Dr. Yisroel Brumer co-founded Zephyr AI and was the founding CEO. He was also a Founding Partner and President at Red Cell Partners and is now the co-founder and CEO of DEFCON AI, a leading defense startup providing resilient optimization of complex operational systems. Before that, he had an extensive career of executive leadership in the Department of Defense (DoD) culminating as Acting Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE). Reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense, he led the annual program review process that built the five-year defense program totaling over $3.5 trillion.

He also led CAPE’s oversight of all major investment programs, emphasizing analyses of alternatives, investment strategies, and programmatic tradeoffs. He led the SecDef-directed studies on high-stakes issues known as Strategic Portfolio Reviews that drove the strategic direction of the Department for the last decade. He was a member of DoD’s most senior decision bodies, including the Nuclear Weapons Council, the Missile Defense Executive Board, and the Deputy Secretary’s Management Action Group, among many others.

During that time, Yisroel worked on innumerable “impossible problems” ranging from fixing disaster response after Katrina to rebuilding cultures in massive organizations to helping military personnel deal with mental health impacts of combat. Yisroel holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics and a M.Sc. in Chemistry from Harvard University and has published a number of works in the applications of physics to biological systems and cancer. He has received the highest civilian medal awarded by DoD, the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, along with honors like the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and numerous other medals and awards for civilian service.