Mr. Francis L. Kelley, Jr.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (DASN)
 
Mr. Frank Kelley assumed responsibility as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (DASN) Unmanned Systems (UxS) on 5 October 2015. He serves as principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) (RD&A) on matters relating to unmanned systems across all domains (air, land and sea).

Mr. Kelley joined the civil service in 2015 following a 32-year career as a United States Marine. Mr. Kelley, a native of Philadelphia, PA, graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1983 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and was the recipient of the Naval ROTC Donald R. Bertling Award. Upon completion of Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.

He attended the Marine Corps War College and taught at the Command and Staff College. He transferred to Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC), Quantico, VA, where he was the Program Manager for Unmanned Systems. His next assignment was Military Assistant to Dr. Delores Etter, ASN(RD&A).

In August 2007, Mr. Kelley was assigned to the position of MCSC’s Program Manager for Training Systems (PM TRASYS) in Orlando, FL. In August 2009, he was reassigned as MCSC’s Chief of Staff before being promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and assuming command of MCSC from July 2010 to July 2014.

He then served in the position of the Vice Commander, Naval Air Systems Command, preceding his last military assignment as Director for Prototyping, Experimentation and Transition in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (DASN) for Research, Development, Test and Evaluation. 

Mel Wolfgang 
The Boston Consulting Group

Mel Wolfgang serves on The Boston Consulting Group's Industrial Goods practice leadership team and the North American management team, where he is responsible for all consultant human-resources and development. He is also the North American topic leader for the firm's change management topic and a member of the firm’s People & Organization; Strategy; and Technology, Media & Telecommunications practices.

Since joining BCG in 1999, Mel has supported a wide range of industrial and technology businesses, as well as public-sector agencies, through large-scale transformation agendas. His work has covered issues such as strategy development, growth, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, postmerger integration, organization design and culture management, cost optimization, pricing, and commercial excellence programs.

Mel is a lecturer with the American College of Corporate Directors, where he specializes in training public-company board members on business strategy. He is also active in the Boston area in supporting pediatric food-allergy research.

Before joining BCG, Mel worked in the marine industry in various roles, including research scientist at MIT and engine room technician aboard an LNG carrier. He also worked in manufacturing and assembly for an oceanographic equipment manufacturer and in the design and construction of small pleasure craft.

Vladimir Lukić
Boston Consulting Group

Vladimir Lukić is a member of The Boston Consulting Group’s Global Advantage, Industrial Goods, Operations, and People & Organization practices.

Since joining BCG in 2006, Vladimir has focused much of his work on strategy, operations, and organization. His case experience spans a wide range of industries, such as industrial goods, transportation and logistics, technology, and media. He is a coleader of BCG’s digital agenda and has helped found and grow BCG's advanced analytics and geoanalytics capabilities.

Vladimir’s client engagements have included a number of strategic planning, transformation, and organization change projects—from developing growth strategies for large diversified industrial conglomerates, to executing complex postmerger-integration efforts, to running multiyear digital and advanced-analytics transformation efforts for leading companies in many different industries.

He is also a member of BCG's Gamma team, which creates competitive advantages for organizations by unleashing the power of signals hidden deep within large and complex data sets. BCG's Gamma team conceptualizes, builds, and deploys advanced analytic solutions that can transform the trajectories of organizations in 12 to 24 months.

Katie Stebbins
Asst Secretary for Tech and Innovation at EOHED, Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Katie Stebbins is the Massachusetts Assistant Secretary for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and leads the State’s efforts in the areas of cyber security, robotics, digital health, advanced manufacturing, IOT, marine technology, and the start-up ecosystem. In this role, Katie convenes sector leaders and prioritizes investments on behalf of the Baker Administration and diligently exposes community leaders across the state to the economic opportunities being generated in Massachusetts.

Katie has served the public sector for over twenty years, playing a leadership role in community based economic development, specifically in low-income communities. Through this work, Katie honed her expertise in workforce development, community engagement, environmental science and public health, and real estate development. Technology and innovation have been a consistent theme throughout Katie’s career as she made it a priority to deliver the most cutting edge science and technology to populations that are generally the last to receive such benefits.

Katie is an avid entrepreneur and mentor having started three companies of her own and dozens of community based programs and projects. Her former consulting company played a lead role in establishing and growing the Holyoke Innovation District in Holyoke, MA, one of the first innovation districts in the State and the only one located within a high poverty community.

Katie received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and her Graduate Degree in City Planning from University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Boston Business Journal named Katie one of the top ten “2016 Women to Watch in Science and Technology”.

Brian Wynne, President and CEO, Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International

Brian Wynne is the President and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), the largest association representing the unmanned systems and robotics industries. Brian assumed his position on January 12, 2015 having previously led the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), a post he held since April 2004. The EDTA promotes battery, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric vehicles and infrastructure.

Mr. Wynne brings in-depth experience in transportation and technology applications gained in leadership roles with trade associations and public-private partnerships. He has previously served as Senior Vice President for business and trade at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITSA). Prior to that role, he led a global technology association as CEO of Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility (AIM). Mr. Wynne started his career as a legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Charles Percy and has served on several not-for-profit boards.

Wynne is a member of the Drone Advisory Committee (DAC), a group of key decision-makers formed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support the safe introduction of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into the nation’s airspace. He is also a member of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Safety Team (UAST), which is comprised of stakeholders from government and the aviation industry that gather and analyze data to enhance UAS safety and operations. He also served on the FAA’s UAS Registration and Micro UAS task forces.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton, a master’s degree from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Cologne in Germany.

Mr. Wynne is an instrument-rated pilot who flies a Socata Trinidad.

