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Bill Olsen Promoted to Vice President of Engineering at MasterPeace

August 08, 2024

We are excited to announce the promotion of Bill Olsen from Director of MasterPeace Launchpad to Vice President of Engineering at MasterPeace Solutions. Bill has been an invaluable member of our team, continually demonstrating exceptional leadership, innovation, and dedication to our mission.

Since joining MasterPeace 6 years ago, Bill has consistently pushed the boundaries of what is possible, leading the Launchpad team to new heights and achieving remarkable results. His deep understanding of technology, combined with his strategic vision and collaborative approach, has been instrumental in driving our success.

As Vice President of Engineering, Bill will oversee our overall technology strategy, drive innovation across our Technical Capability Teams (TCTs), and ensure that MasterPeace Solutions remains on the leading edge of the technology curve. His leadership will be key in guiding our technical teams, fostering a culture of continuous technical improvement, and delivering cutting-edge products and solutions to mission and commercial customers.

Please join us in congratulating Bill on his well-deserved promotion. We are confident that in his new role, he will continue to inspire excellence and contribute significantly to the growth and success of our company.

Congratulations, Bill!

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MasterPeace Hosts Record-Breaking Candidate Luncheon

On Thursday, 14 March 2024, the MasterPeace Career Agents and CEO, Joe Pacileo, hosted what ended up being a record-breaking Candidate Luncheon at Grillfire, Arundel Mills, Maryland. Victoria Eagles, Senior Principal Career Agent, along with John Bryan, Career Agent, hosted the well-attended lunch and were on hand to make introductions, supply entree orders, and spoke with the candidates at length about what MasterPeace Solutions is all about. Joe Pacileo, CEO of MasterPeace Solutions rounded out the discussions with each candidate which left the team some strong leads! A special thanks to our engineers Marvin Matthews and Danielle Jackson - their presence helped put our guests at ease during their discussions with the team. "Our candidate lunch was a true reflection of our company culture - vibrant and collaborative. Seeing the energy among our team members all working towards the same goal reminds me what a diverse and talented group we have here at MasterPeace Solutions," Joe Pacileo, CEO. 

March 18, 2024

MasterPeace Solutions Welcomes Kim Stanbro as Senior Vice President of Services

MasterPeace Solutions Ltd. is thrilled to announce the appointment of Kim Stanbro as the new Senior Vice President of Services. Kim brings with her a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success in the Intelligence Community (IC).

 

With over 25-years of industry and government experience, Kim is a seasoned professional known for her strategic vision, innovative problem-solving, and commitment to delivering exceptional services.

 

In her new role, Kim will oversee the strategic direction and operational excellence of MasterPeace's services division, ensuring continued growth and customer satisfaction.

 

Kim comes to MasterPeace Solutions from BigBear.ai, where she held the position of Vice President of Mission Intelligence Solutions. During her tenure, Kim demonstrated her ability to lead and drive results, increasing revenue in this competitive market.

 

"I’m excited to join the MasterPeace team and contribute to shaping the company’s future in solving the toughest national security challenges!” stated Kim.

 

"We are elated to welcome Kim Stanbro to MasterPeace. She brings a wealth of knowledge and a proven track record of success that aligns seamlessly with our company's vision," said Joe Pacileo, CEO of MasterPeace. "As we continue to expand our services and elevate our customer experience, Kim will play a crucial role in leading our services division to new heights."

March 04, 2024

Doreen Harwood to Chair New MasterPeace Advisory Board of Industry Leaders

February 13, 2024

MasterPeace Solutions is pleased to announce the formation of a new Advisory Board led by Doreen Harwood and supported by Paul Gentile and Dave Wallen, which will harness the expertise of unparalleled mission, business and technical leaders within our industry to further our company's new and ongoing endeavors!

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Doreen, who currently serves as President of DEHarwood LLC Consulting, brings more than 35 years of experience supporting MasterPeace's primary customer. In her previous roles as Leidos SVP for Cyber & SIGINT Solutions, President of the Fort Meade Alliance (FMA) and Senior Government Executive, Doreen will be invaluable in furthering MasterPeace's support of new and existing mission areas leading to new business opportunities. 

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Paul Gentile currently serves as proprietor of a professional consulting firm specializing in developing strategic direction, customer and industrial base relationships within our community and new business opportunity identification. Paul previously served as a Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Security Solutions Business Unit (BU) within the Mission, Cyber & Intelligence Solutions (MCIS) Group at ManTech.  

