Speakers

Dr. Jerry McGinn is the Executive Director of the Greg and Camille Baroni Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business. A nationally recognized expert on defense acquisition and industrial base policy, he leads the first university-based center focused on the $700B+ government contracting ecosystem. Under his leadership, the Center has published over 80 reports on topics such as industrial resilience, defense innovation, intellectual property, and collaboration with allies and partners.

Prior to academia, Dr. McGinn was the senior career official in the Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy at the Department of Defense, where he led the landmark interagency review of the U.S. defense industrial base and oversaw hundreds of national security reviews of foreign investment transactions. He also managed eight advanced manufacturing innovation institutes across fields like 3D printing and microelectronics.

Earlier in his career, Dr. McGinn held senior industry roles at Deloitte, QinetiQ North America, and Northrop Grumman. He previously served in DoD as a political appointee and policy advisor and was a political scientist at RAND. A sought-after speaker and thought leader, he has published widely, testified before Congress and Parliament, and contributed to studies for the Defense Science Board and NATO.

Dr. McGinn is a former U.S. Army infantry officer and graduate of Ranger and Airborne Schools. He holds a Ph.D., M.S., and M.A. from Georgetown University and a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point.