Dr. Waseem Naqvi, Director for Technology, Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services
AUVSI New England Director (President)

Dr. Waseem Naqvi is President of the Association for Unmanned Systems International (AUVSI) New England Chapter. AUVSI New England (a non-profit organization) advocate, and educate on unmanned and robotic systems, hold many networking forums and events on behave of its members. Waseem is also a member of the Board for the AUVSI, and the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance (NUAIR), and serves on the advisory board for the Massachusetts Robotics Sector.


Waseem is Director for Technology for Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS) Transportation business. In this position he is responsible for defining capability and technology roadmaps addressing future Intelligent Transportation System needs. Raytheon pioneered All Electronic Tolling Systems, and has developed many sensors, V2V/V2I Communications (e.g. pedestrian safety) solutions and management systems.

“Intelligent Transportation Systems such as connected and autonomous vehicles, advanced traffic management systems and highway tolling are converging to ease congestion between cities over optimized integrated corridors” - Dr. Waseem Naqvi, President, AUVSI New England, and Raytheon.

Jeff Adams, Co-Founder and President of Unmanned Aerial Systems Development. Inc.
AUVSI New England Director (Secretary)

Jeff co-founded UASD in 2014 to design and development heavy lift UAVs utilizing mission specific criteria and process efficiencies. UASD produces "one-off" platforms for end users, is currently engaged in systems integration research and provides flight operations for commercial and experimental UAV programs.

UASD was awarded a Section 333 Commercial Use Exemption in 2015 to conduct operations both in support of their internal research programs and as a general flight services company serving commercial clients in film & television, broadcast content development, industrial survey and mapping and environmental engineering. UAS Development and its sister company, Oversite Productions, continue to operate under their joint 333 exemption while the firms and company operators transition to Part 107 compliance.

Jeff became involved in UAVs and robotics through his role as a commercial artist. Since 1996, Jeff has owned and run his studio producing still and video content for advertising agencies, marketing departments and multi-channel distribution manufacturers. Most noted for his specialty in architectural photography, Jeff is in high demand for commercial developers and residential A/C/E specialists throughout the North East.

Jeff holds a degree in Economics from Nichols College.

Harlan Doliner is counsel at Verrill Dana LLP.  He is a member of their Environmental and Energy Practice Groups and Chair of the firm's Maritime Group. He serves as an adjunct professor for the Law Schools at Boston College and at Roger Williams University and has also written and taught courses in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

His writings include all editions of the Fisheries and Wildlife Law chapter in MCLE’s Massachusetts Environmental Law treatise. In 2012, University of Maine published Maritime Cabotage Laws and Wind Power Installations in the Gulf of Maine, a chapter co-authored by Harlan.

In August, 2015, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker appointed Harlan as one of the original members of the new Seaport Economic Council. Since 2001, Harlan has been an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
 

Greg Fischer, Associate Professor and Director of PracticePoint, WPI

Gregory Fischer is the William Smith Dean’s Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Robotics Engineering with an appointment in Biomedical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). He received his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Electrical Engineering where he was a member of the NSF Engineering Research Center for Computer Integrated Surgery (ERC-CISST).

He is the Director of PracticePoint at WPI, a newly launched research, development, and commercialization alliance centered built to advance healthcare technologies and launch new medical cyber-physical systems.

Dr. Fischer leads the WPI Automation and Interventional Medicine Robotics Research Laboratory (AIM Lab) with research focus including: an MRI-compatible robotic system for image-guided conformal ablation of deep brain tumors currently in pre-clinical trials, a robotic system for precision targeted MRI-guided prostate cancer biopsy currently in clinical trials, wearable soft robotic devices for rehabilitation and assistance with activities of daily living, and social robots for providing therapy.

Thomas Ryden is the Executive Director of MassRobotics
AUVSI New England Director

MassRobotics is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the robotics community and help grow the next generation of robotics and connected device companies.

Prior to joining MassRobotics Mr. Ryden was the founder and CEO/COO of VGo Communications, Inc.   While at VGo Mr. Ryden oversaw the development and launch of the VGo telepresence robot. The VGo is used by hospitals, eldercare facilities, schools and other organizations to help people stay better connected, allowing users to essentially be in two places at once.  

Previously, Mr. Ryden was Director of Sales & Marketing at iRobot Corporation.  Under his leadership iRobot secured over $300M in contracts and revenue from its government and industrial products increased from $2M to over $80M annually.   In addition Mr. Ryden held roles in program management, overseeing the development of some of iRobot’s most successful products.  

Nigel Jacob, Co-founder, Mayor Walsh’s Office of New Urban Mechanics

Nigel Jacob is the Co-founder of the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, a civic innovation incubator and R&D Lab within Boston’s City Hall. Nigel’s work is about making urban life better via innovative, people-oriented applications of technology and design. Prior to joining the City of Boston in 2006, Nigel worked in a series of technology start-ups in the Boston area.

He was also previously the Urban Technologist in Residence at Living Cities, a philanthropic collaboration of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions, is currently a board member at many social impact organizations, including the Engagement Lab at Emerson College, Cities of Service and is an Executive-in-Residence at Boston University.

Nigel’s work has been written about extensively in magazines such as Wired, MIT Technology Review, Fast Company and books including The Responsive City, by Stephen Goldsmith and Susan Crawford and Smart Cities by Anthony Townsend.

This ground breaking work has earned Nigel a number of awards including being named a Public Official of the year by Governing Magazine, a White House Champion of Change, the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation award and most recently the MassTLC Distinguished Leadership award.

Eric Jones, Senior Human Factors Engineer, Draper

Eric Jones is a Senior Human Factors Engineer at Draper, where he builds diverse technical programs across engineering disciplines and organizations that create impactful solutions to challenging problems.

