Speakers

Major-General (MGen) Iain Huddleston enrolled in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1989, graduating with a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Royal Military College in 1994. After completing wings training in 1995, he flew with both 415 and 404 Maritime Patrol Squadrons flying the CP-140 Aurora at 14 Wing Greenwood in Nova Scotia. 

In late 2002, he was posted on exchange with the Royal Air Force (RAF) in Scotland, where he flew the Nimrod MR2 with 206 and then CXX Squadron. Promoted to Major in 2003, MGen Huddleston deployed to the Middle East twice with the RAF, operating from Muscat, Oman and Basrah, Iraq.  

Returning to Canada in August 2006, he was selected as aide-de-camp to the Chief of the Defence Staff, General (retired) Rick Hillier. 

In 2009, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed Commanding Officer 429 Transport Squadron, operating the CC-177 Globemaster III at 8 Wing Trenton. MGen Huddleston deployed to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan as the Joint Headquarters Plans Officer, serving thereafter with the Strategic Joint Staff and Defence Renewal Team in Ottawa.  He was promoted to Colonel in June 2013 and appointed Commanding Officer 14 Wing Greenwood where he led the Long Range Patrol Force in operationalizing and deploying the modernized Block III CP-140 Aurora on Operation IMPACT. 

In 2015, MGen Huddleston attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London, UK and then returned to Canada to become Director Fleet Readiness at 1 Canadian Air Division Headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In June 2018, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and served as both 1 Canadian Air Division Deputy Commander Force Generation and Deputy Commander. Posted to the Air Staff in Ottawa in July 2020, he became Director General Air and Space Readiness and, upon his promotion to Major-General in May 2021, he served as Chief of Staff for the Canadian Joint Operations Command Headquarters. 

In July 2022, MGen Huddleston assumed command of 1 Canadian Air Division in Winnipeg, commanding the Division for two years until he was posted back to Ottawa in July 2024 as the Deputy Vice Chief of the Defence Staff. He has 5,600 total flying hours across several airframes and resides in Ottawa with his wife and two children.

Mr. Ficken is Chief Data and Artificial Intelligence Officer at Space Operations Command, Peterson SFB, Colorado Springs Colorado. He is responsible for enabling decision advantage by accelerating Space Operation Command’s adoption of data, analytics, and artificial intelligence within the kill web.

Leads diverse team of government and contractor professionals primarily composed of data scientists. His team is operationalizing automated target recognition from satellite imagery, integrating data from a key Space Force electromagnetic weapon system into the DOD and IC, and is improving mission planning by revealing untapped insights at scales that exceed human capacity. In August 2005, Mr. Ficken enlisted in the Navy where he completed Intelligence Specialist training and specialized in strike planning. His tours of duty included the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center, a deployment on the USS Bonhomme Richard, and Cruise Missile Support Activity Atlantic. During these roles, he contributed to successful combat operations, generated all-source intelligence products, and generated hundreds of targeting packages including weapon solutions. After his enlistment ended in 2013, Mr. Ficken contributed to the development of future versions of the Tomahawk missile system as a defense contractor.

Following his work as a contractor, he transitioned to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in 2015. His assignments within the agency spanned four offices including, Source, Data Corps, Futures, and Analysis. Two of those assignments involved highly complex modeling and simulation of reconnaissance satellites. His analyses permanently improved national-level space architectures. He contributed to their data science program including hiring, and mentoring data professionals, earned a leadership role within the Supervisory Council, and was a Branch Chief. Prior to his current position, Mr. Ficken was the Data Analytics Branch Chief, U.S. Space Command, Peterson SFB, CO.

Richard Yu serves as the Director of the Digital Superiority Directorate (J6) and Chief information Officer for the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). In his role, he ensures the robustness of command, control, communication, and computer systems, assuring USSPACECOM's global reach. Mr. Yu’s responsibilities include spearheading the command's Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence implementation strategy into USSPACECOM's operations.