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As part of a 30+ year track record of successfully building high performance teams serving the IC, DOD and commercial clients, Dave Wallen built and led technical services and product teams in several industry leading public and private companies. As an MBA, Dave has additional expertise building complex systems for commercial clients.

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We are proud to welcome Doreen, Paul and Dave as the new Advisory Board members at MasterPeace, where they will help usher in a new era of business development and mission support providing innovative technical solutions for our customer!

MasterPeace Solutions Welcomes New VP of Operations & Finance Haleh Kraft

January 02, 2024

MasterPeace Solutions, Ltd. is excited to welcome Haleh Kraft as our new VP, Operations and Finance starting today!

 

Haleh is a seasoned finance and business operations professional who has led a global career that began in Zurich, Switzerland working for several renowned commercial companies before moving to the United States to work in defense contracting, where she accumulated experience managing all aspects of finance and business operations portfolios of up to $1.6B.

 

After supporting Lockheed Martin for 16 years, Haleh moved to Leidos where she became Director of Finance and Business Operations for the National Solutions Operation within the Intelligence Group before moving over to lead the Enterprise & Cyber Solutions Operation as VP of Finance and Business Ops. Most recently she oversaw finance and business management for the Logistics and Mission Support portfolio. She is multi-lingual (English, German, French, Farsi, Spanish) and holds an Economics degree from Tufts University as well as an MBA from Marymount University.

 

We are thrilled with all of the dynamic experience Haleh brings to MasterPeace!

MasterPeace Hosts AI Platform Workshops in Conjunction with Snorkel AI 

December 5, 2023

MasterPeace LaunchPad was very excited to host the first of three collaborative workshops with Snorkel AI last Wednesday to train engineers on the use of Snorkel Flow, an AI data development platform for programmatic data operations.

 

Nearly 30 attendees learned about Snorkel Flow's capabilities that allow subject matter experts and data scientists to collaborate within a powerful, common platform to label data at machine speed and scale. Since labeled data is essential to enable training and validation of today's data-hungry machine learning models, but can be in short supply, Snorkel Flow fills a critical and persistent need in this space. Participants gave the workshop glowing reviews, and we expect many of them back for the follow-on workshops that will go into greater depth.

 

We at MasterPeace are thrilled to announce that this series of workshops is among the first of several technology-focused workshops and events that we plan to host in the coming months using our Technology Capability Team (TCT) model. If you are a cleared technologist and are interested in learning more about MasterPeace or attending the Snorkel tech sessions, please contact machinelearning@masterpeaceltd.com for the details of next workshop in mid-December.

MasterPeace Solutions Welcomes New President and CEO-Elect Joe Pacileo
 

August 29, 2023

Columbia, MD—August 29, 2023-- The Board of Directors of MasterPeace Solutions. Ltd. is pleased to announce that Joe Pacileo will succeed Drew Cohen as the Company's next President and Chief Executive Officer.

 

MasterPeace is a small but rapidly growing business focused on driving innovation via the development of solutions and products in concert with a world-class technology services organization in support of the Intelligence Community and CyberSecurity Community.

 

Joe Pacileo has had a long and successful career serving both public and private sector cybersecurity and National Security Missions applying new technologies to solve real-world issues. Before joining MasterPeace, Joe was the Senior Vice President at IronNet, Inc., where he led the global product delivery mission and critical commercial, defense industrial base, and government engagements. Joe’s public sector career began in military intelligence and culminated in leading Computer Network Exploitation and Computer Network Attack missions as a Colonel/06 assigned to NSA and US Cyber Command. After government service, Joe led cybersecurity support operations as the Vice President and General Manager at TASC Inc. (acquired by Engility Corp, acquired by SAIC), the Vice President of Cyber Operations at ManTech Int., and the Director of Access Enabling Technologies at Northrop Grumman Corp. Joe is also honored to serve as the President of the Fort Meade Alliance, an independent, non-profit community organization whose mission is to support Fort Meade.

 

Commenting on the appointment, MasterPeace Solutions’ Chairman of the Board, Stephen Horn, commented that "Today's announcement represents the culmination of a year-long President/CEO succession-planning process by our Board of Directors in response to Drew’s planned retirement. Drew has accomplished tremendous progress for the company as he shepherded the company through its transition from a technology services company to one that also provides innovative and compelling solutions and products that are having an increasing impact on our National Security.

