATA, LLC. Mr. Eberhardt has over 20 years of experience in Solution Architecture, Systems Engineering, Data Science, and Analytics, managing teams of scientists and engineers to rapidly create customer-centered solutions.

Mr. Eberhardt has developed over 25 systems in aviation, big data analytics, clinical decision support, cyber security, molecular diagnostics and risk management, including award winning healthcare quality applications.

With one patent and five patent applications in process and over 45 publications and speaking engagements, John is a thought leader in advanced analytics with experience in machine learning, statistical algorithms, and user interface design for decision support in Security, Healthcare, Financial Services, Life Sciences, and Consumer Products.

Experience

Education

Appointments and Honors

• Adjunct Professor, George Mason University Volgenau School of Engineering, 2013-Present
• Non-Compensated Clinical Investigator at the Baltimore Veterans Administration Clinical Center, 2008-2011
• American Academy of Management Award for Best Theory to Practice Paper, 2009

Selected Publications and Presentations

• Eberhardt, John; Weiss, R; “Compressed Context Based Analytic Results for Use in Computer Vision System for Network Defense”; SHMOOCON 2016; January 17, 2016; Washington, DC
• Eberhardt, John; Weiss, R; “One Step Closer to the Matrix: Machine Learning and Augmented Reality in Networking”; THOTCON 0x6; May 14-15, 2015, Chicago, IL
• Cowell D; Eberhardt J; “EIM at the FAA: Translating Semantic Technologies into Direct User Benefit”; Air Transportation Information Exchange Conference; August 25-27, 2015, Silver Spring, MD
• Eberhardt J., Hyslop T, Mitchell E., Hu H , Rui H; Bayesian Belief Network mortality analysis of a breast cancer registry data set; Proceedings of the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; December 6-10, 2011, San Antonio, TX
• Forsberg JA, M.D.; Eberhardt J; Boland PJ; Wedin R; Healey JH, MD; Estimating Survival in Patients with Operable Skeletal Metastases: An Application of a Bayesian Belief Network; PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e19956
• Rudman WJ, Eberhardt III JS, Pierce W, Hart-Hester S; Healthcare Fraud and Abuse; Perspectives in Health Information Management, Fall 2009
• Stojadinovic A, Bilchik A, Smith D, Eberhardt JS, Ward EB, Nissan A, Johnson EK, Protic M, Peoples GE, Avital I, Steele SR.; Clinical Decision Support and Individualized Prediction of Survival in Colon Cancer: Bayesian Belief Network Model; Ann Surg Oncol. 2013 Jan;20(1):161-74. doi: 10.1245/s10434-012-2555-4

Family

John and Rose Eberhardt live in Wiinchester, VA and enjoy books, reading, history, music, art and gardening.

Interests & Hobbies

Mr. Eberhardt is conversant in French; an avid sports car enthusiast, member Porsche Club of America and certified High Performance Driving Instructor; Member, East India Club of London; an avid skier; and a collector of antique books and prints.

Brian McKeon

Huntington Ingalls

Dr. McKeon is the Research and Development Director for the Unmanned Maritime Systems group of Fleet Support Group, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII). Responsible for engineering, design, development, rapid prototyping, testing and limited production for Navy’s Maritime Unmanned Systems.   He directs HII’s system engineering, design/development, design and fabrication, specialized crafts, test and evaluation, manufacturing and life cycle support for unmanned maritime systems.  In addition, he serves as the Chief Scientist for the Unmanned Maritime Systems for the Fleet Support Group with HII.

Prior to working for HII, he was leader of the largest department at NUWC with technical oversight of 48 major Navy programs ($200M annually), 650 civilians and 250 contractors.  Directed the Navy’s full system life cycle support for the development, acquisition, and modernization of all USW weapons, vehicles, and defensive systems, including expansion of technology advancements to other undersea warfare mission areas and multi-use applications. Provided senior technical consultation and expertise to NRD&E, ONR, DARPA, PEOs, SYSCOMS and the Navy/Fleet.

