The Unconference

Ms. Carie Lemack is co-founder of the Zed Factor Fellowship. Building on more than two decades of experience in entrepreneurial endeavors, advocacy and security policy, Ms. Lemack serves as an advisor to some of today's leading aerospace and deep tech companies.

Adam Ross is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Goldcrest Capital, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage technology companies. Over the past two decades, Adam has invested in companies such as Facebook, SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir Technologies, where he spent five years on the company's Board of Directors. Adam received his BA from Stanford University and his JD from the University of Texas Law School.

A respected leader of strategic transformations that align corporate security with business purpose, Brad has helped multiple organizations optimize performance, manage resources and create business value.

Chris Brunk has been with Merrill Lynch Wealth Management since 1998, delivering the full resources of Bank of America and Merrill with the personalized service of a boutique. His team advises senior executives, business owners, retirement plans, and multigenerational families. He holds multiple advanced certifications (CFP® CEPA, CRPC®, CPFA) and brings deep expertise related to credit strategies, asset management, retirement plans, exit planning, concentrated stock, and alternative investments.

CTO and Co-Founder, Smack Technologies
A serial entrepreneur and technology visionary, Dan was previously VP of Technology at Tinder, where he helped scale the company to $1 billion in revenue. With a proven track record founding successful startups like Tappy and Newroo, Dan combines deep expertise in technology and AI with a passion for innovation.

Spent 12 years driving Palantir's international growth. Early investor in ElevenLabs, Headspace and NScale. Advisor to Augur, Cape, Outtake and Peregrine. US State Dept's Overseas Security Advisory Council
Exco member.

Founder and CEO of Augur Initiative, the next-generation perception engine that turns legacy sensor infrastructure into real-time operational intelligence. Augur fuses CCTV, IoT and spatial models to deliver proactive security insights, maximise operational efficiency, and unlock new revenue opportunities.

Founder and CEO, Adyton
Led Palantir's business with Special Operations, developed techniques that used military structure as a lever, growing footprint by 30x and increasing annual revenue by 40x.

Founder and CEO, HaleSWX
Katherine Monson is a seasoned executive leader focused on growing capital-intensive businesses (Energy, Aerospace & Defense). Katherine specializes in leading companies through transformational inflection points (e.g., market or technology disruptions).

Mark Scianna is the General Partner of Forward Deployed Venture Capital, investing in mission-critical sectors and tech. As an operator, most of his experience was at Palantir, where he was a founding member of their defense team, spending 11 years as a forward deployed engineer.

Co-Founder, PicoGrid.
Ex-McKinsey Sr. Analyst with B2B experience including $400M contract negotiation and product development at a $140B+ tech company. Winner of 2015 Drones for Good prize. B.Sc. NYU Electrical Engineering.

As an investor, Morgan is focused on technology companies that intersect extensively with the public sector, especially in the essential national security, public safety, and critical infrastructure verticals.

Founder and CEO, Peregrine Technologies. Prior to founding Peregrine Technologies with co-founder Ben Rudolph in 2018, Noone was employed at Palantir Technologies for five years. He was the fist hire on Palantir's strategy and operations team and served as team lead.

Retired Major General Wheeler brings over 20 years of exceptional leadership experience in the military, including serving as the Deputy Chief Information Officer for Command, Control, Communications and Computers and Information Infrastructure Capabilities.

Suzanne Fletcher is the founder and Managing Partner of Zelda Ventures. She is a well-known investor with a career that spans over two decades. Prior to founding Zelda Ventures, she amassed nine years of hands-on experience in the venture capital landscape as an angel, co-investor, and lead investor.