Biographies
Brigadier General Steven J. Butow
Brigadier General Steven J. Butow is the Space Portfolio Director for the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, located in Silicon Valley. Prior to joining DIU, he was the Vice Chief of the Joint Staff, California Military Department. Colonel Butow is a former Commander of the 129th…
Balan Ayyar
Balan Ayyar is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of percipient.ai, a Silicon-Valley based artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision firm focused on intelligence and national security missions. Percipient.ai’s intelligence analysis platform Mirage is operationally deployed in the national security and Intelligence Community of the USG. Balan is a seasoned CEO and retired…
Abe Usher
Abe Usher is the Co-CEO at Black Cape, a machine learning and software development company. Still, he finds time to continue hands-on technical leadership as Lead Engineer, where he architects, designs, and develops machine learning capabilities that detect patterns and unknown relationships in complex data related to GEOINT. Usher is an award-winning technology leader and…
Dr. L. Roger Mason Jr.
As sector president, Mason will have full executive responsibility for the sector’s strategy development and execution, program performance, and growth objectives. The Space, Intelligence and Cyber sector delivers advanced, mission-specific technology capabilities across a broad range of national security, civil space, and intelligence community customers. Previously Dr. Mason served as senior vice president and corporate…
Patrick Acheson
Patrick Acheson is one of the co-founders and managing principals of Quadrint, Inc. Patrick has been working within the Intelligence Community and been engaged with projects for The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and predecessor NIMA since 1998. He currently based in St. Louis, Missouri and commutes regularly to the Washington DC area. In his current role at Quadrint,…
Dr. Todd Bacastow
Todd Bacastow is a professor of practice for geospatial intelligence in Penn State’s Dutton e-Education Institute. His primary areas of expertise include implementation and management of large-scale programs, geospatial technology policy, geospatial information technology governance, and critical infrastructure protection. Dr. Bacastow has worked with businesses and federal and state government on geospatial technology policy issues…
Upcoming Events
Scholarship Virtual Information Session #1
Wednesday, February 11, 2026
12:00 pm
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Spatial Edge: USGIF Day at NATO
Thursday, February 26, 2026
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Scholarship Virtual Information Session #2
Monday, March 16, 2026
12:00 pm
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