Ron Bewtra is the chief technology officer of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Bewtra is currently responsible for NOAA’s big data partnership initiative with the goal of seeking collaborators to extract value from data, launch new businesses and create jobs.

He also works to lead the agency’s high-performance computing integrated management team and oversee information technology at NOAA’s geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory located at Princeton University’s Forrestal campus.

Bewtra helped NOAA establish the agency’s five-year network strategic plan and network optimization program.

Kevin Meiners serves as an assistant director at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence with responsibility in acquisition, technology and facilities for national intelligence programs.

He was previously responsible for the strategic planning and execution of the military intelligence program in a prior role as the deputy defense undersecretary for intelligence strategies, programs and resources.

Prior to that role, Meiners served as director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems within the office of assistant defense secretary for command, control and communication.

He was also the director of advanced technology within the defense airborne reconnaissance office, where he led the development of unmanned aircraft vehicle programs and an ISR ground component.

Meiners started his career as a GS-5 electronics engineer at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command and later moved to the Naval Air Systems Command.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree management information systems from Marymount University and another master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

Kate Brandt serves as the U.S.’ federal environmental executive and holds responsibility for implementing environmental and energy sustainability policies across the federal government.

Prior to this role, she held a senior adviser role at the Energy Department and worked to help the agency develop and execute the Obama administration’s climate action plan.

She has also served as a director for energy and environment in the Office of Presidential Personnel, as a special adviser to the Secretary of the Navy on energy issues and as a policy analyst at the White House’s Office of Energy and Climate Change.

Brandt became a policy director for the U.S. government’s efforts to establish a long-term recovery plan following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

She is also a New Leaders Council Fellow and serves on the Women’s Council on Energy and Environment.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge.

Nicholas Metzgar the former deputy technical director of the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive Office and deputy program manager of the Business Risk Analysis Clearinghouse within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

He has more than 10 years of intelligence analysis experience working on business issues in East Asia and other international locations and is a recipient of an ODNI National Intelligence Analysis Award in 2012.

Metzgar, who studied Chinese at the Defense Language Institute, has served as a Chinese interpreter for the U.S. Navy for six years.

He earned an MBA degree with specialization in international business from the Thunderbird School of International Business.

Metzgar is currently president of Reston, Virginia-based LemonFish, an analytics-as-a-service company that he co-founded.

Jason Miller works as an executive editor and reporter for Federal News Radio and the station’s website.

As executive editor, Miller coordinates the coverage of the station’s reporters in areas such as technology, procurement, finance and human resource.

He also covers cybersecurity, cloud, mobile computing and acquisition policies and programs as a reporter and interviews agency chief information officers on their priorities and challenges for the Ask the CIO program.

Miller joined Federal News Radio in March 2008 after he worked at GCN and previously Federal Computer Week, with focus on governmentwide technology issues.

He also worked at Set-Aside Alert, where he covered small business and minority-owned business contracting topics between 1998 and 2001.

Timothy Callahan leads the Defense Contract Management Agency‘s efforts to develop policies and processes and equip personnel with training and other mission support tools as DCMA’s executive director for contracts.

He reports to the agency’s director on all contract administration services matters.

Prior to DCMA, Callahan served as senior vice president of contracts at S&K Technologies and provided guidance on the contract management activities of all five subsidiaries of the federally-chartered corporation.

Callahan is also a former assistant VP and senior business area manager for Science Applications International Corp.

He served the U.S. Air Force for close to three decades and served as deputy director of the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center’s Contracting Directorate, where he held oversight over support services procurement functions for J-STARS and other missions.

Callahan graduated from the University of the South, Oklahoma City University, the residence programs of Air War College and Air Command and Staff College, and earned his professional contracts manager certification in 1995.

Jeff Johnson serves as chief technology officer and assistant director of the information technology engineering division at the FBI.

In this role, he is responsible for development of IT tools to support case management, data management and mobility functions.

He joined the FBI in August 2009 and has since worked on projects such as Sentinel, the Asset Management System, Next Generation Workstation and Basejumper.

The bureau gave him the FBI Director’s Award for Outstanding Information Management in 2012 for his work on Sentinel, which he also gained recognition for with the the 2013 Attorney General’s Award for Excellence in Information Technology and the 2013 Computer World Honors Laureate Award.

