Federal AI Forum

Jake currently serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Critical Technologies (CT), where he manages the strategic direction of the department’s Space and trusted microelectronics portfolios, and directs investments and advanced technology to support Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3). He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Science and Technology (ASW S&T) Foundations, advising the Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering (USW(R&E)) on strategic prototyping, experimentation, and fundamental scientific transition.

Prior to his Office of the Secretary of War roles, Jake was the Senior Technical Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition (ASN RD&A), where he led Navy and Marine Corps-wide Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs and Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA) implementation. His extensive program management experience includes directing advanced capabilities for the Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) hypersonic program, serving as a Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) Program Manager for AI and unmanned systems, and managing a $140M budget as the Program Lead for Team Submarine Project Turing.

Jake began his civilian federal career at the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Carderock Division as the lead engineer for the Seawolf-class ship control systems, following a co-op at Lockheed Martin working on Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD). He went on to hold several key technical roles at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), including lead engineer for the BYG-1 Submarine Combat Control System.

Complementing his civilian executive leadership, Jake is a qualified Engineering Duty Officer in the US Navy Reserve. Actively serving as an Aegis BMD Weapons Officer, he has completed multiple missions to NATO supporting the defense of Europe and served as an analyst for Operation Epic Fury.

Recognized for his technical leadership, Jake was named the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) Engineer of the Year (2020) and has received multiple NAVSEA Innovation Awards. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Engineering from Drexel University, a Master of Science (MS) in Systems Engineering from The George Washington University, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Arts (MA) in Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

Birgit Smeltzer serves as the Director of the Office of IT Products within the Office of Information Technology Category (ITC), in GSA’s Federal Acquisition Service. Birgit serves as a core member of the OneGov IT Strategy team.

The Federal Acquisition Service provides buying platforms and acquisition services to federal, state and local governments for a broad range of items, from office supplies to motor vehicles, to information technology and telecommunications products and services. ITC provides access to a wide range of commercial and custom IT products, services and solutions.

In this role, Birgit is responsible for a portfolio of contracts and programs that offer government agencies a diverse set of IT software, cloud, hardware, and service solutions valued at $9 billion annually. Some of these offerings include Multiple Award Schedule Special Item Numbers for IT Software, IT Hardware, and Cloud Computing and Cloud-Related IT Professional Services; Defense Enterprise Office Solution (DEOS); 2nd Generation IT (2GIT) Blanket Purchase Agreements; and Government-wide Strategic Solutions (GSS) Desktop and Laptop Program.

Since joining GSA in 2016, Birgit has served in other impactful roles as well. As a Management and Program Analyst that led the Category Mission Support Division, she was responsible for providing mission support to all of the IT Subcategories within ITC, streamlining processes, and ensuring common communication across the portfolios, as well as overseeing the development and management of an online training tool available governmentwide.

As a Program Manager in the IT Security subcategory, she led various projects that aimed to promote and highlight ITC’s IT Security Solutions, such as Highly Adaptive Cybersecurity Services and Continuous Diagnostics & Mitigation Tools, for both agencies and industry. During this time, she was responsible for aligning FAS IT products and services with federal security standards and mandates. She served as IT Security Subcategory liaison for both customer agencies and vendors, helped agencies find the right cybersecurity solutions, and provided guidance to vendors interested in selling their cybersecurity solutions through the GSA Multiple Award Schedule.

Birgit graduated from the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Geoffrey Sage serves as the Director of the Enterprise Service and Analysis Division (ESAD) within the NASA Office of Procurement. In this role, he provides senior executive leadership and oversight for a division crucial to the Office of Procurement’s operational excellence. He directs ESAD’s core functions, including managing the enterprise E-Business systems and driving digital transformation initiatives through the E-Business Systems Office (EBSO), fostering pricing expertise and ensuring fair and reasonable pricing via the Enterprise Pricing Office (EPO), and maintaining accountability and compliance through the Procurement Management Review (PMR) Office. Additionally, Mr. Sage oversees ESAD’s pivotal support for special acquisition initiatives directed by the Chief Acquisition Officer and Deputy Chief Acquisition Officer.

