Ukrainian innovation.
Allied Capability Gaps.
A Safer tomorrow.

Executive Profile & Capabilities

Efstathios Kokkinidis is a retired Major General and senior military executive with 34 years of service, including 17 years within international organizations such as NATO, the UN, and the EU in senior leadership roles as Commander, Advisor, and Staff Officer, alongside 7 distinguished commands spanning the military hierarchy.

He possesses comprehensive expertise in joint operational planning, logistics, multi-domain crisis operations, strategic communications, infrastructure management, and capability development.

Native in Greek, highly proficient in English, and conversational in Serbo-Croatian, he brings a proven track record of operational impact across strategic, operational, and tactical levels in complex multinational environments.

Dr. Scott A. Smitson is a Strategist, Global Futures Forecaster, Political Scientist, and Educator.

Dr. Smitson is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Geopolitics, Incorporated, which advises investors and private-sector decision-makers in multiple industries in understanding the impact of geopolitics on the risks and opportunities in foreign and domestic markets.

Dr. Smitson previously directed all geopolitical risk analysis for Lykeion, providing analysis and assessments for clients on issues at the interface of finance, macroeconomics, and geopolitics. He is a retired US Army Officer, having served over twenty-one years on active duty in both combat arms and as an Army Strategist.

As a Strategist, he led multidisciplinary groups and facilitated senior leader decision-making by assessing, developing, and articulating policy, strategy, and plans at the national and international levels, all while integrating U.S. instruments of power, most especially defense, diplomacy, and development.

His military career culminated in his assignment as the Strategy Chief at US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), where he served as the principal strategic advisor to the 4-Star Commander on matters directly impacting current operations and mid-to-long-term national policy and strategy for U.S. military activity and operations across Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Dr. Smitson has also advised US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) on issues related to geostrategy and geoeconomics and was the founding director of SOCOM’s Center for Adaptive Innovative Statecraft, representing SOCOM at the 2022 NATO Summit.

Goran Ilioski is a former senior officer of the Macedonian Armed Forces with multiple years of experience spanning special operations command and national-level defense policy.

He commanded a Special Forces Battalion and served as Chief of Staff of the Special Operations Regiment before moving into strategic leadership as Head of the Strategic Defence Group and, subsequently, Head of the Department of Policy and Planning.

In that capacity, he led work on North Macedonia’s Strategic Defence Review and represented the country at NATO committee level, giving him direct, practitioner-level experience bridging special operations realities with alliance-level planning and integration.

He holds a PhD in Military Science (Turkish War College, 2014), a Master’s degree in Military Science (Baltic Defence College, 2008), a Master’s degree in Security, Defence and Peace Studies (Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, 2016), and a Bachelor’s degree from the Military Academy “General Mihailo Apostolski,” Skopje (1999).

Goran now works alongside George Swift and his network of subject-matter experts, providing end-user clients direct access to his extensive experience in special operations command and NATO-level defense policy and planning.

As Chief Executive Officer of the National Space Society and DeLaine Strategy Group, Mr. Johnson provides executive leadership to mission-driven organizations operating at the intersection of commercial space, public policy, education, and strategic collaboration.

Working closely with boards of directors, executive leadership teams, government agencies, industry partners, philanthropic stakeholders, and international organizations, he advances organizational effectiveness, reinforces Board effectiveness, expands executive relationships, and positions institutions for long-term success.

His leadership is defined by disciplined execution, sound fiscal stewardship, organizational resilience, and an unwavering commitment to institutional excellence.

Rod Ashman’s Areas of Expertise

• Significant Middle East consultancy and advisory expertise
• Joint and Maritime Logistics
• Resources and Strategic Planning
• Programme Management
• Capability Management
• Capability Reviews
• Commercial Oversight
• Transformational and Organisational Change
• Bid Scrutinization & Assessment
• RFP / RFQ Assessment

Noteworthy Roles

Senior Defence Advisor/Director, PwC
Lead advisor for both Land and Maritime Forces for Force Structure Planning, Capability Development, and Resource Planning in a MOD-wide transformation programme for the Saudi Armed Forces.

Chief of Staff, Qatar Navy Transformation, BQ Solutions
Led a cross-functional team of senior ex-Royal Navy and US Navy personnel focused on transforming the Qatar Navy across all disciplines, including support. Led and won a bid to transform the QAF Strategic Communications Directorate (QAR 100m).

