In 2020, we launched the OODAcast video and podcast series designed to provide you with insightful analysis and intelligence to inform your decision making process. We do this through a series of expert interviews and topical videos highlighting global technologies such as cybersecurity, AI, quantum computing along with discussions on global risk and opportunity issues.
Podcast Version
The audio only podcast version is available through popular podcast apps. Find us by searching for OODAcast in any podcast directory. Or follow these links for: Apple Podcasts, Radio Public and Spotify. You can listen directly in your browser at http://listen.oodacast.com
Video Version
You can also check out all the videos via our YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/oodaloop
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Episode List
Joe Tranquillo on the Revolution in Biological Science
Joe Tranquillo is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Bucknell University and a provost at the school. He is also and author and speaker with a knack for helping make new and at times complex subjects understandable. In this OODAcast we discuss many aspects of the revolution in biological sciences with Joe including topics like:…
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MITRE Futurist Charles Clancy on our Quantum Enabled Future
Charles Clancy has successfully led technology efforts in government, industry, academia and continues to lead and innovate in his current position as Senior Vice President and GM of MITRE Labs. He is MITRE’s Chief Futurist. His role in technology leadership and his tracking of tech across multiple domains made for an incredibly insightful OODAcast. https://youtu.be/PHhDJOE7ECg…
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Mark McGrath: John Boyd Is Far More Than The OODA Loop
Mark McGrath has applied the teachings of John Boyd to a career that began in the Marine Corps, included leadership positions in financial services firms and consulting with businesses with a need to learn to thrive in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environments. He co-founded the consultancy AGLX and serves as its Chief Learning…
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Serene – The Hacker Pianist Saving Cyberspace
Serene is a hacker in the truest sense of the word. She’s applied a hacker mindset to learn coding, piano, and blend art and engineering in fascinating ways. You’ll find her collaborating on-stage with Grimes one night and coding censorship resistant technologies the next day. As a self-taught coder she was the first engineer hired…
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Andy Bochman on Countering Cyber Sabotage
Andy Bochman is the Senior Grid Strategist-Defender for Idaho National Laboratory’s National and Homeland Security directorate. In this role, Andy provides strategic guidance on topics at the intersection of grid security and climate resilience to INL leadership as well as senior U.S. and international government and industry leaders. Andy is a frequent speaker, writer, and trainer…
Spencer Ante on Creative Capital and Disruptive Innovation
Spencer Ante is the author or “Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital”, which was on my Top 10 book list for 2022. In fact, I found Doriot’s story so compelling that a portrait of him hangs on the wall at the Hack Factory start-up studio in Reston, VA. https://youtu.be/JXsPQdcqkxw Doriot is…
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Bob Zukis and the Digital Directors Network: Helping corporate boards mitigate systemic risk
Bob Zukis is a man on a mission to improve the ability of corporate America to succeed in a complex digital world, even when under constant cyber attack. Bob is the CEO and founder of the Digital Directors Network, the global pioneer in helping corporate directors advance their understanding of systemic risk. We consider Bob…
Adam Shostack on Cybersecurity and What Every Engineer Should Learn From Star Wars
Adam Shostack is widely known in the cybersecurity world for his pioneering work on disclosing and discussing computer vulnerabilities (the CVE (common vulnerabilities and exposures) list). He also helped formalize and train leading approaches to threat modeling and wrote the foundational book on the subject (Threat Modeling: Designing for Security). https://youtu.be/gaeGjobcl8M In this OODAcast we…
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Sebastian Mallaby on How Venture Capitalists and Hedge Funds Achieve Success
Sebastian Mallaby joined the OODAcast for a discussion about the Power Law in venture capital and the rise of the global hedge fund and private equity industries.
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Former Head of National Intelligence Council Neil Wiley on Intelligence Analysis
Neil Wiley has lead some of the US Intelligence Community’s most important analytical functions. His career in intelligence began as a Naval Intelligence Officer in an operational intelligence center focused on support to critical operational naval missions. He would later serve joint intelligence missions in Europe, would rise to lead all analytical activities at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in DoD Combatant Commands, and would later serve as the Chairman of the famed National Intelligence Council (NIC). Also served as a senior leader at ODNI, including leading the entire intelligence community as the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence from May 13, 2020 until February 2021.
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Michael Gibson Wants to Light the Paper Belt on Fire
This OODAcast features a fascinating conversation with Michael Gibson, the author of the book “Paper Belt on Fire” who is also the co-founder of the Thiel Fellowship program and the 1517 Fund, both of which focus on identifying unconventional ideas and individuals that can drive disruptive innovation in technology, arts, and science.
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Jimmy Soni on Why PayPal Was Successful
In this OODAcast, we talk with Jimmy Soni, the author of the book “The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley”. Jimmy takes a deep, historical look at the founding story of PayPal with detailed analysis, interviews, and access that you won’t find in any other telling of the PayPal story. PayPal is a fascinating company to look at, not only to examine the PayPal business, but in looking at what emerged out of the PayPal founding team in the future. A list of companies that includes the likes of SpaceX, Tesla, Affirm, LinkedIn, YouTube, Yammer, Palantir, Kiva, Yelp, and Yammer.
Jen Hoar on Corporate Intelligence and Investigations
In this OODAcast we interview one of our close friends and OODA network members, Jen Hoar. Jen is a former journalist-turned-corporate investigator who has leveraged the potent act of asking, and listening, to turn strangers into sources and contacts into clients. Her expertise, which is clearly also her passion, is identifying and interviewing smart people about any given topic, to learn as much as possible to inform clients’ executive decision-making.
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Joseph Menn on Observations From Tech Journalism
Covering technology issues, and specifically cybersecurity as a journalist is a tough endeavor. Some of these technologies are complex as are the security vulnerabilities often inherent in their deployment and making these topics broadly accessible can be a challenge. Many of the underlying issues touch upon national security and civil liberties creating an interesting nexus…
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Lawrence Gasman on Assessing the Business Impact of Quantum Technologies
Lawrence Gasman has researched and reported on quantum technologies from the beginning of the discipline of quantum computing. He is now the President of Inside Quantum Technology (IQT), which provides in-depth business intelligence for the quantum technology industry. IQT also runs several major quantum technology conferences as well as a quantum industry news service.
On this OODAcast we ask Lawrence to provide us with frameworks for understanding the state of quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum security and the business around each of these major fields.
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100 Episodes of OODAcast: Providing actionable insights for future risks and opportunities.
