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Meet the Conference Committee

Representing the three key elements – users, industry and academia - of the IT²EC community, the event's technical planning committee provides unique advice to organisers regarding the needs of their constituency and trends in the industry and the research base.

The committee assist in shaping the content of the conference to ensure it is relevant and fulfils the expectations of the wider modelling, simulation, training and education community. Learn more about current members of the committee below.

Chair - Benjamin Bell

Chief Operating Officer
Eduworks Corporation

Benjamin Bell is the COO of Eduworks Corporation. Dr. Bell’s research has addressed simulation for training and education across a spectrum of applications, including K-12, higher education, military and national security training. He has held academic positions, chief executive positions in industry, and serves in leadership roles for several leading conferences. Dr. Bell is an adjunct professor at Embry Riddle, holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

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Rusmat Ahmed

SVP Sales, EMEA
Bohemia Interactive Simulations

Rusmat is SVP Sales, EMEA and Asia and has been with Bohemia Interactive Simulations since 2014 and leads all sales and business development activities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He has a wealth of business experience in defence, for projects for armies and air forces, and in both civil and military training and simulation..

Following a military flying career, Rusmat worked for Racal and Thales in business development, strategy, and bid and project management roles. He ran business units in civil and military avionics and was project or operations director on large, multi-company PFI projects. Moving increasingly to customer-facing roles, he was a sales director at L-3 before joining BISim. Rusmat has an MBA from INSEAD France and a degree in economics from the University of York.

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Wink Bennett

Readiness Product Line Lead, 711th Human Performance Wing
US Air Force Research Lab

 

Debbie Berry

Senior Staff Analyst 
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Debbie L. Berry, has over 39 years with Lockheed Martin.  She currently manages the Innovation Demonstration Center in Orlando, FL.

Ms. Berry has supported the simulation and training industry, domestically and internationally, as an engineer, program manager, tradeshow manager and business development senior staff analyst.  As customer engagement liaison, she is responsible for management of capabilities demonstrations, business development and strategies.

Debbie served as Conference Chair of I/ITSEC 2001 and ITEC 2009.  She is a charter member of the Modeling and Simulation Professional Certification Commission (CMSP) and an alumnus of Leadership Orlando (Class 78).  She is a board member for the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, National Defense Industrial Association Central Florida Chapter, and the National Training Systems Association EXCOM (vice chair).  She serves on the I/ITSEC Council of Chairs and as Program Chair for the Go for the Greens conference which focuses on women entrepreneurs/sustainability.

In recognition of her distinguished service, Debbie has been recognized with the prestigious NDIA Silver Medal, the AUSA Sunshine Chapter Royal of the Flamingo medallion and the Noble Patron of Armor.  She is the inaugural recipient of the WID CFL Debbie L. Berry Legacy Award.

Debbie received her Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of Florida.

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Martijn Boosman

Founder, Chief Executive Officer
CrisisSim

Martijn is Founder and CEO of CrisisSim which focuses at simulation training strategy support to safety & security educators. Martijn advises leading solution providers and training organisations in their product design and the implementation of their simulation training strategy.  

Martijn studied Industrial Design Engineering studies at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. After his studies, Martijn founded the company XVR Simulation, world leading provider of simulation training software to civil safety and security training organisations. Martijn was also appointed lecturer at the European Master of Disaster Medicine thus combining his interest in crisis response and simulation technology.

Martijn has more than 20 years’ experience in design and development of virtual and constructive simulation solutions as well as the educational use of these technologies in curricula of safety and security training providers.

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Tim Colebrooke

Chief Commercial Officer Mission Decisions

Tim Colebrooke heads up Strategic Partnerships at Mission Decisions. Having spent a number of years in the military, followed by the defence industry, Tim is directing the talented data engineers and scientists at Mission Decisions toward genuine challenges faced by defence end users. He is passionate about bringing AI Mentors to the masses, so that everyone can experience their favourite teacher whenever they need them.