 

“I am thrilled to welcome Joe to MasterPeace Solutions and believe he is up to the task of leading this highly innovative company into the future. We believe Joe 's experience, his employee first mentality, combined with strategic thinking and passion for growth, will ensure that MasterPeace Solutions maintains its culture of imagination and creativity while exploring new avenues of growth.”

 

The Company's current President and Chief Executive Officer, Drew Cohen added “Joe brings a wealth of relevant experience, an innovative spirit, and a people centric leadership approach that should serve MasterPeace well going forward.  It has been a privilege to lead this creative company for the last 9 years. I am happy to transfer leadership of MasterPeace to someone as capable and accomplished as Joe. I look forward to seeing Joe and the team build on our foundation of innovation and create new paths for growth as they leverage and continue our investments in technology and employee experience. I’m also excited about the continued collaboration with Joe, Steve, and MasterPeace as I transition to a new phase in my career, and ongoing participation with MasterPeace technology spinouts."

 

Finally, Joe Pacileo commented, "MasterPeace Solutions represents a very unique and robust set of engineering opportunities, focused on leading-edge technology vectors, that can serve both public and private sectors. It’s truly an honor and a privilege to be joining such a highly capable and successful team.”

 

Joe Pacileo will assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer-elect on August 21, 2023, and will work with Drew Cohen through the end of December on a transition of duties. On January 1, 2024, Joe Pacileo will become the Company Chief Executive Officer. At that time, Drew Cohen will become the Chief Product Officer of Zuul, Inc. and AI Wingman, Inc. (both are MasterPeace Solutions’ technology spin-off companies).

MasterPeace Diversity and Inclusion Committee to Host Victoria Polite for Discssuon on Giftedness 
The Committee with Also Kickoff a Book Club in Recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month

September 22, 2022

The MasterPeace Diversity & Inclusion Committee has invited a former educator, Victoria Polite, to give an immersive talk about the diversity of gifted learners and what giftedness looks like across different profiles. Plan to engage in an interactive discussion! Ms. Polite will be at the Wayline on Tuesday, November 8 at 5 pm. We are accepting registrations for this event to better accommodate our guests. Please reserve your spot here

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•  Event: Fall Speaker

•  When: Tuesday, November 8 at 5pm

•  Where: 6721 Columbia Gateway Drive at The Wayline

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Our goal is to make this a well-attended and interactive engagement for our invited speaker. While this is primarily an in-person event, we are able to make modifications for our Virginia MasterPeace colleagues. MasterPeace has become a company that values inclusivity. Since the D&I's inception, we have brought engineers to MPS from varying backgrounds. Diversity is the pillar at MPS making it a company for everyone! We hope to see new and returning faces as we engage throughout the year.


Victoria Polite is a Professional Development Specialist for Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. In her current role, she assesses, develops, and leads the implementation of professional development workshops for school districts with a focus on advanced learners. She brings 15 years of experience as an educator. She was a talented and gifted K-5 coordinator in Alexandria City Public Schools and an elementary teacher at various public schools in Virginia. She has led professional development in Fairfax County Public Schools and Arlington Public Schools as well as district-wide gifted student programming in Alexandria City Public Schools. She earned her B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Old Dominion University, her M.Ed. as a Reading Specialist from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a postgraduate certification in Gifted and Talented Education from the College of William & Mary.

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Additionally, the D&I Committee wants to increase discussion about mental illness in hopes it will promote awareness and dialogue about the topic. To kick off Mental Illness Awareness Week 2022, we have started a book club that will read An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Jamison. This memoir was written by American clinical psychologist and bipolar disorder researcher Kay Jamison. The book details Jamison's experience with bipolar disorder and how it affected her in various areas of her life from childhood into adulthood. We will host an in-person discussion at Wayline, 6721 Columbia Gateway Drive, on Tuesday, October 25 at 4 pm. Bring a cozy blanket or your favorite mug as we relax and discuss the book. A variety of hot teas and pastries will be served. If you would like to participate, please click here to RSVP.