In 2020, we launched the OODAcast video and podcast series designed to provide insightful analysis and actionable intelligence to decision makers. In this 100th episode, co-hosts Matt Devost and Bob Gourley review some of the key insights from the series. Matt and Bob also discuss a OODA’s recent assessment of risks and opportunities given…
David Greenberg on Decision-making in Volatile Markets
While the OODA Loop was been heralded in the domain of conflict, we often find the concept in business and there is no greater business analogy to dogfighting that David Greenberg’s experience as a trader on the floor of the world’s largest physical commodities exchange. David’s job required rapid decision making based on constantly changing information and the mental fortitude to move onto the next decision and rapidly learn from both successes and mistakes. In addition to his work as a trader, David also guided the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) through its largest period of growth and through a digital transformation.
In this OODAcast, David shares his story and talks about how to make decisions in complex environments, but also developing the mental resiliency to deal with rapid change and impactful mistakes. David also shares his experiences from 9/11 and how one tiny circumstance saved his life and re-focused his energy on helping others.
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Katharina McFarland on Winning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Katharina McFarland has led change in a wide array of national security domains including Space, Missile Defense, Acquisition and Nuclear Posture. She is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition (ASD(A) and a former Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASAALT). She currently serves on several corporate boards and as a member of the National Academies of Science.
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John Spencer on Connected Soldiers and the Future of Conflict
John Spencer is a writer, thinker, speaker scholar who currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the US Military Academy. He brings the experience of a veteran who has led in combat to his work, and in his latest book, Connected Soldiers, also provides insights from his time as a stay at home parent as his wife deployed. His analysis of connectivity and ints impact from multiple angles makes his book a very well rounded examination of how the Internet age is transforming how nations go to war.
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Duyane Norman on Disrupting the CIA to Deal with Emerging Threats
Duyane Norman spent nearly 30 years in the CIA with three Chief of Station and multiple other tours in a variety of interesting geographies and also had a focus on technology issues serving as Deputy Director of the Office of Technical Service within CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology, and as a member of the CIA Counterterrorism Center’s Incident Response Team. Duyane established a reputation as an innovator and a disruptor looking for ways for the intelligence services to flourish given the fast pace of technological change and the dynamic threats emerging on the global landscape. In this OODAcast we discuss his career in the CIA, how the agency must adapt over time, and the role disruptive technology will play in the geopolitical landscape. We also talk about his Station of the Future project and how that can serve as a roadmap for future innovation.
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First Federal CISO Greg Touhill on Advanced Cybersecurity by Design
Greg Touhill is one of the nation’s premier cybersecurity, information technology and risk management leaders. As an Air Force officer he led technology efforts in some of our nation’s most demanding organizations including combatant commands during time of war. He is an accomplished speaker and author and business executive and also served as our nation’s first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).
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Former Tenable CEO Ron Gula Applies a Hacker Mindset to Investing, Public Awareness, and Philanthropy
In this OODAcast, we interview Ron Gula, co-founder and CEO of the highly successful Tenable Security(NASDAQ:TENB) and currently President of Gula Tech Adventures. Ron has a long history in the cybersecurity field that includes starting his career as an NSA hacker and then transitioning into an entrepreneur responsible for multiple innovations in the market and several successful companies. Ron remains a hacker at heart, and currently focuses his energy on investing in and mentoring emerging companies, improving public awareness on cybersecurity, and engaging in philanthropic efforts.
In our conversation with Ron, we explore his career history, the state of cybersecurity, where we should focus our innovation investments, and how cybersecurity professionals can help solve not just global problems, but get engaged in local solutions at scale.
Jim Lawler on the Art of Espionage and the Perfect Intelligence Operation
In this OODAcast, we talk with Jim Lawler who is a Senior Partner at MDO Group, which provides HUMINT training to the Intelligence Community and the commercial sector focused on WMD, CI, technical and cyber issues. Mr. Lawler is a noted speaker on the Insider Threat in government and industry. Prior to this, Mr. Lawler served for 25 years as a CIA operations officer in various international posts and as Chief of the Counterproliferation Division’s Special Activities Unit. We talk with Jim about his career in intelligence and national security, his views on the current threats including some of his fictionalized accounts in his novels, and his most notable intelligence operation; the A.Q. Khan nuclear takedown.
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Lifelong Hacker and Experienced Security Executive Alyssa Miller, Author of Cybersecurity Career Guide
Alyssa Miller is a life-long hacker and highly experienced security executive who has a passion for security and the security community. She is an excellent advocate for continuous improvement in the community and a frequent speaker to audiences of both fellow business leaders and security community audiences. This combined with her deep experience in the industry makes her the perfect person to research and write the Cybersecurity Career Guide. The guide is a much needed resource for our community.
Dr. Scott Shumate Profiles Russian President Vladimir Putin
This OODAcast is a special edition focused on profiling Russian President Vladimir Putin with Dr. Scott Shumate, who has over 30 years of experience evaluating national leaders, terrorists, spies, and insiders. Scott shares his unique perspective’s on Putin informed by his extensive experience and insight. Is Putin suicidal? Is he a rational actor? Will he escalate to cyber attacks? These questions and more are discussed with Dr. Shumate.
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Chris Butler on the Value of Adversarial Thinking in Product Design and Management
In this OODACast, Matt talks with Chris Butler about how concepts like adversarial thinking can be applied to product design and management. Chris is an exemplar of someone who has excelled in his field but also looks to study and bring disruptive ideas like randomness and future framing from other disciplines to determine their value and applicability in product management. As it turns out, he’s a big fan of John Boyd’s OODA Loop and even made a trip to the Boyd archives where he discovered that Boyd was a fan of a certain science fiction book.
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John Chambers on Risk and Opportunity in the Modern Age
John Chambers is the legendary former CEO of Cisco, a company he helped grow from $70 million in revenue per year when he joined in 1991 to $1.2 billion a year the year he became CEO to over $48 billion a year by the time he retired in 2015. As a leader John was always known for far more than just revenue growth, he was skilled at building an organization that treated people well, including employees, customers and the community.
In this OODAcast we discuss John’s book, Connecting The Dots, which shares his insights into leadership including leadership of organizations that need to disrupt themselves. The lessons of this book can help those at any stage of a career improve in their ability to lead innovative companies.
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Simon Clark on Investigating the Key Man and a Billion Dollar Fraud
In this OODAcast, we talk with Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist Simon Clark about his book the “The Key Man: The True Story of How the Global Elite Was Duped by a Capitalist Fairy Tale “. The book tells the story of Arif Naqvi and his Dubai-based private-equity firm Abraaj and attracted he billions of dollars in investment and shared the stage and social scene with the world’s global elite in what would become one of the most audacious large scale frauds of recent times.
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Charity Wright on China’s Digital Colonialism
Charity Wright is a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst with over 15 years of experience at the US Army and the National Security Agency, where she translated Mandarin Chinese. Charity now specializes in dark web cyber threat intelligence, counter-disinformation, and strategic intelligence at Recorded Future. Her analysis has provided deep insights into a variety of incidents, activities and strategic moves by well resourced adversaries, primarily actors operating in China.
