Ms. Danielle Miller currently serves as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience in the U.S. Department of Defense.  In this role, Ms. Miller is responsible for accessing the health of the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and recommends key policies, investments and actions designed to strengthen the capacity and resilience of the DIB. Ms. Miller oversees the Office of Policy, Analysis and Transition and the Office of Manufacturing Capability Expansion and Investment Prioritization.

Previously Ms. Miller established the Office of Policy, Analysis, and Transition (PA&T) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy. As its inaugural Director, she provided guidance and oversight to the Office of Industrial Policy Analysis, the Office of Industrial Scenario Analysis, and the Office of Enabling Future Capabilities Transition. While leading this office she developed the Supply Chain Data Model, mapping the supply chain for 180 weapon systems, established a Lithium Battery Strategy, and drafted the first National Defense Industrial Strategy and Implementation Plan.  In addition, she directed analyses of current and emerging risks and opportunities within the defense industrial base, informing key policy, program, and budget decisions.

Ms. Miller gained extensive expertise in analysis and program evaluation in her prior roles with Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE). As the Director of Readiness and Force Employment Division, she was responsible for leading CAPES’ analysis of the Services’ readiness portfolios and responsible for funding the DoD five-year readiness program. This included leveraging existing data sets and tools to develop intricate models of the aviation sustainment process. In addition, Ms. Miller was responsible for assessing Global Posture portfolio, and developing resourcing options prioritized by strategic alignment and operational relevance. Within CAPE, she also served as the Deputy Director of Joint Data Support Division. In this role she managed teams of analysts developing force structure and force employment data. She led the establishment of archived historic deployment data, which continues to be used to support program evaluation.

Prior to her Civil Service Directorship positions, she worked in the private sector providing support to CAPE, the United States Air Force and the Department of Labor. Ms. Miller also has spent time in the non-profit sector, working for Special Olympics Florida and the Better Housing League of Greater Cincinnati. In each organization she effectively secured funding from a variety of foundations and local, state, and federal agencies.

She graduated from Florida State University with a Master of Arts in International Affairs and a Bachelor of Science from Wright State University in International Studies

Patrick Barry is a Senior Director at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a global technology and professional services company that delivers consulting, technology and mission services to every major agency across the U.S. government, defense and intelligence community. He leads the team responsible for growth and strategy in support of GDIT Defense Division’s Army business. In addition to his work at GDIT, Pat is a member of the Board of Governors of the Middle East Institute, where he helped found a major new program on IT and Cyberspace Policy in the region. He also serves as a member of the Board of Governors on the Washington, DC Chapter of AFCEA International. Pat has been a non-resident cybersecurity policy fellow at the New America Foundation.

Prior to joining GDIT, he was a consultant with the Redhorse Corporation, leading the company’s strategic advisory services supporting the Defense Department’s SIGINT and Cyber missions. Prior to entering the private sector, Pat served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as the Cyberspace advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Before his Defense Department service, Pat held several roles at the Department of Homeland Security, most recently as Secretary Jeh Johnson’s counselor for counterterrorism and intelligence. At DHS, Pat drove the implementation of major Counterterrorism operations, as well as policy initiatives, including DHS responses to specific aviation threats, the first major overhaul of the Visa Waiver Program Security partnership and UN resolutions on terrorist travel.

Pat was a 2015 Shawn Brimley Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He has also received a variety of awards for his government service, including the Department of Defense’s Distinguished Public Service Medal for his work to combat the Islamic State’s use of the internet.

Zach Beecher is the Head of Strategic Partnerships and a founding member of America’s Frontier Fund.

Previously, Zach served as Director of Operations at Healthworx, the corporate innovation arm of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, where he drove the synthesis of operations and strategy across their health technology incubation, venture, and corporate development verticals. Prior to this experience, Zach was the Principal for C5 Accelerate, where he led their early-stage portfolio in cyber, artificial intelligence, and the space economy as well as the development of an advisory service supporting defense innovation.

Zach served on active duty with the 82nd Airborne Division where he led combat logistics advisory for supported Iraqi forces during Operation Inherent Resolve and is a current Reservist with Special Operations Command - Europe.

