New Hampshire Tech Alliance

New Hampshire Tech Alliance

2026 Agenda

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NENSC Committee Chair

Tom Fournier, Founder & Principal, OrgNxt LLC

NENSC Committee Co-Chair

Scott Merrick, Founder & Principal, Darby Field Advisors

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

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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

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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 Welcome

9:35 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
  • Lt Col Bryan G. Becker, USSF, Commander, 6th Space Warning Squadron, Cape Cod Space Force Station, Massachusetts
  • Lt Col Rebecca D. Manning, USSF, Commander of the Space Training and Readiness Command Delta 13, Detachment 1, Lexington, Massachusetts
  • Maj Travis Pond, USSF, Systems Delta 85 – Deputy Branch Chief – FMS, Space Systems Command (SSC)

11:05 AM Space Industry Panel

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

  • Moderator: Trevor Hehn, Attorney, Hehn Law
  • 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 Welcome

  • Jenna Girompini, Director of Operations, Association of Old Crows, Patriots Roost Chapter

9:35 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

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12:45 PM Lunch

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.

  • Defense Innovation Community – Aneel Alvares, Defense Tech Advisory, Principal
    Description

    Retired Military Deputy Director at AFWERX & Director of Defense Engagement at DIU.

    AFWERX: As the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force, AFWERX cultivates and transitions impactful emerging technologies to deter and win wars, leveraging $1.4B in Small Business Innovation Research awards annually.
    DIU: DIU strengthens national security by accelerating the adoption of commercial technology throughout the military and bolstering our allied and national security innovation bases. DIU partners with organizations across the Department of War to rapidly prototype and field dual-use capabilities that solve operational challenges at speed and scale.

  • 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, ORTA and Technical Director
    Description

    Christopher Carrero is the Technical Director of the Lantern collaboration and innovation facility located on Hanscom Air Force Base. In this role he leads a cross-functional team to deliver a robust physical and business environment focused on enabling rapid experimentation through complexity abstraction and proactive posturing. Additionally, Mr. Carrero serves as Hanscom’s Office of Research and Technology Applications director and is responsible for executing Department of the Air Force Technology Executive Officer delegated authoritiesto enter into technology transfer and transition agreements on behalf of Hanscom Program Executive Officers (PEOs) and Portfolio Acquisition Executives (PAEs). The Lantern facility supports research, development, testing, evaluation efforts of DoW programs, facilitates collaboration within the New a England innovation ecosystem, and executes non-FAR based agreements with industry, academia and other government entities.

  • 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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