André Gudger

Mr. Gudger is the Founder and CEO of Eccalon with over twenty years of experience leading middle-market technology companies and senior positions within the Federal government. From 2011-2017, he served as President Barack Obama's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy (MIBP) and the Director of the Office of Small Business Programs. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Mr. Gudger provided detailed analyses of the increasingly global and financially complex industrial supply chain and took appropriate actions to maintain the health, integrity, and technical superiority of the industrial base. In his many roles, Mr. Gudger was also the Defense Department's lead for President Obama's National Network of Manufacturing Innovation, through which he led the establishment of eight manufacturing institutes that focus on additive manufacturing, lightweight metals technology, robotics, and biotechnology. He is credited with reshaping MIBP by creating programs that focus on Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Global Markets to modernize the office's programs and realign its focus areas for the 21st Century. Previously, he served as the Director of the Office of Small Business Programs, where he acted as the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense on all matters related to small business, and oversaw more than $120 billion of annual awards to small companies. In his past, Mr. Gudger has worked on key technical and financial initiatives with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Union Bank of Switzerland, AT&T, and founded Solvern Innovations, a cybersecurity solutions company, where he served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Gudger received his Bachelor of Sciences degree from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County and his M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.