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•    Event: D&I Book Club, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Jamison
•    When: Tuesday, October 25 at 4pm
•    Where: In-person at Wayline, 6721 Columbia Gateway Drive

MasterPeace Solutions Acquires Full Suite Solutions (FSS), Brings Proven Business Model and Expertise to Northern Virginia
Addition of Jeanine Callahan as SVP of Technology Services will support MasterPeace’s expansion and integration with FSS

October 5, 2021

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterPeace Solutions, provider of critical government cyber and intelligence services and commercial IT security needs, today announced the acquisition of Northern, Va.-based Full Suite Solutions (FSS), a provider of software and services to Northern Virginia intelligence community clients. FSS Co-Founders, Paul and Cait von Schnetlage, will remain with the company in a leadership capacity and will support the integration of these two people-centric businesses. MasterPeace’s expansion into Northern Virginia will address critical workforce skills gap with an innovative platform that focuses on providing engineers unmatched opportunities to develop their skills and remain on the cutting edge of the technology curve.

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For the last decade, FSS has been committed to the defense and security of our nation’s most high-risk organizations. Together, MasterPeace and FSS will continue to do great work for their contracts, while also providing all engineers with personal and professional enrichment. Engineers will have the opportunity and leadership support to follow their dreams, nurture their creativity, and even create their own technology companies through the MasterPeace LaunchPad accelerator. Engineers will be presented with opportunities to do the work they want, in the environment they want and develop the skills they want, while supporting missions and customers they believe in.

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To ensure a smooth transition, MasterPeace Solutions has hired Jeanine Callahan as the Senior Vice President of MasterPeace Technology Services to lead the FSS integration and MasterPeace expansion to Northern Virginia. Callahan has supported the Intelligence Community for over 30 years and has extensive experience maturing and scaling small and mid-sized businesses. Most recently as Vice President of Corporate Operations at Plus3 IT Systems and previously Chief Growth Officer at Eagle Ray, Callahan is also a board member on the Intelligence National Security Alliance (INSA).

“We are not the typical government services company. Our success stems from putting our people first and focusing on being a great partner to our primes,” said Drew Cohen, President and CEO of MasterPeace Solutions. “We are excited to work with Paul, Cait, and the entire FSS team and offer their engineers access to more assignment mobility and choices for career development. With the addition of Jeanine, we will have the leadership bandwidth to integrate FSS and MasterPeace and realize synergies for our clients and employees.”

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MasterPeace will include FSS in its technology-focused capability teams, including: Machine Learning/Big Data Analytics; Full Spectrum Cyber and Network Operations; User Experience and Design; and Cloud DevOps. This will extend and enhance MasterPeace’s current capabilities while simultaneously making their integrated competencies available to a broader set of clients and missions. Customers will benefit greatly as the combination of these industry luminary filled companies join forces.

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“Working with the MasterPeace team is an exciting opportunity for us at FSS,” said Cait von Schnetlage, Co-Founder of FSS. “MasterPeace doesn’t just say their people are their number one priority, they demonstrate it, by attracting the best and most innovative minds in the area, allowing them to have the freedom to do what they are most passionate about while also supporting government services projects. MasterPeace has the scalable infrastructure for important contributions to the betterment of National Security from both public and private sectors, while embracing every employee for the unique skills and abilities they bring to the table. We look forward to leveraging their expertise in this fast-paced and growing industry.”

MasterPeace President and CEO Drew Cohen To Speak at RSA 2020

February 18, 2020

Drew Cohen, President & CEO of MasterPeace, will be speaking at RSA 2020 on a panel titled, “Putting Access Management for the Internet of Things into Practice with MUD.” The panel discussion will summarize the various public and private sector methods for documenting and applying the top security practices for IoT. Additionally, industry collaborations exploring the implementation of Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) Specification (RFC 8520) will be discussed.

 

“MUD makes it possible for manufacturers to define ‘device intent,’ allowing network security vendors to use that information to ensure ‘safe’ network conditions,” said Drew Cohen, President & CEO of MasterPeace Solutions. “Working with NIST and others, our Yikes! startup has demonstrated how MUD-enabled products create opportunities that change the landscape for secure device management on small business and consumer networks. MUD allows security automation to be built into consumer and small business networking products, to establish the appropriate security policies for each device, and decrease the threat surface, without complex system administration.”