Prior to serving as the ESAD Director, Mr. Sage served as the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Office of Procurement, Agency Procurement Ombudsman, and Competition Advocate. In this role, he shared the responsibility of providing senior executive leadership and oversight of NASA’s procurement functions, coordinating, reviewing, evaluating, and ensuring the timeliness and effectiveness of the full spectrum of NASA procurement activities to the acquisition workforce.

Beginning his NASA career in 2003, Mr. Sage joined as a member of the NASA Contracting Intern Program at Kennedy Space Center and Langley Research Center. He then served at the operational field level at Goddard Space Flight Center. There he supported a wide range of major space systems and associated commodities from construction to space communications and satellite development programs and projects.

Since then, he has gone on to serve as the NASA Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (NFS) Manager and Performance Management Lead for the NASA Office of Procurement. In his role as the NFS Manager, Mr. Sage served as the agency’s principal point of contact for agency procurement policy and guidance as promulgated in the NFS and related policy and guidance resources. He oversaw and managed the process for creating, maintaining, and ensuring the quality of the NFS and its related documents in addition to developing, maintaining, and implementing agency-wide procurement guidance, procedures, and regulations. As Performance Management Lead, Mr. Sage directed the strategic oversight of the Office of Procurement E-Business systems and tools, which included enterprise-wide E-Business systems, data, and the development and maintenance of metrics and goals.

Col. Prescott Wilson is the Chief of Staff for the 4th Marine Logistics Group.

Nick Marinos serves as the Managing Director of the Information Technology & Cybersecurity team at the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Nick leads a team of over 200 IT and cybersecurity professionals who examine the federal government and make recommendations on how it can improve IT management practices; ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of IT acquisitions and operations; adopt IT management best practices; protect individual privacy and sensitive data; strengthen cybersecurity and protect information systems; and develop and execute a comprehensive national cybersecurity strategy.

GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. Often called the “congressional watchdog,” GAO examines how taxpayer dollars are spent and provides Congress and federal agencies with objective, reliable information to help the government save money and work more efficiently.

Nick joined GAO in 2002. Over the course of his career, Nick has testified over a dozen times as an expert witness before congressional committees and has led his team’s major reviews of:

• Efforts by the executive branch to implement the National Cyber Strategy
• Cybersecurity risk management practices at major federal agencies
• Data protection practices at the Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Federal Student Aid office, and key financial regulatory agencies
• Cybersecurity of critical infrastructure, including within K-12 schools, the financial services sector, the nation’s electricity grid, and oil and gas pipeline sectors, among others

Please visit www.gao.gov to learn more about the work GAO performs across a vast array of topic areas in support of Congress.

Nick earned an MBA in information systems and technology and a bachelor’s degree in business information technology, both from Virginia Tech. Nick is a certified information privacy professional.

Dr. Stephen Bieda serves as the Acting Deputy Director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Center for Artificial Intelligence (NCAI), where he executes the strategic vision for AI proliferation and scientific advancement across NOAA. In this capacity, he oversaw the finalization of the NOAA Administrative Order on Artificial Intelligence, establishing a policy framework for data privacy and scientific integrity. He manages partnerships across
industry, academia, and government partners, including AI Numerical Weather Prediction efforts across NASA, the Department of Energy, and NOAA, and has built an internal AI community of practice comprising over 1,000 staff members.

Currently on detail from the National Weather Service (NWS), Dr. Bieda serves as the Senior Advisor in the Office of Future Readiness, guiding strategic initiatives for enterprise modernization. He previously served as the Severe, Fire, Public & Winter Weather Services Branch, where he secured multi-million dollar funding for advanced fire alerting and led initiatives that improved tornado forecast accuracy. As a trusted advisor to senior leadership, including the White House and Congress, he has secured investments for modernizing warning infrastructure and enhancing national service delivery for wildfire and extreme heat resilience.