His expertise lies in designing and evaluating systems in which the physical and cognitive capabilities and limitations of people are integral to mission success.

He leads and supports projects spanning sociotechnical system design and evaluation, methods to improve human-machine teaming with autonomous systems, navigation technology and user interfaces for dismounted warfighters, and software instrumentation that assesses user interactions.

John McNeill, Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, WPI

John A. McNeill received the A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1983,  M.S. from the University of Rochester in 1991, and Ph.D. from Boston University in 1994.  From 1983 to 1990 he worked in industry in the design of analog-to-digital converters and low noise interface electronics used in high speed, wide dynamic range imaging systems. 

In 1994, he joined Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, MA USA, where he now is a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.  He received WPI's award for Outstanding Teaching in 1999, was one of the inaugural winners of the Chairman's Exemplary Faculty Prize in 2007, and (with co-authors Coln and Larivee) won the Best Paper award at the 2005 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference. 

His research interests are in the area of mixed signal circuit design for low-power biomedical and sensor systems.

Michael J. Logan, NASA Langley Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laboratory (SUAVELab).

Michael J. Logan Logan has 30 years of experience in both private industry and Government. He spent 12 years in private industry working for aerospace companies such as Vought Aircraft’s Advanced Systems group before joining NASA in 1990.

Mr. Logan has extensive conceptual design experience including designs for aircraft all the way from 1 lb. UAVs to 1 million pound transports. In 2002 he transferred to Langley’s Systems Engineering Directorate to head up the Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Laboratory where he has been able to take several designs from concept to flight.

Mr. Logan is the author of numerous technical papers in the areas of aircraft design and analysis. Mike has a Master's Degree in Aerospace Engineering, is a member of SAE, AUVSI, SAWE, and AIAA and is a Registered Professional Engineer.

Michael Benjamin is a research scientist at MIT in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. His research focus is on autonomy algorithms and software for unmanned marine vehicles.

In 2005 he founded an open source project named moos-ivp.org comprising dozens of marine autonomy applications including the IvP Helm for autonomous decision making, and COLREGS autonomy on unmanned surface vessels. His software is used on over a dozen different types of unmanned marine vehicles around the world. Prior to coming to MIT, he was a research scientist at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and was the 2005 NAVSEA Scientist of the Year.  

Since the Spring of 2012 he has developed and taught a new course in unmanned marine vehicle autonomy at MIT to undergraduates and graduate students, and has led the startup of a new laboratory facility for marine autonomy on the Charles River on the MIT campus.

David Askey, Founder, Ascend Robotics

David Askey is a founder of startup Ascend Robotics. Ascend is developing part handling systems that intelligently adapt to the customer’s environment.  The robots retrieve components, provide production line supply, and automated kitting.  He believes that embedded intelligence can enable robots that are inherently safe, accessible, and trainable by anyone.  

Prior to Ascend, David was a co-founder and Chief Business Development Officer at Energid, where he was responsible for key strategic initiatives, guidance, and market development of sensor-driven robotic systems.  A core focus was driving the definition and shaping of new products to meet market needs.   For the Energid subsidiary, Robai, David provided key product guidance for the Cyton compact robot arms, with particular focus on the industrial production and device testing markets.

He has extensive experience in object tracking, image-based modeling, and video compression. David has held senior positions managing engineering teams, leading technology strategy, and directing R&D at leading technology and imaging companies both in the US and Europe. David has B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Rachel LeBlanc, Assistant Vice President Academic and Corporate Engagement, Worcester Polytechnic Institute. 
AUVSI New England Director

Rachel is responsible for strategy development and implementation of corporate engagement initiatives.  Rachel also manages the portfolio of non-traditional academic programs for the University including online programs, corporate education, and professional education. 

Throughout her career, Rachel and her team have provided education solutions for several industries including defense, life science, high-tech, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and construction. 

She is on the Board of Directors for AUVSI NE and serves as the Director of Marketing and Communications on the Board of Directors for the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). 

Rachel has a B.S. and M.S. in the life sciences, as well as an M.B.A.

Yaro Tenzer, co-founder of RightHand Robotics

Yaro Tenzer is a co-founder of RightHand Robotics (RHR), a company developing both hardware and software to enable complete robotic grasping solutions. Prior to forming RHR, Tenzer was a post-doctoral researcher at the Harvard Biorobotics Lab where his team was selected by the DARPA Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program as the preferred grasping solution for the DARPA Grand Robotics Challenge.

At RHR, Tenzer is now focused on using his expertise in robotic grasping and automation to reduce the cost of order fulfillment with robotic systems that can grasp wide varieties of everyday objects used in logistics applications.

Justin Manley, President & Principal Consultant, Just Innovation
AUVSI New England Director

Justin Manley is an innovative technologist and executive with experience in startup, public corporation, academic, and Government sectors. Mr. Manley has been working with marine technology and robotics since 1990 and is a recognized leader in unmanned systems development and operations. After professional roles at MIT, supporting NOAA and in the private sector Mr. Manley founded Just Innovation Inc. in 2015. He supports a variety of clients with a focus on unmanned and undersea systems.

Mr. Manley is extensively involved in the marine technology and robotics professions through a variety of leadership roles. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, Life Member of the Marine Technology Society (MTS) and a Fellow of the Institute for Marine Engineering Science and Technology (IMAREST). He represents the private sector as a member of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Advisory Committee. In 2016 Mr. Manley joined the Board of Directors of AUVSI New England. He is also dedicated to innovation, serving as an advisor to several startup companies and a judge for the Wendy Schmidt Ocean Health XPRIZE.

