Brian served over 32 years in the Marines and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), culminating as the Director of CIA’s elite Special Activities Center (SAC). As Director of SAC, Brian was the senior paramilitary and special operations advisor to three CIA Directors, set SAC’s strategic vision, and oversaw CIA’s worldwide paramilitary and special operations, encompassing multiple business units, thousands of employees, and multi-billion dollars in infrastructure.

Prior to leading SAC, Brian was Chief of Staff to two CIA Directors. In this role, Brian was part of the CIA’s senior leadership team and assisted the Director in executing, managing, and overseeing the CIA’s global intelligence enterprise. Over his career, Brian forged deep relationships with cabinet-level counterparts across the Defense Department and Intelligence Community and with the U.S. Congress to advance America’s vital national security needs. He regularly synchronized strategic intelligence and policy initiatives with the White House, the U.S. military, the Intelligence Community, and foreign partners. He has served in war zones and foreign posts around the world and is the recipient of the CIA’s Intelligence Star for Valor, the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s Donovan Award, and the federal service Presidential Rank Award.

Brian holds a BS in Political Science from the US Air Force Academy and an MA in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. He is a co-founder of the Third Option Foundation, a non-profit supporting the operators and families of the CIA’s special operations community. He is also Senior Advisor to Red Cell Partners’ Cyber and National Security Practices.

Over a 20+ year career, Alex has been an engineering leader at Microsoft, Unity Software, and Scale AI.

At Microsoft, Alex worked on compiler technologies before transitioning to AI. He helped develop Xbox Kinect, Hololens, and Microsoft’s Speech platform.

As Chief Architect and Manager for Computer Vision at Unity Software, he developed and led an engineering and product team that worked to simplify the creation of synthetic data to train and test computer vision models.

Alex holds a BS with a double major in Computer Science and Math from Purdue University.

As our Chief Product Officer, William MacMillan sets the overall product vision and strategy.

Before joining Andesite, William was the Senior Vice President for Information Security at Salesforce, and the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), where he led a sweeping transformation of the agency’s cybersecurity strategy and organization. He held multiple senior leadership positions at the CIA across intelligence, counterintelligence and cybersecurity operations, and was involved in the development of the Cybersecurity Operations Center (CSOC). Throughout his career, he has focused on insider threat, supply chain risk, and incident response issues.

Early in his career, William served as an officer and a pilot in the U.S. Air Force’s Combat Rescue and Special Operations communities. He has a BS in Biology from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an MA in International Relations from Salve Regina University, and an MS in Cybersecurity from George Mason University. He, his wife, and their three children live in the Pacific Northwest.

Jaci Tomek is the Chief Revenue Officer of Andesite, responsible for Andesite’s Sales, Sales Operations, Channels, Alliances, Partnerships, Sales Enablement, and Field Marketing functions.

An imaginative and highly skilled sales executive, Jaci has more than 25 years of industry experience in cybersecurity, strategic business development, corporate strategy, sales and customer acquisition. She offers an exceptional blend of business strategy acumen, product management expertise, and strategic partnering skills. She is known for growing and operating high-performing teams, expertise in operational forecast cadence, and her “go get ‘em” attitude.

Prior to joining Andesite, she was VP, Public Sector at Cortex by Palo Alto Networks, where she led mission-focused teams to overachievement, including the largest deal in the company’s history. Recognized by her team and peers, she grew the public sector awareness, strategic customer engagement, retention and product growth. As the VP Public Sector at Aerospike, Inc., Jaci led the public sector go-to-market strategy from inception to execution.

Wes Bush is a Board Member at Andesite. He is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Northrop Grumman Corporation, a global aerospace and defense technology company. He also held positions at Northrop Grumman as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and President of its Space Technology sector.

Before the acquisition of TRW by Northrop Grumman in 2002, Bush served as President and Chief Executive Officer for TRW’s UK-based global Aeronautical Systems and as Vice President of TRW Ventures. He joined TRW as a systems engineer in 1987 in its space business. Prior to joining TRW, he held engineering positions with both the Aerospace Corporation and Comsat Labs.

Mr. Bush graduated from MIT with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering. Bush serves on the Boards of Directors at Cisco, General Motors, and Dow. He also serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations including the MIT Corporation, Conservation International, and American University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Lieutenant General Scott Howell retired from the United States Air Force in August 2021 after a 34- year career during which he held a variety of leadership positions, including most recently as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from July 2018 to June 2021.

In his role at JSOC, Lt Gen Howell oversaw military operations across multiple theaters, and was responsible for the readiness and mission execution of highly-specialized military forces of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Before JSOC he served as the Vice Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command with a focus on organizing, training, and equipping more than 70,000 U.S. Special Operations personnel operating in more than 85 countries. In this role he led acquisition, budgeting, programming, and fiscal processes for USSOCOM with the military services, Joint Staff, and Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Previously, Lt Gen Howell commanded all Coalition special operations forces in Afghanistan as Commanding General, NATO Special Operations Component Command / U.S. Special Operations Joint Task Force – Afghanistan. Lt. Gen Howell has commanded a squadron, group, joint special operations air component, special operations wing, and a special operations joint task force. His senior staff positions include service in the HQ Air Force Staff, Air Force Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command, and as the Deputy Director of Special Operations at the Joint Staff. Howell is a 1987 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and earned Master’s Degrees from the Air Command & Staff College and the National War College.