He served as director of sales at Aditi Technologies’ financial services business prior to the FBI.

From 2004 to 2008, Johnson served in technology roles as windows server engineering and support manager and unified communications manager with Lehman Brothers.

He also spent five years in the U.S. Navy, where he attained the rank of lieutenant and was responsible for the training, development and execution of information systems security policies for much of the operational Navy.

Johnson holds a bachelor’s degree with merit in marine engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and is a 2014 ComputerWorld Premier 100 IT Leaders award recipient.

Marcel Lettre serves as principal deputy defense undersecretary for intelligence and functions as program executive for the country’s military intelligence program.

He represents the Defense Department on intelligence and sensitive operations to the CIA, National Security Council, and other elements of the intelligence community; and also works as ODNI’s director of defense intelligence.

Prior to his current role, Lettre was the deputy chief of staff at the Office of the Secretary of Defense between 2011 and 2013.

For the two years prior, he served as principal deputy assistant defense secretary and was responsible for work to promote the policies, strategies and budget of DoD to Congress.

From 2005 to 2009, Lettre served as senior defense and intelligence adviser and then as senior national security adviser to the Senate majority leader.

In that role, he handled all “Gang of 8” intelligence matters for the majority leader; shaped national security legislation and intelligence policy initiatives; and helped to achieve passage of the annual defense authorization and appropriations bills and war supplementals.

Previously, he served three years on the staff of the House Intelligence Committee and focused on intelligence after-action reviews on the 9/11 terrorist attacks and weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

He also advised on the 2004 Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which created the national intelligence director position.

Lettre holds a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s degree from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser serves as director for joint force development at the Joint Staff.

A native of South St. Paul, Minnesota and a graduate of Bemidji State University, he was commissioned in 1976 as an infantry officer.

As a field grade officer, Lt. Gen. Waldhauser was a battalion landing team operations officer and served on the faculty of the Amphibious Warfare School.

As a colonel in 2000, he assumed command of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which participated in combat operations in Southern Afghanistan and Iraq.

In 2003, Lt. Gen. Waldhauser was appointed to the rank of brigadier general and his initial assignments were commanding general, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and deputy commander, Marine Corps Combat Development Command. From 2006-2007, he served as chief of staff, U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Florida.

As a major general, he commanded the 1st Marine Division from 2007-2009.

Lt. Gen. Waldhauser was promoted to lieutenant general in 2009 and served as the deputy commandant for plans, policies, and operations. From 2010-2012, he served as the commanding general of both the I Marine Expeditionary Force and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command. He then served as the senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense from 2012-2013.

Prior to assuming his current role, he served as the director of operations, Joint Staff J3.

Lt. Gen. Waldhauser holds a master’s degree in national security strategies from the National War College. He also attended the U.S. Army Ranger School, Jumpmaster School, Amphibious Warfare School and the Marine Corps Command and Staff College.

John Higbee serves as Defense Acquisition University’s director of mission assistance and director of knowledge repository.

As director of DAU mission assistance, he leads the establishment and improvement of multiple university-wide processes for mission assistance and also the improvement in communication and coordination between the DAU business units providing mission assistance.

As director of DAU knowledge repository, Higbee is responsible for DAU’s online knowledge assets including the defense acquisition portal and the acquisition community connection.

Prior to his current roles, he was director of the acquisition program management division for the Department of Homeland Security.

Before joining DHS, Higbee served as director of DAU executive programs and dean of Defense Systems Management College.

After his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 2002, he assumed duties as an executive-in-residence and professor of program management at DAU.

A nuclear submariner, Captain Higbee served on seven attack and ballistic missile submarines, culminating in command of USS Von Steuben from 1990 to 1993.

Following his at-sea command, he was assigned to various roles including: as combat system design manager, Virginia-class submarine program; deputy program manager, submarine regional warfare program; program manager, Navy undersea weapons program; acting deputy assistant secretary of the Navy; and as military deputy to the DASN.

Higbee holds a master’s degree in engineering from The Catholic University of America and a bachelor’s degree, majoring in physics, from the U.S. Naval Academy. He is also a graduate of the DAU advanced and executive program management courses, the Cornell University executive development program, and the Federal Executive Institute.