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Jan Chipchase on Field Research for Actionable Insights
Jan Chipchase is the founder and director of Studio D Radiodurans, a research, design and innovation consultancy. He specializes in identifying nuanced patterns of human behavior. The insight it generates informs and inspires design, strategy, brand and public policy. Jan describes his work in design anthropology in terms of a satellite launched into space that is chartered with identifying new planets, existential threats, but with a lens that can also be turned back on earth to help his clients also understand themselves.
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Ben Dubow on Detecting and Countering Malign Influence Operations
Ben Dubow is CTO and founder of Omelas, a firm that provides data and analysis on how nations manipulate the web to achieve their geopolitical goals. He has a background in research on Russian and Chinese online information operations and is a recognized expert, having appeared on international media including Reuters, Bloomberg and Roll Call. Ben began his career tracking jihadi, white supremacist, and Iranian activity online before joining Google where he played a lead role in removing ISIS content from YouTube and establishing the Redirect Method to counter violent extremism. Before Omelas, Ben was Secretary of Code To Inspire, a nonprofit that teaches Afghan women to code. Ben speaks Arabic, French, Farsi, and basic Russian.
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Jahon Jamali On Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the Coming Metaverse
Jahon Jamali is a leading expert on emerging technologies, global risk management and international relations. He began his career as a U.S. Intelligence Officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency. He also has extensive experience in the high tech community creating and growing startups through to successful exits. All this makes him an even more credible authority when it comes to seeking the trends that are moving technology, business and government operations forward. This discussion examines the role of Bitcoin and Ethereum in finance today and the especially important need for cryptocurrencies to provide a trust layer for the Internet.
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Maury Rogow: Every Corporation Will Have A Metaverse Strategy
Maury Rogow builds a solid case that your brand will live or die based on the story you tell in the metaverse. Maury is a pioneer in applying the art of storytelling to convey the value of technology in the Internet age. He built a successful approach to storytelling that made direct contributions to the success of some of the most important firms in the early wave of Internet companies. He later leveraged storytelling expertise and insights into a career in Hollywood which included producing films and helping craft storylines. After six years in Hollywood he shifted focus to how to help major brands tell their stories. His company Rip Media Group has helped companies from multiple sectors of the economy leverage the mobile Internet and video to improve their marketing and storytelling.
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Alan Cohen of DCVC on Investing in Deep Tech For Humanity
Alan Cohen is a partner at DCVC, a highly regarded venture capital firm who pioneered the concept of investing in Deep Tech. He has helped lead and grow some of the most influential enterprise IT companies in the world. We talk tech with Alan, and he is the perfect guy to examine some of the more exciting breakthroughs being achieved through Deep Tech investing. But were pleased to learn his foundational story was not in a high tech field. He was an avid reader as a child and for his education pursued an English undergraduate and then completed a Master of Arts in English. In our discussion it becomes clear his love for a good narrative story paid off in his ability to seek out the deeper meaning of tech and express its impact in the language of business decision-makers.
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Digital Self Sovereignty and Avoiding the Long Night with John Robb
John is one of the most disruptive thinkers of our time and is capable of drilling down on critical issues like security, society, and technology with deep authority and insights. In this conversation we cover a lot of topics, including John’s concept of OODA Shear, data and digital self sovereignty, Afghanistan, AI, Bitcoin, and the role networked tribes play in modern life. We also dig into the idea of Long Night and how to ensure innovation without consolidating power into platforms of corporate and government censorship.
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Inman’s Rules: The Enduring Principles of Operational Intelligence
Admiral Bobby Ray Inman retired from the US Navy in 1982. But his influence endures. His principles, which he codified into a list still exchanged among intelligence community leaders today, is now known as Inman’s Rules. In this OODAcast interview of Admiral Inman we review these rules, seeking insights into how they can be applied to business and government intelligence and operations today.
Consider his 31 rules and how they will apply to your organization.
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The Man Who Protects Our Secrets: Bob Bigman on Mitigating Enterprise Risks
Bob Bigman spent a career in the intelligence community. He was the CISO of the CIA where he was tasked with leading efforts to protect the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Since 2012 he has provided direct consulting services to CISOs, CIOs, CTOs and CEOs seeking to reduce risk and improve security programs. Through it all he has built a reputation for rapidly assessing the state of enterprise security programs and then working to build action plans to drive continuous improvement. This OODAcast examines aspects of Bigman’s approach to security that can inform you own approach. We also solicit his views on compliance and security checklists, metrics, and the state of the IT industry (he does not hold back on any of those!).
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Randall Fort on The Future of the Metaverse And Its Cybersecurity and Intelligence Implications
In this OODAcast we glean lessons learned and insights into the future of the Metaverse and its implications from Randall Fort. Fort is a seasoned security, intelligence and technology leader known for his grasp of enterprise mission needs and his ability to track the rapid advancing capabilities of technology to meet those needs. His background includes time as the director of global security for Goldman Sachs. He also led one of the most highly regarded teams of analysts in the world, the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Randy later worked at Raytheon and is now now the COO of QWERX.
Amr Awadallah On The Biggest Challenges And Opportunities in Enterprise IT Today
In this OODAcast we examine lessons learned as a startup founder and insights into the future of technology with Amr Awadallah. Amr Awadallah is widely known as a founder of Cloudera. Prior to that he was working on extreme scale data solutions for Yahoo. Most recently he was VP for Developer Relations at Google Cloud. Amr has a BS in EE from Cairo University, an MS in Computer Engineering from Cairo University, and a PhD EE from Stanford University. His experiences in tech and company leadership put him in the perfect position to help bring actionable insights to decision-makers today.
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Sir David Omand on Leveraging How Spies Think In Our Business and Personal Lives
Sir David Omand is one of the most respected intelligence professionals in the world and author of the book How Spies Think: Ten lessons in intelligence. His career in intelligence began shortly after graduating from Cambridge in 1969 when he joined the UK’s GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters). He would later become the director of GCHQ. He also served as the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, the most senior intelligence, counter-terror and homeland security position in the UK.
In this OODAcast we discuss lessons in leadership from his time in the intelligence service and his views on the current threat environment, including threats to nations, corporations and citizens of the free world. We also examine how his time in intelligence informed his own models for understanding and analyzing complex situations and how this motivated him to write How Spies Think.
