New DBB Members

The Defense Business Board has gained eight new members, according to a Pentagon statement issued this afternoon.

The new appointees will join the 15 members already serving on the board, led by Robert Stein, the Defense Department statement reads, adding:

These men and women were chosen based on their proven track record of sound judgment in leading or governing large, complex private sector corporations or entities, and have a wealth of top-level, global business experience in the areas of executive management, corporate governance, audit and finance, human resources and compensation, economics, technology and healthcare.

The new members include:

- Taylor Glover, president and CEO, Turner Enterprises, Inc.

- Nancy Killefer, former senior partner, McKinsey & Company, Inc.

- Kenneth Klepper, former president and CEO, Medco Health Solutions

- Shelly Lazarus, chairman emeritus, Ogilvy & Mather

- Emil Michael, senior vice president of business, Uber Technologies, Inc.

- Hon. Thomas Nides, managing director and vice chairman, Morgan Stanley

- Nicholas Pinchuk, chairman and CEO, Snap-on Inc.

- Daniel Werfel, director of public sector practice, The Boston Consulting Group

The board's most recent meeting took place on July 24, where it unanimously approved a series of recommendations put forward by a task force designed to find ways to enhance innovation by attracting and retaining the best of the private sector. The task group also recommended emphasizing an open-architecture approach and ensuring that industry gets compensated for its intellectual property, according to the report approved by the board. As Inside the Pentagon reported that day:

The major "game changer" to help foster innovation would be a new acquisition model for the Pentagon, task force chairman David Langstaff told the board. DOD, he said, "needs to stop stuffing all acquisition in a process designed for a different time."

The defense secretary should issue a memorandum establishing Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 12 "Acquisition of Commercial Items" as the default acquisition method for non-platform procurement, according to the task force recommendations. DOD should also shift its focus from "exquisite" systems to those that are "good enough" as part of a push to open up a closed system, according to the report.

If enacted, these steps also demonstrate that the department is open to commercial involvement, the report states. The recommended steps are essential because the Pentagon is losing its more innovative suppliers as companies choose to focus elsewhere, Langstaff said. The report cites a "hollowing out" of the defense industrial base, adding that "without talent and investment there will be little innovation."

None of the recommendations made in response to the study -- called for by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter in May 2013 -- would require legislative input. The task group set out to make recommendations that could be implemented quickly and internally, Langstaff said.

The board's next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 23, where it will discuss a study on science and technology. As ITP reported last month:

In a terms of reference memo signed out last month, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work tasked the Defense Business Board with conducting a study to look at how innovative industry leaders manage science and technology and make "decisions to optimize their S&T investments and the processes they use to forecast and plan for future" research and development.

"Given the anticipated government spending reductions and increased investment from [the] private sector, the DOD needs a portfolio management strategy and the right tools to ensure its R&D funds are directed to achieve maximum benefits for the department," Work wrote.

Work's June 17 memo notes that DOD spends about $12 billion annually on S&T, and this money is "essential for building the knowledge and technology base for future DOD capabilities and is the source for critical 'leap-ahead' technologies that advance DOD's warfighting capabilities."