He is also responsible for designing, employing, and defending, USSPACECOM's Joint Communication System (JCS), a leap-ahead technology initiative in the efficiency and effectiveness of future Trans-Regional Missile Defense and space combat operations. Mr. Yu also holds the title of Authorization Official for Joint Space Mission Systems. This role places him in charge of ensuring the end-to-end cybersecurity compliance, managing cyber risks, and cryptographic modernization for USSPACECOM mission systems. Through hisleadership in digitalstrategy and cybersecurity, he plays a key role in maintaining and advancing the United States Space Command’s digital superiority.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Yu served as the senior executive Capability Developer for the U.S. Army’s Space, High Altitude and Strategic Missile Defense capabilities at the Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC), with full responsibility to develop, direct, and execute plans and programs that allow USASMDC to accomplish its core mission and prepotency responsibilities. In this capacity, Mr. Yu led the development of Army’s first Space formation for the Theater Army with full complement of effects to conduct operations for space control, navigation warfare, tactical satellite operations, obfuscation, and high-altitude operations. In addition, Mr. Yu led the Title X capability development to complement the Strategic Missile Defense material solutions developed by the Missile Defense Agency to protect our nation and partners from strategic
missile threats.

Mr. Yu has over 33 years of operational and acquisition experience in government civilian positions within the Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, Missile Defense Agency (MDA), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the Office of Secretary Defense (OSD). His operational experience includes serving in key leadership positions at the U.S. Strategic Command, Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. His acquisition experience in major programs include: NATO Bi-Strategic Command Alliance Information Systems (Bi-SC AIS), Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Ground Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), F-16 Block 60, Chemical / Biological / Life Support systems, and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS).

Mr. Yu received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and later earned a Master of Science in Systems Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He attended the National War College and was competitively selected (and deferred) as the senior civilian at the Air Force Air Command and Staff College. Mr. Yu is a member of the Defense Acquisition Corp and level III certified in Program Management,
Systems Engineering, and Test & Evaluation. Mr. Yu received many awards in his career, to include: the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award, Office of the Chairman of the JCS Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Award for Significant Technical Achievement, and the Air Force Systems Command Engineer of the Year Award.

Chris Taylor is the Founder & CEO of Aalyria Technologies, Inc. – an advanced all-domain networking and laser communications tech company. He was previously the CEO of Govini. He has served as a Senior Advisor to the Managing Director of the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) and has also advised the Defense Innovation Board at the Department of Defense (DoD). Chris previously founded and led Novitas Group, a tech startup that utilized a unique talent-opportunity matching platform to assist veterans in their search for meaningful employment in their preferred communities. He conceived of and convinced The White House and ABC’s Shark Tank to collaborate on the first all-veteran episode, which aired on Veterans Day 2014.

As the CEO of Mission Essential, Chris grew the company from $185 million to nearly $800 million in revenue in three years. Chris taught as an adjunct associate professor of national security studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service Security Studies Program, where he taught the graduate seminar “The Business of National Security” and instituted and taught the “Hacking for Defense” seminar for three years. He has also been a Lecturer in Management at George Washington University’s School of Business, where he also taught the Hacking for Defense graduate seminar.

Chris spent 14 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an enlisted infantryman and Force Recon Marine.  Twice selected for meritorious promotion, he was the Distinguished Honor Graduate at the NCO Leadership Academy, the Distinguished Leadership Graduate at Amphibious Reconnaissance School, and the Class Commander at Marine Combatant Diver Course 93-40. Chris finished his undergraduate degree at night and left the Marine Corps to attend the College of William & Mary where he earned his MBA in Strategy & Leadership, and received the Dean’s Award for Leadership and Service at graduation. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he earned a Master of Public Administration degree in Political Economy and International Security and was chosen by his class to lead them into Harvard Yard for graduation. Chris also served as a member of the Defense Leadership Project at the Center for Public Leadership, where he co-authored Transforming the National Security Culture.

