Adam Syed earned his Master's Degree in Data Science from the University of Connecticut in 2024, following his Bachelor's in Management Information Systems from the same institution. From 2020 to 2023, he worked as a data analyst and contact tracer at UConn, developing strong skills in data analysis and collaboration. He is currently pursuing AWS and Security+ Certifications to enhance his technical capabilities.

Adam Watters, former Navy pilot and mission commander, has directly executed traditional and special operations globally along with managing various R&D and Op-Intel projects for the USG. He has led programs within NSW Development Group, INDOPACOM Innovation & Experimentation Division, and private industry, ranging from development and global deployment of autonomous systems to operationalizing compartmented intelligence in the joint environment.

Alex Buck is a former Naval Aviator and Seahawk Weapons and Tactics Instructor with degrees from the US Naval Academy (B.S. in Aerospace Engineering) and MIT (M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics). He previously worked on Project Harbinger Air, developing processes for collecting operational acoustic data from MH-60R units. He holds AWS Cloud Practitioner and CompTIA Security+ certifications and has accumulated over 1,400 flight hours while continuing to fly in the US Navy Reserve.

Austin Anderson builds fast, smart systems that make sense of messy data. At Trevity, he led backend and AI development for a data analytics platform that helped customers work 30–50% more efficiently by streamlining thousands of data sources into actionable insights. Before that, at Booz Allen Hamilton, he worked on NASA’s TEMPO mission—building workflows to transform satellite data into geospatial imagery. He also designed a neural network ensemble to geolocate images with minimal metadata. While at William & Mary, Austin conducted research at geoLab, using satellite imagery to predict road quality and helping build geoBoundaries—the world’s largest open-license geospatial database, used by organizations like USAID and the UN. He graduated cum laude from William & Mary with a degree in Data Science, focusing on neural networks. Outside of work, Austin enjoys rock climbing, working with his hands, and tackling endurance challenges. He’s completed two marathons, an ultramarathon, and an Ironman. He also holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and loves talking about current events with friends.

Briant Higgins brings over two decades of experience in IT management and defense operations as a Joint Interface Control Officer (JICO) and JADC2 Development Lead, holding a TS/SCI clearance. He earned recognition as the 1st JSOAC Civilian of the Year in both 2022 and 2023 for his work integrating SOF tactics, techniques, and procedures with conventional and coalition partners. He holds an MBA in IT Business Management from the American Public University System and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Southern Illinois University, both completed with honors.

Carl Kaiser earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering/Robotics from Colorado State University and previously managed the UUV portion of the National Deep Submergence Facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His career includes significant roles at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and Saildrone, where he specialized in sensor development and integration for unmanned surface vessels. He brings extensive experience in deep-water deployments, holds multiple patents in acoustics and undersea technology, and is an experienced mixed gas rebreather certified diver.

Cody Kilpatrick served nine years as a Sonar Technician in the U.S. Navy, earning five Navy and Marine Corps Achievement awards. His Department of Defense contributions include configuring AWS environments, orchestrating Kubernetes deployments, and leveraging large language models to modernize legacy codebases. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife Sasha and their dog, pursuing interests in fast vehicles, video games, and hiking.

David Berquist developed a passion for technology at a young age, teaching himself programming, building his own desktop computer, and working on small robotics and electrical engineering projects while still in elementary school. In 2011 he graduated from SUNY at Buffalo with a bachelor’s in computer science and invaluable experience from his involvement in several student engineering organizations. He led multiple robotics projects, designing and building battlebots, autonomous robots, and high altitude data collection systems. When elected as president of the UB IEEE student chapter, he significantly expanded events, project offerings, and organized a wide range of free hands-on workshops, resulting in the organization more than doubling in size. Throughout his career, David has focused on automation and modernization, applying technology and modern processes to enhance team productivity and improve software quality. At Assured Information Security, he pioneered a new automation solution for testing the team’s bare-metal virtualization operating system product, allowing software engineers to devote more of their time to development. While at Anaren, he enhanced a web-based IDE which enabled users and organizations to create integrated embedded code, phone apps, and cloud software all at once without requiring programming experience, making it easy to develop smart devices. At Parsons he championed Docker and Ansible adoption on a large-scale internet simulation project, and developed a new interface to define the desired networks and devices. These two initiatives allowed the team to quickly and easily specify an internetwork configuration, then automatically deploy it rapidly and reliably to hundreds of individual computers and networking devices. He also developed and then led a networking workshop for years, training hundreds of employees in the key skills required for company projects. At Microsoft, he developed new Azure government service offerings, achieved a reduction of $46,000 per month in the team’s development Azure subscription expenses, and created an award-winning AI-powered career training tool for a local non-profit. Currently, as a Modernization Engineer at Spear AI, he's combining the latest innovative technologies with mission-critical engineering to modernize the combat systems of US nuclear submarines. Outside of work, you’ll find David building IoT devices, exploring AI art and music generation, and spending quality time with his twin daughters.

