UMLRI Board of Advisors

Joyce Sidopoulos

Co-Founder and Vice President for Programs & Community at MassRobotics

Government Relations Strategist & Registered Lobbyist at Nelson Mullins

Ty Hughes founded Hughes Law PLC to help clients solve problems and successfully navigate the increasingly complex world of federal procurement. He draws on more than three decades of government, corporate, and law firm experience.

He was Vice President and General Counsel for the Fluor Government Group from 2012–2016. He served as the Deputy General Counsel for Acquisition for the U.S. Air Force from 2002–2011, advising the Secretary of the Air Force and the Headquarters Air Force Staff on procurement law and the acquisition of major systems. Before that, he was a partner at Patton Boggs LLP and a counsel in the Washington, D.C. office of King & Spalding LLP.

He served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps until 1992. His active duty assignments included Assistant to the General Counsel of the Army, Special Assistant to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, and Chief Counsel for the Department of Defense Post-War Reconstruction Assistance Office in Kuwait. He was a trial counsel in the 82nd Airborne Division and earned the master parachutist badge. He also served as a trial attorney and a supervising trial attorney representing the Army in contract litigation before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals. He entered the U.S. Army in 1972 as a Second Lieutenant after graduation from the U.S. Military Academy.

The White House appointed him as a member of the Acquisition Advisory Panel created by Section 1423 of the Services Acquisition Reform Act of 2003. He is an honorary faculty member of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He holds a B.S. in Applied Science and Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy. He received his J.D. and M.B.A. from Boston University, LL.M. from Georgetown University, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He graduated from the Program Managers course at the Defense Systems Management College.

Edward M. Harrington

Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Retired)

BG(R) Harrington started his Army service as an enlisted infantryman, earning a commission through the Infantry Officer Candidate School. During his 35 years of service, he was a Quartermaster Officer leading and managing deployed logistics operations in the US, Far East, Viet Nam (229th AHB), the Pacific Rim and Germany. He then served in Acquisition and Contracting positions leading and managing tactical IT systems, Abrams tank armor systems, and DoD contracting commands. He concluded his service as an Army Program Executive Officer (TACOM) and then as the Director, Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) additionally being a DoD PEO for its Standard Procurement System. He was responsible for overseeing management of and contracting for military service weapon systems as well as for NASA, defense agency (DLA, DISA), foreign military sales and allied cooperative and security assistance contracts. His last Army position was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Procurement. After his Army service, he was DynCorp-International’s Senior Vice President for Contracts and thereafter has been a consultant.

He has served on the board of advisors of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), the Board of Directors of the New England Chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) and is a Director on The Procurement Roundtable (Washington, DC). He is also the Chairman of the Board of Advisors for Camp Resilience, a New Hampshire based Veterans Service Organization helping Veterans from New England, New Jersey and New York.

Education:

BG(R) Harrington holds a B.S. in Management from Northeastern University, Boston, MA. He also has a MS in Acquisition and Contracting from the Florida Institute of Technology and is a graduate of the Army’s Senior Service College Fellowship, University of Texas-Austin.

Tom Stellman

President and CEO of TIP Strategies, Inc.

Tom Stellman is the founder and CEO of TIP Strategies, an economic and workforce development strategy firm with offices in Austin, TX and Seattle, WA. As developer of TIP’s model of Talent, Innovation, and Place, Tom helps clients identify their core values and build consensus around strategies to promote economic health. 

In addition to TIP’s current defense industry impact work for Massachusetts, Tom has led Department of Defense-funded projects for military communities surrounding Fort Hood, TX; Sheppard AFB, TX; Fort Campbell, KY; Anniston Army Depot, AL; Eglin AFB, FL.; Naval Air Station Pensacola, FL; and the Red River Army Depot, TX. His team is also leading efforts to establish defense industry alliances for the State of Washington and communities surrounding Edwards AFB and the Naval Air Weapon Station China Lake in southern California.

Tom also developed and launched the highly successful Invest in Texas Alliance, a marketing initiative sponsored by 26 economic development agencies and electric utilities.  His team targeted both domestic and international growth companies through a unique mix of direct marketing and networking, resulting in over $3 billion in investment leads and the location of 15 companies.

Prior to establishing TIP, Tom was director of the Office of International Business for the Texas Department of Commerce.

Karen Krause-Bencal

Managing Director, K2C Ventures and
Past-President, Women in Defense Greater Boston Chapter

Karen (KK) is the Managing Director of K2C Ventures. She is a seasoned executive professional specializing in growth initiatives for emerging technologies with dual-use national security, government and commercial applications.

Over the course of her career, she has held leadership roles driving the capture of new federal business opportunities generating over $500 million in contract research and development and new start government procurement contracts from DOD, DOE, DOT, DHS, NASA and EPA. She is a trained capture manager and program manager for RDT&E government programs, as well as a seasoned dual-use industry analyst covering a wide range of emerging tech market sectors – from surveillance systems and trusted microelectronics to sustainable materials and advanced power & energy storage.

At K2C, Karen advises research institutes, accelerators, and private capital-backed small businesses commercializing dual-use emerging technologies. Previously, she managed Activate’s DARPA INNOVATE program, a component of DARPA’s Embedded Entrepreneurial Initiative (EEI), and led corporate innovation growth initiatives for Battelle Memorial Institute and Raytheon Technologies. Before joining Raytheon and entering into the defense field, she was the CEO of a public sector engineering services firm managing new technology pilot and funding programs at aviation, maritime, and mass transit transportation agencies.

Karen received her B.S. in Environmental Technology from the Biological and Environmental Engineering Department of Cornell University and her MBA in Entrepreneurship from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

Karen serves as an advisor and mentor to and on review panels for dual-use investment pitch competitions. She is the Past President of Women in Defense Greater Boston Chapter (WID-GBC) and member of NDIA New England Chapter Board of Directors.