Chris has attended Harvard University’s Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security, as well as the Aspen Institute’s Executive Seminar and the Justice and Society Seminar. He also serves on advisory boards at Govini, Ox Intel, and Acalvio Technologies. Chris also spent 13 years as a trustee of the American University of Afghanistan.

Mike Dickey is a Founding Partner of Elara Nova. Dickey is a career aerospace executive
focusing on national security and U.S. space competitiveness for the 21st century.
Mike’s experience includes both serving as an Air Force officer, as well as a civilian
senior executive level during the stand-up of the United States Space Force. He also has
extensive experience advancing space strategy and business development within the
space industry.

Dickey’s military career spans a variety of roles and mission areas including space
operational commands in the Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office, early
development of the Navy’s Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System for the Missile
Defense Agency, and flight test of the B-2 Spirit bomber. He was also detailed to NASA,
supporting requirements for the International Space Station.

As a civilian, Dickey served as Chief Architect of Air Force Space Command and then the
U.S. Space Force and was instrumental in standing up the Space Warfighting Analysis
Center. His efforts helped lead advance strategic shift of the Air Force’s space
enterprise to a more resilient and combat effective posture.

Dickey has a B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of
Colorado and a Master of Strategic Studies from Air University. He is a Distinguished
Graduate of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and three professional military
education courses. His honors include 27 military awards, the NASA Group
Achievement Medal and the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal.
He participated in leadership programs from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business
and the Center for Creative Leadership, and is an Associate Fellow in the American
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Walton Smith is a technology leader with over two decades of experience driving innovation and growth. Currently, he is the Managing Director of Public Sector Cloud at World Wide Technology (WWT), where he leads cloud platform and AI tool development for government, education, and intelligence agencies. He is also responsible for developing and implementing technology strategies that meet customer needs. Previously, as AVP of Strategic Alliances, he oversaw WWT's core public sector partnerships and spearheaded technology strategy, vision, and execution.

Walton is passionate about leveraging technology to solve complex business challenges. His expertise includes cloud computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. He is known for his ability to translate complex technical concepts into actionable and measurable strategies.

Prior to WWT, Walton held leadership positions at companies including Booz Allen, where he was Vice President of the Strategic Innovation Group. He also led Booz Allen's Collaboration, Mobility and Social Media practice and the internal corporate investment strategy to bolster Knowledge Management and Information Sharing Programs.

Walton earned a BA in Political Science from Brown University and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.

As the Vice President of Federal Sales at Google Public Sector, Jim Kelly brings nearly 30 years of extensive federal market leadership and sales experience helping federal customers bring their technology strategies to life. 

Before joining Google Public Sector, Jim served at Dell Technologies in roles spanning federal sector management for the U.S. Army and U.S. Department of Defense Joint Solutions organizations, as Vice President for the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence business and finally as Senior Vice President of North America Federal Sales. He has a proven track record in business operations, strategy development, solution sales and providing the technology and expertise needed to transform and protect the data of federal customers. 

Jim’s experience in service to federal agencies also includes his tenure as Senior Director for the U.S. Army at Microsoft where he was responsible for product sales, strategy development and oversight of services sales. Prior to Microsoft, Jim was at Symantec where he drove sales and management of the U.S. Army and Defense Agencies business providing the U.S. Department of Defense with insight into security best practices to support their defense security posture. 

At Google Public Sector, Jim applies his understanding of federal enterprise and program strategies, credibility with decision-makers and extensive relationships with industry partners to assist the federal community in achieving their mission and business goals through digital transformation, security and cutting-edge technology.