David Gill is an experienced web developer and technology leader based in Newport News, VA, with a strong background in delivering high-quality software solutions for both large companies and startups. He enjoys collaborating with teams to drive innovation and create reliable, user-friendly applications. Outside of work, David loves skiing and fishing, which help him relax and stay balanced, bringing fresh energy and focus to his professional life.

David Miller brings three years of working on modernizing Submarine Launch Ballistic Missile (SLBM) code and infrastructure from NSWC Dahlgren. With a Bachelors in Computer Science and Math Minor from the University of Mary Washington David has experience in writing mission critical code in C++ and Java for the Navy. Outside of work his current interests include rock climbing tall walls and running long distances.

Dennis Torres graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. After which, he went on to become a full-stack engineer working on diet and excercise applications for clients such as Men's Health. In 2015, Dennis Torres co-founded Blrrt, a goofy real-time voice messaging platform for web and mobile devices with speech recognition. At the same time, Dennis Torres served as technical lead for a Silverstreet Technologies, a fintech platform dedicated to helping people around the world without access to traditional banking services. In 2018, Dennis Torres went on to combine his expertise in full-stack engineering, natural language processing, and diet, to develop machine learning models/pipelines in the food and grocery domain. He was an early adopter of using Transformer models — now known as Large Language Models — by translating human speech to machine interpretable code. Dennis Torres now enjoys his time at Spear AI applying artificial intelligence to the maritime domain. Such as handling large-scale acoustic datasets and acoustic object detect/classification algorithms. Spear AI's pioneering work extends beyond acoustics and into wargaming with multiagent reinforcement learning and much more.When Dennis is not at his keyboard, you can find him listening to audio books, weight lifting at the gym, or hanging out with his sons.

Fedor Orlov served 6.5 years in the Navy, including 2.5 years aboard the submarine USS Asheville and 1.5 years leading air and AUKUS initiatives in Project Harbinger. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy and a Master of Engineering in Robotics from University of Maryland - College Park. Outside of work, he enjoys hiking and training for triathlons.

Garrett Harvey earned his Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics from Stevenson University in 2021, graduating summa cum laude. After graduating, he joined Shield AI’s Developer Experience team, where he built internal platforms, CI/CD pipelines, and resilient infrastructure to support engineering workflows. Outside of work, he enjoys lifting weights, fishing, reading, and playing video games.

Jared Wilson graduated from the United States Naval Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and earned a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. His military experience includes serving as a submarine officer on the USS Connecticut from 2017 to 2020, where he developed expertise in naval operations and technical systems. He specializes in managing acoustic data pipelines and infrastructure.

Jennifer Lewis is the Executive Assistant with 25+ years of experience in administration and organizational leadership. As a administrator at Spear AI, INC , she specializes in a variety of areas, including office management, human resources, and financial management and is known for her administrative support to other employees within the organization . Her career highlights include Service Manager at Wells Fargo Bank, which resulted in the 2007 & 2008 Highest Servicing Branch in Washington State. Jenn holds a Associates Degree in Elementary Education from Daytona State College, but has worked in office management since 2002. Passionate about creating efficient systems, maintaining organization, supporting her team, Jenn takes pride in the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the office running smoothly. Jenn is a retired Navy spouse of 27 years, mother of 4, and grandmother of 3. When not working, she enjoys attending various sporting events, anything Disney, and caring for her family. She is the mother of a special needs child and volunteers at local events supporting Unified Programs.

John McGunnigle brings 30 years of experience in ASW operations with the US Navy, serving as a submarine Commanding Officer and Squadron Commodore. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the United States Naval Academy and an MS in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School. As former Director of the Tactical Analysis Group at Undersea Warfighting Development Center, he founded Project Harbinger, pioneering the application of AI/ML to acoustics in the undersea domain.

Joseph Obeid holds degrees in Physics (Magna Cum Laude) and Mathematics (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where he was awarded the prestigious Levine Scholarship. After earning his M.S. in Applied Physics with honors, he transitioned to machine learning, leading projects in deep learning object detection and winning the 2022 HacktheMachine Unmanned competition. His current work focuses on developing generalized reinforcement learning tools and acoustic data pipeline management.

