The Team
Austin founded Panther Defense with a mission to bring high-performance team speed and flexibility to federal contracting — without sacrificing the operational rigor the mission demands. Under his leadership, the firm has grown to $260M+ in documented past performance and established itself as a trusted federal prime contractor across the defense and intelligence community. As Chair, Austin sets the strategic direction and ensures Panther's culture of relentless mission focus scales with the business.
Terry brings decades of operational cyber leadership from the highest levels of the U.S. intelligence community. As former UnderSecretary of the Office of Naval Intelligence, he shaped national cyber defense strategy and understands the operational reality of adversary threats in ways that purely technical practitioners cannot. As Executive Director for Cyber Defense at Panther, Terry leads our threat intelligence strategy, ensures our solutions meet the rigor demanded by national security missions, and brings credibility that opens doors across the IC and DoD.
Jennifer knows what it means to deploy technology at the edge of national defense — under operational pressure, with zero margin for failure, and on budgets and timelines that leave no room for traditional IT project management. As former CIO of the U.S. Space Force, she oversaw enterprise technology strategy for one of the most demanding and technically sophisticated military branches. As CTO of Panther Defense, Jennifer leads our technical architecture and oversees the integration of Fractal Computing across all mission systems engagements — ensuring every solution we deliver is as operationally sound as it is technologically advanced.
As Chief Data & AI Officer, Brandon is responsible for Panther Defense's data strategy and AI integration across all solution areas. He ensures that every AI application Panther builds adheres to our firm's commitment to safe, auditable, and mission-ready AI — delivered on the Fractal Computing platform. Brandon's role spans the financial stewardship of the firm and the technical governance of our AI program, maintaining the discipline that ensures AI systems are always traceable, human-supervised, and operationally accountable.
