DisrupTV Episode 435

Dr. David A. Bray is a Distinguished Fellow and Chair of the Accelerator with the Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council at the non-partisan Henry L. Stimson Center. He is also a non-resident Distinguished Fellow with the Business Executives for National Security, and a CEO and transformation leader for different “under the radar” tech and data ventures seeking to get started in novel situations. He is Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures and has served in a variety of leadership roles in turbulent environments, including bioterrorism preparedness and response from 2000-2005. Dr. Bray previously was the Executive Director for a bipartisan National Commission on R&D, provided non-partisan leadership as a federal agency Senior Executive, worked with the U.S. Navy and Marines on improving organizational adaptability, and aided U.S. Special Operation Command’s J5 Directorate on the challenges of countering disinformation online. He has received both the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and the National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal. David accepted a leadership role in December 2019 to direct the successful bipartisan Commission on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data that included Senator Mark Warner, Senator Rob Portman, Rep. Suzan DelBene, and Rep. Michael McCaul. From 2017 to the start of 2020, David also served as Executive Director for the People-Centered Internet coalition Chaired by Internet co-originator Vint Cerf and was named a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Human-Machine Cognition starting in 2018. Business Insider named him one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” under 40 and he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. For twelve different startups, he has served as President, CEO, Chief Strategy Officer, and Strategic Advisor roles.

David’s passions include complicated, near-impossible missions involving humans and technology in challenging circumstances. Through the efforts of a team of “positive change agents”, he led the transformation of the Federal Communication Commission’s legacy IT with more than 207 different systems to award-winning tech. This included rolling out new cloud-based IT that achieved results in 1/2 the time at 1/6 the cost. He was the recipient of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronic Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Civilian Government. He also received the global CIO 100 Award twice, which usually is awarded to private sector Fortune 500 companies, both in 2015 and 2017, for his transformational leadership in change-adverse settings. From 2017-2021, he both worked with multiple services associated with the U.S. Department of Defense on improving organizational adaptability and countering disinformation online – including personally surviving a disinformation attack that occurred in 2018. In 2019, he was invited to give the AI World Society Distinguished Lecture to the United Nations on UN Charter Day. In 2025, he was invited to be an expert witness before a public Congressional hearing on AI, specifically to provide both verbal and written testimony as well as answers to questions from members of the U.S. Congress to help inform AI policies.

As Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures, Dr. Bray’s passions include providing Board-level and CEO-level leadership to different “under the radar” tech and data ventures seeking to get started in novel situations to include activities that shape the Future of Data, Bio, and Space. He provides strategic direction, advice, and leadership to organizations confronting turbulent environments on multiple topics ranging from quantum computing to commercial space endeavors; synthetic biology to data cooperatives paired with AI. He accepted a role of Co-Chair for 2016-2017 with an IEEE Committee focused on Artificial Intelligence, automated systems, and innovative policies globally and has been serving as a Visiting Executive In-Residence at Harvard University since 2015 and as a Faculty Member giving talks on Impact and Disruption at Singularity University since 2017. In 2021 and 2022, he was named a Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council. In 2023, he was named a distinguished Academy Fellow with the National Academy of Public Administration focused on the role of transformative technologies, like AI, on public service. In 2022, the Business Executives for National Security welcomed him as a Distinguished Fellow focused on the intersection of transformative technologies, global collaborations, and over-the-horizon challenges for the future ahead. David has been an invited keynote speaker to CEOs, world leaders, and crowds of more than 3,000 participants at events in India, Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, Dubai, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Canada, Belgium, Sweden, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

Paul M. Abbate is an American former law enforcement officer who served as the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from January 19 to January 20, 2025, following Christopher A. Wray's resignation. He served as the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 2021 until his retirement on January 20, 2025, and previously served as the associate deputy director from 2018 to 2021.

Abbate has a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut School of Law. He started his Federal Bureau of Investigation career in March 1996. He was assigned to the New York City Field Office, where he worked in the Criminal Division and served as a member of the SWAT team. In 2012, he was named Special Agent In Charge of the Counterterrorism Division. He led FBI field operations while deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

In 2017, after President Trump's dismissal of James Comey, Abbate was on the shortlist of officials considered for the role of FBI director. In February 2018, Abbate was named associate deputy director of the FBI. He was succeeded by Jeffrey Sallet, after being promoted to deputy director of the FBI in February 2021. He retired on January 20, 2025, having stayed on briefly with then-FBI Director Chris Wray's permission after reaching the mandatory age of 57. Wray had retired four days earlier. Acting Attorney General James McHenry then appointed Robert Kissane, special agent in charge for counterterrorism in New York, to serve as acting deputy director of the FBI.

A GLOBAL LEADERSHIP STRATEGIST for the 5th Industrial Revolution, Caroline Stokes is the author of two books offering radical roadmaps for leaders: AfterShock to 2030: A CEO’s Guide to Reinvention in the Age of AI, Climate, and Societal Collapse; and Elephants Before Unicorns: Emotionally Intelligent HR Strategies to Save Your Company (Entrepreneur Press, 2019). A Sony alum who contributed to the launch of PlayStation, and a PCClevel, EQ 2.0-certified and Leadership Circle coach, Caroline has evolved from marketer to executive headhunter to one of the few global authorities on psychological and strategic leadership reinvention. She works with founders, boards, and executive teams to build intelligent, sovereign, and trust-based systems aligned with the complexity of our time. She loves to work with leaders who want to create high performance results. She is also a co-author in the HBR Guide to Navigating the Toxic Workplace (Harvard Business Review Press, 2024), and contributor to Coach Me! Your Personal Board of Directors: Leadership Advice from the World’s Greatest Coaches (Wiley, 2022). Her insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and The Globe and Mail.

Caroline has spoken globally at institutions including the World Bank, IEEE-USA conferences, and innovation summits in London, Los Angeles, and Singapore. In 2024, she was invited to speak at the UN Peace Day celebration in LA. Her 2019 TEDx talk accurately forecast the disruptive transformation leaders are now facing. Caroline’s IEEE-USA–certified webinar for engineers, “Transitioning from Expert to Leader in the AI and BANI Era,” positioned her as a leading voice in guiding technical professionals through leadership transformation in a volatile world.