(Postponed) Overcoming Resistance to Change: Strategies for Adoption of Innovation

Mr. Modigliani is a Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies. He is a leader in defense acquisition with over 25 years of experience transforming the Department of Defense and intelligence community enterprises. He has testified before Congress, published numerous papers and articles, and guest lectures at senior DoD acquisition courses on acquisition to enable greater speed, agility, and tech adoption.

Prior to joining BGS, Mr. Modigliani worked at the MITRE Corporation serving as the Defense Acquisition Lead for the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)). Mr. Modigliani served on the Section 809 Panel, a Congressionally directed panel chartered to streamline and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Defense Acquisition Process.

Pete is a former Assistant Vice President with Alion Science and Technology managing a team of senior acquisition professionals within the Air Force Acquisition Executive office. He advised Air Force program managers on their acquisition and budget strategies and Pentagon leaders on enterprise initiatives for the $6B information dominance portfolio.

Mr. Modigliani began his career as an Air Force program manager with major aircraft and software systems. He partnered with industry executives to prototype a B2G portal to foster collaboration.

Stephen Rodriguez is a senior advisor with the Forward Defense practice at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the founding partner of One Defense, a next-generation strategic advisory firm that leverages machine learning to identify advanced software and hardware commercial capabilities and accelerate their transition into the defense industrial base. He is also a venture partner at Refinery Ventures, an early-scale fund investing in dual-use technologies across the country.

Rodriguez began his career at Booz Allen Hamilton supporting their national security practice. In his capacity as an expert on game-theoretic applications, he supported the United States intelligence community, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security as a lead architect for the Thor’s Hammer, Schriever II/III, and Cyber Storm wargames. He subsequently was a vice president at Sentia Group, an artificial intelligence company, and served as chief marketing officer for NCL Holdings, an international defense corporation.

Rodriguez serves as a board director or board advisor of ten venture-backed companies, including Duco, Edgybees, HatchApps, HighSide, Omelas, Uniken, Ursa Major Technologies, Vantage Robotics, WarOnTheRocks, and Zignal Labs, as well as the non-profit organizations Public Spend Forum and Training Leaders International. He is also the senior innovation advisor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Rodriguez received his B.B.A. degree from Texas A&M University and an M.A. degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is published in Foreign Policy, WarOnTheRocks, National Review, and RealClearDefense.

Ms. McNamara is a Vice President at Beacon Global Strategies and supports the Atlantic Council’s Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption where she is the lead author on assessing critical technologies and their barriers to adoption in the Department of Defense. Prior to joining BGS, Mrs. McNamara worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OSD R&E) where she served as the S&T portfolio lead at the Defense Innovation Board (DIB), supported the Department of Defense’s Chief Information Office (CIO) and as a Senior Analyst at the national security think tank, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Mrs. McNamara is a former National Security Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center and interned in the Political-Military Bureau at the Department of State and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy.