Chief Venture Officer marries problems, solutions

  • Published
  • By Daryl Mayer, AFLCMC Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio (AFLCMC) – In large organizations, problems and solutions can exist on the opposite sides of a cubical wall without any means to cross over.   
 
Emily Farley, Chief Venture Officer for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance/Special Operations Forces Directorate, was brought on to find such instances and bring the two together. 
 
“Really it's let's go faster with speed and discipline, let's get some good things to the warfighter and make sure that we stay far ahead of our near-peers,” Farley said.
 

Speed is important, especially when trying to attract venture capital from investors.  Recent reports have quoted some in Silicon Valley expressing the need for DOD to move quickly on contract awards and other business processes. 
 
The question to ask, Farley said, is whether we are setting ourselves up to be able to take care of these opportunities? 
 
“And some of that doesn't really have anything to do directly with a warfighter capability.  It's what our processes look like, what does our software look like, are we taking advantage of the tools that we already have, are there too many tools, what can we do to make sure that we are set up to seize and capture opportunities,” she said. 
 
Farley said they created informational sites to track industry engagements and innovation tools.  She holds regular calls within the directorate to share across organizational boundaries.
 
“I go over all of these things to make sure people know everything that’s happening if it relates to them,” she said.  “These are all of the things that have come across our plate, if you want to jump in, let's go, let's take that next step to get more information.” 
 
To hear the full conversation, you can watch Leadership Log on YouTube at https://youtu.be/a8kZzMj_E0g.  You can also listen by searching “Leadership Log” on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Spotify, Overcast, Radio Public or Breaker.