Scoop News Group is thrilled to announce the winners of the DefenseScoop 50 awards for 2025, recognizing the defense visionaries who are spearheading the integration of technology as a critical component in deterring and safeguarding against emerging threats.
Now in their third year, the DefenseScoop 50 Awards honor the trailblazers and leaders in and outside the U.S. military who are dedicated to using modern technology to revolutionize defense.
The list of award winners is comprised of leaders and programs from across the Department of Defense and industry that are shaping how technology has become a central fixture in deterring and defending against emerging threats.
Over the course of several months, DefenseScoop readers nominated hundreds of leaders and programs across five categories and ultimately voted for the top 50 for this list, which annually garners more than 1 million votes.
Please join us in congratulating the winners, listed below alphabetically by each category, and sharing the list across social media and other platforms.
Golden Defense
Katie Arrington, Performing the Duties of the CIO, Department of Defense
Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, Commanding General, Cyber Command, U.S. Army
Lt. Gen. Melvin Carter, Deputy Commandant for Information
Doug Cossa, IC CIO, Office of the Director for National Intelligence
Leonel Garciga, CIO, U.S. Army
Lt. Gen. David T. Isaacson, CIO/J6, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Wanda Jones-Heath, Principal Cyber Advisor, Department of the Air Force
Dave McKeown, Performing the Duties of Deputy CIO for Cybersecurity and CISO, Department of Defense
Gen. James E. Rainey, Commanding General (retired), Army Futures Command
Lt. Gen. Jeth Rey, Deputy Chief of Staff, G-6, U.S. Army
Lt. Gen Paul Stanton, Director, Defense Information Systems Agency
Defense Leadership
Lt. Col. Charlie Bahk, Director, Marine Corps Software Factory, U.S. Marine Corps
Bailey Bickley, Chief DIB Defense, Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, NSA
Stacy Bostjanick, Chief Defense Industrial Base Cybersecurity, Department of Defense
Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Operations, Cyber, and Nuclear (retired), U.S. Space Force
Mark Chatelain, CIO, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Maj. Gen. Luke Cropsey, Program Executive Officer for Command, Control, Communication and Battle Management (C3BM), Department of the Air Force
Susan Davenport, Chief Data and AI Officer, Department of the Air Force
Chandra Donelson, Chief Data and AI Officer, U.S. Space Force
Justin Fanelli, Chief Technology Officer, Department of the Navy
Kathleen Fisher, Director, Information Innovation Office, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Mark Gorak, Director of the Cyber Academic Engagement Office and Principal Director for Resources and Analysis, OCIO, Department of Defense
Michael Kanaan, Military Deputy CIO, Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, Department of Defense
Charleen Laughlin, Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Cyber and Data, U.S. Space Force
Ramesh Menon, Chief Technology Officer, Defense Intelligence Agency
Bharat Patel, Product Lead, Project Linchpin – Sensor AI, PEO IEW&S, U.S. Army
Randy Resnick, Senior Advisor, Zero Trust Portfolio Management Office, Department of Defense
Tom Rondeau, Principal Director, FutureG, Department of Defense
Rob Vietmeyer, Chief Software Officer, Department of Defense,
Kristina Walter, Chief, Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, NSA
Cmdr. Jonathan White, Cloud and Data Branch Chief, U.S. Coast Guard
Industry Leadership
David Appel, VP, U.S. Federal, Amazon Web Services
William Chappell, CTO, Strategic Missions and Technologies, Microsoft
Juan de Bedout, CTO, RTX
Maria Demaree, SVP, Enterprise Business and Digital Transformation, and CIO, Lockheed Martin
David Hathaway, President, Defense Sector, ManTech
Jim Keenan, VP, DOD Sales, Red Hat
Jeremy Knupp, VP, Global Command and Control Systems, Northrop Grumman
Palmer Luckey, Founder, Anduril Industries
Kim Lynch, Executive Vice President, Government Defense and Intelligence, Oracle
Shyam Sankar, CTO and Executive Vice President, Palantir
Brian Sheridan, SVP, Defense, GDIT
Toni Townes-Whitley, CEO, SAIC
Most Inspiring Up & Comer
Cyrus Jabbari, Chief Data Officer, U.S. Central Command
Alee Long, Program Manager, JWCC, Defense Information Systems Agency
Nicole Nemmers, Deputy Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer, U.S. Special Operations Command
Artem Sherbinin, CTO, U.S. Surface Naval Force, Department of the Navy
Seth Whitworth, Acting Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Cyber and Data (SF/S6), U.S. Space Force
Innovation of the Year
DOD Cyber Readiness Tracking using DOD Cyber Workforce Framework Qualification, Department of Defense
