Doug Beck served from 2023 until August, 2025 as Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense across two administrations. In this role, he oversaw the acceleration of commercial technology adoption throughout the military and spearheaded the tipping point of change in defense technology adoption for the Department of Defense. For his work at DIU, Doug was awarded the Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest civilian award conferred by the Secretary of Defense. He was also instrumental in the origin of DIU, and founded and led its joint reserve component from 2015-2019.

Prior to joining DIU, Doug was Vice President at Apple, reporting directly to its CEO, Tim Cook, for 13 years, from 2009 to 2023. At Apple, Doug led the company’s businesses across Northeast Asia and the Americas, geographies representing roughly half of Apple’s revenue, as well as leading several of Apple’s purpose-driven businesses (e.g., in health, education, and the public sector) worldwide.

Before joining Apple, Doug served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Charles Schwab. Prior to Schwab, he was a partner at McKinsey & Company. In 2000, he was elected as one of the youngest partners in McKinsey history while resident in Shanghai. He has lived and worked for many years in Asia, including in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and across China.

A Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve, Doug served in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006-2007 with a joint special operations task force. He has also served extensively throughout the Asia Pacific region. His personal and unit awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), the Bronze Star Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Presidential Unit Citation.

As a civilian, Doug has served as a member of the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, and an executive advisor to three Chiefs of Naval Operations and to Special Operations Community leadership, as well as an informal advisor to several Secretaries and Deputy Secretaries of Defense and Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs.

Doug serves as a member of McKinsey & Company’s Geopolitics Advisory Council, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for a New American Security, and as a Senior Fellow at both Yale’s Jackson School for Global Affairs and the University of Tokyo and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. He is a Trustee of the Rhodes Trust, which oversees the Rhodes Scholarships worldwide, and has been a member of the Jackson School’s Advisory Board since 2013. He also informally advises several key US allies on defense technology and innovation.

Doug holds a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Yale and an M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Olivia Jones is a Managing Director at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the global strategic investor for the U.S. and its allies. Based in Sydney, Australia, she manages IQT investments and activity across ANZ and Japan. Olivia joined IQT in 2017 and has held several other roles at the firm, including managing a portfolio spanning data analytics, AI, space, autonomous systems, and communications platforms. Across this portfolio, she drove transition of venture-backed technology into the U.S. intelligence community for initial evaluation and ongoing operational use. Olivia has prior experience at Deloitte Consulting, the U.S. Department of Defense, Citigroup, and The Aspen Institute. She received a B.A. from Davidson College, an M.A. from The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Peng-Yam TAN has been the Chief Defence Scientist at the Singapore Ministry of Defence since May 2021.

Peng-Yam began his career as a research engineer at DSO National Laboratories before assuming various roles at the Singapore Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), including Deputy Director for Research and Development. Peng-Yam established and headed MINDEF’s Defence Technology Office in Washington DC, from January 2000 to December 2003. From 2004 to 2011, he served as Deputy Chief Executive for Technology and later for Operations at Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA). Peng-Yam was appointed the Chief Executive of DSTA in January 2011, serving in that role until May 2021.

Peng-Yam has considerable experience in managing research and development, fostering international technology collaboration, developing technological capabilities, and architecting and implementing large-scale systems projects across diverse disciplines.

Peng-Yam serves on the boards of DSO National Laboratories, ST Engineering and Synapxe (national health tech agency). He chairs Cap Vista Private Limited (a start-up investment and engagement firm) and the Temasek Defence Systems Institute (an educational institute established as a strategic alliance between National University of Singapore and US Naval Postgraduate School) Management Board. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the National University of Singapore College of Design and Engineering Advisory Board, and the National Environment Agency’s Nuclear Safety Advisory Panel. Additionally, he chairs the SMRT (a public transport service provider) Technical Advisory Panel and co-chairs the National Cybersecurity R&D Programme International Advisory Panel.

Peng-Yam has previously served on the boards of the Building and Construction Authority, the National Environment Agency, the Land Transport Authority, the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), and D’Crypt Private Limited. He was also chairman of Tech Vista Private Limited and served as a member of the PUB Board Committee for Transformation, and Temasek Polytechnic Board of Governors.

Peng-Yam was awarded the Public Administration Medal Gold (Singapore), the Commander of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Italy), the Grand Cross of Naval Merit with White Mark (Spain), and the Royal Order of the Polar Star, Knight First Class (Sweden). He was also conferred the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organisation Honorary Fellowship.

Dr. Sakyasingha Dasgupta is the Founder and CEO of EdgeCortix, a Tokyo-based AI semiconductor company, and a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience spanning artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and semiconductor technologies. Combining deep technical expertise with company-building experience, he has built and led technology ventures across AI semiconductors, robotics, autonomous systems, and fintech. At EdgeCortix, he has successfully secured more than US$100 million in private investment and government-backed funding to advance next-generation AI computing technologies and the company’s global growth.

Prior to founding EdgeCortix, Dr. Dasgupta held research, technology, and leadership roles across leading global organizations including Microsoft, IBM Research/IBM Japan, RIKEN, and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. He also helped build and lead technology startups in Japan and Singapore, developing experience across the full innovation lifecycle—from fundamental research and engineering to product commercialization and company building.

In 2019, he founded EdgeCortix with a vision to fundamentally improve the energy efficiency of AI computing at the edge. Today, the company develops reconfigurable AI processors, semiconductor IP, compiler technologies, and software platforms through a software-first, hardware-software co-design approach. Its technologies target some of the most demanding edge AI applications across defense and aerospace, robotics, telecommunications, smart infrastructure, and industrial systems.

Dr. Dasgupta holds an MSc in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Complex Systems Physics from the Max Planck Institute. He also pursued advanced studies in entrepreneurship and design thinking at the MIT Sloan School of Management and holds more than 25 patents worldwide across AI, computing, and semiconductor technologies.

日本における製造業（自動車、産業機械、航空宇宙防衛、半導体）部門のリーダー。
製造業、インフラ系企業、政府機関に対して、主に戦略、生産性改善、新規事業、サステイナビリティ戦略、ＤＸに関するコンサルティングに従事。前職で安全保障を専門としていた経緯もあり、防衛省及び防衛関連企業に対して、防衛産業戦略、防衛事業の成長戦略、調達・製品開発・サプライチェーン等のオペレーション変革などの支援を実施。
近年ではマッキンゼーの地政学に関するサービスラインを立ち上げ、政府機関や企業に対して、現下の地政学的環境下における政策や企業戦略の在り方についてのコンサルティングも実施している。

学歴・その他
・前職では外務省および内閣官房の国家安全保障政策チーム（総合政策局、安全保障政策課、内閣官房有事法制チーム）で勤務

・東京大学卒
・IEビジネススクール卒（MBA取得）