Tom Fulton, NUWC Newport, Director of the Annual Naval Technology Exercise

Tom Fulton is Head, Systems Assessment Branch at NUWC Newport and Director of the Annual Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX).   He has held Program Manager and personnel manager positions within government and private industry, as well as Naval service as a Diving Officer and Civil Engineer Corps Officer. 

A registered Professional Engineer in mechanical engineering, he holds a BS in Ocean Engineering from US Naval Academy, MS in Ocean Engineering from MIT, and an MS in Program Management from Naval Postgraduate School.

His current role as ANTX director focuses his past experiences to create a collaborative exercise space for innovations from industry, academia, and government to be applied to US Navy needs.

Sam Kesner, Ph.D., Director of Research and Advanced Development, Myomo Inc.

Sam Kesner, Ph.D., is the Director of Research and Advanced Development at Myomo Inc., a medical device company whose mission is to cure arm paralysis with its proprietary myoelectric upper limb orthosis technology. Previously, Dr. Kesner was a Staff Engineer at the Wyss Institute at Harvard Medical School where he was the technical lead for a project to develop the first ever medical implant fabricated using Pop-Up MEMS manufacturing technology.

Kesner received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2006 and 2007, and his Ph.D. in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering from Harvard University in 2011. His Ph.D. research was conducted with surgeons at the Boston Children’s Hospital to develop an ultrasound-guided robotic catheter system that enables surgical repairs on the inside of the beating heart.

Dr. Kesner has experience developing new technologies in the areas of neurostimulation, microelectromechanical devices, robotic surgery, medical devices, cardiology, and assistive robotics. He is an author on over 20 peer-review publications and 6 patents.  His research and development passion is for creating innovative robots and devices that dramatically improve medical care and a patient’s quality of life.

Alex Lorman, Director of Engineering, ThayerMahan

Alex Lorman is the Director of Engineering at ThayerMahan, specializing in long-duration cloud-connected intelligence gathering from the oceans. ThayerMahan harnesses the knowledge gained by careers spent in the US Navy's submarine force with the modern advances in sensors, cloud computing and AI to form a new level of theater awareness and threat detection.

Previously, Alex was the founding CTO of Sea Machines, also specializing in robotic systems for the maritime domain. He built a prototype vessel that was featured in many local news articles and TV spots while it was on sea-trails in the Boston area, thankfully never causing any major maritime mishaps.

He started his maritime career with Titan Salvage during the Costa Concordia project, helping to upright then re-float the stricken cruise ship. He has spoken at numerous panels both about robotics, cloud computing and maritime salvage.

Mitch Maykel, Director of Business Development, Prothia LLC

Mitch Maykel is Director of Business Development for Prothia LLC, a Worcester-based medical device company (and sister company of Prothia s.a.r.l., a Paris-based medical device company with over 30 years of experience).

Mr. Maykel is responsible for helping introduce Prothia’s numerous innovative solutions for rehabilitation, cardiology and perinatology to the U.S. market.

In addition to having medical device sales and clinical experience, Mr. Maykel worked in the IT and communications industries for a number of years, for companies such as EMC, Verizon/NYNEX and HP Medical. He holds an MBA from Babson College and a BA from Amherst College.

Bob Melvin, Vice President of Engineering, Teledyne Marine Systems

Bob Melvin is the Vice President of Engineering at Teledyne Marine Systems which includes Teledyne Benthos, Teledyne Webb Research, and Teledyne Gavia.   He has over 30 years of experience in both engineering and program management.

Bob is responsible for overseeing the engineering teams for Teledyne’s underwater vehicles including the Slocum Glider, Gavia AUV, tethered Deep Tow, and APEX floats. 

Bob has a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering and patents in signal processing and underwater instrumentation.

Ken Johnson, Director, FIRST Tech Challenge

Ken Johnson joined FIRST in 2007 as the Director of FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) to establish this new Program serving youth in grades 7-12 for the purpose of inspiring the next generation of science and technology leaders. Since that time FTC has been the fastest growing FIRST Program successfully completing a progression of FIRST programs that spans K-12 grades. FIRST Tech Challenge now has 50,000 students participating across 18 countries and continues to expand.

In 2013 Ken founded BizGen, a 501c3 non-profit with the mission of encouraging entrepreneurship at the high school level. This pitch competition has now awarded $24,000 to teams to develop their ideas into real companies, and light the entrepreneurial spark in the next generation of business developers.
 
Prior to joining FIRST Ken was Vice President of Ward Hill Marketing, a technology marketing group that worked with emerging technologies in various markets including alternative energy, semiconductor process equipment, and photonics. In his role at Ward Hill Marketing Ken was responsible for identifying and developing C-level clients, strategizing based on their goals and technologies, and growing their organizations.

He has also served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Labsphere, a photonics company serving research, defense and commercial entities worldwide. In that role Ken changed the company’s focus to original equipment manufacturers and emerging markets, resulting in significant international expansion.

Ken has also held senior positions in technology companies involved in power systems, avionics, and medical devices.

Ken has an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of South Florida and earned his MBA at the University of New Hampshire.

Jeffrey M. Smith, President of Riptide Autonomous Solutions

Jeffrey M. Smith is the President of Riptide Autonomous Solutions, a small business focusing on bringing developmental Unmanned Maritime Vehicle technology to the Navy.

Jeff has over twenty years of experience working across numerous areas in undersea product development. As Chief Operating Officer of Bluefin Robotics, Jeff led the business growth strategy, capture management, partnering initiatives, and product expansion that achieved 600% revenue growth. He led the development of winning technical solutions and assembled viable large industry teams for Navy Programs such as Knifefish and DARPA initiatives such as the SHARK UUV.

Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo, MassDOT Aeronautics Division Administrator
AUVSI New England Director

Dr. Jeffrey DeCarlo is the MassDOT Aeronautics Division Administrator, tasked with providing statutory and regulatory oversight for all aviation matters in the Commonwealth, including airport development, and aviation safety & security.

Jeff has more than 30 years of aviation experience with the military, industry, academia and government. A former U.S. Air Force and airline pilot with over 10,000 hours in fighter and commercial aircraft, he is a graduate of Fighter Weapons (Top Gun) School.
As principal investigator for NASA-sponsored R&D, he has supported DOD aviation activities with life cycle costs of more than $1B.

Dr. DeCarlo serves on the Board of Directors of NUAIR Alliance and the National Association of State Aviation Officials.

Tom Milnes is CEO and co-founder of Open Water. Tom was previously CTO and co-founder of consumer scanning company Viztu Technologies, which democratized high-tech 3D-scanning technologies. Tom sold Viztu to 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) in 2012. 

Prior to Viztu, Tom worked with his future PhD advisor Doug Hart at dental scanning start-up Brontes Technologies, which was acquired by 3M (NYSE: MMM) for $95M in 2006.

Tom holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell, a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Harvard, and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Jonathan Koopmann, Innovation and Policy division at the Volpe Center

Jonathan Koopmann is a senior engineer in the Technology, Innovation and Policy division at the Volpe Center. He serves as the Volpe Center Project Manager of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office’s (ITS-JPO) automated vehicle research program.

Prior to managing the automation vehicle research program Jonathan led a development team creating an aviation environmental modeling software tool for the Federal Aviation Administration and several projects investigating the capability, user acceptance, and safety effectiveness of prototype advance warning safety systems for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Before coming to Volpe in 2000, Jonathan worked for the Volvo Truck Corporation in Goteborg, Sweden. He has a M.S. in Transportation Engineering from Northeastern University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.

Dr. Jeremy Wurbs, Research Scientist at Neurala Inc.

Jeremy is a Research Scientist at Neurala Inc. and is currently working to integrate deep learning technologies into Neurala's autonomous intelligence software.

Before joining Neurala, Jeremy completed his Ph.D. studying and applying neuromorphic modeling techniques for UAS collision avoidance tasks, pioneering deep learning techniques that can take advantage of human-inspired optical flow methods to avoid objects with and without explicit identification. 

After applying these techniques on NASA UAV systems as part of a joint Boston University - NASA venture, Jeremy joined Neurala in order to help create a unified perception and navigation framework for mobile robots and drones utilizing advancements from the rapidly expanding deep learning space.

Eamon Carrig co-founded Autonomous Marine Systems 2009. Eamon got his start as a systems engineer developing and automating rigorous testing procedures and analysis of spaceflight hardware. He has worked on more than a dozen successful missions, including the penultimate shuttle mission.

Between 2007 and 2012, Eamon was an independent contractor designing integrated hardware and software systems for customers in the aerospace, architecture, and creative communities.

Eamon earned an A.B. in Philosophy of Science from Princeton University.

Tom Sommer, President, MassMEDIC

Tom Sommer was named the first president of the Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC) in October 1996 by the organization’s founding Board of Directors. Since that time, Sommer has served as the association’s chief executive officer, managing its day-to-day operations and working with medical device industry executives in developing its policy agenda. Since its establishment, MassMEDIC has grown to 400 member companies – manufacturers and developers of medical products, suppliers, research institutions and academic health centers –  and has advanced the public policy interests of the Massachusetts medical device sector on Capitol Hill, Beacon Hill, and before various federal agencies.

Prior to his appointment at MassMEDIC, Mr. Sommer served as a vice president of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, where he managed external relations and research activities for this quasi-state agency from 1994-1996. He was vice president for policy and communications of the New England Council, a regional business organization, from 1989-1994.

Mr. Sommer was deputy director of the Massachusetts Office of Federal-State Relations in Washington, D.C. and Boston from 1983-1987, serving as a member of Governor Michael S. Dukakis’s senior staff. From 1980-1983, he was a legislative assistant at the National Association of Development Organizations, a Washington-based association of local economic development officials.

Mr. Sommer received his B.A. in Political Science from Boston College and a master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Mike Ridge is an Embedded System Security Architect with Draper

Mike Ridge is an Embedded System Security Architect with Draper. He has an Electrical Engineering Degree from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Masters from the George Washington University. Mike has previously served as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer.

He was the lead Government Engineer for an  Encryption Program at the National Security Agency. He also lead a technology transfer of a cryptographic project called disposable crypto that allowed for protection of classified data yet the design itself was unclassified.

He was president a Security startup called Silent Cyber, which teamed with the University of Michigan, Ford and General Motors, developed a test platform for the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA). It was used to test anomaly detection systems in cars. They also built the first tool in the automotive market that without a priori knowledge could map and fingerprint all of the Electronic Control Units in the Vehicle.

Kristin Powers Goppel
Senior Program Development Manager, Corporate & Professional Education
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
 
Kristin Goppel began her engineering career in consumer product design and development at Procter & Gamble and Arthur D. Little Inc.  Her growing interest in biotechnology led her to roles in both process and project design engineering at Anika Therapeutics and Genzyme Corporation.  As her children grew, she became increasingly involved in K-12 STEM outreach efforts, eventually dedicating herself to the cause full-time. For the past 5 years, Kristin successfully led WPI’s efforts to build and diversify their pre-collegiate summer programs though faculty engagement, strategic programming for girls, need-based tuition-assistance programs, and community and industry partnerships.  

She now works closely with WPI faculty and industry partners to identify and develop opportunities for customized graduate education in biotechnology, biomedical and chemical engineering and the life sciences.   She continues to be an avid supporter of the need for early STEM outreach, and serves on the steering committee for the Massachusetts BioEducation Foundation’s BioTeach program and as an advisor to WPI’s Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society.

