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"There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other."
- Desiderius Erasmus

Pierre Chao, Managing Partner

Pierre Chao is a co-founder and managing partner of Renaissance Strategic Advisors. He has twenty-six years of aerospace/defense management consulting, investment banking, equity analysis and policy analysis expertise.
 
Prior to establishing Renaissance Strategic Advisors, Mr. Chao was the Director of Defense-Industrial Initiatives at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington D.C.-based, non-partisan defense and foreign policy think tank from 2003-2007.
 
Before joining CSIS, Mr. Chao was a Managing Director and senior aerospace/defense analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) between 1999 and 2003, where he was responsible for following the U.S. and global aerospace/defense industry. He remained a CSFB independent senior adviser from 2003 to 2006. From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Chao was the senior aerospace/defense analyst at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. He served as the senior aerospace/defense industry analyst at Smith Barney in 1994 and as a director at JSA International, a Boston/Paris-based management-consulting firm that focused on the aerospace/defense industry from 1986 to 1988,  and 1990 to 1993. Mr. Chao was also a co-founder of JSA Research, an equity research boutique specializing in the aerospace/defense industry. Before signing on with JSA, he worked in the New York and London offices of Prudential-Bache Capital Funding as a mergers and acquisitions banker focusing on aerospace/defense from 1988 to 1990.

Over the course of his Wall Street career, Mr. Chao’s team was ranked #1 by Institutional Investor every year eligible and he was on the Institutional Investor All-America Research Team every year eligible. He participated in thirty-one landmark aerospace/defense equity offerings and IPOs, raising $11.7 billion, and dozens of buy-side and sell-side M&A assignments.

He is also a guest lecturer at the National Defense University and the Defense Acquisition University, and he has served on multiple Defense Science Board, Defense Business Board and National Academies of Science task forces.  Pierre serves on the board of directors of KeyW Corporation (NASD: KEYW)
 
Mr. Chao holds dual degrees in Political Science and Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
 
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John J. Kenkel, Managing Partner

John J. Kenkel is a co-founder and managing partner of Renaissance Strategic Advisors and has years of experience in due diligence support, corporate planning, customer and program analyses, opportunity identification, and other analytical services. He specializes in the U.S. and international defense industry and in strategic planning and business development processes.
 
Prior to establishing Renaissance Strategic Advisors, Mr. Kenkel was the senior director and global practice head at Jane’s Strategic Advisory Services (JSAS), the consulting division of Jane’s Information Group. He was a founding member of JSAS and managed a staff of over twenty consultants in three countries, and also managed bbbdozens of consulting assignments for industry and governments on five continents and more than fifteen countries.
 
From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Kenkel was also a member of the Board of Directors for Jane’s Information Group, Inc., the U.S. arm of Jane’s global operations. As a senior executive in the Jane’s organization he assisted with corporate strategy and interacted with leaders across the organization.
 
Mr. Kenkel was an Associate with DFI International from 2000 to 2004, a boutique consulting firm specializing in strategic advice to the aerospace/defense industry. There, he led a team that established DFI’s international practice as well as its global network of analysts.
 
Prior to DFI, Mr. Kenkel was an analyst with The IBP Aerospace Group between 1998 and 2000, where he worked with former Soviet and Eastern European nations to market defense and aerospace systems to the U.S. and Western Europe. While with IBP, he worked in both a business development and operations capacity, as well as managed the ITAR related import and export work.
 
Mr. Kenkel is recognized as an expert in the aerospace/defense markets. He has contributed to Jane’s publications, Defense News, Worth Magazine, Canadian Broadcast Corporation, NPR, BBC and CBS’ 60 Minutes. Additionally, Mr. Kenkel has spoken at events worldwide on such topics as international defense market access, global defense budgets and the creation of corporate defense alliances. He is also an active advisor to the international financial community on issues related to global defense trends.
 
Mr. Kenkel holds degrees in Diplomacy & Foreign Affairs and Political Science from Miami University in Oxford, OH.
 
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Jeffrey Roncka, Managing Partner

Jeffrey Roncka is a managing partner of Renaissance Strategic Advisors and offers clients 17 years of diverse experience in the national security arena.  Mr. Roncka’s background in the defense industry spans both the public and private sectors, including positions in Federal Government, investment banking, management consulting, litigation support services and governance, and having served on the board of directors of a publicly traded aerospace supplier.  He has years of experience in due diligence support, corporate planning, customer and program analyses, opportunity identification, and other analytical services. He specializes in the U.S. and international defense industry and in strategic planning and business development processes.
 