Dr. McKeon assumed the responsibility of the Head of Torpedo Hardware Design and Engineering Division Code 811 in July 2001.  As the Division Head, he is responsible for all Heavyweight and Lightweight Torpedo production engineering, quality assurance, integrated logistic support, mechanical engineering, propulsion engineering, system engineering for test equipment development and maintenance, and Torpedo Life Cycle Maintenance Facilities.

Dr..McKeon received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in May 1986.  In May 1994, he attended the Executive Program at the University of Rhode Island and obtained his MBA in May 1996. In May of 2010, he obtained his Phd in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

Rich Lawson

International Ocean Science and Technology Industry Association

Rich Lawson is the Chief Executive Officer of the International Ocean Science and Technology Industry Association (IOSTIA).  Founded in 2017 as a 501c6 trade association, IOSTIA filled a glaring need for a blue technology industry voice.  IOSTIA primarily focuses on enhancing industry-to-government collaboration and developing new business opportunities across federal agencies and defense.  It offers a range of programs aimed at supporting the largest industry leaders to the newest start-ups just entering the market.  IOSTIA’s signature event is BlueTech Expo, which is held in Washington, D.C. each June and will be co-located with Capitol Hill Ocean Week for the first time this year.  Prior to the launch of IOSTIA, Lawson (or Rich) served as the executive director of the Marine Technology where he led a major overhaul of the organizations brand and expansion of services.   Lawson (or Rich) is also recreational dive instructor and has been actively involved in teaching scuba and educating the public on ocean issues for over 25 years.

John Gustavo Blair

Fairfax County Economic Development Authority

John Gustavo Blair is originally from the Washington, DC area. He has been at the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) since 2017. At the EDA, he handles the relationship with emerging tech companies in sectors ranging from artificial intelligence and blockchain, to drones and autonomous vehicles. Prior to joining the EDA, he spent close to a dozen years in a variety of business development roles for software and technical services companies and also did consulting work on sales and marketing strategies for emerging companies. In addition, he worked for economic development authorities from Germany and the United Kingdom, including Frankfurt, the former East German State of Thuringia and Yorkshire, England.

A graduate of the University of Delaware with an international relations degree and George Mason University (GMU) School of Business with an MBA, John has also served as President of the Alumni Chapter of the School of Business at GMU. Currently, John is on the executive board of Volunteer Fairfax, a nonprofit focused on mobilizing people and resources to meet regional community needs.

John represents the FCEDA in its memberships at the international organizations, Chamber of Digital Commerce, a leading blockchain association headquartered in Washington, DC, and at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), which is headquartered in northern Virginia.

Howard A. Berkof

PMS 406 / PEO USC

Mr. Berkof was selected in May 2016 as the Deputy Program Manager for the Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office (PMS 406) within the Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatant (USC).  The recently created program office is a merger of the Remote Minehunting System Program Office (PMS 403), which Howard served as the Deputy Program Manager since December 2015, and the previous PMS 406 program office.  Howard is responsible for all planning, management, and integration of full scale development, test, procurement, installation, and life cycle support activities for numerous ACAT (I, II, and III) and non-ACAT unmanned platform and payload programs.  Howard provides close oversight of multiple major contractors, warfare centers, and supervises a team of civilians and contractor support personnel.

Mr. Berkof began his career with Ingersoll-Rand as a District Sales Manager with the Tool & Hoist Division.  Howard was responsible for sales & marketing, distributor management, channel development, product training, and technical support for multi-million dollar sales territories.

Mr. Berkof entered government service in 2007 as the Science & Technology (S&T) Project Manager for the United States Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office. Howard served as the Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) Assistant Program Manager (APM) from 2009 to 2011 where he was responsible for the development and integration of the Mine Countermeasures (MCM) USV that will be deployed from LCS.

Mr. Berkof served a one year assignment from 2011 to 2012 at the Pentagon, working as a Senior Requirements Analyst for the Expeditionary Warfare Division (N95) for the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO).  In his role, Howard supported the Mine Warfare Branch responsible for establishing requirements and applying resources to programs that address the Navy’s mine warfare needs.