Jean-Yves Donnart

AI Expert & Advanced Studies Project Manager
Thales AVS France - Training & Simulation

Jean-Yves Donnart began his career in 1997, during the last year of his PhD thesis, in the French SME MASA to develop the Artificial Intelligence tools of this company and to design its first Modelling & Simulation assets, especially for the military domain.

He joined Thales Training & Simulation in 2005, where he applied his knowledge in the fields of M&S, AI and Serious Gaming, managing or participating in several French and European R&T projects for almost 20 years, and in particular advanced studies for the French MoD.

He is recognized in Thales Group as an AI expert, and frequently participates to the evaluation of R&T projects for the French collaborative cluster "Cap Digital".

Dave Elsey

Analysis and Design Portfolio Technical Authority - Training & Simulation Group
BAE Systems

David Elsey is the BAE Systems Analysis and Design Portfolio Technical Authority, working in the Training and Simulation Group within Maritime Services.  Having joined the company in 2014, he has held a range of appointments as a Training Technical Authority, Engineering Manager and as a Business Development Manager.

As a Technical Authority, most notably he was the Queen Elizabeth and City (Type 26 Frigate) Class training lead, responsible for the analysis, design, development, integration, acceptance and certification of the various training gap solutions developed. 

As a Business Development Manager, between business winning and development activities, he completed a twelve month industrial secondment to the Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare Centre.  During this secondment he assisted the Fleet Operational Analysis Staff in the undertaking of a range of both analytical and training related Wargames, whilst conducting research into the utility of Wargaming as a training method and media.

In addition, during his time with BAE Systems he has contributed to a number of training, education, academic and human factors related projects.  In his current role he manages a number of Technical Authorities working on a variety of training and simulation projects, across multiple domains, for a range of domestic and international clients.

Holding an MSc in International Human Resource Management and a BSc (Hons) in Physics, prior to joining BAE Systems he was an officer in the Royal Navy for 18 years where, as a Training Management specialist, he held a range of defence staff, policy, key customer and learning delivery positions across a range of Ministry Of Defence, Joint, Naval HQ, operational tours, United Nations and Command appointments.

Jeremy Humphreys

Business Development Director
The Halldale Group

Jeremy Humphreys graduated in Material Science from Imperial College, London in 1984. After  working for 19 years in high tech manufacturing industry as an engineer and subsequently in general management supplying products to nuclear, microelectronics and defence markets Jeremy first entered the S&T world in 2003 as Business Manager with responsibility for MS&T Magazine, published by specialist S&T media and events publisher Halldale Group.

As Business Development lead for Halldale Group, Jeremy has wide ranging interests and broad experience in Education, Simulation and Training for defence, aviation, healthcare and other safety critical industries and an in-depth knowledge of international events and publishing business development and operations.

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Sanjay Khetia

Managing Director
By Light Technologies Limited

Sanjay is a highly effective business leader with a career that spans nearly 25 years and has a proven track record of strategic captures and delivering innovative solutions to a variety of sectors globally. Currently he is the Director of By Light Technologies Limited. where he is responsible for coalescing all the capabilities from By Light (and subsidiaries Cole Engineering Services and Veraxx) and crafting and executing strategies that deliver sustained growth in the UK and EMEA region while fostering partnerships with industry and government.

Sanjay's previous roles include Chief Technology Officer for the Centre for Modelling and Simulation and youngest ever Fellow for QinetiQ, where he also held the role of Chief Technologist. Most recently he served as co-founder and Director for PLEXSYS Interface Products UK LTD. When he's not busy driving innovation and growth, Sanjay enjoys spending quality time with his family and volunteering.

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Paddy Little

Technical Director
CERVUS

Paddy is the Technical Director for Cervus Defence and Security Ltd since 2014, leads Cervus product development activities around analytics, learning and data themes, whilst continuing to be intimately involved in leading research and experimentation projects in the UK and elsewhere.