Jeff joined RSAdvisors in 2011.  His prior experience includes eight years at Charles River Associates, where he led their Washington DC-based defense consulting team.  Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President at Global Technology Partners, LLC, a transaction advisory boutique founded by former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry and affiliated with the Rothschild family of investment banks.  Mr. Roncka’s Federal Government experience began with his appointment as a Presidential Management Fellow in 1995, after which he spent five years in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Technology focusing on two issues:  industrial policy and cruise and ballistic missile defense.  Complementing his largely DoD government background were short-term positions at the Department of State and Central Intelligence Agency.
 
The core of Mr. Roncka’s consulting offer is helping clients understand and adapt to their evolving business environment.  In particular, he is expert in generating corporate development growth strategies at the operating group or enterprise level, and then working with senior executives to design and execute merger and acquisition strategies that advance them. On the strategy side, Jeff has been active in recent years helping US and international clients formulate and execute M&A-driven strategies in a wide-range of market sectors, including naval systems and sustainment, electro-optical / infrared sensors, aircraft modification and maintenance, MIL-SPEC / COTS semiconductors, airborne SIGINT, operationally responsive space, missiles and precision guided weapons and contingency support products and services.
 
In terms of M&A, Jeff has participated in over sixty aerospace/defense transaction processes over the past decade, representing a diverse range of US and international strategic and financial clients.  He has worked on deals ranging in size from less than $5 million in enterprise value to over $4 billion.  Mr. Roncka’s role on these transactions has varied, and his experience includes deal sourcing, sell-side buyer identification and offering memorandum drafting, buy-side due-diligence, structuring to accommodate non-US acquirers of cleared US companies, and antitrust clearance support.

Jeff graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard College with an A.B. degree in Modern European History and subsequently completed his Master’s degree in National Security Policy from The George Washington University.  Mr. Roncka also completed professional development courses in system program management at the Defense Acquisition University and in Mergers and Acquisition at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. 


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David Scruggs, Managing Partner

David Scruggs is a co-founder, managing partner and chief operating officer of Renaissance Strategic Advisors and has over twenty-five years of experience in management consulting, strategic due diligence and market assessments. Prior to establishing Renaissance Strategic Advisors, Mr. Scruggs was a Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based, non-partisan defense and foreign policy think tank.
 
Prior to CSIS, from 1999 to 2003, Mr. Scruggs was the Director of Washington D.C. Operations for JSA Partners where he advised Global 500 companies on market and competitive strategies at the division, group and corporate levels. He was the senior advisor for all investment due-diligence projects during his tenure at JSA. He also worked closely with the Department of Defense's Office of the Secretary of Defense.
 
Before joining JSA, he was a manager with A.T. Kearney's Global Aerospace and Telecommunications Practices from 1994 to 1999, based in Boston and Washington D.C. There, Mr. Scruggs managed over two dozen consulting assignments in the U.S. and Europe covering supply-chain improvement, strategic positioning, market assessment, technical and investment due-diligence.
 
Positions prior to A.T. Kearney include: Vice President of Security Pacific Realty Ventures (1990-1992), Vice President of Security Pacific National Bank (1986-1990) and Assistant Vice President of Lloyd's Bank California (1982-1986).
 
Mr. Scruggs is a recognized expert on defense industry and trade issues. He speaks at industry and policy conferences in the U.S. and Europe. He has also been quoted in the major trade and general press on various defense industry topics.
 
Mr. Scruggs holds a Master of Arts in International Law & Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and BA degrees in Economics and History from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
 
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Matthew Mejía, Managing Partner

Matthew Mejía is a Managing Partner with Renaissance Strategic Advisors.  With over eleven years of aerospace & defense experience in management consulting, strategic due diligence, and investment banking, Mr. Mejía focuses on Mergers & Acquisitions and related advisory services for industry clients and financial sponsors

Prior to joining Renaissance Strategic Advisors in 2009, Mr. Mejía held leadership positions with the aerospace & defense practices at Booz & Company (formerly Booz Allen Hamilton) and Charles River Associates International.  His responsibilities included business development, client relations, and project management.  Specific results included the successful management of numerous engagements with major strategic and financial clients involving transaction support, due diligence, and corporate strategy.

Mr. Mejía also spent eight years as an investment banker at First Equity Development, a boutique investment bank focused on aerospace & defense advisory and merchant banking activities.  As Vice President, Matthew had direct responsibility for new business generation, transaction execution, and client development and relations.  Specific transaction experience included numerous international and domestic advisory assignments including sell side, buy side, M&A strategy, due diligence, and capital raising as well as extensive support for several portfolio companies owned by First Equity’s merchant bank.

At First Equity, Mr. Mejía also created and managed a business unit to advise presidential appointees at the Departments of Defense and Justice on industrial base issues.   Specific assignments included reviews of the Transformation of the Defense Industrial Base, International Support of the Joint Strike Fighter, the Military
Helicopter Industry, and extensive reviews and analyses of major mergers & acquisitions involving companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Honeywell.

Mr. Mejía is a graduate of the Jerome Fisher Management & Technology dual degree program at the University of Pennsylvania, earning a B.S., Economics from Wharton with a concentration in International Law & Policy and a B.A.S., Systems Engineering from the School of Engineering & Applied Science.  In addition, he is a past fellow at the NASA Glenn Research Center and was a student private pilot.


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John Gaffney, Managing Principal

John Gaffney is a Managing Principal with Renaissance Strategic Advisors. From 2002 - 2009, Mr. Gaffney was Vice President and Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for SAIC’s $3.5 billion Defense Solutions Group and, prior to that, for SAIC’s Engineering, Training and Logistics Group.  He had responsibility for development of the Groups’ long-range strategy, and for sourcing, validating and closing acquisitions that helped drive that strategy.  From 1998-2000, Mr. Gaffney was a Vice President in SAIC’s corporate venture capital arm.  During his tenure at SAIC, he closed acquisitions totaling approximately $400M in revenues, including ProcureNet, Cornerstone Technologies, Varec, Icon Systems, and most recently Forterra Systems.  He has also sourced and closed venture investments in telecommunications software and hardware firms on behalf of SAIC totaling approximately $70M

Earlier in his career,  Mr. Gaffney led successful capital raising and corporate development efforts for Ceon Corporation, a startup provider of telecommunications provisioning software.  From 1996-1998, he was a commercial banker covering the defense, aerospace and telecommunications industries for J.P. Morgan and Co.  From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Gaffney was Director of Research and Analysis for Hicks and Associates, a strategy and market  research consulting firm with clients in the defense and aerospace industries.

Mr. Gaffney holds an M.A. in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies  and a B.A in International Relations and French from Tufts University.   He spent a year as a Fulbright scholar at the Institute of European Studies at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.


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Michael Formosa, Managing Principal

Michael Formosa is a Managing Principal in RSAdvisors’ London office.  With over 20 years of experience in international business planning and expansion, Michael’s expertise covers such topics as M&A industry due diligence, R&D pipeline prioritisation and development, regulatory risk analysis, business group integration and market prioritisation and capture.

From 2005 and prior to joining RSAdvisors in 2011, Michael served as Director of Jane’s Strategic Advisory Services in London and was responsible for business relationships throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia/Pacific.  At JSAS, Michael provided strategic recommendations to foreign and defence ministries, multinational defence firms and financial institutions.  Client engagements covered market forecasting/sizing, price modelling, competitive intelligence and R&D prioritisation.  For government clients he provided military capability development planning, OSINT support, economic and geopolitical analysis.  His responsibilities also included the establishment of on-the-ground assets, including diversified market intelligence sources in key countries such as India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Brazil.

Previous to serving at Jane’s, Michael led a US-based sector team within a British Government-funded consulting operation.  As an Honorary Vice Consul from 1999 to 2005, he delivered US market analysis and strategic recommendations to UK industry and institutions such as the Confederation of British Industry, the Minister of State for Small Business, various Parliamentary committees, and HM Treasury.  Michael has also worked in enterprises focusing on the international sale and distribution of supply chain products, including dual-use technologies for rotary-wing aircraft and consumables for combat aircraft and armoured vehicle manufacturing.  Covering emerging markets, he negotiated numerous distribution and licensing agreements with a mixed portfolio of industrial partners, financial institutions and US government agencies.

Michael holds a BA from Hofstra University, and an MSc in international affairs with a concentration in economic development from the New School for Social Research.

 

 

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Jacob Markish, Principal

Jacob Markish joined Renaissance Strategic Advisors in 2011 with eight years of experience as a consultant in Charles River Associates’ Aerospace & Defense practice, where he specialized in aerospace technology, economics, and business strategy.   His work has spanned a broad array of aerospace & defense industrial sectors—from space launch to defense electronics and commercial aircraft; technology areas—from vacuum tubes to avionics systems and advanced composites; and strategy consulting functions—from corporate planning to market analysis, M&A strategy, and due diligence.  Among Jacob’s current areas of focus are growth strategy formulation for transatlantic corporate development, technology valuation and investment under uncertain market conditions, and the interrelationship of innovation and corporate strategy in aerospace and defense.

