People Category: AIAA DEFENSE Forum 2024

Marcia Holmes serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Mission Capabilities. In this role, she supervises an organization whose mission is to accelerate the development and integration of new technologies to maintain United States’ technological superiority. Her responsibilities include identifying, incubating, and transitioning technologies, systems, and system-of-systems to close
time-critical gaps in high-priority missions.

Prior to this position she served as the Deputy Director for Hypersonics, Directed Energy, Space, and Rapid Acquisition, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. In this position, Ms. Holmes supported the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office to quickly and efficiently research, develop, prototype, test, evaluate, procure, and field critical enabling technologies and capabilities, including long-range hypersonic weapon systems, high-energy lasers, cyber solutions, and other innovative concepts that address near-term and mid-term threats, consistent with the National Defense Strategy and the Army’s modernization priorities.

Ms. Holmes served as the Deputy Director, Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Aviation and
Missile Center System Simulation, Software, and Integration Directorate. During her tenure, Ms. Holmes also served as Acting Director providing lifecycle software engineering, modeling, and simulation, hardware-in-the-loop, software airworthiness, system security engineering, and program protection capabilities to the Army’s missile and aviation communities, Missile Defense Agency, Space and Missile Defense Command, and other Services and government agencies.

From 2013 to 2016, Ms. Holmes served as the Chief Engineer, Program Executive Office Missiles and Space. In this position, she held technical oversight and authority for 31 major defense programs spanning eight critical Army Project Offices across all phases of the acquisition lifecycle. These systems encompassed a broad portfolio to include the Aviation, Fires, Maneuver, Air, and Space domains. Ms. Holmes orchestrated an integrated early evaluation of advanced threats against emerging weapon system designs, and she served as the Army representative to the Missile Defense Agency’s Joint Systems Engineering Team.

Ms. Holmes began her career as a defense contractor and joined the government workforce with the CombatCapabilities Development Command’s Aviation and Missile Center in 2000. Ms. Holmes supported a widevariety of programs to include Patriot, Stinger, Sentinel, Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, and Integrated Air and Missile Defense.

Ms. Holmes graduated with honors from Athens State College with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and she completed her Master of Science in Program Management through the Naval Postgraduate School. She is a member of the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara, a U.S. military honor society for Army and Marine Corps Field and Air Defense Artillery, that admits both civilians and military members. She has also received the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service, Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and Superior Civilian Service medal.

Robert “Bob” Taylor, Director, Capability and Resource Integration Directorate, United States Strategic Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

He is responsible for conducting force management and analysis to include integrating, coordinating, prioritizing and advocating USSTRATCOM future concepts, mission capability needs, weapons system development, support for emerging technologies and command and control architecture across the mission areas.

Mr. Taylor is also responsible for the articulation and development of all command requirement processes to ensure USSTRATCOM has the tools to accomplish its mission, and ensures appropriate decision support tools and assessment processes are in place to enhance operational capabilities. The directorate includes comptroller support, concepts and experimentation and force assessments.

Mr. Taylor is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Army ROTC program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. He has earned two Master of Arts degrees in Military Art and Science. As a career Army officer, he has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars, five Meritorious Service Medals, Joint Meritorious Civilian Service Award, seven Iraqi Campaign Medals, and is Airborne & Ranger qualified. He has served in key staff positions in Army and Joint units from battalion to unified command level, and has commanded Army units from platoon to brigade. Mr. Taylor has four combat tours in Iraq, deployed special mission capabilities globally, and has an operational deployment as part of Stabilization Force 4-5 in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Most recently, Mr. Taylor served as the Director for Joint Exercises, Training, and Assessments (J7), United States Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Nebraska. Mr. Taylor was directly responsible for individual and collective training, integrating command exercises, and assessing the command’s campaign effectiveness as a contribution to the global security environment across all USSTRATCOM assigned missions. These missions included the global integration of strategic deterrence, nuclear operations, global strike, advanced analysis, missile defense and joint electromagnetic spectrum operations. Mr. Taylor has been married since 1985 to Kelly P. Taylor, they have two grown daughters, Michaela and Kristin.

