GovCon Wire
Your Direct Source for Government Contracting News
Recorded on Thursday, January 12, 2023 8:00am-10:00am EST Virtual, ON24
The Department of Defense is highly prioritizing digital modernization today as DOD agencies pursue advanced technology integration, adapt to meet the needs of today’s missions and prepare for the fights of the future. Guided by its DOD Digital Modernization Strategy for fiscal years 2019-2023, the Defense Department continues to make investments in priority areas including cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, cloud and C3.
As DOD leaders work to usher the department into a new era of modernization, competitive advantage and technological dominance, they are also focusing on upskilling the workforce, harnessing emerging technologies, updating or replacing legacy systems and adopting new best practices, among other initiatives.
Join GovCon Wire for its DOD: Digital Modernization Forum to hear government and industry leaders discuss the technologies, challenges, opportunities and priorities shaping the Defense Department’s digital transformation today.
Dr. Mark Brady is the Chief Data Officer, United States Space Force. U.S. Space Force is responsible for providing resilient, defendable and affordable space capabilities for the Nation and the Joint Force. It is the duty of the U.S. Space Force to protect the interests of the United States in space; deter aggression in, from, and to space; and conduct prompt and sustained space operations. As the Chief Data Officer, U.S. Space Force, Dr. Brady is responsible for the utilization and governance of data across the armed service. He provides vision and strategy for all of its data management activities. He is the former Data Architect for the Department of Justice and Information Architect for the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). In these roles, he established the first data management programs and data policies for both organizations and also contributed to the development of policy for the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA). While at NMFS, he served as U.S. delegate to the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), developing new data standards. He also served on NOAA’s Big Data Partnership Council. While at Justice he served on the White House Data Cabinet. Prior to joining the federal service he worked in industry R&D in the areas of software development, automotive engineering, computer aided design, biotech, medical electronics, traffic management, and AI. In academia, he served as Professor of Neuroscience, teaching and performing original research in the areas of statistics, optics, and perception. Dr. Brady is a former Marine.
Sean Mullen is Executive Vice President of business development (BD) at Amentum. He is responsible for leading the company’s business development and growth strategy, including leveraging our world class capabilities and deep customer insight to drive differentiated solutions that support our customer’s mission objectives. Sean has over three decades of experience in business development and capture. He began his career as a civilian acquisition officer, helping the Air Force enhance its mission effectiveness through the acquisition and deployment of key engineering and information technology (IT) capabilities. He also served as SVP of BD for Perspecta, where he designed and implemented the company’s go-to-market strategy and helped enact a new, resource-efficient and customer-focused BD lifecycle. Immediately prior to joining Amentum, he led ECS’s business development operations, focusing on growing the business through new market penetration and partnership opportunities. Outside the office, Sean enjoys golfing, traveling, and supporting Boston sports teams. He has a bachelor’s degree in management from Merrimack College and a Master of Business Administration from University of Massachusetts Lowell.
Colonel Roy Rockwell is the deputy to the United States Space Force Chief Technology and Innovation Officer. In this role, he is charged with unlocking and harnessing innovation to leverage increased speed and advantage for Space Force initiatives and operations. He is responsible for assisting in the development of strategy and policy to advance Science, Technology and Research; Development, Test and Evaluation; employment of cutting-edge technologies to digitally transform the USSF; assuring USSF information technology needs are met; effectively managing USSF data; and conducting analysis supporting all USSF staff and operational elements. Col Rockwell served 3 years as an enlisted member prior to earning his commission through ROTC upon graduation from East Carolina University in August 1997. He is a graduated Delta commander, having commanded the United States Space Forces first Space-Access and Defensive Cyber Operations Delta. He is a two-time graduated squadron commander, having commanded the 561st Network Operations Squadron and the 386th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. He has completed staff assignments with United States Africa Command, Headquarters Air Force and three Air Force major commands. He has also served in a variety of duty positions within the cyberspace and communications career field to include special assistant to the Air Force Space Command commander for cyberspace senior officer matters, wing director of staff, wing executive officer, network operations and security center chief, squadron director of operations, Intercontinental Ballistic Missile launch control systems programmer and space surveillance training system programmer.
Mr. Rob Vietmeyer is the Department of Defense Chief Software Officer for the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Information Enterprise (DCIO(IE)). In this position, he is the principal advisor to the DoD CIO for the implementation and evolution of the Department’s Software Modernization Strategy. Mr. Vietmeyer will drive strategy implementation, establishing the foundation to deliver resilient software at speed and scale advocating for the latest software development approaches, cloud services, and process transformation. Through collaboration with other DoD Components, government, industry, and academia partners, he is responsible for advancing the Department’s adoption of DevSecOps practices, agile software development, and cloud native modernization. Prior to his current position, Mr. Vietmeyer served as the Director of Cloud and Software Modernization for the DCIO(IE), leading a diverse team to modernize the way DoD develops software. In that role and in partnership with DoD Components, he led the development of the Department’s DevSecOps guidance, OCONUS Cloud Strategy, cloud Infrastructure as Code (IaC) implementation, and the DoD Software Modernization Strategy and Implementation Plan. He established the DoD Software Modernization Senior Steering Group (SSG) to guide software modernization initiatives and the Department-wide DevSecOps Community of Practice, which brings together stakeholders and subject matter experts across DoD and industry to further modernization progress. He functioned as the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Tri-Chair for the DoD Software Modernization Action Officers Working Group (AOWG), the group responsible for leading implementation of guidance from DoD leadership and the SSG. Prior to joining the Office of the DoD CIO, Mr. Vietmeyer was a SME and lead for agile software development efforts at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). He led delivery of the enterprise collaborative software development environment - Forge.mil and implementation of DISA’s initial cloud computing solutions. Under his leadership, Forge.mil grew to enable 27,000 DoD software developers working on over 1,000 development projects supporting DoD mission critical programs. Additionally, Mr. Vietmeyer led the definition and technical design of the Department’s Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) program, served as Chief Engineer for the Global Combat Support System (GCSS), and Lead Engineer for the Global Command and Control System (GCCS). In his early career, he developed software for DoD command and control data integration, DISA’s acquisition career management systems, and data processing systems for mainframe and minicomputer infrastructure. Mr. Vietmeyer holds an M.S. in Information and Telecommunications Systems from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Physics from Randolph Macon College. He has received numerous recognitions for his work including the Federal CIO Council Leadership Award, the American Council for Technology/Industry Advisory Council Excellence.gov Award, and the Federal 100. Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Vietmeyer currently lives in Northern Virginia where he and his wife continue to support their three kids with two in college and one soon to be.
8:00am - 8:05am EST
Welcome and Introductions
8:05am - 8:55am EST
Keynote: Col Roy Rockwell
Keynote Introducer: Sean Mullen
8:55am - 9:55am EST
DoD Next Steps in Modernization and Transformation Panel: Dr. Mark Brady, Sean Mullen (moderator) and Robert Vietmeyer
9:55am - 10:00am EST
Closing Comments
