Dr. Missy Cummings -

Professor, and Director of Mason Autonomy and Robotics Center (MARC), George Mason University

Dr. Alex Jaimes -

Chief AI Officer, Dataminr

Alex is Chief Scientist & SVP of AI at Dataminr and Visiting Professor at Cornell Tech. He is a leader in AI and has built products that are used by millions of people (real-time event detection/emergency response, healthcare, self-driving cars, media, telecomm, etc.) at companies such as Yahoo, Telefónica, IBM, Fuji Xerox, Siemens, AT&T Bell Labs, DigitalOcean, etc. An early voice in Human-Centered AI (Computing), he has over 100 patents and publications in top tier conferences and journals in AI. He has been featured widely in the press (MIT Tech review, CNBC, Vice, TechCrunch, Yahoo! Finance, etc.). He is a mentor at Endeavor and Techstars, and a member of the advisory board of Digital Divide Data (a non-for-profit that creates sustainable tech opportunities for underserved youth, their families, and their communities in Asia and Africa). He was an expert in the Colombian Government’s Artificial Intelligence Expert Mission which advised the President on AI policies. Alex holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Dr. Matthew Johnson -

Acting Chief of Responsible AI (RAI), Office of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer [CDAO]

Dr. Matthew Kuan Johnson serves as Acting Chief of Responsible AI (RAI) for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), where his team is based within the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO). The Responsible AI team builds the technical tools, assessments, processes & best practices, training, and culture within the Department that support the operationalization and implementation of Responsible AI and the DoD AI Ethical Principles – in addition to serving as the Department’s primary technical advisor on Responsible AI. Dr. Johnson is also the Chief Architect of the DoD’s Responsible AI Toolkit and Web App, which contains integrated assessments, tools, and a risk management framework for implementing responsible AI and managing risk. Dr. Johnson's background is in philosophy and cognitive science, having earned a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge, as well as degrees in Cognitive Science from the University of Cambridge (MPhil) and Yale University (BA). Previously, he consulted for Google AI and was a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. His areas of specialty are AI-enabled autonomy, generative AI/LLMs, human cognition, human machine teaming, algorithmic bias, and AI Ethics.

Dr. Cara LaPointe -

Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)

A futurist who focuses on the intersection of technology, policy, ethics, and leadership, Dr. Cara LaPointe is the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy, which works to ensure that autonomous systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy as they are increasingly integrated into every aspect of our lives. During more than two decades in the United States Navy, LaPointe held numerous roles in areas including autonomous systems, acquisitions, ship design, naval force architecture, and unmanned vehicle technology integration. At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Deep Submergence Lab, she conducted research in underwater robotics, developing sensor fusion algorithms for deep-ocean autonomous underwater vehicle navigation. LaPointe was previously a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation, where she created the “Blockchain Ethical Design Framework” as a tool to drive social impact and ethics into blockchain technology. She has served as an advisor to numerous global emerging technology initiatives, including at the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. LaPointe is a patented engineer, a White House Fellow, and a French American Foundation Young Leader. She served in the White House under three administrations, most recently as a Senior Advisor. She currently serves as a member of the Presidential Commission on White House Fellowships. LaPointe holds a Doctor of Philosophy, awarded jointly by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and WHOI, a Master of Science and a Naval degree from MIT, a Master of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, and a Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy.

Ted Maliga -

Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Secret Service (USSS)

Ted Maliga serves as the Chief Technology Officer of the United States Secret Service. Mr. Maliga was named to the position in April 2023 and is responsible for coordinating and managing the Secret Service’s engineering, scientific and physical security technology programs. These programs support the agency’s integrated protective and investigative mission. Prior to being named Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Maliga served as the Deputy Assistant Director of the Secret Service’s Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information, where he was responsible for planning, directing and coordinating all efforts involving the evaluation and dissemination of intelligence information affecting the agency’s protective mission. Mr. Maliga ensured all protective intelligence investigations; the assessment of risk towards USSS protected interests; and behavioral research met operational requirements. Mr. Maliga also served as the Deputy Assistant Director of the Office of Protective Operations, where he was responsible for planning, directing, coordinating and the implementation of protective policies, programs and operations. In this role, Mr. Maliga specifically led the Secret Service’s tactical operations, dignitary protection functions and specialized armor vehicle operation. Mr. Maliga ensured all protected persons, places and events received the appropriate level of specialized assets based on a thorough assessment of associated threats and vulnerabilities. Mr. Maliga previously served as Deputy Assistant Director for the Office of Technical Development and Mission Support. In this position, he formulated the Secret Service’s strategic goals related to the use of technology and specialized personnel for the agency’s dual, integrated mission. Mr. Maliga was responsible for the planning, budgeting and prioritization of physical security systems as well as comprehensive countermeasure programs implemented by the Secret Service’s diverse workforce of scientists, engineers, administrative professionals and law enforcement personnel. Mr. Maliga’s first senior executive position was as the Special Agent in Charge of the Technical Security Division, where he led technical experts as they supported the Office of Protective Operations and the Office of Investigations. Additionally, he was responsible for providing a technically-secure environment for the President and Vice President at the White House, Vice President’s Residence and other places that the President and Vice President visit. Mr. Maliga joined the Secret Service in 1999 and was assigned to the New York Field Office. Prior to joining the agency, he was a police officer for Cary, N.C., and a member of the North Carolina Army National Guard. Mr. Maliga attended North Carolina State University and graduated from the College of Design with a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Design.