Mr. Berkof holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Engineering Leadership Development from the Pennsylvania State University.  Howard has been an active volunteer in ASME for over 20 years, first as a student leader, and then as a professional leader on the local, regional, and national levels.  In 2005, Howard was named the Old Guard Young Engineer of the Year by ASME and in 2008, he was honored with ASME’s Distinguished Service Award.

Howard, his wife Lauren Rathmann, and 6 year old daughter Charlotte, reside in Derwood, MD.

Dr. Thomas A. Dingus

VTT, LLC

Dr. Thomas A. Dingus is director of the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), is an endowed professor of Virginia Tech, and is the president of VTT, LLC. Since 1996, Dr. Dingus has managed the operations and research at VTTI, which conducts $50 million in externally sponsored research and houses more than 500 faculty, staff, and students working on 300 active projects across 100 public- and private-sector sponsors and partners. Dr. Dingus has performed transportation safety and human factors research since 1984, focusing on advanced and automated vehicles, driver distraction and attention, the safety and usability of advanced in-vehicle devices, crash avoidance countermeasures, and fatigue. He has led substantial efforts in growing Virginia as a pioneer in advanced-vehicle research, with VTTI and partners creating a suite of advanced test beds that facilitate both public roadway and edge-and-corner (e.g., surface street, rural roads) test scenarios. Dr. Dingus pioneered the naturalistic driving study research method, which involves instrumenting vehicles with unobtrusive video cameras and sophisticated instrumentation that assess crash and near-crash causation and help determine crash countermeasures. VTTI and partners completed the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study (SHRP 2 NDS), the largest study of its kind with more than 3,500 drivers aged 16-98 across six data collection sites in the United States. The resulting data comprise more than 35 million miles of continuous naturalistic data and almost 2,000 verified crash events, making it the largest crash-only database. The naturalistic driving study method is now being employed at VTTI to develop advanced-vehicle simulations to study driver behavior/performance in advanced vehicles and virtually test and evaluate automated vehicles.

Andrew Waters

York County Fire/EMS

Andrew Waters is a Captain/Paramedic who has been in Fire/EMS for nearly 27 years, the last 20 of which have been spent at York County, and is currently the Team Leader of Daily Operations for the combination York County Fire/York Poquoson Sheriffs Office UAS team. Captain Waters started in 1993 as a volunteer with Staunton Augusta Rescue Squad and later the Augusta County Fire Department.  In addition to his day to day responsibilities as the Health and Safety Officer for York County Fire, Captain Waters is a member of the York County Technical Rescue team, the Special Events Team, and is currently a Safety Officer for the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Medical Response Team.  Captain Waters has served in various capacities in Fire and Life Safety including Engine Lieutenant, Ladder Captain, EMS Supervisor, and now as Fire and Life Safety’s Health and Safety Officer.  Captain Waters earned an AS from Jefferson College of Health Sciences,  a BS from Hampton University and a MPA from Old Dominion University.

Dave Hofert

Perrone Robotics

Dave Hofert is the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Sales for Perrone Robotics, Inc. and is responsible for driving revenue, partnerships, and autonomous pilot programs in the US and in Europe. Over the past 3 years he has delivered public autonomous demonstrations across the US and researched autonomous solutions in multiple communities and business sites. Dave has previously held software development and technical management roles as well as Marketing and Marketing management roles at Sun Microsystems, Fidelity Investments, Nokia, and Oracle. In 2000, Dave earned his Executive MBA from Boston University. He is a Navy veteran having served in the Nuclear Power Navy. Dave lives in Boston, MA.

Paul Perrone

Perrone Robotics

Paul is founder & CEO of Perrone Robotics. He is the inventor of “MAX(R)”, the world’s first general-purpose robotics operating system for autonomous vehicles (patented in 2006). He’s been an early pioneer in the autonomous vehicle space leading Perrone Robotics for over 16 years in pioneering showcase achievements such as leading a team in the 2005/2007 DARPA Grand Challenges (autonomous vehicle races), early vehicle automation work with rocker Neil Young, creating rapid one-day drop-in autonomy solutions, and led the effort to build the TONY (TO Navigate You) kit for transit autonomy. He spearheaded the Company’s Series A capital raise in 2016 (Intel Capital leading) and has continued to lead the company during its acquisition of flagship Fortune 500 customers including an automotive OEM, tier 1 automotive supplier, industrial mining equipment OEM, personal computer OEM, and automotive channel partner. He’s currently leading the company’s commercial deployment of autonomous shuttles for the transit of people and things via Perrone Robotics’ “TONY” autonomous shuttle technology. He has 16+ years autonomous vehicle experience and 23+ years total hi-tech industry experience. His blend of experiences lies in the development of high-tech, business, and operations.

