Detailed Agenda
Schedule as of March 16, 2026
Tuesday April 7, 2026
Exhibit Hall Open
12:00pm - 5:00pm
Opening Ceremonies
1:00pm - 1:15pm
Regency Ballroom D
Opening Remarks - Surge is No Longer Theoretical
Michael Morford, Chairman and CEO, Knudsen Institute
1:15pm - 1:45pm
Regency Ballroom D
Keynote - Perspectives on Operation Epic Fury
Alex Grey, CEO, American Global Strategies
1:45pm - 2:15pm
Regency Ballroom D
Break
2:15pm - 2:30pm
Keynote - TBA
TBA
2:30pm - 3:00pm
Regency Ballroom D
Panel - AI and CMMC: Managing Data Risk in the Age of Automation
As defense contractors rapidly adopt AI tools across their workflows, questions are emerging about how those tools interact with CMMC and NIST 800-171 requirements. This panel explores the compliance risks, data governance challenges, and practical safeguards organizations must consider as AI enters the defense supply chain.
Harout Katerjian, CEO, Emgage
Craig Pfister, VP of Sales Engineering, Kiteworks
3:00pm - 3:45pm
Regency Ballroom D
Opening Reception
5:00pm - 7:00pm
Wednesday April 8, 2026
Exhibit Hall Open
8:30am - 5:30pm
Keynote - Department of Transportation and Surging the DIB
Michael Rutherford, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy, Department of Transportation
9:15am - 9:45am
Regency Ballroom D
Panel - Challenges Facing Defense Primes
A conversation about stresses on the defense industrial base during a time of global crisis.
Dale Kooyenga, President and CEO of Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce
Steve Nordlund, President, Oshkosh Transport Segment
Jan Allman, CEO of Fincantieri Marinette Marine
9:45am - 10:45am
Regency Ballroom D
Remarks - TBA
Cheryl Mugford, Office of the Assistant Secretary of War (EI&E), Chemical and Material Risk Management Program
11:00am - 11:45am
Regency Ballroom D
TBD
TBD
11:45am - 12:30pm
Regency Ballroom D
Lunch
12:30pm - 1:30pm
Panel - The Platform Industrial Base
How emerging digital platforms may redefine how manufacturing capacity is surfaced, coordinated, and activated across the defense industrial base.
Greg Paulsen, Director of Category Management at Xometry
Charles Donley, CEO of F2AI
1:30pm - 2:15pm
Regency Ballroom D
Workshop - Preparing for CMMC: Think Like an Assessor
Learn how certified assessors evaluate objectives—not just the 110 controls—and how to align documentation and artifacts to reduce stress, cost, and surprises.
William Price, AAA Vallum Consulting
1:30pm - 2:15pm
Executive Ballroom
Panel - Opportunity or Sunk Cost?: Dual-Use Strategy, Government Work, and Commercial Growth
Manufacturers with varying approaches to government work discuss the practical tradeoffs between compliance, growth, and operational flexibility.
TBA
2:15pm - 3:00pm
Regency Ballroom D
Workshop - How to Hack CMMC Auditors
Contrary to popular belief, auditors are human. You may not be able to “hack” them, but you can understand how they think so you can prepare smarter, present evidence clearly, and avoid preventable findings.
In this session, we’ll break down the auditor mindset: how C3PAOs evaluate scope, what triggers deeper scrutiny, how interviews shape outcomes, and why “almost compliant” often means noncompliant. We’ll highlight common mistakes in evidence presentation, SSP alignment, POA&M handling, interview prep, physical security validation, and control inheritance assumptions.
Attendees will leave with a practical framework to prepare like an assessor, stress-test their environment, and reduce surprises on assessment day — approaching their CMMC audit strategically, not nervously.
Harout Katerjian, CEO, Emgage
2:15pm - 3:00pm
Executive Ballroom
Break
3:00pm - 3:15pm
Panel - Running a Modern Manufacturing Business
How forward-thinking manufacturers are using digital tools, data, and automation to improve quoting, planning, supply chain coordination, and decision-making.
Kenny Williams, CEO of Native Aerospace & Defense
Jamie Goettler, Group CRO of BTX Precision
Sam Thevanayagam, CEO of Parts Life
3:15pm - 4:00pm
Regency Ballroom D
Workshop - Building the Manufacturing Workforce: A Proven Model for Training and Placement
A practical workshop examining a workforce development model that has successfully trained and placed hundreds of veterans as welders and machinists into leading manufacturing organizations.
TBA
3:15pm - 4:00pm
Executive Ballroom
Thursday April 9, 2026
Exhibit Hall Open
8:30am - 12:30pm
Panel - Enriching Defense with Commercial Technology, Ideas and Practices
Andrei Quinn-Barabanov, Supply Chain Industry Practice Lead at Moody's
9:15am - 10:00am
Regency Ballroom D
Panel - Manufacturing for Asymmetric Warfare
How emerging technologies, distributed production, and resilient supply chains are shaping how nations sustain operations in contested environments.
Phil Divinski, Jed Doc
Hong-lun Tiunn, Non-resident Fellow, DSET
10:00am - 10:45am
Regency Ballroom D
Panel - Small Manufacturers in War
The United States is now in active combat with the potential for sustained engagement. We need the industrial base more than ever. We need more Small & Medium Sized Manufacturers. What are their challenges?
Jim Carr, Carr Machine & Tool and My True Position podcast
James Kornfield, President and CEO, Strohwig
Bill Berrien, CEO, Pindel Global Precision
11:00am - 11:45am
Regency Ballroom D
Panel - CMMC IS HERE - Enforcement, Readiness, and Risk in 2026
A situational awareness briefing on how primes are enforcing compliance, where contractors are misaligned, and which trends will shape competitiveness in the coming year.
Victor Cich, Manager of Compliance Consulting, RADICL
David Chergosky, public sector cybersecurity leader, Carahsoft
John Nolan, VP of Compliance, ISI
11:45am - 12:30pm
Regency Ballroom D
Closing Luncheon & Keynote
Democratic Resilience and Defense Innovation: Taiwan’s Role in Strengthening Allied Supply Chains in the Year of America's 250th Anniversary and Taiwan's 30 Years of Direct Democracy.
Dennis Yen-Feng Lei, Director General, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago
12:30pm - 2:00pm
Atrium