Following a military career, Paddy worked for Saab Training and Simulation, primarily on live simulation and training capability projects in the UK and Kenya.  Since joining Cervus in 2014, he has lead a variety of projects, focusing on training capability development, soldier performance, broader concept and capability development, and done so across  a range of different live, virtual and constructive environments. Paddy has an MBA from Cranfield University, a degree in History from the University of Manchester, and is a graduate of the UK Advanced Command and Staff College. 

Caitlin McInnes

Director, International Programs
NAWCTSD

Caitlin McInnes is the Program Director for International Programs at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD).  Caitlin McInnes graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a degree in Economics. Her program management and acquisition experience include unmanned systems, submarines, Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs, and new construction shipbuilding.   

Carlos Montans

HO Training Centres Services

Airbus Defence and Space

 

Mike Merritt

Acquisition Director,
Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, United States Navy

Michael Merritt is the Acquisition Director at the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division. He is responsible for workload planning, mission execution and collaboration with Government and Industry partners to effectively execute NAWCTSD mission tasking.  Mr. Merritt earned a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the University of Central Florida in 1982.  He received his Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1984.   

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Stavroula Oustoglou

Defence Analyst,  Innovation Officer
NATO 

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Agatino Mursia

Chief Information Officer, Digital Solutions and R&D Coordination, M&S
Leonardo S.p.a.

Agatino has been in the industry since 1989, in different positions from Engineering, Research and Development, Business Development and CTIO, in Italy and in the USA.

Since 2003 he has been responsible for the definition and validation of complex net-centric architectures and C4ISTAR systems by using M&S techniques such as distributed simulation in support of CD&E (Concept Development & Experimentation) and Training in the military domain.

From March 2013 he is the Industrial Member of the NATO STO NMSG (NATO M&S Group) representing, until now, Italy in that context. He is also former Chairman of the NMSG (position hold from 2018 to 2020 - first time for an Italian to assume that position) and recently he was also elected as NIAG Liaison Officer (NLO) for NSMG.

He has been promoting the use of M&S and related international simulation standards also through numerous presentations of M&S related papers to National and International conferences like IEEE, IT2EC, I/ITSEC, CA2X2 Forum.

He has twice been awarded the NATO STO Achievement Award: in 2014 for “C2 Capability Maturity Model” and in 2015 for MSG-131 Specialist Team on “Modelling and Simulation as a Service: New Concepts and Service Oriented Architectures”.

In the context of NexGen M&S NATO ACT Program he has been actively participating since the initial phase as M&S SME representing NMSG Community. Later in 2023 he was elected Chair of the new SG-296 NIAG Study on NexGen M&S sponsored by ACT that is currently ongoing.

He is a member of the EDA CapTech Simulation and is coordinating the Leonardo and Italian participation to the EDF project FEDERATES aiming at realizing the first European MSaaS Ecosystem.

 

Paolo Proietti

Italian Industrial Representative to NATO Science and Technology Organization Board

University Degree in Electronics Engineering (1984), on automatic controls, robotics and bioengineering branches. Start working in 1984 and currently employee of Leonardo spa as coordinator for NATO Studies, both STO and NIAG, for the whole Leonardo company, and at National level. Dealing with R&D projects since 1996 in European Commission, EDA, and NATO programs, and member of several related working groups, both in NIAG and NATO STO. Experience in Command & Control, Autonomous Systems, Modelling, Simulation & Training including simulation and virtual reality applications to the medical and healthcare field. Currently Member of the NATO Science & Technology Organization (STO) Board (STB) and Human Factor & Medicine (HFM) Panel, and also supporting the Modelling & Simulation Group (MSG). Furthermore is Italian non-Governmental Expert (CnGE) in the European Defence Agency (EDA) CapTech and Industry Rapporteur for Human Factor, and in the CapTech Simulation. He is also member of the Italian Delegation to NIAG with also the role of NIAG Liaison Officer (NLO) to STO and HFM Panel, and Chairman of the Research & Technology working group (RiTec) of the Italian Aerospace and Defence Industry Federation (AIAD). Moreover, founder and former President of the Italian Modelling and Simulation Association, named MIMOS (Movimento Italiano Modellazione e Simulazione). Former Member of the Board of Director of ETSA (European Training and Simulation Association), of the Board of Director of EuroSim (Federation of the European Simulation Societies), and of the ITSA (International Simulation & Training Alliance). Member of the Committee of ITEC Conference, the largest event in Europe devoted to Defence Simulation & Training, since 2011.

