Operations. Strategy. National Security.
Decisive advantage is built not on a superior product, but on superior processes. The organization is the product.
I build the operational engine across five domains: operations strategy, strategic finance, commercial deal desk, supply chain security, and export controls. Together they determine whether a defense company can deliver and sustain that advantage.
My focus is on hard operational problems in the American defense-industrial base.
Operations: My approach to resilience was forged in the infantry and codified through operations science and strategic finance. I span the full lifecycle from supply chain strategy and manufacturing to field operations and post-deployment sustainment, connecting boardroom unit economics with the friction of execution.
Deal Desk: I hold the ITAR Empowered Official designation and the CUSECO certification. I own the deal desk, determining whether a contract is commercially viable, operationally executable, supply-chain-clean, and export-control-cleared before any commitment is made.
Geopolitics: My competence is built on living within societies, not just observing them. During the 2011 Arab Spring, I worked frontline security at a refugee center and assessed the human reality behind the headlines. Later, as a Diplomatic Attaché in Beijing, I bypassed the Embassy bubble to cultivate primary sources across social layers. I connect high-level strategy with ground truth.
Current: VP Operations & ITAR Empowered Official at Thor Dynamics, a directed energy C-UAS defense company.
Formerly: operations & strategic finance at Rivian, data science company co-founder, venture capital (robotics). Prior service: diplomatic attaché, infantry.
Education: MIT Sloan MBA (Operations Science); MSc (LSE); BBA (Univ. St. Gallen). Study abroad at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Certification: CUSECO (Certified U.S. Export Compliance Officer).
Languages: Fluent in English, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin.
If you are working on hard operational problems in national security, I would like to hear from you.