Investing in the
future of national security

Stan Vukmer has over 30 years of global financial industry experience. He began his career as a quantitative analyst and derivatives trader under Wall Street luminaries Blythe Masters, Stan Jonas, and Lewis Ranieri. Stan also held leadership positions at two early-stage funds, one ranked among the top 10 best-performing fixed-income funds globally; the other culminated in a first-of-its-kind IPO on the London Stock Exchange Main Market. He has held roles at Indochina Capital, Five Mile Capital, Spyglass Capital, Société Générale, and JP Morgan.

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Stan has since founded several successful ventures, including an industry-leading specialty finance company that has provided asset-based financing to thousands of U.S. businesses with backing from prominent family offices and foundations. Drawing on his military family roots, he now focuses on strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base. He is an active member of BENS (Business Executives for National Security), a nonpartisan non-profit organization comprised of accomplished business executives applying their experience to help address our Nation’s national security challenges. Stan holds a BA from Yale, pursued Advanced Studies at Oxford, served a 5-year term as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar, and was a guest lecturer at Renmin University School of Economics in Beijing.

Newell Cotton has more than 25 years of investment experience in the U.S., China, and Southeast Asia spanning buyouts, growth capital, and asset-backed lending. He began his career as a Chinese-speaking investment analyst at one of the first foreign private equity funds investing in China. After working at a commercial real estate mortgage and fixed income investment firm chaired by Lewis Ranieri, he relocated to Singapore, first at a pan-Asian special situations hedge fund sponsored by Blackstone, then at a lower middle-market industrial technology buyout fund. His experience spans investment origination, due diligence, valuation, and portfolio management. His career includes roles at Novo Tellus, Credit Asia Capital, Five Mile Capital, Cathay Capital Management, Paloma Partners, and The Scowcroft Group in Washington, DC.

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Newell is also an early-stage investor in hardware, software, and financial services companies, and has 10 years of operational experience in CFO and COO positions, including with a dual-use technology firm focused on energy resilience. He is a Registered Representative holding Series 63 and 82 licenses. He holds a BA from Bates College, an MA from Harvard University, and an MBA from Wharton School of Business.

Rahsaan Johnson has more than 14 years of experience in aerospace, defense technology, and private capital markets. He began his career as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer, serving over 12 years on active duty and in the Reserves in operational and analytical roles across the intelligence community. He subsequently worked in aerospace and defense investment banking and in private equity before leading capture strategy for a defense prime, where he built an intelligence community portfolio and oversaw a pipeline totaling more than $1 billion in contract value. His career includes roles at Mission Essential, Moelis & Co., Blackstone, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and NCIS.

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Rahsaan has led go-to-market, fundraising, and product strategy, and he continues to advise the founding teams of several defense firms. He previously served as an accelerator mentor at FedTech. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MA in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College, and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Rahsaan is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Caroline Pan is an experienced industry executive and strategic advisor with over 25 years of global leadership across industrial automation, semiconductors, and advanced manufacturing. At Long Knife, she serves as Operating Partner, supporting the firm’s due diligence efforts and portfolio company growth.

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Caroline has held C-suite roles in both public and pre-IPO companies, including as SVP & Chief Marketing Officer at Lumentum, a market leader in optical transceivers for AI data centers and high-performance lasers for precision manufacturing. She was previously CMO of Bright Machines, a venture-backed, software defined automation and robotics company transforming factory operations. Caroline also spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley and Asia as a senior executive at Intel, Hewlett Packard, and Honeywell. She began her career as a design engineer at Ford Motor Company.

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In addition to her role at Long Knife, Caroline sits on the Advisory Board of Pontis Group, an investment and advisory firm specializing in lower middle market industrial companies; and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the 1990 Institute, a nonprofit organization. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and is a frequent public speaker at industry conferences and corporate governance events.