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Jessica Gulick: An accomplished cybersecurity practitioner turned CEO on future focused leadership
Jessica Gulick is widely known for her leadership of the successful growth strategy and marketing firm Katzcy. She is also the Commissioner of the US Cyber Games, a multi-phased cybersecurity program recruiting a US Cyber Team for international competition. She is also the founder of PlayCyber, a new business line promoting cyber games and tournaments. Jessica is also the president of the board at the Woman’s Society of Cyberjutsu and a driving force behind their Wicked6 cyber games.
Lance Mortlock On Scenario Planning to Drive Strategic Decisions
Lance Mortlock is a Senior EY Strategy Partner. He is author of the book Disaster Proof: Scenario Planning for Post Pandemic Future, which explores ways scenario planning can help organizations be more resilient. This is a must-read book for anyone in the Risk Management field. It provides practical advice for strategists, planners, executives and board members on how to ask better questions related to the future, uncertainty, risk and strategy.
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Jer Thorp on Living in Data and Creating Better Futures
Each year, there are one or two books that deeply resonate with me and become sticky in that I’m thinking about the book often, bringing it up in conversations, and sending out unsolicited recommendations for executives and researchers in my network to check it out. Jer Thorp’s “Living in Data: A Citizen’s Guide to a Better Information Future” was that book for me in 2021 so I was delighted to host Jer for a conversation on the OODAcast.
er Thorp is an artist, writer and teacher living in New York City. He is best known for designing the algorithm to place the nearly 3,000 names on the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan. Jer was the New York Times’ first Data Artist in Residence, is a National Geographic Explorer, and in 2017 and 2018 served as the Innovator in Residence at the Library of Congress. Jer is one of the world’s foremost data artists, and is a leading voice for the ethical use of big data.
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Tony Tether On Technology Leadership and Lessons Learned From DARPA
Dr. Tony Tether was the director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, from 2001 till his retirement in 2009. In this OODAcast we examine some of Dr. Tether’s formative experiences, including a very unique job he held while awaiting entry to Stanford. He was a door to door salesman and while doing that learned the importance of quickly assessing challenges that were not being addressed and then forming an ability to express what needs to be done and how to do it quickly. As we hear in the discussion, this type of approach, very consistent with the famous “Heilmeier Catechism”, ended up producing a wide range of DARPA breakthroughs, including one that is now in every cell phone in the globe (next time you use your cell phone’s mapping and location services, remember to thank the Fuller Brush company!).
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Cofer Black on Leadership Lessons Learned and Speaking Truth to Power
In this OODAcast, we talk with renowned counter-terrorism expert and career clandestine services professional Cofer Black. Cofer is best known for having been the Director of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center on 9/11 and having been part of the intelligence community warning about the near-term threat of terrorism in the United States prior to the attacks. However, his pedigree in counterterrorism issues was well established with a distinguished career in the field in high-risk areas and operations.
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Gaurav Banga On Mitigating Cyber Threats Through Deep Insight Into Things That Matter Most
Gaurav Banga is the Founder and CEO of Balbix, and serves on the boards of several companies. Before Balbix, Gaurav was the Co-founder & CEO of Bromium and led the company from inception for over 5 years. Earlier in his career, he served in various executive roles at Phoenix Technologies and Intellisync Corporation, and was Co-founder and CEO of PDAapps, acquired by Intellisync in 2005. Dr. Banga started his industry career at NetApp. Gaurav has a PhD in CS from Rice University, and a B.Tech. in CS from IIT Delhi. He is a prolific inventor with over 70 patents.
Kim Zetter on Understanding the Realities of Cyberthreats and How Code Has a Story to Tell
This week’s OODAcast is with Kim Zetter, an incredibly well respected journalist who has been covering cybersecurity related issues for two decades. Matt Devost talks with Kim about a wide variety of cyber-related issues including a deep dive into Stuxnet and the implications for today’s security environment. Kim also shares details as to how she got into the field and how she developed relationships with the hacker community via her longstanding attendance at Def Con.
Junaid Islam on Zero Trust Architecture
In this OODAcast we provide insights into Zero Trust architectures from an experienced practitioner, Junaid Islam. Junaid is a senior partner at OODA. He has over 30 years of experience in secure communications and the design and operations of highly functional enterprise architectures. He founded Bivio Networks, maker of the first gigabyte speed general purpose networking device in history, and Vidder, a pioneer in the concept of Software Defined Networking. Vidder was acquired by Verizon to provide Zero Trust capability for their 5G network. Junaid has supported many US national security missions from Operation Desert Shield to investigating state-sponsored cyberattacks. He has also led the development of many network protocols including Multi-Level Precedence and Preemption (MLPP), MPLS priority queuing, Mobile IPv6 for Network Centric Warfare and Software Defined Perimeter for Zero Trust. Recently Junaid developed the first interference-aware routing algorithm for NASA’s upcoming Lunar mission.
Scythe CEO Bryson Bort on Enhancing Security with Realistic Adversary Emulation
Bryson Bort is the Founder of SCYTHE, a start-up building a next generation attack emulation platform, and GRIMM, a boutique cybersecurity consultancy. He is widely known in the cybersecurity community for helping advance concepts of defense across multiple critical domains. He is the co-founder of the ICS Village, a non-profit advancing awareness of industrial control system security. Bryson is also a Senior Fellow for Cybersecurity and National Security at R Street and the National Security Institute and an Advisor to the Army Cyber Institute.
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Trond Undheim on the Future of Technology and a Framework for Analyzing Forces of Disruption
Trond Undheim is a futurist, investor, consultant, executive, speaker, entrepreneur and podcaster. He produces widely impactful podcasts: Futurized, which tracks the underlying forces of disruption in tech, policy, business models, social dynamics and the environment, and Augmented, which reveals stories behind the new era of industrial operations.
Jeremy King on the greatest leaders he has ever seen (and how we can all keep learning leadership)
Jeremy King is a trusted advisor to corporate boards and some of the nation’s most elite business leaders. He is also a serial connector helping move business information on opportunities at the intersection of talent, capital, entrepreneurs and business development. Jeremy is an entrepreneur himself, creating successful executive search firms and also a game-changing non-profit we will talk a bit about later called MissionLink.
Ben Ford, Founder of Commando Development, on the OODA Loop and Tech Leadership
Ben Ford is the founder of Commando Development, a firm which leverages his deep background and experience in enterprise IT as well as his years in service as a Royal Marine to the benefit of technology teams in startups and large enterprises.
In this OODAcast we discuss Ben’s views on the history of Commando’s, from the experiences that inspired Winston Churchill prior to his forming then in World War II up to today, capturing a surprising number of lessons for business and IT leaders today.
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Matt Devost on Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Succeeding in Competitive Environments
OODA CEO Matt Devost has a track record of executing on innovation via entrepreneurship. You may also know him as the Co-Host of the OODAcast or perhaps through his role as a technologist and international security expert. He has extensive past performance in cybersecurity, counterterrorism, critical infrastructure protection, intelligence, and risk management issues.