Prior to CRA, Jacob worked in a commercial aircraft advanced design team at Boeing Phantom Works, performing configuration analysis and business case analysis on the Blended Wing Body aircraft.  His work was part of a collaborative research project with MIT that formed the basis for his Master of Science thesis, entitled “Valuation Techniques for Commercial Aircraft Program Design,”  which addressed the problem of concurrent engineering design and financial project valuation in the context of capital investment decisions for large commercial aircraft programs.

Jacob’s other industry experience includes conceptual design trade studies on launch vehicles and launch trajectory algorithm development at Boeing Space & Communications; guidance and navigation system development for space vehicles at Lockheed Martin Astronautics; and industry research for the Lean Aerospace Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)


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Ryan Peoples, Principal

Ryan Peoples is a Principal with Renaissance Strategic Advisors, where he supports clients’ strategic development, merger and acquisition, and market assessment initiatives. His experience in the aerospace and defense industry has spanned business consulting and engineering roles.

Prior to joining Renaissance Strategic Advisors, Ryan was a management consultant in the aerospace and defense practice of Charles River Associates (CRA) from 2004 to 2010.  At CRA, he led and executed numerous engagements focused on M&A strategy and transaction advisory services, corporate and market strategy development, and market, program, and technology assessments.  Clients supported represent a broad cross-section of industry participants, including strategy and corporate development executives, business development and program management leads, and investors.  His specific sectors of industry expertise encompass land warfare systems; civil and military aircraft; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); and unmanned systems.

Before focusing on business consulting, Ryan was a research associate at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) from 2000 to 2004, where he supported technical studies performed for the Department of Defense.  His work at IDA entailed conceptual design and analysis for a range of defense technologies and systems including ballistic missile defense, unmanned systems, and Future Combat Systems. He has also worked at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works as a structural design engineer on advanced programs.

 
Ryan holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)


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The Honorable Kenneth J. Krieg, Executive in Residence

Ken Krieg is an Executive in Residence with Renaissance Strategic Advisors.  He was the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics from 2005-2007.  He was responsible for advising the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on all matters relating to the DoD Acquisition System, research and development, advanced technology, developmental test and evaluation, production, logistics, installation management, military construction, procurement and environmental security matters.

Before his appointment to USD (AT&L), Mr. Krieg served at the Department of Defense as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Director for Program Analysis & Evaluation.   He joined the Department of Defense in July 2001 to serve as the Executive Secretary of the Senior Executive Council.

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Krieg worked for International Paper, most recently as Vice President and General Manager of the Office and Consumer Papers Division. He had responsibility for the company's $1.4 billion retail, commercial office, and consumer papers businesses. During his 11 years with the Memphis, TN-based company, Mr. Krieg held marketing and sales positions and was actively involved in the merger of three major paper companies into International Paper.    Before moving to industry, Mr. Krieg worked in a number of defense and foreign policy assignments in Washington, DC, including positions at the White House, on the National Security Council Staff, and in Office of the Secretary of Defense.

 

Mr. Krieg received his BA degree in history from Davidson College and his Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Aurora Flight Sciences, Twisted Pair Solutions and White Electronics.  He is a member of the Board of Trustees of LMI and is a member of the SSA Board of DRS Technologies.

 

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Lieutenant General Dick Applegate  CB, OBE, Senior Advisor

Lieutenant General Dick Applegate is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.
 
Dick Applegate left the UK armed forces in 2010 and is now Chairman of a group of companies in the UK defence sector and Managing Director of Eagle Strategic Consulting.  In the year before leaving, he was a final candidate for the post of Chief of Defence Materiel and completed high-level attachments to several global companies in the US, India, Australia and the UK.  Previously, he was the first Chief of Materiel (Land) in the Defence Equipment and Support organisation and a member of the leadership board of the British Army.
 
His experience is unusually broad. It spans international policy formulation and crisis management at the very highest international political levels; combat command in confused and politically-charged operations; main board executive leadership; leadership, management and delivery of complex equipment capabilities and large change programmes; and accountability for UK’s joint supply chain, including logistic and equipment support to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has an international reputation as a pragmatic reformer and innovator, and many of his initiatives – such as the lines of development process - are now standard practice.  He advises, mentors, writes and speaks widely on defence, security and acquisition, and is a prize-winning author.
 
In addition to his UK honours, he is an Honorary French Foreign Legionnaire following combat command of Legionnaires around Sarajevo in 1995, and a holder of the US Legion of Merit (Officer Class).  He is also a Companion of the Chartered Management Institute and a Fellow of the City and Guilds of London Institute.
 


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Ambassador (Ret.) Dell Dailey

Ambassador Dell Dailey is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.
 