Kristin holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.

Tom Calef, Director R&D, Advanced Robotics, Medrobotics Corporation

Tom Calef is the Director of R&D, Advanced Robotics at Medrobotics Corporation in Raynham, MA.  Medrobotics Corporation is a privately funded medical device company headquartered in Raynham, MA producing ground-breaking, non-linear access and surgical capabilities that offer the promise to treat more patients minimally invasively. 

Tom has been with Medrobotics since they closed their Series C Funding in 2011.  Since then, Tom and the Medrobotics team have launched their Flex® Robotic System which recently won the 2016 Best in Show Medical Design Excellence Award.  Prior to joining Medrobotics, Tom worked as a systems engineer and manger for RTS Life Science and Hatch Technology. 

Tom holds a B.S. and M.S. in computer engineering and mechanical engineering, respectively, from UMass Dartmouth.

Marcio Macedo, VP of Product and Marketing, Ava Robotics

Marcio Macedo is VP of product and marketing at Ava Robotics, a spin-off of iRobot focused on autonomous navigating robots for enterprise, commercial and industrial environments.

Prior to co-founding Ava Robotics, Marcio was the Director of Product Management for commercial robots at iRobot, where he was responsible for the iRobot’s industry-leading autonomous robots for commercial applications. This included the RP-VITA telemedicine robot, launched in partnership with InTouch Health, and the iRobot Ava 500 telepresence robot, launched in partnership with Cisco.

Before joining iRobot, Marcio served in product management leadership roles at HP and Polycom, after having started his career in engineering at PictureTel Corp.

Marcio has a BSEE from the Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro, an MSEE from Northeastern University, and an MBA from Babson College.

Michael A. Knodler, Jr. Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Michael A. Knodler, Jr. Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Transportation Engineering Program of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  He is Director of the UMass Transportation Center. 

Dr. Knodler is the lead for UMassAir, an unmanned aerial system research and education collaborative. UMassAir is a collaboration between UMass-Amherst and UMass-Dartmouth established to advance unmanned aerial systems to advance interdisciplinary and collaborative research and education.

Rita Vasquez-Torres, CEO, NewStoneSoup VT LLC

Rita Vasquez-Torres is a Senior Technology and Programs Strategist with 20+ years of entrepreneurial government Science and Technology Policy and leadership experience. She served as Senior Industrial Security/Special Security for Special Programs; Business Development/Strategic Outreach Liaison and team leader.  In her role she designed and oversaw an Army-Justice-NASA and DHS partnership - co-funding, designing and leading multi-disciplinary/agency R&D projects of national impact. Rita has built networks, effective teams and robust funding streams, nurturing technology partnerships, lead skilled ST&E teams through numerous dual-use projects. Her teams produced over 90 technical papers/publications.

As CEO for NewStoneSoup VT LLC, Ms. Vasquez-Torres has created an eclectic enterprise.  They create cross-discipline business projects, tapping into the expertise of a diverse professional team; determine strategies for new markets, process and product improvements; assess implementation of "green" field support services (recycle and reuse). 

NewStoneSoup challenges conventional large corporate assumptions - results are unconventional, novel, adaptive and dynamic. As strategic analyst for Robotics for human augmentation, they establish cooperative endeavors with government, industry and academia assessing dual-use (military/commercial) application of exo, dermo skeletons as human assist tools and push the envelope to meet the demands of Human-Machine integration as an emerging discipline. Concurrently they are supporting new trends in the food and wine industry, military and Department of Homeland Security apparel, international collaboration/market development. NewStoneSoup is not afraid of risk, stepping out of their comfort zone, making the hard calls, evaluating integration opportunities and delivering results.

Myke Predko, Chief Roboticist, Mimetics

Myke Predko built his first robot in Grade 8 – a wall follower made from toy parts held together by glue and rubber bands. The skills and confidence gained from this provided the foundation for his successes in life at various companies like IBM, Celestica, Logitech and RIM. Myke sees robotics as a “superset technology” – the integration of different technologies along with some creativity resulting in something that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Gabe Batstone,  CEO - contextere

Gabe Batstone is the co-founder & CEO of contextere; an industrial software company
whose mission is to transform the 'Future of Work’. contextere is weaving together
artificial intelligence, data analytics, augmented reality and wearable devices to realize
the potential of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

For two decades Gabe has been bringing emergent technology into complex
operational environments including including intelligent transportation systems,
advanced weapons platforms, digital oilfield, and enterprise augmented reality. He has
previously worked at market leaders Navteq (now HERE), CAE and NGRAIN.

Gabe serves on the Board of Directors of the Canadian American Business Council
(CABC) promoting free trade and advancing continental trade policy. In 2014 after the
murder of his 8 year-old daughter Gabe founded non-profit Teagan’s Voice dedicated
to promoting children’s human rights.

Gabe holds a Bachelor of Applied Arts, specializing in Geographic Information
Systems, from Ryerson University in Toronto and a Masters of Business Administration
from the University of Baltimore. Gabe is a frequent public speaker, published writer
and completed postgraduate studies at the United Nations Institute for training and
research, University of Chicago and Harvard Law School. 

Tom Coyle, Serial Entrepreneur 

A sales and marketing executive, Tom led IoT initiatives at Avery Dennison, Mark IV Industries (EZ-Pass), Icon Nicholson, Matrics (now Zebra), Savi Technology (acquired by Lockheed Martin) and was a supply chain analyst for General Electric. Tom is the President of Wireless Consulting Solutions and for many years was the Chair of the Internet of Things Industry Group of the MIT Enterprise Forum. A graduate of West Point, Tom was a test pilot in the U.S. Army charged with fixing and flying 81 aircraft.

