Brandon Tseng is Shield AI’s Co-Founder and President. Previously, Brandon proudly served in the Navy for seven years as a SEAL and Surface Warfare Officer aboard USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52). He founded Shield AI – with the mission to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems – driven by firsthand experiences during deployments to Afghanistan (x2), the Pacific Theater, and the Arabian Gulf.

At Shield AI, he leads all aspects of growth – business development, corporate development, strategy, marketing, and government relations – to help Shield AI achieve its mission at a global scale. Brandon earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nathan Michael is Shield AI’s Chief Technology Officer and a former Associate Research Professor in the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). At CMU, Professor Michael was the Director of the Resilient Intelligent Systems Lab, a research lab dedicated to improving the performance and reliability of artificially intelligent and autonomous systems that operate in challenging, real-world and GPS-denied environments.

Nathan has authored over 150 publications on control, perception, and cognition for artificially intelligent single and multi-robot systems, for which he has been nominee or recipient of nine best paper awards (ICRA, RSS, DARS, CASE, SSRR). In 2012, following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan Nathan was among a team of researchers who developed a two-robot system to assist in the disaster response.

Nathan was recognized for his work in Japan in 2014, receiving the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award and Robotics Society of Japan Best Paper Award. Over his decades-long his career in research, Nathan has led research programs supported by ARL, AFRL, DARPA, DOE, DTRA, NASA, NSF, ONR, and industry.

Kingsley Afemikhe is Chief Financial Officer at Shield AI, where he leads critical financial functions including financial controls, strategy, financial planning and risk management. After a successful 15-year investment banking career – transacting globally with a focus on Europe, the Middle East, and Africa – he was Group Head of Strategy and M&A at MET Group, an Integrated Energy Company with operations in infrastructure assets and energy sales.

Most recently, he served as the CFO of Xos, Inc., an electric mobility company dedicated to making fleets more efficient. Kingsley holds a Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering with Business Management from the University of Birmingham (UK), and a Master of Science in Management from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

As Chief People Officer, Henoch leverages his wealth of experience as a Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) generalist and business development leader. Prior to joining Shield AI, he was a Senior Vice President for M&A at two companies, where he generated strong returns in invested capital. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Florida.

Jim Carlson is Shield AI’s General Counsel and Chief Information Officer; he oversees all legal affairs—including regulatory compliance and contracts—and enterprise operations. He started his career as a software engineer before joining the Marine Corps and becoming an accomplished “Top Gun” attack helicopter pilot with over 100 combat flights.

He brought his passion for software to aviation between combat operations when he conceived and developed the Combat iPad system, which was adopted by all Marine attack squadrons operating in Afghanistan. Jim attended Stanford Business School and Stanford Law School, where he graduated with distinction. He formerly served as Shield AI’s Head of Legal and Director of Product and Program Management.

Armor Harris serves as Shield AI’s Vice President of Aircraft Engineering, where he leads the development of cutting-edge aircraft, sensors, and autonomy systems. At SpaceX, he was responsible engineer for the Merlin 1D and Merlin Vacuum engines and worked on developing Falcon 9’s landing capability. Later, he advanced to lead Starlink satellite and ground network engineering, overseeing the development and deployment the world’s largest satellite and constellation delivering high speed internet to millions of users around the globe.

Armor holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Boston University, where he also founded the BU Rocket Propulsion Group, which developed a variety of guided hybrid suborbital rockets.

Christian Gutierrez is a Vice President of Hivemind Engineering at Shield AI, leading the expansion and integration of Shield AI’s Hivemind AI Pilot onto a variety of platforms. Christian served 20 years of honorable service in the U.S. Air Force working on the F-117A and F-16 as an Avionics Specialist and deployed to Iraq in 2005. He transitioned into Command and Control, serving in NORAD‘s Alert Mission and directly supported several hurricane contingency efforts along the Gulf Coast.

After retiring from the Air Force, Christian spent over ten years at Lockheed Martin as a flight software and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) engineer for UAVs, spacecraft, and hypersonic missiles, advancing to lead a $500M project and a 275-person team. He holds a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Houston.

Bob Harward is Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy at Shield AI, where he is responsible for expanding the company’s international business operations and strategy on every continent. Before joining Shield AI, he was a chief executive at Lockheed Martin for eight years and a Vice Admiral (SEAL) in the United States Navy, with his last assignment as Deputy Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM). He has been recognized by Forbes as one of the fifty (#10) most influential CEOs in the Middle East.

Brian Hamilton is both the Chief of Staff and leads corporate development at Shield AI. Previously, Brian helped advise companies on capital formation and mergers & acquisitions at both Bank of America and Guggenheim Securities. Brian proudly served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy aboard USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) and USS San Jacinto (CG 56). He earned his MBA from Indiana University and B.S. from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Shashank Goel is Head of Product for Hivemind at Shield AI, where he leads the product and customer engagement organization, focused on delivering best value and delighting Shield customers. His team spans across product development, product marketing, product strategy and operations, pre and post sales customer engagement. With over 20 years of experience at Google, NXP, Samsung, and Applied Intuition, Shashank has consistently driven early-stage advancements in AI, IoT, and autonomous systems, building innovative product portfolios and transforming them into high-growth businesses for global markets. He holds a professional certificate from Stanford University and a B.E. in Computer Science from Savitribai Phule Pune University. Shashank holds multiple patents and a proven track record of delivering transformative technologies to global markets.

Tom Schaefer is Vice President of Hivemind Engineering at Shield AI, where he leads the development of Hivemind Enterprise, the company's suite of autonomy platform products for software developers and organizations building, testing, or evaluating autonomy for intelligent machines. Before joining Shield AI, Tom spent nearly 25 years at Lockheed Martin, with the last 17 years supporting the legendary Skunk Works®. As a Technical Fellow he played a pivotal role in developing advanced flight software, autonomy, and mission systems for next-generation aircraft and classified programs. Additionally, as a Software Integrated Product Team (IPT) Lead, he led a 100+ person team as part of a multi-billion-dollar project, overseeing the development, integration, and execution of highly reliable avionics systems and ground stations. He holds a BS in Computer Science, graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Advancing Technology.