Keynote Speaker

Army Maj. Gen. Garrett S. Yee
Assistant to the Director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)

Army Maj. Gen. Garrett S. Yee is the assistant to the director of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). In this role, he helps to lead a global organization of 8,000 military and civilian personnel who plan, develop, deliver and operate joint, interoperable, command and control capabilities and a global enterprise infrastructure, in direct support of the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders, Department of Defense components, and other mission partners across the full spectrum of operations.

Prior to this assignment, Yee served as the military deputy to the Army CIO/G-6 and senior information security officer in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G6, Headquarters, Department of the Army in the Pentagon.

Yee, a native of Fremont, California, received his commission in the Army upon graduation from Santa Clara University. He later earned a Master of Business Administration from Golden Gate University and Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the Army War College.

Yee’s command and operational assignments include commander, 335th Signal Command (Theater) (Provisional) in Kuwait, where he concurrently served as the G-6 for U.S. Army Central Command and the director of Cyber Information Systems for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation INHERENT RESOLVE; deputy commanding general for Mobilization, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; deputy commander, 335th Signal Command (Theater) (Provisional) during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM in Afghanistan; commander, 505th Theater Tactical Signal Brigade in Las Vegas, Nevada; commander, 650th Regional Support Group in Las Vegas, Nevada; theater observation detachment officer with the Center for Army Lessons Learned in Iraq during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, where he authored a handbook on provincial reconstruction teams; and commander, 3/356th Logistics Support Battalion at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Yee’s awards and decorations include the Army Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, Parachutist Badge and German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency. He is also a recipient of the National Infantry Association Order of Saint- Maurice and the Signal Corps Bronze Order of Mercury.

Guest Speakers

Diane Dunshee
NSA, Deputy Director of Business Management & Acquisition and Senior Acquisition Executive

Diane Dunshee is the Deputy Director of Business Management & Acquisition (BM&A) and the Senior Acquisition Executive (SAE) at the National Security Agency (NSA). She is responsible for all procurements, from physical fences to complex industry-leading systems, acquired as part of major acquisition programs. This averages over 19,000 procurement actions costing several billion dollars per year.

Diane is responsible for delivering major acquisitions and ensuring the acquisition process is followed consistently and appropriately. She develops and maintains strategic relationships with acquisition stakeholders across NSA, the Department of Defense, and Intelligence Community. Diane also develops relationships with industry leaders, ensuring there is a healthy industrial base capable of meeting NSA’s unique needs.

Previously, Diane served as the program executive officer for Collection, Processing and Exploitation, and Research. In this role, she provided sound leadership, program management, and oversight to the Collection, Processing and Exploitation, and Research Investment Portfolios. She ensured the successful deployment of new capabilities and sustained existing capabilities consistent with investment decisions and compliant with regulations, policies, and directives. In doing so, Diane ensured programs, portfolios, and projects were executed following a structured decision process and within the cost, schedule, and performance framework.

Diane also served as the program executive officer for the Mission Management and Analysis and Production and the Processing & Exploitation investment portfolios.

Other previous assignments include leadership positions in the field of cryptographic key management, systems engineering, and program/portfolio management. Diane has over 28 years of experience at NSA.

Diane holds DAWIA Level Ill Program Management certification and is a member of the NSA Acquisition Corps.

Diane holds a master’s degree in telecommunications from George Washington University and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Towson University.

In 2016, Diane received the prestigious Presidential Rank Award.

Diane resides in Pasadena, Maryland, with her husband, Rick. They have two adult children, Ben and Julia. She enjoys watching sports, gardening, running and cooking.

Doug Packard
DISA, Procurement Services Executive and Director, Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization

Douglas Packard is the Procurement Services Executive, Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), where he provides executive leadership and strategic guidance for the procurement of net-centric technology solutions. Mr. Packard is dual-hatted as the Chief, Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO), an organization that generated over $5.2 billion in revenue in FY14. He is responsible for management and oversight of all organization functions. He serves as principal advisor to the DISA Director, Vice Director, and the Agency, providing executive oversight for strategic and long-range planning for contract policy and contract operations at contracting offices in the National Capital Region, Illinois, Arizona, Hawaii, Germany, and Bahrain.

Mr. Packard’s previous assignments include: Director of Procurement Policy and Support, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Procurement, where he was responsible for the Army’s worldwide procurement policy and support mission; Deputy Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting (Senior Contracting Official), U.S. Army Contracting Command, Northern (U.S.) Region, where he managed contract award and administration functions of the Region’s $2.4 billion contract portfolio, in 35 subordinate contracting offices across 30 northern states; Director of Operations and Deputy Career Program Manager, U.S. Army Contracting Command, Europe, where he managed the Command’s day-to-day procurement operations and the contracting career training and development program; and, Program Manager for Oversight and Assessment, U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command.

Mr. Packard has extensive experience supporting contingency and humanitarian missions in the Balkans, Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Notably, he served as the Joint Contracting Command- Iraq/Afghanistan Senior Contracting Official for Iraq Reconstruction and for Iraq-U.S. mission support, managing an $11 billion portfolio of reconstruction, Iraqi security forces development, and U.S. military forces support. Mr. Packard served as the Senior Contract Strategist on Task Force 2010, focused on combating corruption under U.S. government contracts, where he served on an U.S.- Afghan Office of the National Security Council Working Group chartered by the President of Afghanistan, and he drafted and championed a legislative initiative via the National Defense Authorization Act of FY12 to address systemic issues restricting the U.S. Government’s ability to fight corruption arising under government contracts.

Sharothi Pikar
USCYBERCOM, Command Acquisition Executive, Director, J9

Ms. Pikar currently serves as the Command Acquisition Executive (CAE) for USCYBERCOM, and the Director of the J9. In this role, she is responsible for planning, synchronizing, and executing joint capability development and associated services to defend and advance national interests in collaboration with domestic and international partners. Prior to her arrival to the command in May 2019, she served as the Acting Assistant Director for Cyber Portfolio under OUSD(R&E). She also served as the Co-Chair of the Special Cyber Operations Research and Engineering (SCORE) Subcommittee, under the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). Ms. Pikar has served in several key, enterprise level positions including as a Senior Civilian Fellow and Strategic Planner in the Chief of Staff of the Army’s (CSA) Strategic Studies Group (SSG), where she authored several key recommendations relevant to the Army’s future strategic and operational environments and was responsible for creation of the Army Civilian Fellowship positions. She has served as a Senior Systems Engineer in the Army’s Chief Systems Engineer Office under the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology (ASA(ALT)), where she established and led the platform integration cell to address Size, Weight, and Power-Cooling challenges for all major Ground Combat and Combat Support Platforms. Ms. Pikar has been a DoD Civilian for almost two decades and served in several key Acquisition and S&T positions during her tenure, including Chief of the Tactical Radio Branch, Chief Engineer for the Tactical Networks Division, and Project Leader for the Army’s Stryker Brigade Combat (SBCT) Unit Support Team, overseeing multi-million resource portfolios.

Ms. Pikar received a B.S. in Computer Engineering from NYU Tandon School of Engineering. She is a graduate of the Department of Defense Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP) and is the recipient of the Department of the Army’s Superior Civilian Service Award. She is a member of the Army Acquisition Corps and is Defense Acquisition Workforce Level III certified in two functional specialties: Program Management and Engineering.