Executive Spotlights

Bryon Kroger, Rise8 founder and CEO, is a U.S. Air Force veteran turned bureaucracy hacker who is relentless in his pursuit of making the world work better—a future where fewer bad things happen because of bad software. Rise8 enables large enterprises with critical missions to continuously deliver valuable software that users love.  Kroger recently sat […] More

Even in his early career in the telecommunications industry as an electrical engineer, Tom Afferton understood the importance of information assurance and network security. His telecommunications experiences gave him some exposure to the nascent years of cybersecurity. He was then involved in building more resilient communications networks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which motivated […] More

A lot has happened to Damian DiPippa since we last spoke to him in February. You see, DiPippa started his career as an aerospace engineer working missile and satellite solutions for the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, which is now the Missile Defense Agency. Flash forward to June and he was offered something that was impossible to pass […] More

Tim Silk currently serves as director of solutions engineering for HashiCorp’s U.S. public sector arm, a role in which he helps government agencies modernize, secure, codify and automate their information technology systems. Silk joined HashiCorp in early 2021, bringing over two decades of leadership experience and a passion for building strong teams equipped to take […] More

Charles O’Brien currently serves as vice president of SOSi’s Civil Solutions arm. In this role, he leads an international team delivering human-centric, technology-enabled solutions and operational capabilities in support of humanitarian operations and assistance, disaster response and emergency management to state and federal agencies, including the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Homeland […] More

Chris Coligado made a bold decision this year and it’s paying off swimmingly. After spending the vast majority of his career — almost a quarter century — with Booz Allen Hamilton, he made the jump to a small business. Coligado began at information technology company Smoothstack in June. The organization specializes in app development, cloud, […] More

The Treasury Department and the IRS released final digital asset tax reporting regulations on June 28. The regulations establish rules for what data needs to be collected by digital asset brokers and reported to the IRS for tax purposes, while also clarifying rules for taxpayers regarding how capital gain or loss on the sale of digital […] More

Omar Toor currently serves as senior vice president of SMX’s Digital Solutions Group. In this role, he leads profit and loss and growth initiatives for the company’s federal civilian and commercial divisions as well as its state, local and education arm. His work focuses on business strategy, developing new approaches to the government contracting marketplace […] More

El Gardner, vice president of space operations at Aperio Global, spent over 30 years in the U.S. military before making a pivot to the private sector in May. He has served in both Air Force and Space Force roles, giving him a deep understanding of the space domain and the intricacies of global tensions. What brought […] More

The Alaska Native Chenega Corporation is dedicated to preserving national security through its wide array of business with the U.S. military, the Intelligence Community and various civilian agencies. Sonia Mundra, who currently serves as president of Astraeus Operations — a Chenega subsidiary primarily focused on IT, cybersecurity and engineering — is deeply rooted in the business. She […] More