Dr. George Kailiwai III is the Director, Requirements and Resources (J8), Headquarters, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (HQ USINDOPACOM).  As the HQ USINDOPACOM J8, Dr. Kailiwai facilitates the development of USINDOPACOM requirements for the Future Years Defense Program, translates those requirements into material and non-material solutions through advocacy, science and technology, and innovation and experimentation, and manages the headquarter’s $500M annual budget.

Prior to his appointment into the Senior Executive Service in 2007, Dr. Kailiwai was a Senior Level and served as Chief Technology Officer and Technical Advisor, Air Force Flight Test Center from 2003 through 2007.  As the Chief Technology Officer and Technical Advisor, he provided the leadership and final review of the technical aspects of the center’s overall program, as well as consultant advice and technical guidance to the center’s commander.

Dr. Kailiwai served honorably in the United States Air Force for 25 years.  From 2001 through 2003, he served as the Commandant of the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and as the Technical Director, Electronic Warfare Directorate, 412 Test Wing, Air Force Flight Test Center from 1999 through 2001.  Dr. Kailiwai was also a Squadron Commander, and Deputy Chief, Regional Strategy and Policy Division, Strategic Planning and Policy Directorate, United States Pacific Command.

Dr. Kailiwai is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, attended the California Institute of Technology under the Senior Commander’s Education Program, holds two master’s degrees from Golden Gate University, earned a Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California, is a National Defense Fellow and RAND Research Fellow, and distinguished graduate of Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.

Dr. Kailiwai is a United States Track and Field Federation All-American, International Society of Flight Test Engineers’ 2001 Kelly Johnson Award Recipient and Past President of the Society of Flight Test Engineers, recipient of the 2017 Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson Skunk Works Award presented by The Engineers’ Council, USAF Test Pilot School Distinguish Alumnus, and 2017 Presidential Rank Award recipient.

(Current as of April 2023)

Updated bio coming soon.

Angela M. Ambrose is the vice president of Government Relations and Communications for GM Defense LLC. She is responsible for executing external affairs, working with the Executive and Legislative Branches of government, and managing the development and implementation of strategic communications, media relations and marketing. Ambrose also served as the interim vice president of Business Development from March – September 2021, leading all customer engagements and helping to shape the GM Defense pursuit pipeline.

Prior to joining GM in 2019, Ambrose led government relations activities for Accenture Federal Services (AFS), supporting the Defense Portfolio and managing all defense, intelligence, cybersecurity and veterans’ affairs public policy priorities. During her time with AFS, she created an aggressive legislative strategy that supported critical business initiatives and guided capture activities to support growth in new business areas.

Ambrose served as the chief congressional strategist for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems (NGAS) from 2011 to 2015, analyzing congressional authorization policies, annual appropriations and Executive Branch fiscal year budget requests. She provided intelligence to NGAS profit and loss divisions, with a specific focus on defense and civil space, unmanned systems, manned aircraft, strike platforms, restricted programs and emerging strategic capture priorities. Developing subject matter expertise in political global supply chain and strategic sourcing while at NGAS, Ambrose supported priority capture activities (including the successful B-21 Raider award) and mergers and acquisitions for growth in designated markets.

Ambrose held two senior roles as a federal civil servant in the Executive Branch from 2008 to 2011. She served as a senior Legislative Liaison in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and as the Deputy Director of Congressional Affairs for the Department of Defense Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO). During her tenure at JIEDDO, Ambrose received two Superior Civilian Service Awards.

From 2002 to 2008, Ambrose served as a senior policy advisor to a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. While managing a variety of policy oversight issues in the Legislative Branch, her time on Capitol Hill was predominately focused on a portfolio of appropriations, defense, homeland security, veterans’ affairs and foreign operations matters.

Ambrose earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College, with additional studies in national security at the National Defense University. She is a leading voice within the national security community and the Congressional landscape and has been recognized for her strategic communications and brand management prowess. Ambrose holds two prominent industry board positions, serving on the National Defense Industrial Association and National Defense University Foundation. She was recognized for the third consecutive year in 2022 as one of The Hill’s Top Lobbyists.

