Our Board of Advisors

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David K. Jochum - President

David K. Jochum founded Tridentis in 2006 with the goal of creating a company with diverse technical capability, a flat management structure, and the flexibility and responsiveness to take care of the customer’s needs while relentlessly focusing on affordability. As President and Chairman of the Board of Advisors he manages the business and financial operations of Tridentis. He is currently responsible for managing numerous contracts with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and allied foreign militaries. Prior to starting Tridentis, he worked as a Naval Architect in both a shipyard and a large design firm and provided project engineering support to several U.S. Navy Program Offices. His experience in ship design spans a wide range of vessels including large naval combatants, high speed craft, and research vessels. His technical expertise includes ship design integration, structural engineering, weight engineering, modeling and simulation, and program management.

David earned an undergraduate degree in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of New Orleans. He also graduated from the Accelerated MBA Program at George Washington University where he focused on small business development and entrepreneurship.

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Rick Cox

Rick Cox joined Tridentis’ board of advisors in 2023. He is currently a Vice President for Storage Strategies responsible for business development and strategic growth.

His career includes senior corporate roles at multiple Fortune 500 companies. His success includes business development, contracting, program management, and strategic teaming of companies supporting the Naval Architecture/Marine Engineering markets. Serving in leadership positions as Vice President and President, he has a deep understanding of naval architecture/marine engineering and ship design and acquisition strategies across municipal, federal, and commercial clients globally. Prior to joining industry, he served with the Air Force in both enlisted and officer roles. His military career encompassed positions in intelligence, engineering, political-military affairs, and headquarters programs.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from University of Illinois, Master of Public Administration from Troy University, and Master of Engineering and Environmental Management from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

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Scott Gray

Scott Gray joined Tridentis’ Board of Advisors in March 2023. Mr. Gray served 27 years in the U.S. Navy as a nuclear submarine officer. He commanded the nuclear ballistic missile submarine, USS Maryland (SSBN 738), and later commanded the submarine and surface combatant repair ship, USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) in La Maddelena, Italy. He had several assignments in Washington, DC including a tour as Flag Aide to the Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; Executive Assistant to the Director of Operations on the Joint Staff (J3); Deputy Chief of Navy Legislative Affairs; and Executive Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy. During the George H. W. Bush administration he served as a White House Fellow assigned to the Department of Energy.

Following his retirement from the U.S. Navy in 2006, Mr. Gray worked at the corporate headquarters of the defense company General Dynamics until early 2014. He spent his first two years as Staff Vice President, Government Relations, coordinating engagement with Congress and U.S. Government customers. The following six years, he served as Staff Vice President, Strategic Planning for the corporation. In the summer of 2014, Mr. Gray began working for the defense company Alion Science & Technology. As Senior Vice President and Group Manager of Acquisition Program Management Group, he was directly responsible for several large services contracts with the U.S. Navy customer. In the summer of 2016, Mr. Gray became the Senior Vice President of Program Development for the defense company ICI Services Corporation. Three months later he became the President of the company, directly responsible for several large services contracts with the U.S. Navy customer. In 2018, he became the Chief Executive Officer of ICI Services Corporation.

In 2020, Mr. Gray retired from corporate business and established his own defense consulting practice, WSG4 Consulting, LLC. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He has an M.S. in National Security Policy from the National War College and an MBA from Brenau University. Since 2005, he has served as an executive on the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 2019, he joined and currently serves as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for the 501(c)(3) non-profit charity, Devotion To Children.

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Patty Weaver

Patty Weaver is the VP of Business Operations for Patriot Enterprises, LLC. In her role as VP Business Operations , she is a part of the executive leadership team and reports directly to the CEO. She is responsible for the company’s daily business operations, leading key strategic initiatives and implementing company-wide strategies to help drive short- and long-term growth. Ms. Weaver is as an accomplished senior executive with over 35 years of progressive management, leadership, compliance, operations, strategic planning, and contracts experience. She has diverse industry experience with large and small businesses and expertise in building and optimizing organizational processes and infrastructure to maximize business results.

Prior to joining Patriot Enterprises, Ms. Weaver was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Tridentis, LLC. Ms. Weaver was a key member of the Tridentis executive leadership team and reported directly to the CEO. As the COO, she was responsible for the organization’s overall business and financial operations infrastructure. She led the implementing of operational business functions while working directly with the CEO on strategic initiatives for maintaining control and efficiency of the business to help drive extensive long-term growth.

Ms. Weaver previously served as Vice President for Corporate Operations at Atlas Research, where she was a member of the senior leadership team. She was responsible with development and maturity of corporate operational responsibilities to ensure alignment with the company growth goals and objectives.

Prior to joining Atlas, Ms. Weaver’s was a Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Alion Science and Technology (Alion), where she was employed for over fifteen years. As the CAO for Alion , she was a member of the executive leadership team and responsible for the development, implementation, and establishment of internal processes and procedures and compliance as well as direct oversight of Contracts and Procurement/Pricing, Human Resources, Lease Management, Marketing and Communications, Information Technology and corporate reporting.

Prior to joining Alion in 2000, Ms. Weaver was Vice President/Group Contracts Manager and member of the senior management team at SAIC. She has received many industry awards, including being a finalist in the Women In Technology (WIT) Heroines Award. She was also a recipient of the prestigious “Women Who Mean Business” award in 2018 by the Washington Business Journal. She received her BA from George Washington University.

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E. Douglas Whittaker

E. Douglas “Doug” Whittaker joined Tridentis’ Board of Advisors in January of 2023. Doug is currently engaged as an independent consultant focused on new product design and manufacturing improvements with companies supporting the United States Navy, Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and allied foreign militaries as well as companies in the commercial space. Prior to joining Tridentis’ Board of Advisors, Doug held positions as Vice-President of Business Development with L3 and as Siemens Industry’s Principal Business Lead for the U.S. Navy. Doug also worked in leadership roles in Research and Development for General Dynamics, Textron, and Huntington Ingalls, and in a technical capacity as Director of Engineering at MasterCraft’s NauticStar Boats division.

Prior to joining the ranks of management, Doug worked both for prime contractors developing, designing, and manufacturing land and marine products as well as an engineering services contractor for the Navy at large naval architecture and marine engineering design firms. This role included responsibility for providing project and technical engineering support to several United States Navy Program Offices and Technical Warrant Holders. He brings to the board experience in ship design which spans a wide range of vessels including large naval surface combatants, large naval amphibious assault ships, military sealift command ships, high-speed craft, surface effective ships and craft, and research vessels. His technical expertise includes technology development in both evolutionary and revolutionary methodology, ship and armored vehicle concept design, ship system design, ship design integration, modeling and simulation, program management, and manufacturing engineering. Doug also holds two patents in amphibious assault vessel design.

Doug earned his undergraduate degree in Marine Engineering from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and received a license from the United States Coast Guard to work on steam and motor vessels of unlimited horsepower.