Victoria began her career in Boston in the field of International banking and quickly moved into the legal field after attending Bentley College’s Paralegal Program. At Bingham, Dana & Gould (now Bingham McCutchen), she worked in Litigation for a Senior Partner on Antitrust cases; performing research, writing drafts and smoothing documents. In this position she was also responsible for maintaining confidential information for those Massachusetts attorneys being considered for judgeships.

After moving to Washington, D.C. to work as an Administrative Assistant/Paralegal for a large NH corporation, she was tasked with research projects in the hazardous waste field. She wrote many briefs for the company and reported on the Love Canal hearings on Capitol Hill. While in D.C. Victoria also worked as a paralegal for Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman and Steptoe & Johnson. She subsequently received a Judicial Appointment to the position of Administrative Assistant to Judge June Green in the U.S. District Court.

On moving to Maine, she pursued other interests including partnering in a British import business, and holding positions in Business Development, Sales and Marketing in the media fields of Internet, radio and print. For the past  four years, Victoria has been Executive Assistant to Brian Perkins, President of Dirigo Strategies, LLC and in August 2022 was appointed Vice President.

He has worked at all levels of R&D, most recently as the Coast Guard’s Director of Strategic Analysis & Development, providing executive level leadership, strategic analysis and forecasting.

He has developed partnerships with other government agencies, as well as with industry and academia. He has written position papers and focused short notice REACTs – Rapid Evaluation of Critical Technologies where a three week deadline is specified and has given numerous presentations and talks.

Mark is a licensed Captain who served with American Cruise Lines. He served over 24 years in the U.S. Coast Guard aboard five cutters and in various leadership positions ashore, including duty as a joint operational planner of U.S. Northern command and is an operations and maintenance scheduler.

Over a 4-yer period he led the U.S. Coast Guard Command and Operations School, responsible for the training of prospective Commanding Officers for all U.S. Coast Guard cutters. As the Atlantic Area Chief of Operational Forces, he was responsible for the oversight of 37 units, comprised of 3500 men and women conducting frontline operations.

Mark holds a B.S. in Government from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Advanced Warfighting School, and an alumnus of the Partnership for Public Service Excellence in a Government Fellows Program

Kevin is an expert in cybersecurity who directed geographically dispersed teams conducting operations supporting national, DHS, and Coast Guard missions.  He is an experienced policy advisor on emerging technologies who briefed senior service and Intelligence Community Leadership, as well as Congressional Staff.  Kevin is skilled at defining, developing and deploying capability to improve mission effectiveness..

He retired from command of the Coast Guard Cryptologic Group based at the National Security Agency.  He enjoyed 27 years active duty service with the Coast Guard and served 10 years at sea in four cutters and one training command. His experience in maintaining navigational aids and icebreaking led to his selection as the Deputy Chief of Cutter Forces prior to entering the intelligence field. 

Kevin earned a B.S. in Marine Science, and a M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University.  His thesis award winning thesis The Coast Guard Intelligence Program Enters the Intelligence Community; A Case Study of Congressional Influence on Intelligence Community Evolution was published in 2007.  

Michael is a retired U.S. Coast Guard Captain with 27 years of service. His last position, prior to retirement, was Deputy Commander of Sector Puget Sound. He led and managed all aspects of USCG planning and coordination (federal, state, tribal and local port partners) and USCG operations in Puget Sound, from daily tactical briefings and risk management oversight to incident response for all  CG statutory missions.

In addition to his Sector operational tours, Mike has a broad range of program management experience, including guiding USCG platforms , coordinating with DoD, and guiding interagency operational and strategic level policies.

As the Program manager for the Office of Boat Forces, he provided direct oversight for all boat acquisition and support contracts for USCG boats, oversight for personnel protective equipment for boat crews, and guidance in CG policy for all boat operations, training, and maintenance. 

Mike holds a BS in Political Science from Old Dominion University, a Masters in Military Studies from the USMC Command and Staff College and is a NIMS qualified Incident Command System – Incident Commander.

Steve is a strategic thinker with over 43 years of extensive Coast Guard operational and tactical level experience having served aboard 13 cutters and multiple Commands at Sea. Known through the Coast Guard enterprise as a Human Resource Management expert, he has broad cross-programmatic experience developing short and long-term objectives and executing HR policy in support of Human Capital Strategy.

At the time of his retirement, he served as Chief of Enlisted personnel for the U. S. Coast Guard, where he oversaw all aspects of the development and management of the 34,000 enlisted active-duty workforce including training, recruitment, work-force strength analysis, assignment, and separation.

In addition to his operational and HR expertise, Steve has a broad range of management and programmatic experience that includes strategic oversight of the Marine Transportation System throughout the Pacific and Gulf coasts. As part of his assignment, he collaborated with The National Marine Fisheries Service and NOAA, developing and executing fish management and enforcement policies throughout the mid-Atlantic coastal region.

Steve holds a B.S. in Political Science from Columbia and has extensive post-graduate studies in Environmental Policy and Management.