Josh Marcuse is the Director of Strategic Initiatives in the Office of the CEO of Google Public Sector. He is the lead for Responsible AI, and serves on the advisory board of CapitalG, Alphabet's independent growth fund. He joined Google in 2020 and has led teams in public sector strategy & innovation and business development, for the U.S. and internationally. He is also a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). Previously, Josh served as the first executive director of the Defense Innovation Board, a government group of distinguished leaders focused on bringing technological and cultural innovations of Silicon Valley to the Department of Defense (DoD). Josh has more than a decade of experience in defense modernization, and served as the innovation advisor to the DoD CTO and held roles in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Policy, Personnel & Readiness, and the Chief Management Officer. Prior to DoD, Josh worked at the Center for CSIS, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Josh is the founder or co-founder of three non-profits: Globally, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, and the Federal Innovator Network. He is an advisor or board member to several nonprofits, including Tech Talent Project, Special Competitive Studies Project, DayOne Project, Schmidt Futures; and several defense startups and investment firms, including the Defense Advisory Board of Bessemer Venture Partners.

Ahmed leads a matrixed team to position the power of Google to support the national security mission of the United States. He has worked to help the US Federal government take advantage of technology solutions for over 20 years.

Prior to Google, Ahmed spent 10 years at VMware helping various clients take advantage of the latest VMware technology for mission operations. Ahmed spent the formative years of his career working as an engineer for the Department of Defense mostly in the computer security field.

Ahmed is a graduate of the University of South Carolina Honors College with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He published a senior thesis titled “Liquid Extraction of Hydrogen Isotopes” in conjunction with the Dept of Energy Savannah River Site for the purposes of trying novel techniques to clean contaminated groundwater at one of the country’s former nuclear weapons production facilities.

On a personal note Ahmed has been married for 15 years to his lovely wife Debbie and is the proud father of four amazing children; Adam, Zach, Gabriel, and Hannah.

Malissa deWindt McClintock serves as a Security Solutions Engineer at Google Public Sector, where she collaborates with Security Sales and Google Cloud teams to address technical and compliance challenges to develop innovative solutions for clients.  

Beginning her career as Education Coordinator at the Art Museum of Western Virginia, she transitioned to a technical role when joining the Unisys Federal Security Operations Center (SOC) as a Senior Security Operations Engineer. She has held both the position of Business Development Representative and Customer Success Manager at Cybrary as well as Director of Customer Success at SightGain.

Certified as a Google Cloud Security Engineer, she holds a Master of Arts  in Liberal Studies from Hollins University and a  Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy/Religion from Mary Baldwin College.

Scott is a Customer Engineer at Google on the Department of the Air Force team, bringing over a decade of experience in DevOps and Cloud Engineering. He recently transitioned from Tanium, where he specialized in securing cyber assets for the DoD and Federal Civilian space. Prior to that, he served as a Cloud Engineer at AWS, assisting clients in architecting and deploying scalable solutions. Scott holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Math from Utah State University and maintains a TS/SCI Clearance.

Dan Ellis is a Principal Architect at Google Public Sector, leading technical strategy for the Department of the Air Force. With 20+ years of DoD and IC community experience, he focuses on enterprise transformation for the Air Force. Previously, he was a Global Principal Architect at Dell Technologies Select, leading technology workstreams for Boeing and driving private cloud services into edge and manufacturing. Before 2021, Dan developed architecture strategies for VMware across the DoD, designing multi-cloud, cloud-native, and edge solutions for organizations like the Army, Air Force, and Space Force, and advising Air Force leadership on contracts like JEDI and JADC2. He also led multi-cloud enablement for Solution Architects in Government, Education, and Healthcare. As a VMware CTO Ambassador, he presented at VMUG UserCons and the Worldwide Sales Kickoff. Dan has been featured on Federal News Network discussing Cloud and SaaS in the DoD. He is a proud father of two, enjoys mountain biking, and appreciates contemporary abstract art.

Jeremy has lived and worked in the US, Europe and Japan serving academic research centers, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies as well as DOD and DOE high performance computing projects in signals intelligence, neuroscience and bioinformatics. His 20 years of IT management experience and long-term interests in hacking and massive data sets drew him to Google Threat Intelligence to help solve crime and find evil.