Jim Clapper Shares Wisdom From A Career in Operational Intelligence
Security, Risk Management and Intelligence professionals all know of Jim Clapper, this week’s OODAcast guest. He had a long and distinguished career in the US Air Force, which included leadership spanning the Vietnam era all the way to the end of the Cold War. By the time he retired he was a three star General, leading the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. After retirement he would later return to government service as head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency just three days after 9/11. In 2007 he was named the Pentagon’s top intelligence official (USDI), serving as an appointee in both the Bush and Obama administrations before President Obama appointed him DNI. He is author of the book “Facts and Fears: Hard truths from a life in intelligence.”
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Ray Wang, CEO and Founder of Constellation Research, On The Business Impact of Technology
In this week’s OODAcast we interview Ray Wang, CEO of Constellation Research. Ray is a great leader, evidenced by the people he has attracted to his firm. I know many of his team and can say for a fact that they are people who can do just about anything they want (which means they are in a position to pick their boss). Ray is also an entrepreneur, and in this OODAcast provides context anyone thinking of starting out on their own should consider. One of many anecdotes he provided was an insightful recap of a conversation he had with his then boss at Forrester Research, George Forrester Colony, which made it clear to Ray that he faced a choice. He could work at a place that wanted to motivate him to be as average as possible or he could go out on his own and create his future himself. It takes a type of bravery to do what Ray did next, a type of bravery very likely at the core of any entrepreneur.
Lisa Porter On Innovation, Technology, Security and Lessons in Leadership
Lisa J. Porter has successfully lead some of the world’s largest and most critical technology efforts. Her career started with a focus on academic rigor in pursuit of some of the toughest degrees, a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from MIT and a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford. She would later lecture at MIT and then became a researcher for DARPA related projects, eventually becoming a DARPA program manager. Dr. Porter would later lead NASA’s Aeronautics Portfolio, would become the first Director of the Intelligence Community’s IARPA, became President at Teledyne Scientific and an EVP at In-Q-Tel, and then was named to be the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, an office which is essentially the CTO for the entire Department of Defense.
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Nate Fick on Dynamic Leadership and Adapting to Change
Nate Fick’s career has been eclectic, but with a common element of demonstrating superior leadership abilities in a diverse array of successful opportunities. Nate is currently a General Manager at Elastic, having joined the firm with their acquisition of Endgame where he served as CEO.
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Lessons In Leadership, Intelligence Analysis, and Geopolitical Trends From Retired LTG Robert Ashley, former Director of DIA
Lieutenant General Robert Ashley, USA (ret) was the 21st Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). He retired in November 2020 after over 36 years of active-duty service as an intelligence officer. He had previously served as the Army’s lead for all intelligence (the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2), where he was the senior advisor to the Secretary of the Army and Army Chief of Staff for all aspects of intelligence, counterintelligence and security. During his long career he commanded organizations charged with gaining insights into adversary intentions and making them actionable for decision-makers. This included work overseas including six combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as a squadron, brigade commander, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (J-2). Other tours included assignments leading intelligence for the Army Joint Special Operations Command; United States Central Command; and for all US forces in Afghanistan. He also led Army intelligence training and education.
Lessons In Leadership From Ellen McCarthy and Her Journey From Junior Analyst To The Most Senior Echelons of the Intelligence Community
Ellen McCarthy is a highly accomplished and distinguished executive whose career started as a junior analyst and ended up reaching to the very highest echelons of the US intelligence community. In this OODAcast we explore lessons learned from her journey, capturing insights that can inform actions for those at any stage of a career.
Blake Bartlett, CEO of Janes, On Leadership and Decision Making In The Modern Age
Blake Bartlett is the CEO of Janes, the well known and trusted provider of open source defense intelligence. In this OODAcast we examine lessons learned from Blake’s career and path from a young student with a desire for a career in sports to success in the domain of sales. Blakes walks us through some key moments in his leadership at Janes including the point that kicked off a transformation to ensure their data and information is not only trusted and relevant but is more available, accessible and consumable by customers and is delivered the way organizations need it to fuel their decision-making.
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Michele Wucker on Identifying and Confronting the Obvious Risks of Gray Rhinos
Michele Wucker is specialist in risk management and crisis anticipation and is author of the book “The Gray Rhino: How to Recognize and Act on the Obvious Dangers We Ignore”. While we’ve all become familiar with Taleb’s concept of Black Swans, we must equally become intimately aquatinted with Wucker’s Gray Rhinos as they provide more obvious opportunities for actually anticipating and managing risk.
During this interview, Michele takes us through the concept of Gray Rhinos with real-world historical examples, discussion of future Gray Rhinos, and strategies for engaging in real actions to identify, respond to, and mitigate future Gray Rhinos in business, society, and global affairs. The concept of a Gray Rhino is hugely important and has become embedded in how we evaluate risks at OODA with our customers.
Continue Reading Michele Wucker on Identifying and Confronting the Obvious Risks of Gray Rhinos
Vikram Sharma, CEO of Quintessence Labs on Leadership in the Quantum Era
Vikram Sharma is the founder and CEO of Canberra Australia based QuintessenceLabs. His company provides solutions based on quantum technology to strengthen cryptographic key creation and management at scale. This is an urgent need in this era of increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks, and key to protecting data now and into the future. In this OODAcast we ask Vikram for his views on what every CEO, including non-technical CEOs, need to know about the world of quantum effects. He provides explanations in very clear ways that can help inform business strategies.
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Former CIA Officer Rob Richer on the Geopolitical Landscape, Leadership Lessons Learned, and Supporting Decision-makers
Rob Richer is a highly regarded advisor to international executives and global government leaders including several heads of state. Rob has a well informed perspective on international risks and opportunities and an ability to analyze and distill observations in a way that is meaningful for your decision making process. In this OODAcast we cover the current state of global and domestic affairs, key leadership and decision-making lessons learned derived from Rob’s extensive CIA career.
As a bonus, we talk to Rob about how the character Mitch Rapp is based upon him. Rapp is the main character in a 18 book series by the late bestselling author Vince Flynn. One of the books was also produced into the film American Assassin.
Camila Russo on Ethereum and the Future of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
This week’s OODAcast features an interview with Camila Russo, the author of the book “The Infinite Machine: How an Army of Crypto-hackers Is Building the Next Internet with Ethereum”. Camila is also the founder of the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) site The Defiant, which tracks developments, emerging trends, and news in the fast moving DeFi space.