Dr. Bieda’s nearly 20-year career spans the intersection of science and technology policy. During a detail at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP), he provided strategic guidance for a $6B meteorological services portfolio and various initiatives across 31 federal agencies. As the former NWS National Science & Operations Officer, he managed a workforce of 141 technical leaders and directed Research-to-Operations (R2O) initiatives integrating cloud computing, AI/ML, and probabilistic forecasting. He also served as Science & Operations Officer for NWS offices (Amarillo, TX and Pendleton, OR) and the USAF 25th Operational Weather Squadron, where he was also Director of Training & Standards.

Anil (Neil) Chaudhry is a Senior Advisor at the USDOT Highly Automated Systems Safety Center of Excellence (HASS COE) specializing in artificial intelligence. He is currently on detail from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), where he is the Senior Advisor for Artificial Intelligence. Neil joined PHMSA after serving as a Fellow in the White House Leadership Development Program at the Office of the National Cyber Director in the Executive Office of the President. Prior to his assignment at the White House, Neil was the Director for Federal AI Implementations at the Federal AI Center of Excellence within the Technology Transformation Services (TTS) at the General Services Administration (GSA). In this role, he advised multiple federal departments, agencies, and entities on establishing mature data governance and management practices; developing innovative approaches for leveraging data as a strategic asset; and laying the foundation for advancing data discovery, access, and use through artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. Neil also served in critical leadership positions within US Customs and Border Protection, and as a Presidential Management Fellow at the Defense Business Transformation Agency. Prior to joining federal service, he served as an enlisted soldier in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps and a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. Neil volunteers his time with non-profits that provide career opportunities to under-represented populations in technical fields such as robotics and data analytics. He also serves as a mentor in various veteran-focused organizations and causes, and is a certified Project Management Professional and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Practitioner. Neil received a J.D. in Labor Law from Western New England University, an M.S. in National Security Strategy from National Defense University, an M.S. in Management Information Systems from Florida Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from The City College of New York.

Major Christopher D. Clark enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2008. His initial assignment was with the Headquarters & Headquarters Squadron Futenma, where he served as a Financial Analyst until 2010. He then moved to Marine Corps Forces Pacific, holding the position of Budget Chief until 2013, where he was responsible for overseeing financial transactions worth $38 million annually.

In 2012, Major Clark completed an Associate of Arts in General Studies at Hawaii Pacific University, which assisted in his selection for the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program. He continued his education at The Ohio State University, earning a Bachelor of Science in Physics in 2016, followed by commissioning as a Communications Officer in the Marine Corps.

Major Clark served as the Staff Communications Officer (S-6) for Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) from 2017 to 2021. In this role, he managed the communications requirements for the Group and its seven Squadrons in garrison, exercise, and deployment requirements across the Pacific Region to include multiple Marine Corps Rotational Forces Darwin deployments, exercises in South Korea and the Philippines, and Service Level Training Exercises as the Aviation Command Element S-6.

Major Clark obtained a Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management and Policy from the University of Maryland Global Campus in 2020 while working as the MAG-24 S-6, complementing his military duties and expertise in the field of information security.

Major Clark was then selected to attend the Naval Postgraduate School, graduating in 2023 with a Master of Science in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence. For his thesis, he created a novel adversarial example attack using the A* Search algorithm that creates adversarial images that cause deep neural networks to misclassify images with minimal added noise. This thesis involved significant work in building, training, and attacking advanced machine learning models in white and black box settings.

Currently, Major Clark is the Marine Corps Deputy Commandant for Information, Service Data Office Artificial Intelligence Lead Officer, a role that utilizes his extensive academic background and experience in the Marine Corps. He is the author of the USMC Artificial Intelligence Strategy, is leading the development of the USMC Artificial Intelligence Implementation Plan, and is a Doctor of Engineering in Artificial Intelligence candidate at George Washington University.

Victoria Yan Pillitteri is the Cybersecurity Lead at NIST.

