Aligning Defense, Industry, and
Additive Manufacturing for Real-World Impact.
Virtual Center of Excellence Sponsors
Speakers
Rob Graziano - Sr. Director of DoD & Government programs at Colibirum Additive (GE)
Leads government defense sales at Colibrium Additive, a GE Aerospace company. He specializes in DoD partnerships and FAR/DFAR compliance. Rob delivers additive manufacturing solutions for defense applications.
Andy Gardner - Chief Executive Officer - CRUX Defense
Offers AMPO’s additive sustainment insights, supporting agenda depth and helping attendees understand real DoD technical workflows and challenges.
John Boyer - Chief Executive Officer at KVG
Supports operational planning, logistics, and partner alignment for the VCOE event, reinforcing KVG’s role in coordinated event execution.
Michael D Roquemore - Chief
Air Force Life Cycle Management Center
Chief of the Air Force Advanced Manufacturing Program Office (AMPO) at Wright-Patterson AFB. The AMPO scales additive manufacturing technologies across Air Force acquisition and sustainment. His office supports Air Logistics Complexes and field units globally.
Tristan Thomas - Managing Director of MeND Sourcing Solutions
Supports the DLA by sourcing, packaging, and delivering critical parts to the WARFIGHTER. Through specialized software and service solutions, his team bridges the gap between DoW buyers and U.S. suppliers, strengthening the Defense Industrial Base.
Madison Jones - Director of Additive At Scale
Leads Additive at Scale’s engineering and scale-up efforts, supporting clients across diverse industries with end-to-end additive manufacturing solutions. Madison drives commercialization acceleration within the VCOE by bridging engineering rigor with scalable manufacturing execution.
Aaron Williamson - Managing Partner of CornerstonePMP
Aaron is an aerospace engineer with experience managing COE's in airworthiness, MIL standards, and ITAR. He holds a Project Management Professional certification and specializes in strategic planning and driving complex technical initiatives to completion.
MEETING AGENDA
Wednesday, February 18th, 2026
09:00 AM - 04:45 PM
Location: UTSA Makerspace San Antonio, TX
Attendees
The VCOE brings together manufacturers, mission-support partners, and defense stakeholders to accelerate the delivery of trusted, executable manufacturing solutions for the DoD. Attendees will see how aligned workflows and real-world execution reduce risk, shorten lead times, and strengthen readiness across the defense industrial base.
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM - Welcome Breakfast & Networking
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Light breakfast and informal networking to connect attendees.
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Distribution of name badges, packets, and agenda materials.
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Early engagement opportunity with GE, DoD, and industry reps.
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Sets a collaborative tone ahead of structured programming.
9:30 AM - 9:45 AM — Welcome, Introductions & Mission for the Day
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Frame the purpose: why the VCOE exists and why regional manufacturing matters.
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Outline objectives and expected takeaways for attendees.
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Establish the “call to action” and alignment with warfighter readiness.
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Provide a clear overview of the schedule and flow of the day.
Rob Graziano
Sr. Director of DoD & Government Programs at Colibrium Additive (GE)
9:45 AM - 10:15 AM — “Scaling AM Sustainment for DoW Enterprise”
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Define why specific parts are strategically valuable to pursue.
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Explain how to identify the right candidates for procurement and AM workflows.
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Introduce the criteria used to downselect viable parts for sustainment impact.
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Connect manufacturing opportunities to real readiness and supply chain gaps.
Madison Jones
Director of Additive At Scale
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM — "Digital Workflow: TDP to Part Workflow"
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Walk through how technical data moves from requirement → engineering → manufacturing.
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Highlight common TDP, CAD/CAM, and documentation challenges and how to solve them.
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Explain the digital thread needed for speed, repeatability, and compliance.
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Demonstrate how accurate workflow reduces rework, error, and schedule risk.
Aaron Williamson
Managing Partner of CornerstonePMP
10:45 AM - 11:15 AM — "TMAC - Supporting Manufacturers for Defense Work"
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Texas Manufacturing Network: Statewide Supply Chain network with a national reach.