Kevin L. Zachow is a distinguished manufacturing leader and decorated U.S. Navy veteran who brings over 23 years of international experience in leading mission-critical operations. As an Acoustic Intelligence Subject Matter Expert at SPEAR AI, Kevin leverages his extensive background in naval intelligence and SONAR systems to support cutting-edge product development and customer solutions. His military career culminated as a Master Chief and Senior Acoustic Intelligence Specialist at the Office of Naval Intelligence, where he deployed for 800 days supporting 18 submarines across 24 national security missions and managed the worldwide Acoustic Intelligence Specialist Program for 56 specialists. Following his military service, Kevin transitioned to civilian defense contracting, successfully securing three contracts valued at over $250,000 and providing quality assurance for U.S. submarine systems. At SPEAR AI, Kevin manages Harbinger installations and training while contributing to proposal writing and serving as an acoustic analyst for new product development initiatives. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Arts and an Associate in Applied Science in Technical Studies, is pursuing an MBA expected to graduate in Fall 2025.

Lisi Skrien is a Minnesota-based strategic communication professional and Liberty University graduate. Lisi formerly worked as a Digital Content Producer at Northern News Now, completed several internships at advertising agencies in Duluth and coached at two university writing centers. Lisi brings unique creative and professional experience from her background as a magician's assistant and figure skater and coach, where she became a USFSA Moves in the Field Gold Medalist.

Mandi Haase brings nearly five years of experience building innovative web applications, holding a Bachelor's in International Relations with a minor in German from UC Davis and a Master's in Education from the University of Phoenix. She is a Registered Scrum Master™ and has extensive experience developing secure web applications using Java and JavaScript for large corporate clients. Her expertise includes engineering student learning management systems and implementing extensive testing protocols.

Matt Harlow is a graduate of the University of Idaho (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering). Matt is a Navy veteran who served as the Main Propulsion Assistant and Quality Assurance Officer on the USS Mississippi from 2019 to 2021. In his spare time Matt enjoys whitewater rafting and music festivals.

Michael Hunter's extensive experience includes serving as a Navy intelligence analyst, supporting SEAL Team Two in Baghdad, and working with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He holds a BA in History and International Relations from Virginia Military Institute and an MA in National Security from Georgetown University. His career highlights include leading Navy projects for Project Maven and serving as a Technical Program Manager at Amazon Web Services.

Michael Pyne is a retired Navy submariner and Human Resources officer with a background in software development. An OCS graduate, he has degrees from the University of North Florida (B.S. in Computer Science), the College of Charleston (M.S. in Computer Science) and the Naval War College (M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies).He has previously supported Navy HR's digital transformation efforts, along with wider Navy innovation efforts as a Digital Lead at NavalX, where he worked to foster innovation within the Dept. of the Navy.

Oscar Viquez earned his Sc.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He brings experience in mechanical design and signal processing, with a focus on ocean acoustics. Prior to joining Spear AI, he worked on the development of embedded acoustics systems for industrial and scientific applications, including the development of scalable acoustic arrays and associated data pipeline solutions for fisheries, marine domain awareness and environmental monitoring. His past work also includes autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) deployments in the Arctic Ocean, and the development of model-aided and data-driven frameworks to inform the behavior of autonomous vehicles.

Rabea Ahmad is a fullstack software engineer with extensive experience in developing secure, scalable web and mobile applications. With expertise in technologies such as TypeScript, React, Node.js, Spring Boot, and AWS, he excels at creating high-performance solutions for large-scale systems. Rabea has led the development of features supporting thousands of users, optimizing cloud infrastructure to drive cost reductions, and collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver timely and reliable software. He is passionate about building robust applications that meet complex business needs while maintaining scalability and security.

Rory Keefer earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from Grand Valley State University. He served in the Marine Corps specializing in aviation command and control, receiving qualifications as a Tactical Air Director and Air Support Element OIC. He now works in support of CDAO’s Global Information Dominance Experiment, improving DoD planning systems and processes that enable warfighters to deliver data informed options that enhance global awareness and integration.

Thomas Seaver holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology, specializing in media computing and systems architecture. He spent two years at IBM's Weather team developing business-to-business software solutions and integrating complex systems. Outside of work, he enjoys exploring new technologies through hands-on projects, running, watching movies, and spending time with his black cat, June.

Tulsa Scott served 8 years in the Navy, including 3.5 years aboard the submarine USS Georgia and 2 years leading submarine initiatives in Project Harbinger. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His expertise includes managing petabytes of data, overseeing algorithm development and deployment among naval platforms, and creating training programs for forward operators.