 

Enrico Raue

New Markets Development and Sales Manager
MASA

Enrico Raue began his career as a mechanical engineer in Sweden where he first became involved in simulation systems. He is now based in France and has been in charge of sales development in new international markets at MASA since 2011.  He leads MASA’s efforts to extend the reach of its products, both directly to end­-users, but also, and perhaps more significantly through the development of multiple distribution channels worldwide, including local and regional value­-added resellers, and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) system integrators. He has several years of experience in the ecosystem of virtual- and constructive- simulation solutions, and also specializes in the application of artificial intelligence in these fields.

DeLloyd Voorhees

President 
VCA, LLC

DeLloyd (De) Voorhees, Jr., is the President of VCA., LLC., a consulting firm in Sanford, Florida.  He was formerly with General Dynamics Information Technology where he was responsible for business development in the US Army and US Marine Corps training and simulation market. Prior to this, he was the Director for Models and Simulations at MPRI (now Engility) where he managed their Mission Training Center programs in Germany and the Western United States.  He served as Director of Training and Simulation Programs at CSC’s Training Center of Excellence in Hampton, VA from 2002 – 2008.

Mr. Voorhees retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of Colonel.  During the latter part of his Army career, he served as the Project Manager for Training Devices (PM TRADE) at the U.S. Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command (now PEO STRI); and later as the Principal Deputy to the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Acquisition Executive.

Mr. Voorhees is a Life Member of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), the Association of the United States Army (AUSA), the Special Forces Association (SFA) and The US Army Officer Candidate Schools Alumni Association (TUSAOCSAA). He is the President of the Central Florida Veterans Memorial Park Foundation and the immediate past President of the AUSA Sunshine Chapter. He has served as the President of the Central Florida Chapter of NDIA and Chairman of the NTSA Executive Board.  He has served as the Conference Chair of both the ITEC Conference (2014) and the I/ITSEC Conference (2009).

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Dr Elaine M Raybourn

Principal Member of the Technical Staff
Sandia National Laboratories 

Elaine M. Raybourn, Ph.D., is a social scientist in Applied Cognitive Science at Sandia National Laboratories. As a European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) Fellow, she worked with software development teams at Fraunhofer FIT in Germany, the French National Institute for Computer Science (INRIA), and BT Global Research and Development in the UK. She currently supports the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science in next generation software technologies stewardship. Her research focuses on complex socio-technical systems of scientific software teams of teams, collaborative immersive virtual environments, transmedia learning, high performance computing AI/ML ethics, and the diffusion of innovations to incentivize program modernization and cultural change. She holds a Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication with an emphasis in Human Computer Interaction from the University of New Mexico and a Graduate Certificate in Modeling & Simulation of Behavioral Cybersecurity from the University of Central Florida. Dr. Raybourn was the ITEC 2019 Conference Chairman.

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Christophe Rind

Senior Technical Advisor
Sogitec 

Christophe Rind holds an Engineering degree from Ecole Centrale Paris (1981). He has been  with Sogitec since 1983, at first designing hardware and software for Image Generators, then as a system architect and project manager. His sphere of interest broadened to include database tools and displays, with implementations in training simulators for various platforms (Mirage 2000, Rafale, F16, Eurofighter, Puma, Super Puma, Dauphin, NH90, etc.). 