In this interview, Camila shares how her experience covering fiat currency issues as a reporter for Bloomberg sparked her interest in Bitcoin and how she focused her attention on the Ethereum project early in its development. We discuss Camila’s book and the emergence of Ethereum as well as the most interesting applications of Ethereum, future disruptions, and the general trends driving the DeFi space.
Continue Reading Camila Russo on Ethereum and the Future of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Will Hurd on Skills For Success In The Modern Age
Former Congressman Will Hurd joins us on this episode of OODACast to discuss what he has learned about business and entrepreneurship from a diverse career in the intelligence community, elected office and the private sector. Will has successfully leveraged the skills of a CIA operations officer in a variety of contexts, including the founding of cybersecurity firm FusionX with OODA co-founder, Matt Devost. Will most recently served in Congress as the representative for Texas’ 23rd district from 2015 to 2021.
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Kathy and Randy Pherson, Authors of Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence
Kathy and Randy Pherson are authors of the book Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence. Both had successful careers in the US Intelligence Community. While they were at the CIA they pioneered new methods of risk analysis and analytical methods, and helped bring those methods to widespread adoption in the community. Both are also successful business leaders who created companies that build value for others. Their focus in business is on helping others improve their analytical methods. They write about and teach best practices in analysis.
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Ric Prado on Intelligence Operations and a Legendary Career in the CIA
Ric Prado has been described by CIA leadership as the closest thing to 007 that the United States has ever had. Ric’s life is packed with more adventure and operations than your favorite spy novel series. Coming out of the shadows, this is Ric’s first video interview and covers his career, operational decision-making lessons learned, why we need a next generation of CIA agents, and we even dive into some more obscure topics like CIA knife fighting and how he came to train the King of Jordan.
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Mischel Kwon, Founder and CEO of W@tchTower
In this OODAcast we interview Michel Kwon, the founder and CEO of W@tchTower. She is a leader who has proven herself through an ability to success in three different career fields, first as a developer and programmer creating enterprise grade solutions, then as a government executive who would eventually lead the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT)during a critical period in its transformation, and now as CEO.
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Masha Sedova, Co-Founder Elevate Security on Human Risk Management
Masha Sedova is an award-winning people-security expert, speaker, and entrepreneur focused on helping companies transform employees from a risk into a key element of defense.
She has been a part of our OODA Network for years, including speaking at our legacy FedCyber event, where she introduced the behavior-based and gamified cybersecurity training and awareness she put in place at Salesforce.
Continue Reading Masha Sedova, Co-Founder Elevate Security on Human Risk Management
Bob Gourley on Operational Intelligence for Strategic Decision-making
In this OODAcast, OODA Network Expert Jen Hoar interviews noted cybersecurity and intelligence professional Bob Gourley, CTO of OODA LLC, diving deep into what makes him tick.
Jen asks Bob about his career, including the constants and dynamics in his professional life, starting with a deep background in operational intelligence as a naval intelligence officer. She explores his strengths and weaknesses and how he makes decisions in domains of overwhelming information. Jen asks Bob for advice for others on ways to keep learning.
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CEO of Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu and Cybersecurity Leader Mari Galloway
Like many others we have observed first hand the positive changes in the cybersecurity community being enabled by Mari Galloway. In this OODAcast we look beyond those changes to find out what makes her tick, revealing lessons applicable to professionals in any stage of their career.
Mari is the CEO and a founding board member for the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu (WSC), one of the fastest growing 501c3 non-profit cybersecurity communities. WSC is dedicated to bringing more women and girls to cyber and does so by providing its members with the resources and support required to enter and advance as a cybersecurity professional.
Mari is a practitioner herself with an academic background in technology, multiple certifications, and, more importantly, years of direct hands on experience in mitigating risk and enabling the smooth functioning of enterprise operations.
Continue Reading CEO of Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu and Cybersecurity Leader Mari Galloway
Paul Kurtz, Iconic Cybersecurity Leader and Founder of TruSTAR
Paul Kurtz is an internationally recognized expert on cybersecurity and the Co-Founder and Chairman of TruSTAR. In this OODAcast we dive into Paul’s views on the cybersecurity landscape today and learn more about his approach to decision-making. We discuss a new concept he has been shepherding in the community regarding how cyber intelligence can be optimized for the benefit of any organization. We also extract lessons relevant for any leader who wants to make better, more accurate and actionable decisions in competitive environments.
Continue Reading Paul Kurtz, Iconic Cybersecurity Leader and Founder of TruSTAR
Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (ret) on leadership in the modern age
Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Retired), is an author, speaker and board member with extensive experience in intelligence operations. During his 30 year career as a naval intelligence officer he lead major operational intelligence efforts, rising to the position of Director of Intelligence (J2) for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Upon retirement from the Navy he formed a consultancy delivering solutions and lessons learned around intelligence to corporate America.
Continue Reading Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (ret) on leadership in the modern age
Dr. Melissa Flagg of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology
Dr. Melissa Flagg is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University. Previously she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research, responsible for policy and oversight Defense Department science and technology programs including basic research through advanced technology development and the DoD laboratory enterprise. She has worked at the State Department, the Office of Naval Research, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Army Research Laboratory.
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Mark Weatherford On Leading Change As a CISO
Mark Weatherford is an icon in the cybersecurity field. He is widely known as a mission focused leader who builds teams and gets hard things done. His career included success in the US Navy as a cryptologist, leadership and management in a major defense integrator, CISO for two states (Colorado and California), CISO of the nation’s regulatory organization for our power grid (the NERC), head of security efforts for the newly formed DHS, and operational CISO roles and advisory board positions for several US corporations.
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Matt Devost on Hacking Entrepreneurship and Identifying Threats and Opportunities
In this OODAcast, the tables are turned as OODA Network Expert Jen Hoar interviews CEO Matt Devost and they discuss how Matt consistently identified new threats and opportunities by blending eccentric interests into a career as a serial entrepreneur and become an established expert on cybersecurity, counterterrorism, and technology issues.
Continue Reading Matt Devost on Hacking Entrepreneurship and Identifying Threats and Opportunities
Kevin Roberts on Leadership, Decision-making, and Focused Action
Kevin Roberts has had an illustrious career spanning many industries over numerous continents including serving as Chairman and CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, one of the world’s leading creative organizations, where he had responsibility for the effectiveness of several of the world’s leading advertising budgets including for clients Toyota and Procter & Gamble. Today, his company Red Rose Consulting counsels business leaders and employees on creative thinking, marketing, and leadership.
Kevin is the author of several best-selling books, including an OODA Top 10 Book of the Year for 2017; 64 Shots: Leadership in a Crazy World. OODA CEO, Matt Devost has given away dozens of copies of 64 Shots and it remains a personal favorite of his for the insight and inspiration it provides.
In this OODAcast, Kevin provides his perspective on leadership, creativity, decision-making, and driving focus and action to be successful in business and life.
