Leadership Team

KODA Technologies Inc. was founded in 2017 by Julie Schumacher, a former engineer, program manager, and senior executive with both the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Missile Defense Agency. David Conrad is a missile defense expert and former principal member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. Mel Belcher is a nationally recognized expert in sensor technology and former director of the Sensors and Electromagnetics Applications Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. With 30 years in engineering and leadership as a government civilian and the last six in industry, Jackie Langhout is well-known and respected across the Redstone Community. An accomplished electrical engineer, Max Patin has also excelled in business system optimization and operations efficiency. The KODA leadership team brings both technical and management experience, as well as perspectives gained from leading government organizations.

Julie Schumacher

Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Schumacher is the founder and CEO of KODA Technologies Inc. She has 25 years of experience in the development of space, missile defense and long-range hypersonic systems in both government and industry. She served roles in executive leadership, technology development, test planning and execution, systems engineering, interoperability, and international program management. She is the recipient of the AIAA David R. Israel award for meritorious achievement in missile defense and the NDIA-TVC General John B. Medaris award for technical excellence in the defense preparedness of our nation.

Key Roles

  • Founder and Chief Executive Officer, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Deputy, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (USASMDC); Senior Executive Service (SES)
  • Director, Technical Center, U.S. Army SMDC; SES
  • Deputy Director, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Test; SES
  • Program Manager, MDA U.S.-Israel Cooperative Programs
  • Chief Engineer, MDA U.S.-Israel Cooperative Programs

Programs Supported

  • MDA Missile Defense System Flight & Ground Test
  • MDA Ground-based Midcourse Defense
  • MDA Arrow-2, Arrow-3 & David’s Sling
  • U. S. Army Advanced Hypersonic Weapon
  • U. S. Army Reagan Test Site
  • U. S. Navy Conventional Prompt Global Strike
  • U. S. Army High Energy Laser
  • U. S. Army SMDC Nano Satellite Programs
  • MDA Israeli Test Bed

Affiliations, Education & Training

  • Past President and Board Member: Air, Space and Missile Defense Association
  • Aviation and Missile Consortium Executive Committee
  • Space and Missile Defense Symposium Industry Panel Moderator
  • Leadership Huntsville / Madison County, Flagship Class 29
  • Harvard Senior Executive Fellows Graduate
  • Defense Acquisition University Program Manager School
  • M.S. Systems Engineering, University of Alabama, Huntsville
  • B.S. Education, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa

David Conrad

Strategic Advisor

Mr. Conrad is the co-founder of KODA Technologies Inc. He has over 40 years of experience in air and missile defense development and technical intelligence including radar design and operation, discrimination algorithm design, and kill vehicle design and integration. He is the recipient of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director’s Pinnacle Award for significant accomplishments and contributions to MDA.

Key Roles

  • Strategic Advisor, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • President, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Director, Technical Direction Agent for Ground-based Midcourse Defense, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) / MIT Lincoln Laboratory (LL)
  • Technical Director, MDA Test Directorate
  • Mission Director, MDA FTI-01/FTO-01; largest and most complex missile defense flight test events to date
  • Leader, Air Defense Technology Group, MIT/LL
  • Lead, Mission Control Center, Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands (MIT/LL)
  • Radar Designer, Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein, Marshall Islands (MIT/LL)

Programs Supported

  • THAAD
  • AEGIS BMD
  • PATRIOT
  • NAVAIR E2D
  • BMDS Flight & Ground Test
  • Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
  • Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV)
  • BMD Target Systems
  • Trident D5
  • Minuteman
  • Reagan Test Site

Affiliations, Education & Training

  • M.S. Electrical and Electronics Engineering, California State University, Northridge
  • B.S. Electrical and Electronics Engineering, San Diego State University

Mel Belcher

Chief Technical Officer

Mr. Belcher is the Chief Technical Officer of KODA Technologies Inc. He has 41 years of experience in multifunction radar systems and technology, missile defense, space domain awareness, fire control, multidomain ISR, technology development and insertion, and foreign system assessment.


Key Roles

  • Chief Technical Officer, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Director, Technology and Integration, Dynetics, Inc.
  • Director, Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI)
  • Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Captains Council, GTRI
  • Technical Director, MDA Sensors Knowledge Center, GTRI
  • Chief Engineer, Radar Futures, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems
  • Technical Fellow, GTRI
  • Technical Fellow, Leidos

Expertise

  • Sensor Systems Engineering
  • Radar Systems / Technologies
  • Electronic Warfare
  • AESA / DBF Apertures
  • Multidomain ISR
  • Space Situational Awareness
  • Sensor Networking
  • Foreign Radar Evaluation

Affiliations, Education & Training

  • M.S. Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
  • B.S. Electrical Engineering, Auburn University

Jackie Langhout

Vice President of Business Development

Ms. Langhout is the Vice President of Business Development for KODA Technologies Inc. Since joining KODA in 2019, she has significantly contributed to growth in KODA’s customer base, workforce, and technical capabilities. With over 36 years of engineering, management, and leadership experience supporting Army and DoD programs, Ms. Langhout possesses critical understanding of the customer mission. Throughout her career, she has built and led highly productive and efficient technical and engineering teams (including partnerships with industry and academia) focused on exceeding customer expectations.


Key Roles

  • Vice President of Business Development, KODA Technologies Inc
  • Team Lead, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Vice President, Software & Systems Integration, Sigmatech, Inc.
  • Deputy Director, Systems Simulation, Software & Integration, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC)
  • Director, Technical Management, AMRDEC
  • Lead Engineer, Software Engineering Directorate, AMRDEC

Expertise

  • Customer and Industry Relations / Engagement
  • Program / Team Building
  • Talent Acquisition / Development
  • System Engineering / MBSE Implementation
  • Software Engineering Process / CMMI

Affiliations, Education & Training

  • Board of Directors, Tennessee Valley Chapter National Defense Industrial Association
  • Huntsville/Madison County Leadership, Flagship Class 19
  • Member, Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA)
  • Member, Redstone-Huntsville Chapter of Association of the United States Army (AUSA)
  • M.S. Engineering, University of Alabama in Huntsville
  • B.S. Industrial Engineering, Auburn University
  • B.S. Mathematics, Samford University

Max Patin

Vice President of Operations

Mr. Patin is the Vice President of Operations for KODA Technologies Inc. He has over 30 years of experience in small business operations, project management, and detailed missile defense support activities. He is a recognized expert in project and resource management software systems that increase profitability through responsive management of projects and people, reduce administrative costs, maximize resource utilization, and deliver real-time insight.

Key Roles

  • Vice President of Operations, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Director of Operations and Principal Engineer, KODA Technologies Inc.
  • Vice President of Enterprise Engineering, Unanet
  • Director of Systems Engineering and Analysis, Aegis Technologies (now BlueHalo)
  • Vice President of Projects/Contracts, deciBel Research
  • Senior Technical Manager, Northrop Grumman Mission Systems/XonTech
  • Senior Systems Engineer, Ternion Corporation
  • Software Engineer, COLSA Corporation

Expertise

  • Defense Contracting and Standards
  • Unanet Configuration and Optimization
  • Advanced Program Management
  • Risk Management Framework
  • NIST Cybersecurity Standards
  • Agile Software Development
  • Plug/Play Simulation Frameworks

Affiliations, Education & Training

  • Certified Product Owner
  • Certified ScrumMaster
  • M.S. Computer Engineering, University of Louisiana
  • B.S. Electrical Engineering-Computer Option, University of Louisiana