Mary-Louise Hoffman
Executive Mosaic is honored to introduce Lisa Costa, chief technology and innovation officer of the U.S. Space Force, into the 2022 Wash100 list of leaders who are at the forefront of events and trends that shape government contracting activity. This marks the first time that Costa has been selected to receive the most coveted award in GovCon.
Costa, a Senior Executive Service member, assumed her current position in September 2021 after a three-year tenure as director of communications systems and chief information officer at U.S. Special Operations Command. Cast a vote for her as your favorite influential GovCon figure on Wash100.com.
The Space Force is eyeing opportunities to develop the next generation of agile leaders in the information age and digital engineering is a key area that the service branch can invest in to create new capabilities, Costa told an audience at the Department of Defense: Digital Modernization Forum hosted by Executive Mosaic’s flagship GovCon Wire.
“We have to embrace all of these digital tools to make sure that the domain stays secure and stable and accessible, not just for the current generation, but for the next,” she said in her keynote speech at the Jan. 13 virtual event.
Costa defined sixth-generation military technology as something “that not just carries information but allows for rapid comprehension of information for decision making.” She gave her outlook for that area during a Jan. 19 panel discussion at the Potomac Officers Club’s 8th Annual Defense Research & Development Summit and cited virtual and augmented reality systems among new tools that will move the space industry toward its involvement in the next-gen version of the internet dubbed as metaverse.
She referred to the Unified Data Library as one of Space Force’s main contributions to the Department of Defense’s artificial intelligence roadmap for the Joint All Domain Command and Control strategy.
Before her appointment to the CIO post at USSOCOM, Costa worked at Engility as senior director of innovation and technology and built the company’s artificial intelligence-focused data and decision sciences practice prior to its acquisition by Science Applications International Corp.
She previously spent 25 years at Mitre and participated in numerous task forces and summer studies of the Defense Science Board. Her industry career also included time at Harris Corp., Dba Systems Inc., Synectics, Van Dyke Technology Group and PlanetRisk, where she served as vice president of intelligence and chief scientist.
Executive Mosaic congratulates Lisa Costa and the Space Force team for their selection to receive a 2022 Wash100 Award.