Tony Morash has more than 15 years of defense and national security experience across industry and government. He is Director of Business Development & Strategy for the C6ISR Division of Aeronix Technologies Group, which provides secure network and communications, electronic warfare, and kinetic fire control solutions to defense customers, and leads the firm's Arlington, Virginia office. He previously held strategy and program management leadership roles at L3Harris, including Strategy Lead for the Intel & Cyber business unit, with a portfolio spanning tactical intelligence collection, communications, and sensor technologies, and Director of Strategy for the $6 billion Space & Airborne Systems segment, where he led market analysis, strategy development, and mergers and acquisitions across national security space, electronic warfare, military avionics, and cyber. Earlier, he was a corporate strategist at Lockheed Martin focused on all-domain operations, competitor strategy, and emerging technologies across the aeronautics and mission systems portfolios, and a management consultant at Deloitte delivering supply chain, cost, and digital transformations for defense companies. He began his career as an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency supporting U.S. Central Command, conducting strategic and operational intelligence analysis for counterterrorism operations, including a deployment to Iraq as the senior Department of Defense threats analyst in country. For this service he was awarded the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award, the Joint Civilian Service Achievement Award, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism. His career includes roles at Aeronix Technologies Group, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Deloitte, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

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At Long Knife, Tony serves as an Advisor, supporting the firm's deal sourcing and diligence across the defense technology landscape. He is also an advisor to multiple defense technology start-ups and investment funds focused on PNT, additive manufacturing, and mission AI, and mentors companies through the U.S. Navy, DARPA, National Security Innovation Network, and TechStars LA Space accelerator programs. He has published on adversary penetration of allied defense supply chains with the Center for European Policy Analysis, was a National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and is a fellow of the National Endowment for Democracy. He serves on the Executive Committee of the AFCEA Aberdeen Chapter and on the board of an organization supporting employment for paralyzed veterans. He holds a BA in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross, with a year at Mansfield College, University of Oxford, an MA in Intelligence & International Security from King's College London, and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he was a Boeing Innovation Fellow and received the Kenan Institute's Rollie Tillman Outstanding Leadership Award.

Brigadier General Ronald M. Bouchard, USA (Ret.) has more than 30 years of experience in information technology, cybersecurity, and communications systems across the U.S. Army and the federal contracting industry, including more than 15 years helping defense technology companies win and grow business with the Department of Defense. He is a Partner at Deep Water Point & Associates, a federal market management consulting firm of more than 450 senior government and industry professionals that advises contractors on market intelligence, go-to-market strategy, business development, capture and proposal, and merger and acquisition support across the defense, intelligence, and federal civilian markets. Ron leads the firm's product-focused practice, helping hardware and technology companies position their offerings for DoD programs and acquisition pathways. He joined Deep Water Point in 2018 from NCI Information Systems, a publicly traded federal IT provider, where he was Senior Vice President and Deputy General Manager of the Global Services Sector and General Manager of the DOD Enterprise Services Group, responsible for business growth, contract execution, and program delivery across four operating units. He retired from the Army in 2010 after 33 years of service, having led enterprise networks and communications for U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. Army Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea, where he served as regional Chief Information Officer. His career includes roles at Deep Water Point & Associates, NCI Information Systems, U.S. Pacific Command, and U.S. Army Forces Command.

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At Long Knife, Ron serves as an Advisor, supporting due diligence on prospective investments and helping portfolio companies navigate DoD requirements, procurement, and customer engagement. He brings experience from both sides of the federal market: as a senior buyer and operator of defense technology in uniform and as a consultant to the companies that build and sell it. That perspective directly supports the firm's focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, where success depends on understanding how programs are funded, how contracts are won, and how acquirers evaluate businesses. He is a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, the Association of the United States Army, and the Signal Corps Regimental Association, and an inductee of the University of New Hampshire Army ROTC Hall of Fame. He holds a BA from the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Syracuse University, and he graduated from the U.S. Army War College.