Christopher L. Barrett

University of Virginia

Christopher L. Barrett is a Distinguished Professor in Biocomplexity, the Executive Director of the Biocomplexity Institute, and Professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Virginia. He is an interdisciplinary computational scientist who has published more than 100 research articles exploring all aspects of large multiscale interaction systems. Over the past 35 years, Barrett has conceived, founded and led large interdisciplinary complex systems research projects and organizations, established national and international technology programs, and co-founded organizations for federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security. He has served in various advisory and collaborative scientific roles internationally. Barrett is the recipient of the 2012–2013 Jubilee Professorship in Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University in Sweden and is a member of the 2010 Royal Colloquium for the King of Sweden. He was a distinguished international professor at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (1997–1998). He has received Distinguished Research, Service, Advisory and Security Awards from the U.S. Navy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the Alliance for Transportation Research. He has served as advisor to U.S. government agencies, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the European Commission and others. He holds seven patents and has nine pending.

Ritchie Huang

Automated Truck R&D Center

Ritchie Huang is a member of the Automated Truck R&D Center where he leads all of the governmental affairs activies and strategy for Daimler Trucks North America. His primary focus is on safety and crash reduction as it intersects with legislation, regulation, and policy for advanced safety systems and automated driving technology. Ritchie is based out of Washington, D.C. and serves as the primary interface for the U.S. federal, state, and municipal governments along with Canada and its provinces.

Ritchie joined Daimler in January 2017 after serving in the USDOT for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) where his area of expertise was in crash avoidance systems and automated vehicle safety. Prior to his time in the government sector, he worked as an active safety engineer for Honda Research & Development as well as in the consumer electronics industry for the Sony Technology Center in Southern California. As a result of his career background, he holds various patents that range across wireless communications, speech recognition, and machine vision technology.

Ritchie is a graduate from the University of Michigan in Neuroscience and Industrial & Systems Engineering.

Roy Shrout

Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management

Roy Shrout is the Deputy Coordinator for the Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management. He has worked for Fairfax County for more than 30 years starting in the Public Safety Communications Center moving to the Office of Emergency Management in 2003.  Roy served as a member of a regional incident management team during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the director of emergency operations for the Fairfax 2015 World Police and Fire games.  He is the chair of the National Capital Region Operations Center Committee and Co-chair of the NCR Regional Situation Awareness workgroup. Roy is the Program Manager for the Fairfax County UAS program and is already working on plans to expand the program to include additional County agencies.   Roy received his degree in Public Relations from West Virginia University, graduate of the Naval Post graduate school Executive Leaders course and is a certified emergency manager.

Senator Mark Warner

Commonwealth of Virginia

Senator Warner was elected to the U.S. Senate in November 2008 and reelected to a second term in November 2014. He serves on the Senate Finance, Banking, Budget, and Rules Committees as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is the Vice Chairman. During his time in the Senate, Senator Warner has established himself as a bipartisan leader who has worked with Republicans and Democrats alike to cut red tape, increase government performance and accountability, and promote private sector innovation and job creation. Senator Warner has been recognized as a national leader in fighting for our military men and women and veterans, and in working to find bipartisan, balanced solutions to address our country’s debt and deficit.

From 2002 to 2006, he served as Governor of Virginia. When he left office in 2006, Virginia was ranked as the best state for business, the best managed state, and the best state in which to receive a public education.

The first in his family to graduate from college, Mark Warner spent 20 years as a successful technology and business leader in Virginia before entering public office. An early investor in the cellular telephone business, he co-founded the company that became Nextel and invested in hundreds of start-up technology companies that created tens of thousands of jobs.

Senator Warner and his wife Lisa Collis live in Alexandria, Virginia. They have three daughters.

