New Hampshire Tech Alliance

New Hampshire Tech Alliance

2026 Agenda

 

NENSC Committee Chair

Tom Fournier, Founder & Principal, OrgNxt LLC

NENSC Committee Co-Chair

Scott Merrick, Founder & Principal, Darby Field Advisors

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Thank you to the NENS Conference Committee members who helped to make this event possible:

8:00 AM Registration Opens

Registration sponsored by UNH College of Professional Studies

8:30 AM Opening Remarks

  • Julie Demers, Executive Director, NH Tech Alliance
  • Tom Fournier, Co-Chair, Northeast National Security Conference Committee
  • Leonard Lublin, Deputy General Manager, BAE Systems’ FAST Labs

9:15 AM Coffee Break 

Morning coffee break sponsored by Pulsar Security

9:30 AM Breakout Sessions

Breakout Sessions

Track 1: Ocean

9:30 AM Welcome

9:35 AM Keynote

9:55 AM Generating a Robust National Security Supply Chain and Material Network for Today and the Future

10:40 AM Academia’s Role in National Security – Workforce Readiness and Solutions Pipeline

11:25 AM Optimizing the Solution Pipeline – Getting Capabilities into the Hands That Need Them

12:10 PM Fireside Chat

Track 2: Space

9:30 AM Keynote

10:15 AM New England Space Leaders Panel

  • Moderator – Col Peter Norton, USSF (ret.), VP Executive Partnership Outreach, U.S. Space Force Association NE/Boston Chapter
  • Travis Pond, Maj, USSF, Systems Delta 85 – Deputy Branch Chief – FMS, Space Systems Command (SSC)
  • Rebecca D. Manning, Maj, USSF, Commander, Detachment 1, Space Delta 13, Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM)

11:05 AM Space Industry Panel

11:55 AM Northeast Space Economic Coalition (NESEC) Panel

  • Moderator: Trevor Hehn, Attorney, Hehn Law
  • Col Peter Norton, USSF (ret.), VP Executive Partnership Outreach, U.S. Space Force Association NE/Boston Chapter
  • Jeffrey Lapak, Director, InterOperability Lab at University of New Hampshire
  • Dr. Sumanth Kaushik, Deputy Chief Technology Officer, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
  • Brian Strickland, MD, Emergency Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital; Space Medicine Fellow, MGH SPEAR program (Division of Space, Ecological, Arctic, and Resource-limited Medicine)
  • John Karp, Executive Director, Maine Space Corp

Track 3: Regional Collaboration

9:30 AM Regional Associations and Alliances

  • Moderator: Tom Fournier, Founder & Principal, OrgNxt LLC
  • Julie Demers, Executive Director, New Hampshire Tech Alliance
  • Randy Makee, Executive Director, New Hampshire Aerospace and Defense Consortium (NHADC)
  • Chris Torina, Director of Entrepreneurship + Director of the National Security Innovation Hub, Northeastern University’s Roux Institute
  • Jennifer MacDonald, MD, Chief Operating Officer, Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI) | BioFabUSA

10:30 AM Academic Research in Support of National Security

  • Moderator: Jenna Girompini, Director of Operations, Association of Old Crows, Patriots Roost Chapter
  • Aaron Ramsey, Senior Director of Corporate Relations, College of Engineering, Purdue
  • Adam Gross, Vice Chancellor – Ivy+ Career Link, Ivy Tech Community College
  • Anne Maglia, PhD, Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development (LINC Program), UMASS Lowell
  • Steven E. Bryant, Executive Director, Gayle and Bill Cook Center for Entrepreneurship, Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington; Regional Director, South Central Small Business Development Center

11:30 AM Regional Workforce Development Q&A Panel

  • Moderator: Jenna Girompini, Director of Operations, Association of Old Crows, Patriots Roost Chapter
  • Amy Gryzbowski Ph.D., Vice President Workforce Development and Community Relations, New England Institute of Technology
  • Robert Mohr, Federal Sales Director, Patton
  • Mike Fischer, President, York County Community College, Maine
  • Lance Fiondella, Prof. Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cybersecurity Center Director, UMASS Dartmouth

 

12:45 PM Lunch

2:00 PM BAE FAST Labs

2:30 PM Tech Showcase

Featuring presentations from startups throughout the Northeast.

3:15 PM Presentations by Defense Service Organizations

These presentations will be an overview of the organization, what technology needs they have, and how businesses can utilize their services.

  • AFWERX – Aneel Alvares, Military Deputy Director, AFWERX
    Description

    As the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force (DAF) and powered by the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX cultivates and transitions impactful emerging technologies to deter and win wars.  AFWERX brings cutting edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF.  The four core arms of AFWERX – AFVentures, Spark, Prime and SpaceWERX – serve to expand the defense industrial base for advanced technologies, empower Airmen and Guardian talent, and drive faster technology transition to operational capability.

  • DARPAConnect – Karen Krause-Bencal, DARPAConnect
    Description

     DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is the U.S. Department of Defense’s premier R&D agency, relentlessly pursuing groundbreaking innovations in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity, and more. Renowned for turning bold ideas into field-ready capabilities, DARPA continues to push the boundaries of possibility. The DARPAConnect program serves as the front door to the agency, with resources, opportunities and pathways to teach innovators “How to DARPA.”.

  • DEVCOM – Jeffrey Pacuska, Program Manager- OUSD R&E ManTech, US Army DEVCOM Soldier Center
  • The Lantern – Christopher Carrero, Lantern Labs ORTA Chief Technical Officer
  • Q&A Moderator: Tom Fournier, Founder & Principal, OrgNxt LLC

4:15 PM Investing in National Security

5:00 PM Cocktail Reception

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