 

During the discussion, Drew will elaborate on these topics and, with other panelists, speak about the collaboration between the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST), MasterPeace, Arm, CableLabs, Cisco, CTIA, DigiCert, ForeScout, Global Cyber Alliance, Molex, Patton Electronics, and Symantec, who are all working towards solutions that will make it harder for threat actors to exploit IoT devices used by both homes and small businesses. Many of these IoT devices have software flaws that can be easily compromised by threat actors. To combat this, the partnership has published a practice guide titled, Securing Small-Business and Home Internet of Things (IoT) Devices: Mitigating Network-Based Attacks Using Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD), a free description of solutions and practical steps that consumers and small businesses can use to mitigate these IoT-based threats.

 

Joining Drew on this panel are:

  • Professor L. Jean Camp from Indiana University

  • Eliot Lear, Principal Engineer of Cisco-Enterprise Chief Technology Office

  • Mudumbai Ranganathan, Computer Engineer from NIST

  • Darshak Thakore, Principal Architect of CableLabs

 

The panel will take place February 27, 8:00am to 8:50am at Moscone West. To reserve seats click here.

MasterPeace LaunchPad Startup Founder Edward Stanford Discusses Windows Security Vulnerability with Technical.ly Baltimore

January 21, 2020

Edward Stanford, the Founder and CTO of MasterPeace LaunchPad startup Zuul IoT, spoke to Technical.ly Baltimore's Stephen Babcock about how last week's Windows Security flaw could be exploited, and the potentially broad ramifications for both home users and enterprise systems. 

 

“You can use that weakness to make Windows [10] systems download and install software that appears to be coming from Microsoft that is not,” said Stanford. “This is bad. If you do it right then you can take over most networks or computers that are Windows-based. The faster they get patched, the less true that statement will be.”

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MasterPeace Solutions Recognized by Raytheon with EPIC Award
for Excellent Performance

January 8, 2020

MasterPeace Solutions today announced that they have been recognized by Raytheon, a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government, and cybersecurity solutions, with an EPIC Award. EPIC Awards recognize a supplier’s overall excellence in performance, innovation, and collaboration for one or more Raytheon business.

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“At MasterPeace, we strive to take on the hardest challenges and be excellent across a range of the latest technologies, including Cloud, Big Data Analytics, IoT, SDN, and others. We currently have engineers leading cutting edge implementations on literally dozens of programs spanning these areas. This is why it’s exciting to be recognized for our work on Computer Network Operations (CNO) by Raytheon, a leader in that space,” said Ethan Guild, Raytheon Account Manager at MasterPeace. “CNO is one of the most specialized and technically challenging missions we serve. This recognition shows that we can be both deep and broad, and it’s very gratifying to know that we’re able to excel in the most complex technology areas.”

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MasterPeace Director of LaunchPad Operations Bill Olsen to Speak at the Lean Innovation Educators Summit

December 4, 2019

Director of LaunchPad Operations, William Olsen, will be speaking on a panel at the Lean Innovation Educators Summit, co-hosted by recognized entrepreneurs Steve Blank, Jerry Engel, and Pete Newell. The Summit brings together a select group of educators from across the country that are revolutionizing innovation and entrepreneurial practice through the Lean Innovation movement. Olsen's panel takes place Wednesday, December 4, and will discuss creating and scaling national and regional programs.

 

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity participate in the Lean Innovation Educators Summit," said Olsen. "In addition to sharing the fundamentals of what makes our program effective, I look forward to enhancing skills, tools, and insights that we can use to continue growing and strengthening MasterPeace LaunchPad startups and entrepreneurs."

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MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen Speaks at TEDCO's 2019 Entrepreneur Expo

November 7, 2019

Over 900 of the region’s entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, legislators and business owners, including MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen gathered at TEDCO’s 2019 Entrepreneurial Expo last week.

 

Cohen, serving in his dual-role capacity as CEO of MasterPeace LaunchPad startup Zuul IoT, took part in a TEDCO Expo panel discussion centered around selling cybersecurity solutions to the enterprise, and spoke about the importance of forming lasting, interpersonal networking connections when creating new businesses. 

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AHA Radio Interviews MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen

October 28, 2019

MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen was featured on AHA Radio's CEO Spotlight Show with Greg Otto and Jen O’Daniel, where he spoke in depth about MasterPeace’s unique model and the company’s groundbreaking approach to providing unique career opportunities for government services engineering talent.   

 

Don’t pass up this unique chance to learn about what makes MasterPeace different, and how its LaunchPad incubator encourages engineers to transform creative ideas into commercial-grade technology startups. Our model provides a unique benefit to all employees, equity participation in every startup. It also provides engineers that want to launch their own company a platform, resources, mentoring, and funding.  Drew’s interview is featured from 15:45 to 29:00.