David Ihrie

Center for Innovative Technology

Mr. Ihrie has over 35 years industry experience as a direct innovator in the fields of satellite and terrestrial communication, computing, and information science, and has been a principal in seven startup companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial activities, Mr. Ihrie has helped build four national scale business accelerators for the Intelligence Community, for DHS, and in the areas of cybersecurity and smart cities. Currently he is leading the Virginia Smart Communities Initiatives, and is working with the Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at CIT to bring this new generation of capability to all Virginians.

Mr. Ihrie has a Master of Science degree in Business from MIT, specializing in the Management of Technological Innovation, and a B.S. from MIT in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science.

Karl Wunderlich, PhD

Noblis

Dr. Wunderlich is the Director of the Surface Transportation Division at Noblis in Washington, DC. He is a key contributor to both research and development projects and technology deployment programs sponsored by the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Joint Program Office and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Dr. Wunderlich is an expert in the use of simulation techniques to evaluate the potential impact of emerging technologies to improve traveler mobility or system productivity – including vehicle connectivity, autonomy, and blockchain. Dr. Wunderlich holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of Michigan.

Eta Nahapetian

Fairfax County

Eta Nahapetian is the Economic Initiatives Coordinator for Fairfax County spearheading economic innovation opportunities in the county. In this role she develops and manages key programs designed to keep the county in the forefront of the newest technologies and methodologies. She works closely with public, private and nonprofit partners focusing on stimulating research and economic success. Her current projects include:

• the Smart Cities Initiative, which is a regional effort to drive innovation, spur entrepreneurship and grow emerging high-growth companies and the technology workforce;
• the connected and autonomous vehicle pilot project, the first state-funded program for driverless shuttles in Virginia public transportation;
• and she’s organized several Hackathons addressing key challenges for the region, including mobility, transportation, and affordable and accessible housing.

Eta joined Fairfax County in 2001 and previously was the Business Process Manager in the county’s Land Development Services where she led teams in the development and implementation of key strategic initiatives. Eta’s experience prior coming to Fairfax includes pricing and operations for a rapidly growing internet start-up in Silicon Valley; finance in the international division for E & J Gallo Winery, the largest winery in the world; and project growth and evaluation for an international development organization on projects ranging from agribusiness in Egypt to banking in Russia. Eta holds a Masters of Business Administration with a Concentration in Global Management from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tufts University.

Nate Robie

Dominion Energy

Nate Robie is the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Manager responsible for compliance with federal and local regulations and expanding the use of drones throughout Dominion Energy. Since drone use began at Dominion Energy, the program has grown to nine states and across all business areas. The UAS program supports Dominion Energy’s team in licensing pilots, selecting drones with the optimal sensors as well as identifying and executing drone use cases that improve safety, efficiency and effective operations. These include equipment inspections, storm damage assessment, methane detection, surveys, corporate communications, and many other areas.

In his ten years of aviation experience, he has held various positions in the civilian sector and military. Mr. Robie was an Aeronautical Operations Manager at The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, where he ensured safe operations of a Part 139 certificated airport with over 1,100 daily flights. While serving in the U.S. Air Force, he utilized unmanned and manned aircraft for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and coordinating precision airstrikes. Mr. Robie has a passion for aviation and implementing innovative solutions to improve operations.

Julie Manzari

Dominion Energy

Julie Manzari is an Innovation Strategist and works to adopt rapidly changing tech and consumers trends at Dominion Energy. By utilizing innovation techniques such as ideation, design thinking, customer collaboration, experimentation and pilots, Ms. Manzari is successful in adoption of new technology solutions in an organization focused on mitigating risk, operational efficiency and reliability. She creatively finds ways to collaborate with customers, employees and vendors. Most recently, her key strategic areas of focus are autonomous vehicles, digital transformation, electrification of transportation and the interlock between sustainability and energy.

Ms. Manzari has several years of experience in venture capital, investment banking and mortgage banking as well as technology solutions and business development. She received her Masters in Business Administration from University of Maryland and Bachelors of Science in Engineering at University of Buffalo. She is dedicated to identifying new concepts, developing partnerships, testing new ideas and ultimately building new businesses.