Ambassador Dailey is the President of a family owned consultant company. This enterprise is the culmination of four decades of government service with a brief opportunity at President, Pacific Architect and Engineers.
 
Prior to his current efforts in the private sector, he served as the Coordinator for Counterterrorism for The Department of State charged with coordinating and supporting the development and implementation of U.S. Government policies and programs aimed at countering terrorism overseas. As the principal advisor to the Secretary of State (Rice and Clinton) on international counterterrorism matters, he was responsible for taking a leading role in developing coordinated strategies to defeat terrorists abroad and in securing the cooperation of international partners to that end.
 
Ambassador Dailey served over 36 years on active duty in the United States Army. He reached the rank of Lieutenant General as the Director of the Center for Special Operations (CSO), U.S. Special Operations Command, at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. His duties involved participation in all recent major military operations. He is a Master Army Aviator with over 2400 hours flight time, and 400 night vision goggle hours. Additionally he is a Master Parachutist of 120 jumps, with airborne wings from Canada, Germany and Jordan.  During the latter phase of his military career and particularly in the CSO, Ambassador Dailey's professional focus was not only on the military aspect of counterterrorism operations, but also on the need to deal with complex terrorist threats using all appropriate instruments of national power. Under his leadership, the CSO promoted interagency collaboration and built closer partnerships between military personnel and the members of other U.S. Government departments and agencies involved in global counterterrorism activities.
 
He received his Bachelor of Science degree with focus in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1971. Subsequently he earned a Master's degree in Public Administration from Shippensburg University in 1994. In 2008, Ambassador Dailey was recognized by his peers and the Association of Graduates as the youngest Distinguished Graduate from The United States Military Academy.  In 2010 he was inducted into the US Army Aviation Hall of Fame.
 

 
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LTG (Ret.) Charles E. Franklin, Senior Advisor

LTG (Ret.) Charles E. Franklin is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.
 
General Franklin was Vice President of the Raytheon Company Evaluation Team, to which he was appointed in 2003. Previously, he was President of the Integrated Defense Systems business, and Vice President and General Manager of the Raytheon Electronic Systems’ Air and Missile Defense Systems business unit.
 
Prior to joining Raytheon, General Franklin worked for Lockheed Martin-Sanders in Nashua, N.H., as Vice President for Programs and Mission Success and Vice President for Quality and Mission Success.
 
General Franklin held the rank of Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force and was commander of the Electronic Systems Center, Air Force Materiel Command, Hanscom Air Force Base. He was responsible for the Air Force’s Center of Excellence, with more than 500 command and control, communications and intelligence systems. He also oversaw more than $3 billion in programs annually. There, he also served as Deputy Commander, Tactical Systems, and Deputy Commander for the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System.
 
Before transferring to Hanscom Air Force Base, General Franklin held the position of Program Executive Officer, Tactical and Airlift Programs, Air Force Executive Office Organization in Washington, D.C. His earlier assignments included system program director, Advanced Medium- Range Air-to-Air Missiles, at Eglin Air Force Base and commander, Rome Air Development Center, at Griffiss Air Force Base.
 
General Franklin earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech University and a Master of Science in Aeronautical-Mechanical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

 
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Dr. Donald M. Kerr, Senior Advisor

Donald M. Kerr is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.
 
He is currently a Research Professor in George Mason University’s Volgenau School of Engineering, serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the MITRE Corporation, and is an advisor for several aerospace and defense firms. Previously, he was confirmed by the Senate on October 4th, 2007 as Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and served in that position until January 20th, 2009. He was awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal in March 2009.
 
From July 21st, 2005, Dr. Kerr served as the fifteenth Director of the National Reconnaissance Office.  He previously served as Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Central Intelligence Agency since August 2001, and he received the CIA Distinguished Intelligence Medal in September 2005.
 
From October 1997 until August 2001, Dr. Kerr was an Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in charge of the Laboratory Division.  Dr. Kerr’s prior government service was with the Department of Energy from August 1976 through July 1979, first in Las Vegas as Deputy Manager of Nevada Operations, and subsequently in Washington, D.C., as the Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs and later for Energy Technology.
 

Dr. Kerr held several key executive positions in private industry.  From 1993 through 1996, he was Corporate Executive Vice President and Director at Science Applications International Corporation. Dr. Kerr was President and Director of EG&G, Inc., from 1989 through 1992.  He served as a Director of Resources for the Future from 1990 through 1999 and on the Executive Committee of the National Association of Manufacturers Board from 1987 through 1992.  Dr. Kerr was the fourth Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1979 to 1985. He was also employed at Los Alamos from 1966 until 1976, conducting and leading research in high altitude weapons effects, nuclear test detection and analysis, weapons diagnostics, ionospheric physics, and alternative energy programs.
 

