BigBear.ai has appointed retired Army Lt. Gen. Sean A. Gainey to its board of directors, effective Aug. 13.
“General Gainey’s experience, expertise and operational insights make him a very valuable addition to the BigBear.ai Board,” said Peter Cannito, chair of BigBear.ai’s Board of Directors.
“Few leaders have his firsthand understanding of how a complex defense architecture becomes a fielded, trusted capability. His perspective will strengthen our Board and the direction we set for BigBear.ai.”
Gainey spent 36 years in the U.S. Army, where he helped define the Joint Force’s modern counter-drone approach and commanded JTF-Gold, the Golden Dome’s operational arm. He was named the first director of the department’s Joint C-sUAS Office in 2020, and led the office to deliver the department’s first C-sUAS strategy in the four years to follow.
He also led the advancement of the operational concepts, joint doctrine, training standards, and open command-and-control architecture needed to connect sensors and defensive systems across services, the company said.
In his last Army assignment, Gainey was commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. In January, he assumed command of JTF-Gold, a task force established by U.S. Northern Command to serve as the operational arm for the defense systems provided by Golden Dome.
“General Gainey has spent his career at the leading edge of some of the most urgent threats facing warfighters, from counter-drone and integrated missile defense to joint force integration across combatant commands at the center of national security missions,” said Kevin McAleenan, CEO of BigBear.ai.
“As the threat from unmanned systems and advanced missile technology continues to accelerate, his firsthand operational understanding of what our men and women in uniform need from AI-enabled decision support is exactly the perspective our Board and our company need. We are honored to welcome him.”
BigBear.ai said Gainey’s experiences align with its work and growth strategy, which includes connecting sensors, mission software and manned and autonomous platforms across vendors. Its ConductorOS platform uses an open, vendor-neutral architecture to enable systems to share data, models and inferences. During recent military exercises, the platform allowed a soldier to control drones from multiple vendors and linked a sensor to a previously incompatible missile system.
“There is no doubt that the speed and complexity of today’s threats are outpacing our ability to process information manually,” said Gainey. “BigBear.ai’s technology directly addresses that challenge. The company has deep customer trust across the defense community, leading-edge technology, capital and a strategic focus that the United States and its allies can benefit hugely from. I look forward to helping the Board and leadership team deliver technological and decision advantage to the men and women who defend our nation.”