Charlie Hipwood, MassVentures

Charlie joined MassVentures in 2017 and is a vice president focused on early-stage and seed investment in Massachusetts high-technology companies.

Charlie is a founder and executive with 20+ years of experience in financial services and technology start-ups (founded Fluent Fintech, STAG Capital Partners and AI Exchange) and established corporations (JP Morgan and Level 3 Communications).  As an entrepreneur, Charlie has deep experience in establishing and managing operations, executing investments, developing products and markets, managing the sales pipeline, raising capital, leading teams, growing revenue, and executing strategy to achieve desired outcomes.

Charlie earned an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and a BA from Boston College.

Susan Giver Nelson, CAE, CMP
Executive Director, SeaPerch Program
AUVSI Foundation

Ms. Nelson began her maritime career in 1999 as Marketing and Exposition Director for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME), after over 10 years of sales, marketing, and event management experience in the corporate sector.

In 2006, Susan became Director of Outreach and Strategic Development for SNAME, and sought and received a grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) as part of the National Naval Responsibility for Naval Engineering (NNRNE), a dedicated effort to ensure the sustained national capability to develop innovative designs for Navy ships and submarines.  In 2007, she developed a business/marketing plan and model and received a grant from ONR for the creation of an infrastructure to develop what is now known as the SeaPerch Program into a viable, “scalable” national K-12 student STEM Outreach program. Beginning with just 750 students in 2007, now in 2017, over 350,000 students have built SeaPerch ROV’s, and the program has been named one of the U.S. Navy’s signature K-12 Outreach programs. 

In September of 2011, Susan moved the SeaPerch Program to the AUVSI Foundation.  As Executive Director, Susan manages all aspects of the SeaPerch program, and strives to create partnerships with universities, industry, educators, professional societies, government, national membership organizations, and school districts to inform and educate them about the possibilities SeaPerch can create.

Susan holds a B.S. in Organizational Development from Geneva College, and an M.S. in Integrated Marketing and Communication from Lasell College in Boston.   She holds the CAE (Certified Association Management) credential, the CMP (Certified Meeting Professional) credential, and serves as President Elect for the Association Executives of North Carolina.  

Jeremie Spitzer

Jeremie is a startup junky, having been bitten by the bug as a French boy living in Mexico, renting out his “fancy” American markers to local kids in exchange for candy. His entrepreneurial endeavors continued as a UMass Amherst undergraduate, where he cofounded a video game company that developed a unique audio user interface, allowing the blind to play their sighted friends as equals. 

He was lucky to sell it and join a small manufacturing company in the cleantech space focused on the transportation sector. As part of a dedicated team, he was able to grow sales by over 65% in two years in a clean tech niche before the slowdown of 09 encouraged him to get his MBA at Babson. After graduating he joined Bose and helped grow the company’s first product foray into the heavy transportation industry. The BoseRide is a back-saving, stress-reducing technology for class A drivers.

As the Managing Partner of IndeKid LLC, he gets to follow his passion of working on strategy and new product challenges with C-suite executives of post funded startups to $1B companies in the US, EU, and South America. Jeremie lives in Shrewsbury with his wife, 2 kids, and 2 dogs. He loves traveling, skiing, soccer and coaching his kids' teams, probably a bit more than the kids love being coached by their dad.

Mark Smithers, Boston Engineering

Mark Smithers, a founding member of Boston Engineering, leads the company’s strategic development activities. He oversees the project management operations for the business and also directs activities for the company’s technology/IP creations. Mark combines his experience as a systems engineer and innovator with business expertise to help guide customers towards commercialization success.

For more than 20 years, Mark has helped Boston Engineering clients identify solutions and drive innovative ideas to innovation reality. His leadership has established a variety of different products and systems that have positively changed the way people live. A skilled communicator, he facilitates the development, testing, and implementation of processes that involve different team members and disciplines, including design, engineering, manufacturing, and subject matter expertise.

Mark is involved in the local economy and provides insight on may industry clusters and advisory boards, including the Mass Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC) Robotics Cluster, the Massachusetts Robotics Roadmap Steering Committee, AUVSI New England, the New England Innovation Alliance, and the Maritime Innovation Cluster. As a member of the MassDevelopment Advanced Manufacturing Center program, Mark manages the center’s activities vetting and funding small emerging companies with promising innovation opportunities.

Mark holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Northeastern University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell).

Noel Zamot, Corvus Analytics LLC

Noel Zamot is the founder and president of Corvus Analytics LLC, a firm helping businesses design cyber resiliency into their systems and products.

Corvus is the first company to offer a systems-based solution to the increasing problem of cyber attacks against complex systems.  The firm uses methods developed for the US military to assess and mitigate cybersecurity risk early in design, when costs are low and impact is high. Corvus also provides pre-investment diligence for cyber risk to select risk capital providers.

Prior to founding Corvus Analytics, Mr. Zamot held a variety of leadership roles in the aerospace industry.  He managed profit/loss operations for a defense contractor portfolio valued at $230M providing cybersecurity R&D and engineering solutions to customers in the Federal Government.  He has led internal and external consulting engagements focused on revenue growth and firm-wide transition strategy, crafted a strategic roadmap for firm-wide contract transition, and led his teams to win back-to-back business performance awards.  He has also led consulting engagements for federal agencies, state governments and nonprofits.

Mr. Zamot earned Aerospace Engineering degrees from MIT and the University of Michigan, and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.  He has also earned a Professional Management degree from ESAN in Lima, Peru, and a Master of Arts in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He is on the Board of Directors of the International Test and Evaluation Association (ITEA), a member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers and the Association of Old Crows, a sailplane pilot and an avid triathlete.  He speaks regularly to business and technology groups on the challenges of securing complex systems against cyber threats.
 

