Stephen Rodriguez

Venture Partner

Stephen Rodriguez is the Founding Partner of One Defense, a next generation strategic advisory firm that leverages machine learning to identify advanced software and hardware commercial capabilities and accelerate their transition into the defense industrial base. He has also served as a Venture Partner supporting the above-market venture portfolio performance of multiple New York and Washington DC venture capital firms.

Stephen began his career at Booz Allen Hamilton shortly before 9/11 supporting their National Security practice. In his capacity as an expert on game theoretic applications, he supported the United States Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security as a lead architect for the Thor’s Hammer, Schriever II/III and Cyber Storm wargames. He subsequently was a Vice President at a artificial intelligence company (Sentia Group) and served as Chief Marketing Officer for an international defense corporation (NCL Holdings).

Stephen serves as a Board Director or Board Advisor of nine venture-backed companies (Duco, HatchApps, HighSide, Omelas, Uniken, Ursa Major Technologies, Vantage Robotics, WarOnTheRocks, and Zignal Labs) as well as two non-profit organizations (Public Spend Forum, and Training Leaders International). He is also Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council and the Senior Innovation Advisor at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Stephen received his B.B.A degree from Texas A&M University and an M.A. degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is published in Foreign Policy, WarOnTheRocks, National Review, and RealClearDefense. Notably, his graduate thesis on conflict resolution in the Caucasus resulted in an invitation to join incoming Secretary of Defense Robert Gates transition team in late 2006. Mr. Rodriguez resides in Washington D.C. with his wife, Laura, a venture capitalist with Bulldog Innovation Group and their children, Fletcher, Violet, and Pierce.