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MasterPeace LaunchPad Director Bill Olsen Helps Judge Minority Innovation Weekend Startup Pitches

October 28, 2019

MasterPeace LaunchPad CEO Bill Olsen helped cap off Baltimore Innovation Week’s third annual Minority Innovation weekend by taking part in a panel that helped judge the effectiveness of several minority-affiliated startups’ business model pitch presentations. Olsen’s participation was part of his ongoing outreach to local entrepreneurial technology groups, done in part to increase MasterPeace LaunchPad’s visibility in the Central Maryland community.

 

An anti-cyberbullying mobile application, online legal services platform, and a company focused on facilitating the sale and purchase of vehicle parking assets were judged to be the winners of the event, and as a result received a six-month membership to the Incubate Baltimore program, which offers resources including mentorship and potential seed capital.

MasterPeace LaunchPad Initiates Annual Cohort Class with Five SpinCo Teams 

September 10, 2019

MasterPeace LaunchPad, a technology accelerator that functions inside MasterPeace Solutions Ltd.’s government services business, today announced the initiation of their newest cohort class. MasterPeace’s program is modeled after the Lean LaunchPad start-up Business and Engineering school class taught at Stanford University, based on a methodology created by entrepreneur Steve Blank to support the launch of commercially focused technology companies.

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Led by Director of LaunchPad Operations, William Olsen, this program covers all the technical and business aspects required to transform a startup concept into a viable commercial business, rather than just coaching cohort members on giving fundraising pitches or product demos. Last year’s 2018 graduates of the MasterPeace LaunchPad program created new companies including Yikes, which has contributed network security, engineering, and operations defense expertise to the NIST-led consortium for Mitigating IoT-Based DDoS, and Zuul, currently deploying national transportation market solutions for securing connected devices and payment systems. Another cohort from last year’s class, FactChain, will officially launch and begin selling product in the fall of 2019.

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“MasterPeace LaunchPad is diversifying Maryland’s economic base by leveraging its Cyber and Technology talent pool to create new product companies and career opportunities for engineers who have previously focused on the Government Contracting sector,” said Drew Cohen, MasterPeace President and CEO. “We are glad to have the opportunity to support this new group of talented individuals and are eager to continue providing a platform for our engineers to create and launch new product companies.”

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The five new SpinCo teams that comprise MasterPeace LaunchPad’s 2019 cohort class, some of which may turn into commercial companies that ultimately “spin out”, are working to build businesses that deliver unique technology to the marketplace. Two examples of the new startup’s offerings are described below:

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ElectraZoom, an IoT enablement platform and device toolkit that provides one click onboarding of IoT devices into a mixed vendor/device environment. The ElectraZoom platform controls, manages, and monitors devices in a consistent manner, and is able to perform functions and interoperate in a network of heterogenous IoT devices. Users pick the IoT device they want and are not locked into what is available from a single manufacturer. The platform supports industrial enterprises in implementing machine learning, surveillance, factory automation, and more.

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DataLocker, developed by LaunchPad’s Uplift Portfolio Service team as their first AWS service, offers PII-Data-Management-as-a-service to manage and store encrypted PII and HIPAA data to ensure that if a company is breached, critical information is not taken in the process. Advanced analytics monitor and block queries that are potentially malicious, alerting the SOC/CIRT and identifying the potential threat before the data loss. This reduces risk and cost, and will be an AWS marketplace service that can be easily added to existing AWS solutions. With a few simple configuration settings, this capability can be engaged and a company’s critical PII data is secured.

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Following the completion of the LaunchPad Program, each company will showcase their technology at Demo Day in early February 2020. MasterPeace’s 2018 Demo Day included attendees such as Maryland Lieutenant Governor, Boyd Rutherford, and Howard County Executive, Calvin Ball.

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“From our Innovation Center to the locally-based MasterPeace LaunchPad, Howard County is on the cutting edge of economic growth. By creating a culture that welcomes new businesses, leverages our strategic location, and utilizes our talented workforce, our community continues to be a land of opportunity,” said Howard County Executive, Calvin Ball. “I congratulate the new cohort class at MasterPeace and look forward to the innovative business ideas they are sure to create.”

