Sam Gray

Sam is a recently retired Naval Officer with over 20 years of experience building, leading, and empowering high performing teams at all levels of the Department of Defense. Sam was a founding member of the Dept. of the Navy’s Agility Office, NavalX, where he served as Deputy Director. At NavalX, Sam led the development and expansion of Tech Bridge, a network of off base, connected locations that enhanced collaboration between the Dept of the Navy and non-traditional partners in industry and academia. During this time, Sam also created a team to leverage private capital in the development of Dept of the Navy technology needs.

Prior to NavalX, Sam managed a $20B annual portfolio of fighter aircraft programs for the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisitions and Sustainment). Previously, he was a strategic planner at Pacific Command focused on China. As a fighter pilot, he deployed seven times including operations in both the Pacific and Middle East. Sam was the commanding officer of VFA-115, an F/A-18 squadron based in Japan, in 2017 and 2018.

Sam has a degree in history from The Ohio State University, a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College, and was a member of the 2019 cohort of Stanford Ignite.