Continue Reading Kevin Roberts on Leadership, Decision-making, and Focused Action
Michael Kanaan, Author of T-Minus AI Discusses Artificial Intelligence and Global Power
Michael Kanaan has helped a wide swath of decision-makers better grasp the nature of AI. He has a knack for expressing complex topics in clear, accurate and succinct ways and many of us in the national security community have already had the pleasure of hearing from him in person or in conferences.
His book, T-Minus AI: Humanity’s Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power, provides context and insights in a way that can help concerned citizens and business leaders better grasp the issues of AI. He gives us all a call to action to learn more because as he makes clear in the book, the countdown to AI is actually over.
Jim Miller on Managing Policy in an Age of Constant Disruption and Dynamic Threats
Jim Miller has worked for four decades on a combination of private and public sector initiatives focused on addressing a wide variety of national security threats. He has held numerous positions within the Department of Defense including serving as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and has been awarded the DoD’s highest civilian award four times.
In this OODAcast, we discuss a wide variety of topics including how to use red teaming to plan for emerging threats and opportunities, how to bridge the gap between planning and execution, lessons-learned from 40 years of working with top strategists and thinkers, and the emerging threat landscape.
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Chet Richards on John Boyd and applying OODA principles to the business world
Chet Richards was a close associate of the late US Air Force Colonel John Boyd. He was there as the concept of the OODA Loop was being developed and constructed the first graphics of the OODA Loop from sketches Boyd drew. Chet is the author of the widely read business book “Certain to Win” which was the first book to describe Boyd’s strategy in terms familiar to business leaders and show how the OODA Loop and associated Boyd concepts apply to today’s business problems.
In this OODAcast Matt Devost and Bob Gourley ask the questions they have always wondered about Boyd and Richard’s creative processes, their interactions with other great thought leaders, the relation of the OODA model to the writings of business strategists and how it inspired others like Tom Peters, and the power of building a trust-based network of peers.
Continue Reading Chet Richards on John Boyd and applying OODA principles to the business world
Courtney Bowman, Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineer, Palantir Technologies
Courtney Bowman leads Palantir’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineering Team. In this capacity he works extensively with local, state and international governments and philanthropic partners to develop technology-driven solutions to information sharing needs that respect applicable privacy, security and data integrity requirements. He does so in a way that is informed by experience and well thought out approaches that we consider an exemplar for tech firms, enterprises and government data strategists. In this OODAcast we examine some of his approaches.
Continue Reading Courtney Bowman, Privacy and Civil Liberties Engineer, Palantir Technologies
Kevin DeSanto On Due Diligence and M&A Transactions and Trust Based Networking
Kevin DeSanto is an investment banker delivering advice and execution assistance to high growth businesses preparing for M&A and financial transactions. His company, KippsDeSanto, has developed a reputation for trusted execution support for companies in government contracting, aerospace, defense and cybersecurity. He leads teams that advise senior management, boards of directors and shareholders.
The art and science of this type of investment banking can only be perfected by experience and Kevin has just that. In this OODAcast we tapped into his experience to bring out lessons relevant to any CEO seeking to build future value and prepare for future events. This includes getting Kevin’s insights into the best way to prepare for due diligence assessments.
Continue Reading Kevin DeSanto On Due Diligence and M&A Transactions and Trust Based Networking
Bradley Rotter On The Future Of Work, CryptoCurrencies, Quantum Computing and Leadership
Bradley Rotter is a visionary investor who has pioneered investments in many new alternative investments classes including having been an early backer of hedge funds in 1982 while speculating on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He was also an early investor in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency ecosystems and at a dinner with OODA CEO Matt Devost in 2012 predicted Bitcoin would exceed the price of gold.
Andy Lustig On Legal and Due Diligence Support In The High Tech Era
Andrew (Andy) Lustig is a partner at the high tech law firm Cooley, where he focuses on private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions and the general corporate representation of high-growth technology companies in both the commercial and government marketplace. His practice includes a wide range of industry sectors including information technology, national security, cybersecurity, data analytics, software and telecommunications. He also represents a number of leading venture capital and private equity firms.
Continue Reading Andy Lustig On Legal and Due Diligence Support In The High Tech Era
Paul Pagnato, CEO and Founder at PagnatoKarp and Author of The Transparency Wave
Paul Pagnato migrated from a career as a scientist looking for life in outer space to one of the top financial advisors in the U.S. with a keen eye for tracking innovation, exponential change, and other emerging global issues. He is also the author of the recent book, The Transparency Wave, which highlights the essential role that transparency plays in future innovation and entrepreneurial success.
Paul A. Pagnato is Co-Chairman Cresset, Founder PagnatoKarp, a top family office and private wealth management firm with over $9.5 billion assets under management.¹ Paul is a top advisor with more than 27 years of industry leadership, ranked #1 in Virginia on Forbes Top Wealth Advisors and #2 in Virginia on Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors lists. PagnatoKarp is Best Multi-Family Office ($2.5B to $5B AUM/AUA) by Family Wealth Report Awards and a Virginia Business Best Place to Work.
Continue Reading Paul Pagnato, CEO and Founder at PagnatoKarp and Author of The Transparency Wave
Alsop-Louie Partner and Famed Tech Executive Bill Crowell on Technology Due Diligence
Bill Crowell is a senior executive with extensive experience in government (rose to the level of Deputy Director of the National Security Agency) and in industry. He has been a CEO of leading companies like Cylink, taking them through growth to acquisition. He has been a director of multiple public and private companies with a track record of steering firms to profitability and successful exits. He continues to serve on corporate boards while also helping steer successful operations at one of the most famed Venture Capital firms in the nation, Alsop-Louie.
Bill has been a boss, mentor, friend and advisor to both Bob Gourley and Matt Devost through the years, and has long been a valuable member of our OODA Network.
Brad Meltzer, Bestselling Novelist With Insights To Inform Your Business Strategy
Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cupler Ring Trilogy (The Inner Circle, The Fifth Assassin, The President’s Shadow), The Escape Artist, The Book of Lies and many other thrillers loved by millions for their realism and well researched fact based themes and drama filled plots. He is also widely known for his non-fiction history including The First Conspiracy, a work based on extensive research that reads like a thriller while giving the foundational stories of the nation’s espionage and counterintelligence services. His most recent non-fiction book examines a plot to kill Abraham Lincoln while he was on his way to his inauguration. This one too reads like a thriller, exposing us to the realities of a era when the nation was divided by polarizing political factions.