Dr. Kerr received his Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1963 and went on to earn an M.S.(1964) in microwave electronics and a Ph.D.(1966) in plasma physics and microwave electronics, all from Cornell University. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and serves as a member of the Defense Science Board.

 

 

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General David M. Maddox (Ret.), Senior Advisor

General Maddox is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.

General Maddox is an independent consultant to civilian corporations, government agencies, and the defense industry on concepts, systems requirements, program strategies, operations and systems effectiveness and analytic techniques and analyses. 

He served on numerous Defense Science Board (DSB), Army Science Board (ASB) and National Academy of Sciences (NAS) task forces, including: Tactics and Technology for 21st Century Military Superiority and Joint Operations Superiority in the 21st Century: Integrating Capabilities Underwriting Joint Vision 2010, and Integrated Fire Support (DSB); Strategic Maneuver, Technical and Tactical Opportunities for Revolutionary Advances in Rapidly Deployable Joint Ground Forces in the 2015-2025 Era, Ensuring the Financial Viability of the Objective Force, and Intra-theater Logistic Distribution (ASB); and studies on C4ISR and Defense Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (NAS).  

General Maddox retired from the U.S. Army after serving as Commander in Chief, U.S. Army in Europe.  While on active duty, he served extensively overseas with four tours in Germany during which he commanded at every level, from platoon through NATO’s Central Army Group, 7th U.S. Army and Theater.
  
His last six years of active duty were in Europe transitioning from the Cold War, through Desert Storm, to the total reengineering of U.S. presence and mission in Europe. General Maddox downsized from over 200 thousand military and civilian employees to fewer than 100 thousand, closed 450 installations, and repositioned one million tons of equipment, significantly reducing payroll, operations, and infrastructure costs while, through demonstrated concern for employee quality of life, increased both productivity and morale.  Concurrently, he transitioned an organization which had conducted 29 deployments involving 11 thousand people in 44 years,  to one which successfully conducted over 50 deployments involving 20 thousand people in 3˝ years responding to unanticipated, diverse political/military crises throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Other assignments include: Commanding General of TRADOC's Combined Arms Operations Research Activity (the predecessor of  TRADOC's  Analysis Command (TRAC))  at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Deputy Chief of Staff for Combat Developments, TRADOC.

General Maddox holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from the Virginia Military Institute and a Master of Science Degree in Operations Research/Systems Analysis with an Engineering Specialty from Southern Illinois University.  His military education culminated in graduation from the Army War College.  He is the recipient of numerous awards, including: the Army’s Commander’s Award for Public Service, the Secretary of the Army’s Public Service Award, the Military Operations Research Society’s Wanner Award, the Institute for Operations Research Award and the Management Sciences’ J. Steinhardt Award.

 
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Martin Meth, Senior Advisor

Martin Meth is a Senior Advisor with Renaissance Strategic Advisors and specializes in the aerospace/defense industrial base, defense acquisition policies and practices, and mergers & acquisitions.
 
In his previous position, Mr. Meth led Thales SA’s strategic business planning activities for its U.S. Operations. His activities involved facilitating strategic relationships with US companies, developing merger and acquisitions strategies, and improving Thales U.S. business units’ positions in their market segments.
 
For over ten years, Mr. Meth held senior executive positions in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics, first as Director of Weapon System Improvement Group and then as Director of Industrial Capabilities and Assessments.
 
Mr. Meth’s professional activities have included U.S. Department of Defense Representative to IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee for automatic test languages and member of the Board of Advisors for Annual Reliability and Maintainability Symposium. Mr. Meth is also the author of numerous papers on reliability and maintainability.
 
Mr. Meth received his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from City College of New York and Juris Doctor Degree from George Washington University. He is a member District of Columbia Bar Association.
 
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George "Chip" Pickett, Senior Advisor

George "Chip" Pickett is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors and specializes in corporate strategy and planning, C4ISR, public policy, defense budgets, and industry and market analysis.
 
Currently, Mr. Pickett supports the Office of the Secretary of Defense in analyses of strategy formulation and innovation and is an instructor in business strategy in defense firms at the University of Maryland. He is writing a book on the application of competitive strategies by firms in the industry, and in 2008 he completed a study of the consolidation of the industry since the mid-1980s and its potential future directions.
 