Lee Scruggs is a retired United States Coast Guard Captain with an extensive background in the military, private sector, and academia. He specializes in developing and executing comprehensive technology strategies across complex programs and projects.

Scruggs served 30+ years in the Coast Guard, both reserve and active duty. Most recently he served as the Chief Technology Officer and (CG-26) for Coast Guard Intelligence. In this role, he led the implementation and support of the Coast Guard’s intelligence technology solutions, and USCG integration with intelligence sharing efforts within the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community. He also led the Intelligence Information Systems Processing Center at the Coast Guard Intelligence Coordination Center where he guided efforts to maintain and service the Coast Guard’s classified and maritime domain awareness networks, and served as the Reserve Chief of Planning for the Coast Guard Fifth District where he provided leadership and strategic support for efforts to improve mobilization readiness for over 750 Coast Guard Reserve members throughout the Fifth District.  

In his civilian career, Scruggs worked in the performance transformation practice at Grant Thornton, LLP where he led multiple consulting engagement teams through the entire lifecycle of program and project management for public sector clients including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, United States Coast Guard, The Joint Staff, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Prior to that he served as director of the technology and business center at William & Mary where he was also an adjunct professor. He has worked in other capacities in the private sector, consulting and finding technology solutions for higher education clients.

Scruggs has a B.A. in economics, and a Masters of Business Administration both from the College of William & Mary. He also holds a Project Management Professional and Six Sigma Green Belt certification.

Robert I. Desourdis, Solutions Architect Master and Founder and CEO of Desourdis Collaboration LLC (DCLLC), spent decades of his career as a technology executive and solutions architect before leaving the government contracting space to develop DCLLC. Over the course of his time in industry, he became alarmingly aware of challenges the Government faces – particularly during catastrophic security events — in which preplanned, exercised, reliable and consistent collaboration between parties simply did not exist. This realization led him to spearhead an initiative of cross-functional/discipline collaboration to deliver innovative technology and system solutions. He sees the need for an augmented human collaboration capability to create innovative solutions to complex technological problems for which there is no existing “cookie-cutter” solution makes him an asset to both local and national agencies. His expertise, within which he has authored and co-authored 17 books, includes human collaboration, command and control, emergency, public safety, and ionospheric communications. Robert is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a Master of Science in Technology and Policy. He also holds a Master of Science, Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Science and Mathematics from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

Hilary Smith is a helicopter pilot, instructor and flight examiner with more than 22 years’ operational and combat experience gained in the United States Coast Guard and Marine Corps. Throughout her time in both services she maintained her operational flight status, flying instructional and combat missions in the Marine Corps and Search and Rescue (SAR) and Law Enforcement (LE) missions in the Coast Guard.

She is a senior training and development professional, emergency operations leader, and flight safety expert. Her skills include operational planning, organizational leadership, military operations, safety, logistics, budgeting, public affairs and quality assurance. She is experienced in aviation management, crew resource management, aviation safety, resource allocation, risk management, team building, staff development, executive administration, standardization, training, marketing, and human resources.

In the Marine Corps Hilary was an Instructor Pilot, NATOPS Evaluator, Night Systems Instructor (NSI), Terrain Flight Instructor (TERFI), and Functional Check Pilot (FCP), Crew Resource Management Instructor (CRMI), Operational Risk Management Instructor (ORMI), and Division Flight Leader. She led missions and trained junior pilots throughout two overseas combat tours and as a Fleet Replacement Squadron Instructor Pilot. She operated from both shipboard and land environments.

In the Coast Guard, Hilary was an Instructor Pilot and Flight Evaluator. As an Aircraft Commander she led a crew of four in SAR, LE, and training missions, ensuring the safe operation of a multi-mission helicopter in all-weather sea and land operations. As a Coast Guard Rotary Wing Air Intercept (RWAI) qualified pilot, she deployed to the National Capital Region in support of the Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) and Flight Restricted Zone (FRZ). She spearheaded a specialized team responsible for implementing a unique Homeland Security aviation special mission, where she managed training and policy to secure the safety of a Tier 1 port.

Hilary holds an FAA Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate with a Rotorcraft – Helicopter rating, Commercial Airplane Single Engine Land certificate with an Instrument rating, Remote Pilot certificate with a small UAS (sUAS) rating, and is a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) for Rotorcraft-Helicopter and Instrument Helicopters.

She has a bachelor’s degree in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and is completing a graduate degree in Organizational Leadership at Florida Institute of Technology. She graduated with honors from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps School of Aviation Safety. She is a member of Military Officers Association of America, Women in Aviation International, a Navy Blue and Gold Officer, and a volunteer SME for Florida Institute of Technology’s Advancing Technology-Interaction & Learning in Aviation Systems (ATLAS) Lab.

Hilary enjoys spending time with her family, exercising, and going to the beach. She volunteers at her children’s school when she can and loves to watch them play soccer and basketball.