Drew Dudash

Noblis

Drew Dudash is a blockchain and autonomous vehicle researcher at Noblis in Reston, Virginia. He is a key contributor to Noblis’ research into orchestrated autonomy, autonomy where independent systems collaborate. Drew started programming professionally six years ago and has worked on projects in fields such as natural language processing, machine learning, and information security. He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech.

Michael Gratton

Metron, Inc

Dr. Gratton is a researcher in underwater vehicle autonomy at Metron, Inc.

He has worked on several systems, including the Office of Naval Research’s Advanced Undersea Mission Autonomy and the Large Diameter Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Innovative Naval Prototype mission autonomy. He specializes in developing motion planning obstacle avoidance in cluttered and contested environments, and has worked on task planning and internal modeling for long duration operations. He is also the principle author of Vedym, Metron’s physics-based AUV simulator.

Governor Ralph Northam

Commonwealth of Virginia

Before he was inaugurated as the 73^rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Ralph Northam served as an Army doctor, pediatric neurologist, business owner, state Senator and Lieutenant Governor.

A native of Virginia’s Eastern Shore, Governor Northam was educated at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), where he graduated with distinction.

After graduation, Governor Northam was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He served eight years of active duty and rose to the rank of major.

He attended Eastern Virginia Medical School and then traveled to San Antonio for a pediatric residency, where he met his wife Pamela, a pediatric occupational therapist at the same hospital.  Governor Northam did his residencies at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and served as chief neurological resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As an Army doctor, he served in Germany, treating soldiers wounded in Operation Desert Storm.

When Governor Northam and Pamela returned home, they chose to build their life in Hampton Roads. He began practicing pediatric neurology at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk. He established Children’s Specialty Group, his current medical practice, to provide expert pediatric care for patients. Governor Northam also served as assistant professor of neurology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he taught medicine and ethics.

Governor Northam volunteered as medical director for the Edmarc Hospice for Children in Portsmouth, where he spent 18 years caring for terminally ill children.

Governor Northam approaches public service with the same passion he brought to his military and medical service.  He is committed to working with leaders from both parties to build a Virginia that works better for every family, no matter who they are or where they live.

Governor Northam is the first native of the Eastern Shore to serve as Governor since Governor Henry A. Wise took office 1856. He is also the first VMI Keydet to serve as Governor since Governor Westmoreland Davis took office in 1918.

Governor Northam and First Lady Pamela Northam have two adult children: Wes, a neurosurgical resident in Chapel Hill, and Aubrey, a web developer in Richmond.

Daniel G. “Bud” Oakey

Advantus Strategies

Bud has extraordinary experience assisting and growing strategic business relationships with local, state and federal governments. As the company’s founder, he is also well versed in crisis public relations and influencing public policy issues impacting clients. Bud has been an active participant in numerous transportation projects and economic development projects over the last 20 years in Virginia and in other states.

With extensive experience including serving as Louisiana Press Secretary for President George Bush’s 1988 election campaign, Bud was also a member of Virginia Governor James S. Gilmore, III’s transition team. Bud has represented business interests before the Virginia General Assembly since 1989. He is an appointed member of several Advisory Committees of the Joint Commission on Science and Technology including Technology in Transportation, Topics in Law and Technology, Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA), and the Uniform Electronic Technology Act (UETA) and Privacy.

Bud is a former member of the Virginia Aviation Board and is currently the President of the Virginia Aviation Business Association (VABA). The VABA, chartered by the Legislature of Commonwealth of Virginia, is organized and recognized as an activity whose mission is to perpetuate the development of manned and unmanned aeronautical businesses within the Commonwealth of Virginia. Bud works to represent the interests of the aeronautical industry within the Commonwealth of Virginia’s legislature.

A native of Roanoke, Bud attended Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, and Purdue University Calumet. He has two grown daughters, two grandchildren and a spunky English Springer Spaniel, Remington. Bud resides in Richmond.