Zach received his B.A. from Princeton University focusing on national security policy, MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and M.A. from King’s College London, where he was a Rotary Scholar.

A technology executive with over ten years of experience working for large enterprises and hyper-growth startups, Derek has focused much of his efforts on bringing new technologies to market, delivering on mission-critical projects, and developing new products to meet customer needs. Derek has long been passionate about supporting government customers and contractors who leverage technologies to achieve the mission.

While at Rescale, Derek has led the Enterprise, Public Sector, and Channel businesses and has played a vital role in pursuing security accreditation, such as Fedramp and IL5. Before Rescale, Derek spent the majority of his career at HPE and IBM while supporting strategic initiatives and customers in the digital transformation initiatives.

Dr. Jerry McGinn is the Executive Director of the Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting in the Costello College of Business at George Mason University.  In this role, he has established and is leading the first-of-its-kind university center for research, education and training, and collaboration on issues facing the $500B+ government contracting community. The Center has published over 70 influential reports, white papers, and commentaries on issues such as defense innovation, government contracting, intellectual property, budget reform, industrial resilience, collaboration with allies and partners, and COVID-19. The impact of the Center’s work led to recent $7 million naming gift, the largest-ever cash donation to the College of Business. The Center has also been awarded over $4 million in sponsored research and has had hundreds of interviews and media mentions with regional and national print, video, and audio outlets to date.

Dr. McGinn is also a trusted strategic advisor and board member sought after for his expertise in U.S. industrial policy, security cooperation, supply chain, industrial security, export control, foreign military sales, and industrial base policies. Prior to joining GMU, he served as the senior career official in the Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy in the Department of Defense, leading efforts to analyze the capabilities and overall health of the defense industrial base, including the 2017-2018 interagency review of the manufacturing and defense industrial base. He also directed hundreds of reviews of high-profile mergers and acquisitions as well as transactions before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. 

Previous to DoD, he spent a decade in senior defense industry roles at McGinn Defense Consulting LLC, Deloitte Consulting LLP, QinetiQ North America, and Northrop Grumman. Before industry, he served in DoD as Special Assistant to the Principal Deputy Undersecretary (Policy) and as a political scientist at RAND.

Dr. McGinn is also a widely acclaimed thought leader and sought-after speaker. He has published influential George Mason reports and white papers, RAND monographs, and articles in The Hill, Business Insider, Defense News, Defense One, and other outlets.  He has also testified before the U.S. Congress and the UK House of Commons and he has participated in advisory studies for the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the NATO Industrial Advisory Group, the Defense Science Board, and the Professional Services Council.  He was the only university recipient of the prestigious Wash100 award in 2021 and 2022.

Dr. McGinn was commissioned into the U.S. Army and served with distinction as an infantry officer and is a graduate of Ranger and Airborne Schools. He has received numerous civilian and military awards and has earned a Ph.D., M.S., and M.A. from Georgetown University as well as a B.S. from the United States Military Academy.

A researcher by trade and a long-time military studies enthusiast, David specializes in analyzing military markets and combat systems research. With six years of military service and over seven years of research experience, David has devoted his professional career to studying the defense industry. Understanding how militaries operate, what tools they use, and how they use them is what inspires him. David works with clients to answer important industry questions and find pragmatic solutions to complex issues.

Before joining Forecast International, David spent six years in the United States Marine Corps where he specialized in infantry tactics and training. Following his military service, he spent seven years researching, writing, and analyzing content in the defense field. His previous roles include Global Conflict Data Analyst at Intelligence Fusion, Geopolitical Risk Analyst at Global Risk Intelligence, and Senior Industry Analyst at Government Business Council. 

Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology and joined the publication in 1996 as a staff writer. He's a graduate of Bridgewater College and earned a masters degree from American University. When he isn't writing about government contractors, he's thinking of cooking large pieces of meat over fire and dreaming of ways to embarrass his two sons.

Ross Wilkers covers the business of government contracting, companies and trends that shape the market. He joined WT in 2017 and works with Editor-in-Chief Nick Wakeman to host and produce our WT 360 podcast that features discussions with the market's leading executives and voices. Ross is a native of Northern Virginia and is an alumnus of George Mason University.