Ms. Caldwell is Senior Director for Spirit AeroSystems’ Global Research and Technology, where she is responsible for engineering, program management and technology strategy across Spirit’s global R&T enterprise. She oversees Spirit’s National Defense Prototype Center in Wichita, KS and Aerospace Innovation Centre in Prestwick, Scotland, as well as research and product development in Biddeford, ME and Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Prior to joining Spirit AeroSystems, she served 15 years across air vehicle structures and materials advanced programs at NASA, DARPA, Johns Hopkins University, and the Office of Naval Research. Ms. Caldwell holds a BS in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and a Masters in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland. She previously served on the Virginia Tech Engineering Science and Mechanics Advisory Board and currently serves on Executive Steering Committees for DoD Service Lab and NASA initiatives.

She spends her free time with family, trail running, and skiing.

Dr. Kerri Phillips is the Air & Missile Defense Sector Chief Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, where she serves as a senior leader influencing air and missile defense strategy and technology. 

Immediately prior, Dr. Phillips served as the Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting (ISR&T) Program Area Manager with a portfolio focused on developing, prototyping, and transitioning state-of-the-art capabilities to revolutionize ISR&T in the U.S. military. Dr. Phillips also served as the Program Manager of APL’s hypersonic systems portfolio, working closely with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to support rapid development and fielding of hypersonic systems.

Phillips specializes in advanced guidance algorithms for interceptors and gained extensive experience working with high-fidelity six degree-of-freedom (6DoF) simulations and developing/integrating guidance and flight control concepts. She drew from this experience as the developer and instructor of two aerospace courses in JHU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Dr. Phillips was named a 2020 Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). In AIAA, she was the Missile Systems Technical Committee Chair and is currently the Region I Public Policy Deputy Director and an Ethics Committee member. Dr. Phillips is also a public speaker, outreach volunteer, and advocate for historically marginalized communities in STEM.

Phillips earned her PhD in aerospace engineering from West Virginia University (WVU), an MSE in systems engineering from Johns Hopkins University, a BS in aerospace engineering from WVU, and a BS in mechanical engineering from WVU. 

Official Bio

Mr. Jay Dryer is the Director of the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), whose mission is to develop new and innovative ways to shape and counter emerging threats across all domains, bringing unexpected and game-changing capabilities to create strategic operational effects.

Prior to directing SCO, Mr. Dryer was Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs at NASA Aeronautics Mission Directorate (ARMD). He was responsible for translating ARMD’s research portfolio requirements and program balance into specific, actionable programs. He was also responsible for integrating the programs with an eye to risk management and implementing best practices across the programs, as well as overseeing and tracking inter-program requirements changes and their impact to the budget.

Previously as Director of the Advanced Air Vehicles Program, Dryer was responsible for the overall planning, management and evaluation of the directorate’s efforts to develop tools, technologies, and concepts that enable new generations of civil aircraft that are safer, more energy efficient, and have a smaller environmental footprint. The program worked to achieve major leaps in the performance of subsonic fixed and rotary wing aircraft to meet growing long-term civil aviation needs, in the concept of low-boom supersonic flight, and in sustaining hypersonic competency for national needs.

Prior to that, he supported the ARMD associate administrator in a broad range of mission directorate activities, including strategic and program planning; budget development; program review and evaluation; and external coordination. He also served as Director of the former Fundamental Aeronautics Program Office, and as Senior Technical Advisor for ARMD, which involved oversight of all ARMD programs and projects in terms of architecture, requirements and budgets, technical reviews and research activities. He also managed the directorate’s extensive NASA Research Announcement process.

Before joining NASA, Dryer worked with Arion Systems and SRA International providing technical support to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). His work included research in rotorcraft for the DARPA Helicopter Quieting Program, which included significant planning for the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge program, an innovative autonomous vehicle race in the desert.

During the 1990s, Dryer served in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Submarine Force, the Deep Submergence Unit, and Development Squadron Five, specializing in development and operation of unmanned aerial and submersible vehicles. He directed the unmanned submersible vehicle that located the wreck of the U.S.S. Yorktown from World War II, and he also commanded the last survey missions to the sites of the lost U.S.S Thresher and U.S.S Scorpio submarines in 1998.

Dryer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master’s of Science degree in ocean engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.