Key Note Speaker

LtGen Robert M. (Bob) Shea, USMC (Ret.)
President and Chief Executive Officer, AFCEA International

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Robert M. (Bob) Shea is the President and CEO of the Armed Forces Communication and Electronics Association (AFCEA).   Prior to assuming this position, he served as the Executive Vice President, Strategic Solutions, for Smartronix, Inc., Hollywood, MD.

Lieutenant General Shea’s final active duty position was as the Director, Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems (C4 Systems), The Joint Staff. He was the principal advisor to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff on all C4 systems matters within the DoD.  While in that position, he was given the responsibility for developing the first U.S. National Military Strategy for Cyberspace Operations.  He also served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Forces Japan; Commander of the Marine Component, Joint Task Force Computer Network Defense; Director of the Marine Corps Command and Control Systems School; and Commanding Officer, 9th Communications Battalion, I Marine Expeditionary Force during Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Among Lieutenant General Shea's previous staff assignments are Director for C4 for the Marine Corps; the Chief Information Officer of the Marine Corps; Director of Intelligence for the Marine Corps; the Director for Command, Control and Communications (J6) for the United States Pacific Command; and various other staff positions in the Marine Corps and Joint community.  Shea earned a M.A. from Central Michigan University. He also attended The Basic School, Advanced Communications Officers' Course, the Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University.

Lieutenant General Shea served for 10 years as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Toys for Tots Foundation.  He has also served as a Director on two corporate boards, an executive partner with a private equity corporation, and an advisor/consultant to several telecommunication and defense industry corporations. He also has served on study panels for the National Research Council and the Defense Science Board.

Lieutenant General Shea's awards include: Defense Distinguished Service Medal, DoD Superior Service Medal with gold star in lieu of second award, Legion of Merit with gold star, DoD Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal with two gold stars. He is also a recipient of the North American IT Leadership Award from the Rocky Mountain Chapter of AFCEA and he is a Federal 100 Award winner.

Small Business Speaker

Sam Ely: President, Percival Engineering

"Disaster Preparation: Don't let it blow up in your face"

Follow the journey of a small business that blew up, literally! And the path to recover and lessons learned along the way.

Sam Ely is a decorated U.S. Air Force (USAF) Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom turned Engineer turned Entrepreneur of a successful small business, Percival Inc., located in Columbia, MD. Sam started Percival, in 2016, a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB)  leveraging his real-world experience and applying best practices learned from elite U.S. Government Cyber Corps. His endeavors began in technology 25+ years ago teaching young students IT. He pursued his passion to learn as much technology as he could by obtaining a BS (Va. Tech) and MS (JMU) in Computer Science. Not only did he achieve his goals of higher education, he supported his peers in achieving theirs through tutoring and mentorship. On top of being a hardworking student, tutoring others, he also volunteered to join the USAF in 2001.

While in the USAF, as Crew Command for Air Combat Command’s Network Operations and Security Center, he was responsible to protect and secure networks across 18 CONUS/OCONUS locations from Cyber Attacks. Always an advocate for integrating Cyber, he was selected as the Computer Network Defense Chief for the Air Operations Center (2004) during Blue Flag. He represented the USAF in a joint military and NSA CNO development program, followed by a deployment to Iraq providing close support to the Warfighter. Shortly after returning, he decided to apply his technical skills and military experience, in the growing industry of Cybersecurity. For the next nine years he was an Engineering Division Director, helping grow a local small Cybersecurity company. It was then, Sam realized it was time to begin his own entrepreneurship journey in the evolving landscape of Cyber.

Founded in 2016 from his Ellicott City home office with a giant loud server in his basement, Sam founded Percival in 2016.  Sam now leads Percival from a 17,000+ sq ft office in Columbia, MD where he leads the company of 37 to execute numerous prime contracts and efforts.  Percival is at the forefront of innovation in vulnerability research, creating novel ways to automate vulnerability analysis focusing IoT and complex systems supporting critical infrastructure (ICS/SCADA) worldwide.

For event specific questions, please contact luncheons@centralmd.afceachapters.org