The Honorable Michael D. Maples
LTG, U. S. Army (retired)

Lieutenant General (retired) Michael D. Maples most recently served as the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the principal intelligence officer in the Department of Defense (DoD), responsible for advising the Secretary of Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff. Appointed by the Bush administration in 2005, LTG Maples held this position for four years before his retirement from the United States Army in 2009.

Before leading the DIA, LTG Maples commanded the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance for the U.S. Strategic Command. In 2001, he was appointed as the Commanding General of the United States Army Field Artillery Center at Fort Sill and commanded the 41st Field Artillery Brigade in Babenhausen, Germany in addition to commanding earlier battalions in Korea and Desert Storm earlier in his career.

As a career officer, LTG Maples has extensive leadership experience in operational concept design, strategy, and implementation. He has served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for intelligence and operations for the Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction Corps and was responsible for the planning and executing of the NATO force entry into Kosovo in 1999. In 1995, LTG Maples served as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations for United States Army Europe in Hungary and commanded forces supporting the U.S. deployment in the Balkans in Operation Joint Endeavor.

LTG Maples’ 38-year military career is distinguished by awards that include the Defense Superior Service Award with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit, and the Bronze Star. He holds degrees from the United States Military Academy (B.S.), Pacific Lutheran University (M.S.), the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (Master of Military Art), and the National War College. Currently, LTG Maples is also working as a partner to the Star Strategies Group.

William (Bill) George Gregory

Bill was born in Lockport, New York. He attended the United States Air Force Academy, where he graduated with a degree in Engineering Sciences in 1979. After this, he attended Columbia University, achieving a master's degree in engineering mechanics (1980), and Troy State University to receive another master's in management (1984).

Between 1981 and 1986, Bill served as an operational fighter pilot flying the D and F models of the F-111. In this capacity, he served as an instructor pilot at RAF Lakenheath, UK, and Cannon Air Force Base (AFB), New Mexico. He attended the USAF Test Pilot School in 1987. Between 1988 and 1990 Bill served as a test pilot at Edwards AFB flying the F-4, A-7D, and all five models of the F-15. Having flown in excess of 40 types of aircraft, Bill has accumulated over 5,000 hours of flight time.

Selected by NASA in January 1990, Bill became an astronaut in July 1991. He flew as Space Shuttle Pilot on STS-67 (1995) and has logged 400 hours in space. After selection to the rank of Colonel, he retired from the Air Force and left NASA in the summer of 1999.

He currently serves as Vice President of Business Development for Qwaltec, a Tempe-based company which provides systems engineering, mission readiness, technical training, and program management for government and commercial contracts.

The Honorable Bob Wood
LTG, U. S. Army (retired)

Lieutenant General (retired) Bob Wood’s distinguished service in the United States Army has spanned a 36-year military career. Prior to his retirement from the Army in 2009, LTG Wood served as the Director of Joint Experimentation in the U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFC). Working closely with the Department of Defense, he led the development of operational strategies and concepts. In addition, he was responsible for all joint experimentation, training, capability development, and force deployments. LTG Wood demonstrated outstanding leadership in concept development, experiment design, IT testing and implementation, intelligence innovation, and logistics planning during his time on the USJFC.

His military command posts have included Desert Storm where he led his battalion to support both French and U.S. troops in group offensive operations, and Korea where he oversaw combat training and readiness for U.S. forces. These on-the-ground experiences led to an appointment to the position of deputy commandant of the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College.

During his military career, LTG Wood has been responsible for the development and implementation of numerous counter-terrorism strategies in over 22 Army commands worldwide, and has led the Army’s Pentagon planning for Rwanda, Haiti, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and initial Iraq operations.

LTG Wood holds degrees from the United States Military Academy (B.S.), the University of Chicago (MBA) and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (Master of Military Art). In 1984 he was appointed as a White House fellow and served on the National Security Council (NSC) during the Reagan administration where he guided the Strategic Defense Initiative through presidential directives and public policy. In 1993, LTG Wood was a fellow at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. LTG Wood is a managing partner in the consulting practice, Star Strategies Group.

Rear Admiral (Ret)
Miles B. Wachendorf
United States Navy

RADM (Ret) Wachendorf graduated with distinction from U.S. Naval Academy in 1974 with majors in mathematics and Soviet Area Studies-Russian. He has served afloat on both nuclear powered attack and strategic missile submarines of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets including command of USS Parche (SSN-683). He also commanded Submarine Development Squadron FIVE in San Diego, Calif.

His shore assignments included Deputy Assistant for CNO/VCNO Decision Coordination, Branch Head for Anti-submarine Warfare, Chief of Joint Staff Nuclear/Counter-proliferation Division, Executive Assistant to the Joint Staff Director of Strategic Plans and Policy (J-5), Director of the OPNAV Strategy and Policy Division (N51), US Defense Attaché to Russia, and Chief of Staff U.S. Joint Forces Command. RADM (Ret) Wachendorf studied international relations in the German language as an Olmsted Scholar at the University of Zurich, received a Master of Science in Engineering degree from The Catholic University, attended the Senior Officials in National Security program at Harvard University, and graduated from the Senior Officer Course at the Naval War College.

RADM (Ret) Wachendorf retired from active duty in 2008. He was Chief Operating Officer of EchoStorm Worldwide, LLC until December 2010 when that company was sold to ITT. He is now a senior military advisor to Monitor Group. He resides in Suffolk, Virginia.

Albert B. "Al" Krachman, Esq.

Mr. Krachman has 29 years of experience providing legal counsel to companies that conduct business with, or desire to do business with governments on all aspects of government contracting and government grants. He counsels on winning government contracts and grants, solicitation and proposal issues, and strategies to increase contract profitability. Mr. Krachman counsels on a broad range of compliance and enforcement issues arising from mergers and acquisitions of government contractors, including organizational conflicts of interests, problems under the Small Business Act, international contracting, and security clearance matters. Mr. Krachman’s litigation practice covers internal investigations, defenses of suspensions, debarments or other ethics investigations, whistleblower, contract fraud and False Claims Act litigation, as well as contract disputes, service and supply contracts, construction contracting claims, equitable adjustments, terminations and the like.

Mr. Krachman's government practice spans the civilian and defense agencies and the key vertical sectors within those agencies, such as contracting for energy supplies and services, telecommunications, information technology, IT and guard security services, construction, and health care services and supplies. From a financial assistance perspective, he advises on federal grant compliance, the SBIR program, defense of grant audits and government repayment claims under grants and non-procurement debarments and suspensions. He also advises on GSA Schedule and Homeland Security contracting. Mr. Krachman has authored various articles on a wide span of subjects, including Small Business Certification Fraud, Information Security and Military Utility Privatization. He is the co-author of the Homeland Security Law Handbook, and has served as a contributing editor on several publications, including Pricing of Claims, Cases and Materials on Federal Labor Standards, and Contracting for Services.