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CyberScoop’s Securiosity Podcast Interviews MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen

March 20, 2019

MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen was featured on CyberScoop's Securiosity podcast with Greg Otto and Jen O’Daniel, where he spoke in depth about MasterPeace’s unique model and the company’s groundbreaking approach to providing unique career opportunities for government services engineering talent.   

 

Don’t pass up this unique chance to learn about what makes MasterPeace different, and how its LaunchPad incubator encourages engineers to transform creative ideas into commercial-grade technology startups. Our model provides a unique benefit to all employees, equity participation in every startup. It also provides engineers that want to launch their own company a platform, resources, mentoring, and funding.  Drew’s interview is featured from 29:05 to 47:53:

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
MasterPeace Engineers Participate in Creating New IoT Device Standard

March 13, 2019

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) announced that it has taken steps to formalize internet standards in regards to Manufactured User Descriptions (MUDs). MUD allows manufacturers to specify the intended network behaviors of the devices they build. MasterPeace engineers actively participated in this standard, and also developed an open source MUD Manager, osMUD.org, that implements the MUD standard. The MUD Manager communicates with network services, detecting when devices enter and leave the network and automatically implements network security rules based on a device’s MUD specification. In addition, Yikes!, a commercial startup incubated within the MasterPeace LaunchPad accelerator, will deliver a commercial product, available later this spring. The Yikes! product will bring automated, state-of-the-art network security and management, including MUD, to small business and consumer networks.

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The Washington Post
MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen Discusses Importance of Transportation Cybersecurity with The Washington Post

January 27, 2019

MasterPeace Solutions CEO Drew Cohen spoke to The Washington Post's Aaron Gregg about the future of transportation infrastructure and the increasing need for effective cybersecurity systems in his capacity as CEO of Zuul, the Industrial IoT Security startup being spun out of MasterPeace's Launchpad incubator. Following the announcement that an early prototype of Boeing’s self-driving air taxi completed its first test flight at an airfield in Manassas, VA on Tuesday, January 22nd, Cohen told the Post that when people are being flown through the air, “the price of not getting [security] right is higher.” Zuul provides a full security industrial IoT lifecycle for transportation networks that discovers, enrolls, and manages devices, hardens devices against compromise, manages updates remotely, provides network defense and situation awareness, and supports rapid and effective response.

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Baltimore Business Journal
MasterPeace Solutions Spinoff Wants to 'Make Sure Your Sleep Number Bed isn't Talking to China'

December 14, 2018

A newly launched MasterPeace LaunchPad cyber startup, Yikes!, is looking to market technology that could prevent internet-connected devices from infecting the networks in people's homes and small businesses.  When a new smart device comes on a network, it has a URL web address. Using that URL, Yikes! technology could check with the manufacturer to get specific information about what the device is supposed to do. Devices can then be classified, segmented and monitored on a home or small business network, to ensure no device is behaving in ways it shouldn't, or allowing potentially harmful external forces to gain access.

 

The company is currently working to validate its technology through an ongoing project with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Yikes! plans to begin selling to consumers by the end of the first quarter next year. Yikes! plans to pilot test internally at MasterPeace, and is in the process of identifying managed services providers, or IT services providers, as potential distribution partners.

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Technical.ly Baltimore
MasterPeace Solutions gives Cybersecurity Talent Space to Build Startups

December 13, 2018

A recent Demo Day that provided a look at the companies working out of MasterPeace's  LaunchPad accelerator put some of the development work being done on display, complete with pitches and a video message from Lean Startup originator Steve Blank. Yikes! seeks to protect networks within homes and small businesses from potential threats that originate outside the network, while FactChain uses Blockchain technology to secure business transactions and a team that formed called Uplift seeks to design a platform to convert existing legacy web-based applications to serverless. 

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MasterPeace LaunchPad Showcases Four Cutting-Edge Technology Startups at
3rd Annual Demo Day 

December 6, 2018

MasterPeace LaunchPad hosted its 3rd annual Demo Day, which took place on Wednesday, December 5th. Attendees were joined by a notable group of state and local influencers and industry speakers, including Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford, Howard County Executive Calvin Ball, and former Tenable CEO/Chairman Ron Gula, to discuss the growing Maryland Cyber startup eco-system. The Zuul IoT, FactChain, Uplift and newly unveilved Yikes! startup teams treated attendees to demonstrations of four products taking shape in the MasterPeace LaunchPad accelerator. MasterPeace leadership also provided some insights into how it is helping these startups put Lean LaunchPad methodologies into practice, including a virtual shout out from Lean LaunchPad creator and author Steve Blank.