In 2007, Mr. Pickett retired from Northrop Grumman as a Vice President, having held V.P. positions in marketing, strategy and long range planning. In his twenty-one years with the corporation he focused on issues of business strategy development and implementation. He led analyses of markets and acquisition targets for Northrop. He conducted geo-political, military, and defense budget analyses to defend programs and shape business development activities. He re-organized and led the marketing operations of a newly acquired electronics division. He led proposal evaluation teams. He established new practices for determining IRAD and B&P levels. Finally, he developed strategic options for expanding the corporation's portfolio, and established strategy development and long range planning processes that were considered "best practices" and borrowed by consulting firms for use in other industries.
 
During his career at Northrop Grumman Mr. Pickett also supported the Defense Department in areas involving strategy formulation. He led teams and participated in war games in the JCS and Army examining the future of warfare. He led studies of subjects such as the Revolution in Military Affairs, implementing major innovations in large organizations, and applying business strategy to defense planning. Within intelligence agencies he taught graduate level courses in defense budgeting and the funding of intelligence programs.
 
From 1980 to 1986, while at Booz Allen Hamilton and the MITRE Corporation, Mr. Pickett developed systems architectures for DoD intelligence and communication systems. At Booz Allen he also studied competitive strategies for use against the Soviet Union and conducted market and company analyses to assist the M&A activities of Fortune 500 companies.
 
In 1976, Mr. Pickett was selected to be the first staff member to conduct analyses of defense intelligence budgets in the newly formed Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. For four years he was solely responsible for evaluating all DoD tactical intelligence programs, the GDIP, the CCP and certain special budgets. He focused on sigint, airborne collection systems, ISR processing systems and intelligence manpower.
 
From 1964 to 1976, Mr. Pickett was an officer in the United States Army, first in the Infantry and then in Military Intelligence. He attended Ranger, Airborne and Heavy Mortar courses, and served in combat units in Korea and Ft Bragg. In Vietnam in 1968 he targeted enemy units north of Saigon for an infantry division, and in 1969 was the DIA/DoD lead analyst on enemy forces in South Vietnam. The Army sent him to Harvard Business School in 1970-1972, and he was subsequently assigned to the White House NSC to conduct assessments of intelligence support to the President. He completed his active duty as the first staff officer in the newly formed Office of Net Assessment, where he conducted comparative assessments of U.S. and Soviet military forces.
 
Mr. Pickett graduated from Yale University with a BA in Political Science in 1964 and from Harvard Business School with an MBA in 1972. At Harvard he focused on issues in business strategy and organizational structure and systems.
 
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Graham Smart, Senior Advisor

Graham Smart is a Senior Advisor with Renaissance Strategic Advisors.  Graham retired in 2010 from Thales North America as a Senior Vice President, Strategy & Business Development.

 

Over the last 25 years Graham has worked internationally in the defense and aerospace market and has gained a strong understanding of and forged important relationships in the business, political, and government fields in the U.S.A., U.K. and France, as well as the wider international market.  With a strong M&A background he has also sat as a Director on a variety of Boards, built teams to grow business in highly competitive markets and has operated across diverse cultural and multi-national environments.
 
He began his career with Pilkington PLC in the U.K, a large international glass manufacturer, as an Operational Research Analyst.  He progressed in the company through roles in Organizational Development, Program Management and Marketing and then became Managing Director of the high-tech optics business at Pilkington; a business which was focused on the defense and aerospace market.  Through a series of acquisitions the Pilkington Defense businesses grew significantly through the late 1980s and Graham moved to VP of Strategy, and Business Development, and Sales and Marketing of a business with a revenue approaching $1 billion.
 
In the early 1990s Thompson-CSF bought 50 percent of the Pilkington Defense Business and Graham had a strategic leadership role in a French/British Joint Venture which significantly grew its home and international business with a strong contribution from the USA.  Later, in the mid-1990s, Graham moved to be Vice President in the Thomspon-CSF UK Corporate office to lead the strategic and business development.  Graham moved in 2000 to the USA  to a similar role as Senior VP in the USA Corporate Office of Thompson-CSF (later that year Thompson-CSF changed its name to Thales).  There followed a decade of strong growth in the Thales businesses in the U.S.A. (defense, aerospace, security, space and rail transportation) to create the multi billion dollar business that Thales now enjoys in the U.S.A.
 
Graham Smart graduated in the UK with an Honors Degree in Mathematics and a Master's Degree in Applied Mathematics.


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Sylvia Sze, Senior Advisor

Sylvia Sze is a Senior Advisor with Renaissance Strategic Advisors. For the past twenty-five years, she has provided strategic counsel to clients in the aerospace, defense and telecommunications industries in North America, Europe and Asia.
 