Continue Reading Brad Meltzer, Bestselling Novelist With Insights To Inform Your Business Strategy
OODA Expert John Robb on Global Guerrillas and Frameworks to Drive Decision Making
There is hardly a person more suited to speak with the OODA team on OODA Loops that former Air Force pilot John Robb. John has worked successfully in a variety of domains to include the special operations community, as an industry analyst, successful start-up founder, and national security expert.
John Robb has distinguished himself with a career of critical analysis on a variety of security, technology, and cultural issues throughout his career to include his popular book “Brave New War” and his current Global Guerrillas content community and the GG Report.
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Bobbie Stempfley of Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute
The leadership team at OODA have had the pleasure of working with and learning from Bobbie Stempfley since her leadership of the Department of Defense Computer Emergency Response Team (DoD CERT) after she established it in the late 1990’s. This OODAcast captures insights from Bobbie that can inform the action of leadership of corporate and government leaders alike.
Continue Reading Bobbie Stempfley of Carnegie Mellon University Software Engineering Institute
Marc Ambinder of USC Annenberg School For Communication and Journalism
Marc Ambinder is a journalist, researcher, historian, author of bestselling books and a teacher/mentor to many. We invited him on the OODAcast to help our community as we continue to look for insights that can drive operational decisions. For 20 years, Marc Ambinder has told true and complex stories about the world, revealed some of its deeper secrets, and has taught thousands of others how to do the same.
He has managed teams of reporters, consultants and students, and has co-created several innovative digital news products. As a reporter, Ambinder held positions at the zenith of journalism (ABC News, CBS News, the Atlantic). He has collaborated with industry (Disney/ABC, Facebook, Palantir) and has made excursions into academia (Penn, USC). An SME on national security, American politics, elections and government, corporate communications, digital and cybersecurity and nuclear policy, he is at present the counter-disinformation lead for USC’s Election Cybersecurity initiative.
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Peter Singer on Burn-In
Burn-In is anchored in the realities we see all around us today. Artificial Intelligence is coming fast and changing the nature of many jobs, robots and automation are bringing tremendous new capabilities but also threatening humanity with loss of employment opportunities. Parenting in a world where everyone, including kids, are always connected is already changing how we raise the next generation. And citizens with employment, privacy and security concerns are already taking action to be heard and to have a voice in what happens next. P.W. Singer and his co-author August Cole have been tracking these megatrends for years and based their book on the realities of today extrapolated into the near future.
Congressman Will Hurd on AI, 5G, Cybersecurity Risk and Geopolitical Risk
In this OODAcast, OODA LLC CEO Matt Devost interviews Congressman Will Hurd in a wide ranging discussion that touches on issues of geopolitical risk, cybersecurity, cyber risk and ways to help ensure our nation is prepared to compete and win in an age of rapid technological innovation. Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Communications (5G) and other mega-trends of technology are examined, as well as insights into leadership in the modern world.
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Robert Fink of Palantir on Lessons Learned From Using Data In Crisis Response
Robert Fink is on the leadership team at Palantir, where he has helped shape their approach to product design and architecture. He has also played major roles in ensuring the company stays focused on the mission needs of customers today, and, through shaping R&D, is helping ensure the company is better able to serve the needs of future customers and future missions.
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JC Raby On Creating Value in Disruptive Markets
We invited Boston Merdian’s co-founder and partner JC Raby on to the OODAcast do discuss his insights into the market today as well as his views on things companies can do to ensure they position themselves for the best possible transaction in the future. We also asked his advice for the strategic investor/buyer of firms including context on due diligence prior to an event.
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Renowned Business Executive Scott McNealy, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems, On Leadership
Scott McNealy was a co-founder and CEO of Sun Microsystems and has one of the longest-running tenures as the CEO of a Fortune 500 company in history. He was one of the few businessmen that played a critical role in the emergence of the Silicon Valley technology industry that exists today and is a highly sought after advisor for technology companies.
CEO of Percipient Balan Ayyar on the OODA Loop in Business
Balan Ayyar is the Founder and CEO of Percipient.ai, a Silicon Valley based artificial intelligence firm focused on delivering products and solutions for the most pressing intelligence and national security challenges. We have been tracking this leader for years and have watched him inspire many to achieve great things. His leadership in senior officer roles in the US Air Force (he is a retired Brigadier General) included tours in combat zones and commands back in the US, including at one point leading the entire Air Force recruiting system. His visionary leadership in the corporate world resulted in the creation of a new firm providing new AI capabilities that are already serving some of the most critical missions in the nation. He is a disciplined visionary with an incredible thurst for learning and a knack for connecting with others.
Continue Reading CEO of Percipient Balan Ayyar on the OODA Loop in Business
Expert Practitioner of Analysis Carmen Medina on Mental Models and Cognitive Bias
Carmen Medina served 32 years in senior positions at the Central Intelligence Agency, most of which focused on one of the hardest tasks in the community, that of analysis. Carmen rose to lead the strategic assessments group for the agency, then was deputy director of intelligence, the most senior leadership position for analysis at the agency and one of the most senior positions in the entire intelligence community. She also spent time as the director of the Center for the Study of Intelligence, where she oversaw ways to teach, mentor and improve analysis for the community.
Continue Reading Expert Practitioner of Analysis Carmen Medina on Mental Models and Cognitive Bias
Lou Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ, On Reducing Adversary Attack Paths
Elias (Lou) Manousos is a recognized expert in Internet security and fraud prevention. He has been developing and delivering enterprise protection technologies for more than 15 years. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw2jfDJXdww&t=12s As CEO of RiskIQ, he has spearheaded a new approach that helps Internet, financial services, healthcare, media and consumer packaged goods companies protect their brands from online…
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Operational Cybersecurity Leader Cameron Over
Cameron Over leads the Cyber & Privacy service line at CrossCountry Consulting. Cameron has extensive past performance in cybersecurity, including experience advising organizations with transforming their cybersecurity and privacy programs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX-_bOLP2Ks&t=62s Cameron has been in the field of information security since the late 90’s. From mid-high school, she was exposed to early network discovery techniques…
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Cybersecurity Icon Phil Reitinger, CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance
Phil Reitinger has been been a pioneer in cutting edge concepts for reducing risks in cyberspace for years. He was a special assistant US Attorney in the late 1990’s, a time when high end nation state attacks were on the rise and the application of US law to help counter threats was in a nascent stage. He helped move the Department of Justice to more vigorous action in cyberspace as Deputy Chief of the DoJ Computer Crime Section. He was appointed to lead the DoD Cyber Crime Center, one of the nation’s most highly regarded computer crime forensics organizations. He would later serve as an executive at Microsoft and then return to government service as a Deputy Undersecretary of Homeland Security as that organization was assuming new roles in defense of the nation’s cyberspace.
Continue Reading Cybersecurity Icon Phil Reitinger, CEO of the Global Cyber Alliance