Jan Hodicky

M&S Technical SME
NATO HQ SACT

Jan Hodicky has been working as the M&S Technical SME in NATO Allied Command for Transformation in Norfolk. He got his Ph.D. in the Modelling and Simulation field at the University of Defence and in 2022 he became Full Professor at the same university. From 2013 till 2016 he was Doctrine, Education and Training Branch Head in NATO Modeling and Simulation Centre of Excellence in Rome. Then he was the lead on M&S projects supporting analytical studies at Department of Strategic Studies in Czech Republic for 2 years. He is certified Modelling and Simulation Professional by NTSA. Jan advocates M&S as an independent discipline and he applies M&S mostly in the military domain. He has been active member in NATO Science and Technology Organization Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG) for more than 14 years.

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Steven VanRiper

Deputy Project Lead, International Program Office
US Army, PEO STRI

Steven is currently the Deputy Project Lead in the International Program Office (IPO) within PEO STRI. He has a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach, FL and Master of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School - Monterey, CA.  Special Qualifications include Defense Acquisition University Program Management Tools (PMT 401), Certified Level III Program Management, Certified Level II Engineering, and Certified Level II Test and Evaluation.

His experience includes direct leadership positions, operations management, battalion and brigade staff, program management in the Technologies Applications Project Office (Assistant Program Manager, Sensors and Weapons), the Apache Attack Helicopter Project Office (Product Manager, Apache Sensors), USSOCOM SOF AT&L (Program Director, Silent Knight Radar) and, most recently, PEO STRI (Support Contractor, Deputy Product Manager, and Deputy Project Lead).

Dr Jim Pharmer

Chief Scientist for the Training Systems Research, Development Test and Evaluation Department (GT5E) and the Head of the Experimental and Applied Human Performance and Training Research and Development Division (GT55)  NAWCTSD

Dr. Jim Pharmer is the Chief Scientist for the Training Systems Research, Development Test and Evaluation Department (GT5E) and the Head of the Experimental and Applied Human Performance and Training Research and Development Division (GT55) at the NAWCTSD in Orlando, Florida.  Over his 20+ years at NAWCTSD, his work has focused on delivering effective training products and human performance solutions to the fleet.  He has held roles as a supervisor, a laboratory lead, and as principal investigator for multiple large training and human performance science and technology programs.  Dr. Pharmer’s research interests have centered on developing human systems integration (HSI) processes and tools for factoring capabilities and limitations of human operators, maintainers, and support personnel into the systems engineering process.  During his career, he has supported surface ship and aviation acquisition programs as a key member on HSI Integrated Product Teams and leads a number of HSI working groups for developing consistent Navy and Joint HSI policy and guidance.  Jim holds a MS in Engineering Psychology from Florida Institute of Technology and a PhD in Applied Experimental Human Factors from University of Central Florida.

AVM Gary Waterfall CBE

Senior Air Advisor
Clarion Defence & Security Limited

Gary served with the RAF for 34 years, retiring as AVM. His time with the RAF included multiple leadership roles including Harrier and Typhoon Force Commander, Air Officer Commanding No1 Group and UK National Air Defence Commander, Deputy Chief of Joint Operations, Permanent Joint Headquarters (UK), as well as serving as a Team Pilot for the Red Arrows. Upon his retirement in 2019, Waterfall turned to advising and mentoring across the leadership, defence and aerospace sectors, working both inside and outside of the Ministry of Defence with the professional mantra of ‘making good better’.

Dale Whittaker

Program Manager Foreign Military Sales 
US Army, PEO STRI

Dale has worked in the International Training System community for 15 years in support of 60 plus countries. He is currently the PM FMS for PEO STRI and was previously the International Program Director for NAWCTSD.

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Find out more

For more information about the committee, or to propose a topic for consideration, please contact Evie Bullivant.