Defence Advisor and Course Director, Serco
Defence and lead maritime advisor for Serco ME for a number of bids, including winning a ship husbandry contract with the US Navy. Course Director at the Officers’ Training Institute, Qatar.

Director – Royal Navy Resources and Plans, Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Lead within Navy Command for the resources and planning for the Navy’s 10-year plan, with an annual budget of c. £5.7bn. Tackled significant financial challenges and developed innovative solutions.

Programme Director – Maritime Logistics and Theatre Maritime Sustainment, Navy Command, Portsmouth
Lead for capability planning and development for Theatre Maritime Sustainment, including medical support, forward repair, maritime intra-theatre lift, and tanker support; a c. £3bn sub-portfolio, all aimed at providing support to the Fleet into the future.

Head of Joint Logistics and Personnel Engagement, Royal Navy, British Embassy, Washington DC
Lead for UK/US joint logistics engagement within the British Defense Staff.

Head of Logistics Operational Planning, Royal Navy, Afghanistan
Lead planner in-country for supporting UK forces in Afghanistan, including engagement with the US and NATO. Delivered training to Afghan Government Police and Military forces, with responsibility in-country for planning logistics training.

Chris Hoyle is a senior defense and aerospace advisor with more than 25 years’ experience across combat air operations, air capability development, acquisition, operational integration, and international defense programs.

A former Royal Air Force fast-jet pilot and commander of 1(F) Squadron, Chris has extensive operational and leadership experience on Typhoon and Jaguar, including combat operations, multinational exercises, and the introduction of new frontline capabilities. He subsequently held senior roles in UK Typhoon capability development and international defense programs. His experience includes combat air capability development, requirements definition, acquisition, operational integration, tactics development, adversary studies, electronic warfare, weapons and mission-system integration, and defense exports.

Chris has worked extensively across the UK Ministry of Defence, defense industry, and the Royal Saudi Air Force, advising on future combat-air requirements, fighter acquisition, capability upgrades, and international defense cooperation. More recently, he has advised senior Saudi Ministry of Defence leaders on capability planning, acquisition, defense strategy, and transformation, linking operational requirements to practical capability and procurement solutions.

He combines frontline operational experience, deep combat-air expertise, and senior-level defense advisory experience, enabling him to assess emerging technologies and operational lessons against real-world requirements and translate them into credible capability and acquisition options.

Chris holds a First-Class Master of Engineering degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Bristol and a Master’s degree in Defence Studies with Distinction from King’s College London.

Francisco Ranero is a senior cybersecurity and defense professional with more than 35 years of combined military and civilian experience in cyber operations, cybersecurity modernization, and institutional capacity-building.

He currently serves as the Senior Cybersecurity Advisor to the Ministry of Defense and Army of the Republic of North Macedonia under a U.S. Department of State cybersecurity program. In this role, he advises senior civilian and military leaders on cyber strategy, governance, organizational development, operational readiness, and capability modernization. His work supports North Macedonia’s efforts to strengthen defense cyber resilience, meet NATO capability requirements, and develop sustainable defensive cyber operations capabilities.

Prior to his current position, Mr. Ranero completed a 24-year active-duty career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. His assignments included senior leadership positions with U.S. Central Command and the Defense Information Systems Agency in Europe and the Middle East.

As Director of Network Operations and Cybersecurity at U.S. Central Command, he led an 80-person organization responsible for continuous network and cybersecurity operations supporting missions across 11 countries.

Jeff Estill served as an infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division and as cadre at the U.S. Army Ranger School, deploying to Iraq and serving as a United Nations peacekeeper in North Macedonia.

He brings that military operational perspective to his work today as an AI strategist, developing AI applications for a U.S. Department of Energy national security laboratory supporting the nation’s nuclear deterrence mission.

In the two decades between, Jeff led technology, risk, and regulatory work at scale. He directed large organizations and nine-figure programs, stood up technology risk and cybersecurity governance functions at major financial institutions, led the development of production machine learning and agentic AI systems on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and aligned enterprise AI to the NIST AI Risk Management Framework.

He holds the AWS Certified Machine Learning – Specialty, Google Cloud Professional Machine Learning Engineer, and Microsoft Agentic AI Business Solutions Architect certifications, along with CRISC, CISA, and CGEIT.

He is also a former firefighter and EMT and an instrument-rated private pilot.