Patrick McGowan, Sales Director, PINC

Patrick McGowan spearheads sales efforts for PINC, working closely with both end-users and solution partners to deliver high return-on-investment applications. 

With over 25 years of experience including working with the Defense Logistics Agency, PARC Labs and Identec Solutions, McGowan has lent his expertise to more successful active RFID/GPS/Drone solutions than any other individual in the global marketplace with nearly one million RFID devices deployed around the world.  

Pat has been a key leader and innovator in connecting intelligent sensor network technology to the world of asset tracking across a number of significant industries.

Brandon Van Acker, Operations Research Analyst - Air Traffic Management Systems Division
Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

Brandon Van Acker is an Operations Research Analyst in the Air Traffic Management Systems Division at the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) in Cambridge, MA.  The ATMS division blends air traffic operations research, information technology, computer science, and engineering expertise focused on developing and deploying systems that help the air transportation enterprise to operate safely and efficiently.

Mr. Van Acker has experience in the areas of time-based flow management (TBFM), unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) sense and avoid (SAA), and in various NextGen data exchange projects. 

Mr. Van Acker is a graduate of the University of Miami where he received his B.S. in Mathematics and Economics.

Dan O’Brien
President
Gibson Engineering Co., Inc.

Dan O’Brien is President and Owner of Gibson Engineering Co., Inc., an automation solution
provider serving the northeastern United States. He leads a team of engineers helping
companies increase productivity, competitiveness and profitability.

Gibson is partnered with a small group of premier global manufacturers of factory automation products, including machine vision, machine control, robotics, motion control, sensing and safety equipment. He is a current member and former president of the Association of High Technology Distribution and a current member of the Control Systems Integrators Association.

Dan has lectured on Return on Investment, sits on multiple advisory councils, and is particularly focused on the disruptive power of new technologies on the factory floor.

David Clear, Director of Partnerships and Business Development, Vecna

David Clear is Director of Partnerships and Business Development at Vecna - a leader in robotics solutions with a mission of empowering humanity through transformative technologies.

In addition to business development, David oversees commercial partnerships and manages Vecna’s R&D efforts. Previously, he worked as a strategic consultant within the finance and retail industries. David has taught management, marketing and strategy course at the University of Glasgow.

David received his MBA and an MPhil in Operational Risk Management from the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School.

David Smith, AVP of Virtual Medicine, UMass Memorial Health Care

David Smith was recently named the AVP of Virtual Medicine for UMass Memorial Health Care, an academic medical center and Level 1 trauma center based in Worcester, MA. This challenging yet dynamic role will help chart the course for an enterprise-wide telehealth strategy to serve the health and wellness demands of nearly 1 million lives across Central Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut.

Serving for the past decade as a Senior Project Manager at UMass Memorial, David directly managed over $20M in capital initiatives including the implementation of highly successful telemedicine programs and a health information exchange joined with the Mass HIway. David now looks to build on this foundation of experience to implement the next generation of telehealth focused on improving access to care, clinical outcomes, and patient satisfaction. His professional background includes 20 years of experience providing IT solutions and support as both a vendor and client. He has worked in multiple industries including healthcare, manufacturing, public utility, and agriculture.

David is a graduate of Indiana State University with a major in Professional Pilot Technology and minor in Business Administration.

Matthew Powell, Founder of ThreadRobe

Before founding ThreadRobe, Matt was a Vice President at a global design and manufacturing company (Danaher). He has led global engineering, sales, marketing, and service teams that delivered integrated hardware/software solutions for petroleum and mining customers in 65+ countries.

Prior to his business career, Matt was an Infantry Officer with the 75th Ranger Regiment in the early days of Afghanistan.

Matt has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from West Point, and an MBA from Harvard.   

Todd Farrell, Director of Research, Liberating Technologies Inc

Todd Farrell is the Director of Research at Liberating Technologies, a leading supplier of upper-limb prosthetic devices for adults and children.  The company designs and manufactures state-of-the-art microprocessor-based prosthetic controllers that can be customized to accommodate an individual user's needs rather than requiring the user to adapt to the controller. 

Todd has worked for Liberating Technologies in Holliston for over four years.  Prior to joining the company, Todd earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University and his BBE in Biomedical Engineering from The Catholic Universities of America.

Mitchell Weiss, CTO Seegrid

An accomplished executive of automation and robotics companies, Mitchell oversees Seegrid’s engineering and manufacturing departments and is responsible for designing the company’s forward-thinking technology roadmap.

Mitchell holds 24 patents, is an expert witness in IP litigation, and is Vice Chair of ASTM F45 Driverless Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles, and a member of ANSI/ITSDF B56.5 Safety Standard For Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles And Automated Functions Of Manned Industrial Vehicles. He holds a Bachelor of Science from MIT, a Graduate Certificate in IP from Northeastern University, has taught at Penn State and the University of Pennsylvania, and has lectured at MIT.

Formerly the CTO of Brooks Automation and PRI Automation, and the founder of ProgramMation Inc. and United States Robots.

Jerome Dubois, Founder and Co-CEO of 6 River Systems, Inc.

Jerome is a founder and co-CEO of 6 River Systems, Inc. (6RS) and manages sales, solutions, and marketing. Prior to founding 6RS, Jerome was on the leadership team at Kiva (now Amazon Robotics) and ran the commercial business unit responsible for over 25 customers and 35 sites globally.

He has over 20 years supply chain technology experience, including leadership positions at Yantra (now IBM Smarter Commerce) and Amazon Services.

Jerome graduated with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Northeastern University.