Dr. Kimberly Sablon -

Principal Director, Trusted AI and Autonomy (OUSD (R&E)), U.S. Department of Defense (DOD)

Dr. Kimberly Sablon is currently the Principal Director for Trusted AI and Autonomy at the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)). In this role, she oversees AI/ML and autonomy research activities across the DOD enterprise. She also has responsibility for shaping the strategic direction for integrated AI and autonomy with an emphasis on trust and responsible decision making. Previously, Dr. Sablon served as the Army’s S&T Director – setting strategic direction and with responsibility and oversight of $2.6B per year budget. She also served as the Director for Basic Research in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology where she was responsible for formulating and defending selected basic research budgets, programs, plans, priorities and investments to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), and to Congress. Dr. Sablon received a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the University of Arkansas in 2009. She has published more than 70 peer-reviewed papers and contributed to nine scientific and technical books.

Theodore Tanner Jr. -

CTO, BigBear.ai

Theodore Tanner Jr. is the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at BigBear.ai. Tanner has more than 30 years of experience, most recently serving as CTO and Chief Architect at IBM Watson Health, now Merative. Tanner also has held architect positions at both Apple and Microsoft, and has co-founded several acquired startups, including most recently PokitDok Inc., acquired by Change Health. He also created one of the first machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) as a Service companies on Amazon AWS called BeliefNetworks. Tanner is on the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for the University of South Carolina Computer Science Department and the Center for Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning at the University of Tennessee, and is also an industry member of the Association For Computing Machinery. Tanner is a published author, and holds several patents in the areas of blockchain, semantics, machine learning, signal processing and signal protection.

Renee Wynn -

Former CIO, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)

Renee Wynn is a leader with over 30 years of experience in environmental policy, global information technology and cybersecurity operations, supply chain, risk management, and ESG. She led programs at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and served as the CIO at an iconic agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Renee currently serves as an independent board member for Axonius, a cybersecurity company. She is actively seeking to build a corporate board portfolio that will benefit from her experience. She serves on the Board of Advisors at Interos, Dataminr, and Level6 Cybersecurity. Renee serves on the Board of The Women’s Center, a Virginia and Washington, DC-based non-profit organization dedicated to improving the community’s mental health and well-being through counseling, education, support, and advocacy. She also serves on the Board of the Virginia Tech – Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC). Renee earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from DePauw University.

Dr. Randy Yamada -

Vice President, Booz Allen

Randy Yamada is a technical leader specializing in signal processing and control systems for artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and space systems. He leads cross-functional teams of technologists, engineers, and scientists that prototype and deploy systems for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); electronic warfare; communications; and robotics. He directs the development of new concepts for sensor, robotic, space, and radio frequency electronic systems. In addition, Randy oversees Booz Allen’s engineering labs across the U.S. focused on robotics, cyber physical systems, and new concepts to prototype and develop novel radio frequency systems. Depending on the challenge and client need, his team includes mechanical engineers; roboticists; electrical engineers; positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) experts; and signal processing engineers. Since joining Booz Allen in 2006, Randy has analyzed, designed, developed, and deployed new capabilities in unmanned systems; signals intelligence; geospatial intelligence; tagging, tracking, and locating (TTL); and satellite systems. He led the development and implementation of several innovative capabilities, including exploiting electromagnetic emissions to identify vehicles (U.S. Patent #9354265) and enhancing communications secrecy. He has worked across advanced research and development projects for the Department of Defense, Department of Justice, and the intelligence community. Randy is an adjunct assistant professor at Virginia Tech’s Bradley Department of Electrical Engineering in Northern Virginia, where he advises graduate students on research in signal processing and autonomy. He is a longtime senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Randy holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech and a B.S. in electrical and biomedical engineering from Duke University.