AI Summit

Alexis Bonnell is the Chief Information Officer and Director of the Digital Capabilities Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. She is responsible to develop and execute the AFRL Information Technology strategy, leading the strategic development of highly advanced next generation technologies and platforms for AFRL. Her focus includes catalyzing the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for air, space, and cyberspace forces via digital capabilities, IT infrastructure and technological innovation across the lab’s operations and culture.

She was one of the first employees of the Internet Trade Association, contributing to the early development and growth of the digital landscape. She has served in challenging environments, including warzones with the United Nations to support over $1B of critical DOD operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other operational theaters. She has contributed to dual-use technology and innovation culture across the DOD Innovation community including: AFWERX, AFRL, Kessel Run, NavalX, Marine Innovation Unit, Army Futures Command, DIU, Army Software Factory, DARPA and more. Prior to her current position, she was the Emerging Technology Evangelist at Google, driving the use of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, cyber security/zero trust, API First, Big Data, Cloud Computing, and others to drive efficiency and innovation within government organizations, including tackling digital transformation in defense, healthcare, education, COVID response, natural disasters, supply chain, system/process modernization, hybrid workforce and more.

Bonnell co-founded the Global Development Lab, the premier innovation lab of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), leveraging Global Allied Nation partnerships in Science, Technology, and Innovation, reviewing over 25,000 game changing innovations and technologies, funding 1,200 of them. She served as USAID’s Chief Innovation Officer, receiving the first 10/10 for innovation in the Results For America Rankings. She was named in the Fed 100 in 2020. She also assisted with major platform and technology transitions, drove hybrid work adoption, countering malign nation initiatives and global cyber security programming.

Dr. Tyson Brooks is the Technical Director for the Artifical Intelligence Security Center. Dr. Brooks leds technical efforts to develop and operationalize AI cybersecurity services to prevent and eradicate AI cyber threats. Dr. Brooks collaborates with internal cross-functional teams and throughout the IC/DoD community to ensure the integration of AI security technologies aligns with overall DoD/IC mission goals.

In his prior position, Dr. Brooks was the Technical Director for the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, Fusion Operations Divison. In this role, he supported the technical health of a team of analysts and prototypers performing cyber threat analysis, including identifying new sources of data and methods to track adversary activities in Cyberspace. Dr. Brooks previously worked as a Senior Weapons Engineer in the Weapons Cybersecurity Division where he advised DoD customers in developing security designs and assessing the effectiveness of security solutions against present and projected cyber threats. Dr. Brooks was also the Innovation Portfolio Lead and Deputy Research Liaison for National Security Agency Hawaii (NSAH) and Technical Lead for the former Remote and Deployed (RDO) Information Assurance Operations Team. As the first NSAH Innovation Portfolio Lead, Dr. Brooks implemented and managed NSAH’s Innovation Portfolio program which delivered innovation projects to rapidly solve difficult mission challenges. He also served as the Deputy Research Liaison for the Command Technical Director by supporting research activities with the University of Hawaii while creating strategies for creating research projects for the Agency. Prior to the formation of the Hawaii Innovation Office, Dr. Brooks was the RDO lead for NSAH. In RDO, Dr. Brooks directed projects in searching for sophisticated advanced persistent threat adversaries operating on U.S. Government classified networks integrating advanced hunting passive and active operations. Moreover, Dr. Brooks has led risk assessment teams, designed information systems and performed Blue Team activities to identify vulnerabilities, developed customized mitigation strategies and techniques to secure networks to thwart intrusions of U.S. Government networks. Prior to joining NSA, Dr. Brooks was a cyber-security researcher/penetration tester with various private and public companies for over 10 years.

Dr. Amanda Bullock is an accomplished Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lead at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), where she is driving digital transformation and modernization initiatives in AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics. With a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Eastern Kentucky University and a Master of Science in Applied Statistics from Wright State University, Amanda brings a strong foundation in statistical analysis to her work.

She earned her PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) in 2013, specializing in Statistical Signal Processing. Following her postdoc work in Non-Destructive Evaluation and Non-GPS navigation, Amanda taught mathematics, biostatistics, statistics, signal processing, and data science at Wright State University, Central State University, and AFIT.

During her tenure at Central State University, Amanda was selected for a prestigious Fellowship at the Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, where she worked in the Survivability and Lethality Analysis Division. This experience further solidified her expertise in advanced analytics and AI.

In 2017, Amanda entered civil service and served as the Project Engineer for the LEGACY program, an Air Force STEM internship program. She then went on to lead the Enterprise Architecture Modeling team in 2019 before becoming the AFRL Deputy Chief Data Officer in the Digital Capabilities Directorate in 2022.

Currently, Amanda serves as the AI Lead for the Digital Capabilities Directorate, where she aims to reduce business toil through AI, connect AFRL, DoD, and industry AI efforts, and upskill the workforce in AI/ML/Advanced Analytics. Amanda’s research interests include Enterprise Architecture, STEM education for underrepresented populations, Advanced Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Signal Processing. She is passionate about leveraging her expertise in AI and analytics to drive innovation and modernization in the Air Force and beyond.

