Board Members

Dr. Firebaugh is a retired Rear Admiral.  He graduated from MIT and was commissioned as an Engineering Duty Officer in the Navy in 1961. He was a ship superintendent in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, overhauling submarines and building the deep-diving USS Dolphin. He managed the design of the SSN688 Class Vertical Launch System deployed on 32 ships. He was then selected to initiate the Seawolf Class submarine program. He managed the program through the design and award of contracts to construct the first two ships of the class. He then became Chief Engineer of the Naval Sea Systems Command, serving until retiring from the Navy in 1995. In 1997 he returned to submarines at the Electric Boat Corporation, retiring in 2005 as Vice President Innovation and Chief Engineer. From February 2005 through May 2006, he was President and COO of SatCon Technology Corp, working in power electronics for alternative energy. He is now a consultant in energy technology and the Minta Martin Professor of Practice at the Center for Engineering Concepts Development, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland.

Dr. McDuffie brings more than a half-century experience as an international thought leader in cybersecurity awareness, education, training, and workforce development. Ernest is the founder and CEO of The Global McDuffie Group, LLC and vice-chair of the Board at ETC. After earning a Ph.D. in computer science from the Florida Institute of Technology, Ernest went to work for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. He was selected to lead an all-of-government national campaign designed to improve every segment of the population's cyber behavior, skills, and knowledge, which enabled safer cyberspace. Dr. McDuffie spent five years as the first Lead for the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education.

Mr. Kavetsky spent 32 years as an engineer in the Department of the Navy, building and running hypersonic wind tunnels, as well as developing undersea weapons. He was appointed the first Warfare Center Liaison to the Office of Naval Research where he established the N-STAR program, a Navy-wide effort aimed at reinvigorating the science and technology community within the Navy’s Warfare Centers. Bob has co-authored 11 books on a wide variety of national defense-oriented topics. He is a proud graduate of Catholic University, where he obtained B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Administration.

Mr. Fries is a technology consultant, software engineer, and cybersecurity specialist, with 16+ years of experience with DoD and IC customers. David provides consulting services to several Maryland technology companies. He has contributed to DoD/IC business development and proposals for 10+ years. David recently served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Praxis Engineering. He founded and led their Cyber Risk Team to comply with DoD cybersecurity efforts. Mr. Fries contributes to several local community organizations. He is currently the Vice President of Scientific Education for AFCEA's Central Maryland Chapter.  While at AFCEA, David has received several awards, including Exceptional Technical Contribution (2018), Regional Distinguished Young AFCEAN (2018), Emerging Leader (2020), and 40 Under 40 (2021). David earned a bachelor's degree in Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University.