Mallory Sword Glenn leads Product Marketing for Okta for AI Agents, building go-to-market strategy for a solution that helps enterprises see, manage, and govern agent identities. She’s shaping how the market approaches AI agent security, a space with no established playbook. Working directly with customers, she’s defining positioning, messaging, and sales strategy as organizations move from experimenting with agents to deploying them at scale. Previously at Adobe and HPE, she built GTM, pricing, and deal strategy for emerging product categories across sales, marketing, and strategy teams.

Mr. Frutchey is the Chief Technology Officer at Clear Fracture. He has over 25 years of experience in National Security with a focus on emerging technologies for machine learning, course of action automation, distributed processing, and interactive analytics. Among his accomplishments is leading the team that created the command and control AI for the Navy’s first operational drone fleet. Prior to Clear Fracture, Brian was the U.S. DOD Chief Digital and AI Office’s Technical Lead for Europe, CTO of BigBear.ai, and held key roles at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and U.S. European Command. He also served as Director of Endeca Technology’s Public Sector and was an Army Signal Corps officer.

Willie Hicks is the Global Field CTO for the Government & Public Sector at Dynatrace.

Will Erb serves as Managing Director of Filevine Federal, where he executes the strategic vision for bringing Filevine’s AI-native platform to the federal government. In this capacity, he leads the division across go-to-market strategy, procurement vehicle positioning, and delivery, and drives federal product development, shaping platform capabilities to meet the operational and mission-specific demands of government customers. He oversees Filevine’s positioning at the frontier of agentic AI, advancing autonomous, operational AI agents that execute complex case, matter, document, and workflow tasks within the customer’s own security boundary, without data extraction. This next-generation capability replaces fragmented point solutions with a single configurable platform where AI acts, not just assists, positioning Filevine as one of the fastest-growing startups in the world, at the center of real innovation across the AI sector.

As a leader and entrepreneur, Will’s career spans early-stage technology startups, investment firms, and federal contractors, working across the intersection of commercial innovation and applied AI. His work designing and developing AI-enabled platforms during the formative period of applied enterprise AI grounded his conviction that the organizations who win are those that unify their operations around intelligent systems rather than bolting AI onto fragmented legacy tools. He now applies that thesis at federal scale, translating the pace of commercial innovation into solutions that meet the accountability standards of government missions.

Dylan DeAnda, based in Whitefish, MT, serves as Doppel’s Field CTO and began his career in Cyber in US Army Military Intelligence as a Signals Intelligence Analyst and Korean Linguist. He continues to follow his passion for Cyber and AI by building LLMs and Agentic systems and uses Generative AI for his Federal and Commercial customers to fight Social Engineering on behalf of the worlds largest brands and their most valued executives.

Sidney Epner is a product leader with deep experience in cloud cost optimization and FinOps, spanning product management, technical account management, and customer success roles across the cloud ecosystem.

As Product Manager for Workload Optimization at IBM, Sidney owns the roadmap for rightsizing capabilities across multi-cloud and AI workloads, translating customer discovery and data-driven analysis into prioritized product investments that drive measurable outcomes for enterprise customers.

Prior to IBM, Sidney founded the Cloud Optimization Research team at CloudZero and spent several years at CloudHealth by Broadcom, first as a Staff Customer Success Architect and later as a Product Manager focused on aligning roadmap and strategy between Broadcom and Arrow Electronics following Arrow’s acquisition of exclusive CloudHealth distribution rights.

Sidney holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester.

Rafael Ferreira da Silva is a Distinguished Research Scientist and interim Section Head for Data and AI Systems in the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where he leads research and development across AI, agentic workflows, and advanced computing systems. He provides strategic leadership for 45+ researchers and has secured more than $65M in funded awards spanning autonomous laboratories, scientific workflows, and AI-driven analytics. He is a co-PI in DOE’s Genesis Mission, building self-improving AI models for science and energy missions, and serves as PI for a DOE-funded effort applying embodied AI and automation to transform laboratory environments. His work sits at the intersection of distributed systems and trustworthy, mission-ready AI, with particular focus on agentic workflows, provenance, and autonomous science. He is the founder and executive director of the Workflows Community Initiative, a co-founder of the Autonomous Science Network, and a Senior Member of IEEE and ACM.