DOD names new DARPA chief

Victoria Coleman, the former CEO of Atlas AI, has been named director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon announced today.

Now that Coleman has been appointed, acting DARPA Director Peter Highnam will return to his role as deputy director. DARPA had been without a director since the resignation of Peter Walker in January.

Coleman has "led cutting edge research and development across the technology sector, to include service as the Chief Executive Officer of Atlas AI; Senior Vice President at Technicolor; Chief Technology Officer of Connected Home Business; Vice President, Engineering at Yahoo!; Vice President, Software Engineering at Hewlett-Packard Palm Global Business Unit; and Director for Security Initiatives at Intel," according to a Pentagon statement.

Coleman has also served on the Defense Science Board and was the founding chair of DARPA's Microsystems Exploratory Council.