  

The discussion highlighted the significant progress MasterPeace has made as it leverages the region's engineering talent to contribute to Central Maryland's development as a hub of commercial technology innovation. The four startup products on display also showcased the breadth of MasterPeace LaunchPad's development approach, which utilizes a broad range of cutting-edge technologies including IoT PKI, Blockchain, AWS Lambdas, and Software Defined Networking and Micro-nets.

 

As MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen put it, “The key to MasterPeace LaunchPad’s success is our talent. The Columbia area is a world class resource for cyber and engineering talent, but the vast majority of that talent is deployed in Federal Government or Commercial services companies. MasterPeace LaunchPad provides a platform for those individuals to create and launch new product companies, scale the impact of their skills to a global market and become an engine for the region’s continued economic growth. This is the reason key state and county officials like Lt. Gov. Rutherford and County Executive Ball, along with proven Cyber entrepreneurs like Ron Gula, are willing to take time from their business schedules to support our startups.”

MasterPeace's Project to Reduce IoT Device Vulnerabilities is Driver Behind
NIST-led Consortium

November 7, 2018

MasterPeace Solutions has announced osMUD, an open source project to reduce the vulnerability of IoT devices within consumer and small business environments based on the new IETF MUD standard. The project was shared with NIST's National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence (NCCoE) and will be further developed as one of the first open source Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) managers.

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The project will rely upon the combined expertise of device manufacturers, security vendors and administrators to proactively and automatically secure IoT endpoint. Implementing MUD in routers and network devices will assure that IoT connected devices do not communicate with or access places that are not approved ahead of time. Together, the consortium will produce a NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide, a freely available description of the solution and practical steps needed to help consumers and small businesses mitigate IoT-based threats.

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Baltimore Business Journal 
MasterPeace Solutions CEO Drew Cohen Discusses IoT CyberSecurity at
CyberMaryland 2018

October 12, 2018

MasterPeace Solutions Drew Cohen returned as a featured panel speaker at the CyberMaryland Conference this year, and took the chance to focus on both the opportunities and potential pitfalls presented by the ongoing growth of smart cities that will soon affect areas like Baltimore and Washington, DC.

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With the number of connected devices is constantly growing, major cities across the country are working to become "smart cities,” with the sudden appearance of solar paneled WiFi-enabled trash cans, app-powered electric scooters and more heralding that exciting transition in Baltimore. Yet with more smart technologies, comes more cyber vulnerabilities. Cohen, at the CyberMaryland panel, pointed to an event in which a teenager hacked into a train network in Poland and "basically used it as his personal train set,” by virtually manipulating machines in real time, highlighting the growing need for increased, reliable security.

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MasterPeace Solutions Welcomes Bill Olsen As Director of LaunchPad Operations

June 6, 2018

Please join us in welcoming our new Director of Launchpad Operations, Bill Olsen.

 

Bill brings his significant experience with nationally recognized programs: Hacking for Defense and I-Corps, enabling him to scale and accelerate the companies in our LaunchPad portfolio. A proven leader, most recently as a Director at Booz Allen, Bill has over 30 years of extensive background in developing and mentoring technical teams,  developing systems and solutions that meet critical mission needs, and applying best practices in rapid start-up processes to technology innovation teams. Bill also brings a large network of executive-level relationships with labs, entrepreneurs, and academic institutions. We look forward to integrating Bill into our leadership team and scaling our innovation program at MasterPeace.

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For more information on MasterPeace LaunchPad, please visit https://www.mplaunchpad.com.

MasterPeace Solutions Recognized as a "Best Place to Work" by the Baltimore Business Journal

April 25, 2018

MasterPeace Solutions is proud to announce that it has been named one of “The Best Places to Work” by Baltimore Business Journal for 2018. MasterPeace was selected as one of the 10 Best Midsize Companies to Work for, from among 230 total submissions in the Greater Baltimore Region based on its innovative model as a technology company incubator, strong management structure and dedication to work/life balance.

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"This award reflects that we’ve built a company that is objectively differentiated from other government services organizations," said MasterPeace CEO Drew Cohen. "MasterPeace was purposely designed to help our employees build their career to realize their maximum potential and achieve their dreams.

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