Reston, VA-based Octo announced on May 19 the hiring of award-winning artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) authority Rob Albritton as senior director of its AI Center of Excellence. Albritton will guide and shape Octo’s AI capability and offerings, set long-term AI strategy and vision, and develop the company’s AI Center of Excellence through its research and development center, oLabs.
“Octo is serious about AI,” said Chief Executive Officer Mehul Sanghani. “It is transforming the way our customers in the Federal Government do business. When we met Rob, we knew he would push the boundaries of what is technically possible with this emerging technology. We’re confident that with Rob at the helm of our AI Center of Excellence, Octo will successfully guide our government customers through their AI journeys.”
“I’m ecstatic to lead Octo’s AI Center of Excellence,” said Albritton. “Octo’s culture embraces people who think differently. We’re all technology and organizational change agents. We aren’t just creating hypothetical solutions. We’re building a world class AI research and development facility where top technical talent can come do their life’s work innovating unconventional AI solutions for the U.S. Federal Government.”
A U.S. Air Force veteran, former U.S. Army Geospatial Research Lab Scientist, and former machine learning engineer at MITRE, Albritton spent several years working with NVIDIA’s public sector team. He holds an M.S. from the National Intelligence University, an MBA from the UVA Darden School of Business, a B.S. from the University of Maryland, and certification in Foreign Denial and Deception. Albritton has received the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Award for Achievement in Technology Transfer; Counter Improvised Explosive Device Technology Award; Department of the Army Commander’s Award for Civilian Service; and Support to U.S. Special Operations Command and Joint Personnel Recovery Agency Award.
Octo’s Chief Technology Officer Sujey Edward said, “Rob’s diverse technical and business leadership background attracted us to him. He’s not only built cutting edge emerging technology prototypes for military and industry, but he also knows how to transition those prototypes to operational users and the tactical edge. Rob thinks differently and approaches problems in very creative ways.”
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