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Technical Assistance to support operational readiness and performance.
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Leveraging local, state, and National resources to support scalable growth
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Essential workforce training and development
Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center (Southwest Region)
Monica Cortez
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM — Coffee & Networking Break
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Create space for cross-agency and cross-industry relationship building
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Allow attendees to ask follow-up questions in smaller conversations
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Provide transition time before the government contracting block
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Reset and prepare attendees for next session
11:30 AM - 12:00 PM — "How to Work with the DLA Effectively"
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Demonstrate how to locate and evaluate RFQs that match manufacturing capabilities
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Break down packaging, TDP review, and administrative compliance requirements
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Walk through the notification process of RFQ capabilities with GovScraper to find opportunity
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Share common pitfalls and how to become a reliable, repeat-award supplier for the DLA
Managing Director of MeND Sourcing Solutions and GovScraper
Tristan Thomas
12:00 PM - 12:30 PM — “From Research to Readiness: Academia’s Role in Deployable Additive Manufacturing VCOE”
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Bridges applied research with real-world warfighter requirements
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Supports qualification, testing, and validation of AM processes and materials
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Develops workforce pipelines aligned to DoW sustainment and readiness needs
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Enables faster transition from innovation to deployable manufacturing capability
Associate Regional Director
The University of Texas San Antonio
Bijo Mathew
12:30 PM - 1:15 PM — Breakout Session - Blind Part Exercise
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Teams solve military sustainment challenges using additive manufacturing as a solution.
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Groups analyze provided problems or define credible future defense supply issues.
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Teams develop practical AM solutions addressing readiness, certification, and logistics.
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Groups present solutions highlighting additive manufacturing’s role in mission resilience.
Team Excercise
(Groups of 5)
1:15 PM - 2:00 PM — Lunch Break
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Informal cross functional networking to deepen relationships
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Opportunity for attendees to ask clarifying questions with speakers
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Allows GE, DoW, KVG, TMAC, UTSA, and manufacturers to algin expectations
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Provides a mental reset before the warfighter perspective keynote
2:00 PM - 2:30 PM — "From Legacy Data to Printed Parts: How AI-Powered Extraction is Accelerating Additive Manufacturing for the Warfighter"
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Showcase proven sustaining engineering and TDP delivery across major weapon systems
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Explain how unsearchable legacy drawings create months-long bottlenecks before parts can even be evaluated.
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Demonstrate how OPTIX transforms degraded legacy data into clean, structured, computer-readable formats under an active ATO.
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Show how automated data extraction facilitates technical substantiation to justify AM at the point of need.
Elevate Systems
Evan Gray
2:30 PM - 3:00 PM — “The Virtual Center of Excellence: Vision, Scale, and Impact”
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What the VCOE is and why it exists
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How the VCOE aligns industry, government, and academia
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Turning manufacturing capability into operational readiness
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Building a scalable, resilient defense manufacturing ecosystem
Crux Defense
Andy Gardner
Trillacorp Construction
Charles Sills
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM — "Why the WARFIGHTER Depends on You"
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Present real cases where supply shortages delayed or grounded aircraft.
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Explain the operational impact of part failures, delays, and inspection issues.
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Connect manufacturing quality and timeliness directly to readiness rates.
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Reinforce the human impact: the warfighter relying on industry precision.
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Live Q&A Followup
Advanced Manufacturing Program Office Rapid Sustainment Office
Michael Roquemore
4:30 PM - 4:45 PM — End of Day / Final Close-Out
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Thank all attendees, partners, and speakers for participating.
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Reinforce that today marks the start of the VCOE collaboration.
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Direct attendees to follow-up materials and next-step actions.
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Encourage continued engagement to support the warfighter and the industrial base.
John Boyer
Chief Executive Officer of KVG
Tickets
Feb 18, 2026, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PMUTSA Makerspace, One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249, USAFor Those Serious About Creating the Working Networking of Advanced Manufacturing and the Defense Industrial Base.