Maksim E. Eren is an early career scientist in A-4, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Advanced Research in Cyber Systems division. He is an alumnus of the Scholarship for Service CyberCorps program. Maksim graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2020 and earned his Master’s degree from the same institution in 2022. In 2024, he received his Ph.D. from UMBC, focusing on tensor decomposition methods for malware characterization.

Maksim’s interdisciplinary research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning and cybersecurity, with a focus on tensor decomposition. His tensor decomposition-based research projects encompass large-scale malware detection and characterization, cyber anomaly detection, data privacy, biology, text mining, large language models, knowledge graphs, and high-performance computing. Maksim has developed and published state-of-the-art solutions in anomaly detection and malware characterization. He has also worked on various other machine learning research projects, including detecting malicious hidden code, adversarial analysis of malware classifiers, and federated learning. At LANL, Maksim was a member of the 2021 R&D 100 winning project SmartTensors AI, where he has released a fast tensor decomposition and anomaly detection software, contributed to the design and development of various other tensor decomposition libraries, and developed state-of-the-art text mining tools.

Mangala Kuppa is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She is a go-getter with a unique skill set that includes in-depth technical expertise, experience with industry best practices, and exceptional leadership and management skills. As Chief Technology Officer within the Department of Labor’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, she serves as a key advisor to the Chief Information Officer and Deputy Chief Information Officers on the development of short and long-range IT plans for all elements of the enterprise-wide technology environment. This includes providing technology leadership, advice, and guidance throughout the department in planning for implementation of all new or upgraded IT services in a managed architecture program. Mangala also serves as Chief AI Officer and the Director of Technology, Innovation and Engineering, making her responsible for overseeing the development and operations of the department’s Enterprise Data Platform and AI and Machine Language strategies and policies. Mangala previously served as the Department of Labor’s Director of Business Applications Services, where she oversaw the operation, maintenance, and modernization of the department’s mission and business-focused systems.

Vinay V. Singh is passionate about process and project management. He has been in numerous leadership roles in the private sector for over 25 years, spanning accounting, finance, technology & operations management spheres. He is a Certified Public Accountant. He joined the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in July 2022 from the Small Business Administration where he helped implement a new mission for the Office of Disaster Assistance. In November 2023, HUD announced Mr. Singh in the additional role of Chief AI Officer. Prior to this he was Lead Partner, World Bank Group and Chief Operating Officer for KPMG in India.
His work in the private sector provided an opportunity to learn and lead teams with Closing the books; SEC Reporting; IT and Business Auditing; Business Process design, Budgets & Reporting, Governance, Risk & Compliance; Technology implementations (Oracle, SAP) and Organizational restructuring. The critical thread across roles is Program, Process and Project Management. Leadership is enabling the right culture for people to pursue their passions. It is only then you can focus on – Doing the right thing, the right way, getting them done well and getting the benefits.
During his time with the International Trade Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary, he also learned how to balance priorities and execute complex tasks with multiple stakeholders inside the Federal Government. It was here he worked on Infrastructure and Smart Cities and learned that housing is the core pillar of not only economic growth but individual and community integration.

Chris Stuntz is a Solutions Architect on the Equinix Public Sector team. He applies his technical expertise to help clients across federal, state, and local governments implement technologies to meet mission needs. Prior to Equinix, Chris held network engineering roles with The Aerospace Corporation, Engility, and NJVC, as well as systems engineering and systems administration positions with General Dynamics AIS and Northrop Grumman Information Systems. He is also a Navy veteran, where he spent 10 years honing his expertise in systems and network engineering.

Kevin Walsh is a Director in GAO’s Information Technology and Cybersecurity team. He oversees work related to AI, Census, CIO authorities, legacy modernizations, and satellite and space systems. He has led reviews covering topics related to the authorities of federal Chief Information Officers, management of legacy IT systems, coordination of IT contracts, and assessments of IT-related risk.

Kevin joined GAO in June 2006, and led projects related to FITARA and GAO’s High Risk area on Improving the Management of IT Acquisitions and Operations.

Kevin earned a master’s degree in business administration from Virginia Tech. Kevin earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Dr. Kaeli Yuen currently serves as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Product Lead for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Chief AI Officer. She served as a Presidential Innovation Fellow at VA Office of the Chef Technology Officer from 2019-2021 and is thrilled to have recently re-joined the federal government as part of the new Office of the Chief AI Officer. During her time away from VA, she worked as Director of Clinical Product Management at Accolade, a personalized health care company offering advocacy, navigation, and virtual care services, and as Enterprise Product Manager at Ambience Healthcare, which offers an AI medical scribe and related products. Previously, she worked in health care startups including The Human Diagnosis Project, Curai, and Akido Labs. She is now embarking on her own side venture, AltMD, which aims to empower medical students to pursue careers in digital health. Kaeli received an MD from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, and a BS in biology from Stanford University. She is based in Arlington, VA.