Tom Crabbs

Commonwealth of Virginia

Tom Crabbs is the Statewide Interoperability Coordinator for the Commonwealth of Virginia and a member of the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Staff.  He coordinates the governance, strategy, and the collective efforts of localities and state agencies in the delivery of public safety communications and applied technology interoperability.   Prior to joining the Public Safety and Homeland Security Staff, Tom was a Captain in the United States Coast Guard where he contributed leadership in acquisition, policy, operational integration, and deployment of unmanned systems.  He holds Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and History from Elon University and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership from Brandman University.

Jonathan Owens

Dominion Energy

Jonathan is a Business Performance Analyst for Dominion Energy Ohio in the Ohio Integrity Management group. He has been with the company for 11 years where he has held positions in the GIS Mapping group and the Project Prioritization Team prior to his current role. His current responsibilities are managing compliance related systems and directly responsible for developing enhancements to the current systems. Additionally, Jonathan is directly involved with the research and implementation of new innovative technologies. Currently Jonathan is working as the Business Liaison on the Dominion Energy Ohio UAS Committee. He is directly involved in the development of the Safety protocols and Training of future new pilots and flight mission types. He has flown a variety of flight missions for Dominion Energy Ohio for different departments looking for new data sets. He holds a Bachelors of Arts in Environmental Geography and Meteorology form Kent State University as well as NACE Certifications in Cathodic Protection and Coatings Inspection.

Nick Devereux

Wing

Nick Devereux works with Wing (an Alphabet company) doing policy and government affairs, where he focuses on policy on the federal, state and local levels as well as spearheading community engagement efforts for Wing’s operations in Virginia. Prior to Wing, Nick served as Legislative Counsel and senior policy advisor to Senator Mark R. Warner (D-VA), advising him on a broad portfolio of issues including judiciary, labor, transportation/infrastructure, and NASA policy. His work included drafting legislation and assisting in driving legislative priorities as part of Sen. Warner’s position as Chairman of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee on the Senate Commerce Committee. Nick, who grew up in Charlottesville, Virginia, received a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University as well as a J.D. from Washington and Lee School of Law. 

Jay Willmott

Nexutech

Jay Willmott is past President of Hampton Roads Chapter of AUVSI (Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International) and also a past President of AUVSI’s Washington D.C. Chapter.

Jay began a career manufacturing remotely piloted aircraft during the mid-1980s and oversaw the development, production and deployment of hundreds of small UAVs and related support equipment items delivered to the DOD and to international clientele. After acquisition of his business by L-3 Communications in late 2004, Jay went on to manage and turn around UAV Pro in Blackstone, VA. He later founded Nexus Technology Services, LLC (Nexutech), a group of subject matter experts with decades of experience in the unmanned systems domains.

Jay is a proponent for integration of unmanned systems in the National Airspace System and is actively engaged with the introduction and promotion of legislation affecting unmanned aviation. He is a memberof  the Virginia Department of Aviation Working Group and Chairman of the Virginia Aviation Business Association Association’s Legislative Committee. In 2016, the Virginia Department of Aviation named Jay Willmott “Virginia Aviation Person of the Year” for his efforts to support UAS and STEM education in the Commonwealth. He is frequently called on to mentor small businesses and community leaders who seek insight into the unmanned systems market space. As Center for Unmanned Systems resident unmanned systems subject matter expert, Jay reports to Director Tracy Tynan. He is a proud native of Huntsville, AL who attended Auburn University. He is active in his community of Blackstone, VA where he resides with his wonderful wife, Pamela Ratkus and their American Foxhound named “Peanut Butter”.

Charles Werner

DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance

Charles Werner is the retired Charlottesville fire chief and 45 year public safety veteran. After retirement, Charles worked with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management for 2 years as senior advisor/acting deputy state coordinator. Charles served in numerous leadership roles at the local, state, national levels on public safety initiatives.  Presently serves as Director-DRONERESPONDERS Public Safety Alliance, Chair-National Council on Public Safety UAS and appointed by Governor Northam to serve on the Secure & Resilient Commonwealth Panel and serve as Public Safety UAS Sub Panel Chair. Charles is an FAA certificated Remote Pilot. Chief Werner also serves on the Virginia CIT Advisory Board. Charles is an author with 120+ internationally published articles.