In the late-1990s, Ms. Sze began to work with start-up companies, helping to grow and sell one company to Cisco Systems and another to Lucent Technologies. Most recently, she assisted with capital-raising and strategic alliances for a semiconductor company that is taking chips into the third dimension on a standard commercial production line, thus producing denser, faster, more reliable, and less power hungry chips.
 
In the mid-1980s, Ms. Sze applied knowledge gained from the transition of fly-by-wire to fly-by-light to the telecommunications industry, assisting clients with the development of technology roadmaps and their acquisition strategies.
 
Very early in her career, Ms. Sze consulted to Airbus Industrie, grappling with issues that arise from cross-border development and production. While at Arthur D. Little, she worked within the practice area of Strategic Management of Technology, but remained focused on the aerospace and defense industries. She also assisted two Fortune 100 companies with the integration of two major acquisitions. As a senior consultant at JSA Partners, Ms. Sze co-led a strategic realignment for a major European electronics firm.
 
Ms. Sze has a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Johns Hopkins University with a concentration in Economics. She was a case researcher and writer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business and Administration, and a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship, innovation, and management of R&D at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Engineering. She currently serves on the panel of judges for the University of California’s Haas Business School’s Annual Business Case Competition and an emeritus member of Johns Hopkins University’s Advisory Council.
 
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Anthony M. Valletta, Senior Advisor

Anthony M. Valletta is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors and has spent forty years in the C3/C4ISR/and IT Business areas. He is presently an Independent Consultant and sits on a number of Boards assisting companies in the DOD Business area.
 
Mr. Valletta was the Senior Vice President and Director of the Defense Sector at SRA International (1998-2007). Previously, he was the Director of the Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) Systems business unit where he was responsible for thought leadership and strategic direction for the Government Sector, with concentration on the Department of Defense.
 
Prior to joining SRA, Mr. Valletta was Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (1997-1998). In this capacity he served as the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense for command, control, communications and intelligence, information management, counterintelligence, security countermeasures and information warfare matters, including warning reconnaissance and intelligence related activities conducted by the Department of Defense. Mr. Valletta was also the designated Acting Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and was responsible for ensuring the implementation of the Clinger-Cohen Act, formerly known as the Information Technology Management Reform Act.
 
Prior to his designation as the Acting ASD(C3I), Mr. Valletta served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Acquisition. In his position as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense he served as Chairman of the C3I Overarching Integrated Process Team (OIPT), one of the three OIPTs supporting the Defense Acquisition Board, and acting Chairman of the Major Automated Information Systems Review Committee (MAISRC).
 
Mr. Valletta served as the Vice Director of Information Systems for Command, Control, Communications and Computers and the senior civilian in the Army dealing with information technology (1992-1994).
 
Mr. Valletta is a graduate of the University of New Haven and Yale University ROTC.
 
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G. Kim Wincup, Senior Advisor

 

G. Kim Wincup a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.  He was recently Senior Vice President on the Corporate Development staff, reporting to the Executive Vice President of Science Applications International Corporation, and was responsible for contract management, mergers and acquisitions, internal and external communications and general senior management activities. Mr. Wincup also serves as Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board and Chairman of the Board of Advisors, Naval Postgraduate School.

In 1994, Mr. Wincup was a visiting professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School.  He was staff director for the Joint Committee in 1993, during which time he was mandated to conduct a bi-partisan, bicameral “full and complete study” of the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Wincup has received appointments to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition in 1992; Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs from 1989 to 1992.  He served as counsel to the Committee on Armed Services in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1974 to 1989, where he was responsible for all legislative and management activities.

From 1970 to 1973, Mr. Wincup served in the U.S. Air Froce as a judge advocate and was involved in extensive trial and administrative law activities.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from DePauw University and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Illinois School of Law.


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LTG (Ret.) Joseph L. Yakovac, Senior Advisor

LTG (Ret.) Joseph L. Yakovac is a Senior Advisor to Renaissance Strategic Advisors.
 
Lt. General Yakovac retired from the U.S. Army in 2007. His last assignment was Director of the Army Acquisition Corp and Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.
 
From 1997 to 2003, Lt. General Yakovac held several posts, working in systems acquisitions for the U.S. Army. He served as the Deputy for Systems Acquisition at the United States Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command from 1997 to 1998; Assistant Deputy and then as Deputy for Systems Management and Horizontal Technology Integration within ASA(ALT) from 1998 to 2000; and, Program Executive Officer of Ground Combat Systems in Warren, Michigan from 2000 to 2003.
 
Lt. General Yakovac was commissioned in the infantry upon graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1971. He also earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is currently a senior lecturer in Acquisition Naval Post-Graduate School in Monterrey, California, and the head of independent consulting firm JVM LLC.

 
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