He is a career helicopter pilot with assignments in rescue and special operations, and has deployed extensively.

Former National Cyber Director, US Government; Former Deputy Director, NSA

Chris Inglis is the Lead Independent Director at Andesite. In 2021, Brig. Gen. (Retired) Chris Inglis was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the country’s inaugural National Cyber Director, serving as an advisor to President Joe Biden and spearheading federal cybersecurity policy and strategy aimed at defending U.S. digital infrastructure and disrupting threat actors. A 41-year veteran of the Department of Defense, Inglis worked at the NSA for 28 years, serving as its Deputy Director for more than seven years. Inglis spent 30 years in the military, retiring from the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard as a command pilot at the rank of Brigadier General. In addition, he previously worked as a U.S. Naval Academy Looker Distinguished Visiting Professor for Cyber Studies, as a managing director at Paladin Capital, and as a Commissioner on the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission. Inglis is a 1976 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds advanced degrees in mechanical engineering and computer science from Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and George Washington University.

Brian served over 32 years in the Marines and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), culminating as the Director of CIA’s elite Special Activities Center (SAC). As Director of SAC, Brian was the senior paramilitary and special operations advisor to three CIA Directors, set SAC’s strategic vision, and oversaw CIA’s worldwide paramilitary and special operations, encompassing multiple business units, thousands of employees, and multi-billion dollars in infrastructure.

Prior to leading SAC, Brian was Chief of Staff to two CIA Directors. In this role, Brian was part of the CIA’s senior leadership team and assisted the Director in executing, managing, and overseeing the CIA’s global intelligence enterprise. Over his career, Brian forged deep relationships with cabinet-level counterparts across the Defense Department and Intelligence Community and with the U.S. Congress to advance America’s vital national security needs. He regularly synchronized strategic intelligence and policy initiatives with the White House, the U.S. military, the Intelligence Community, and foreign partners. He has served in war zones and foreign posts around the world and is the recipient of the CIA’s Intelligence Star for Valor, the CIA’s Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s Donovan Award, and the federal service Presidential Rank Award.

Brian holds a BS in Political Science from the US Air Force Academy and an MA in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. He is a co-founder of the Third Option Foundation, a non-profit supporting the operators and families of the CIA’s special operations community. He is also Senior Advisor to Red Cell Partners’ Cyber and National Security Practices.

Grant Verstandig is the Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, and a Board Member at Andesite. He is also the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Red Cell Partners.

Mr. Verstandig founded Red Cell to launch and scale disruptive technology-led healthcare, defense, and cyber companies that would have a positive and indelible impact on society and future generations to come. An incubation and investment firm, Red Cell builds businesses from the ground up, providing critical support to help them develop their MVPs, establish product-market fit and customer traction, and prepare for market launch and long-term success. Today, the firm has a purpose-built portfolio of almost 20 companies – 13 of which were built internally – and has raised nearly half a billion dollars across the firm and its incubations.

Red Cell was born out of Mr. Verstandig’s personal experiences, first as a patient and later as a healthcare executive. A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Verstandig aspired to be a doctor, attending Brown University. But after injuring his right knee and undergoing multiple surgeries, he came to understand the systemic issues plaguing the U.S. healthcare system and set out to address them. He dropped out of Brown and, in 2010, founded Rally Health, a consumer-centric digital health company that empowers Americans to make better healthcare decisions. In 2017, UnitedHealth Group acquired Rally in one of the largest digital health exits ever. From 2017 to 2021, Mr. Verstandig was UnitedHealth Group’s Chief Digital Officer, responsible for the strategic direction, governance, and performance of digital platforms. He now serves as a Senior Advisor to UHG’s CEO.

Mr. Verstandig is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple businesses that have gone on to achieve tremendous success, including several Red Cell portfolio companies that, as of Q1’25, have raised a combined total of nearly $240M in funding. Among these businesses are insights company DEFCON AI – which, in 2024, raised one of the largest defense-tech seed rounds ever, led by Bessemer Venture Partners – and cyber company Andesite, co-developed by Red Cell and General Catalyst. In addition, Mr. Verstandig is the co-founder and CEO of Red Cell incubation Trase Systems, an AI agent platform that has repeatedly topped the GAIA leaderboard for general AI assistants, outperforming agents from companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google. He is also the co-founder of Epirus, a defense-technology company developing high-power microwave systems to protect warfighters against threats, which, to date, has raised more than half a billion dollars in funding.

Mr. Verstandig, who holds patents in advanced analytics, technology, and artificial intelligence, is a former senior advisor to the National Security Agency and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity Group, the nation’s leading cross-sector public-private cyber security forum; the Aspen Institute’s Foreign Ministers Program; and the Aspen Global Digital Program.

Mr. Verstandig is a philanthropist and civic leader, supporting various causes through the Verstandig Family Foundation, like VETSⓇ (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions), the National Cryptologic Foundation, and The Opportunity Network. In addition, he is a member of the National Council for American Enterprise and serves on the boards of the Third Option Foundation, the International Spy Museum, and the Greater Washington Partnership, where he is a founding member. Mr. Verstandig is a proud supporter of Greater Washington, D.C., area hospitals, including Children’s National Hospital, Inova, and MedStar-Georgetown.