After witnessing the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, David charted a course for a national security career in defense and intelligence. He graduated in 2008 from Princeton University with a degree in Politics and immediately moved to DC. There, he earned a Master's degree in National Security Affairs, with concentrations in Intelligence and Public Diplomacy & Political Warfare, from the Institute of World Politics while working as a contracted counterrorism analyst for the Department of Homeland Security and subsequently as a contract lead for a CBRN incident response program at DoD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In 2013, David joined the Marine Corps on active duty in signals intelligence and as a Middle East expert. He subsequently earned an MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business and, since 2021, has been working at dual-use and defense technology companies supporting civil and military government as well as commercial customers. He rejoined the Marine Corps as a reservist in the Marine Innovation Unit (MIU) in early 2024 and, later that year, founded Passway Solutions, to bring advanced security technologies based on Ukrainian defense innovations to commercial and partner markets. David is also a Defense Fellow at Marque Ventures, volunteers as the Co-Lead of the Front Range (Colorado) chapter of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF), and is a Defense Council Member at the Truman National Security Project. He currently lives in Denver and NYC.

Dr. Ayodeji Coker is a Director at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he leads technology teams and provides subject matter expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Autonomy. He delivers thought leadership and strategic vision to the GDS NMC Account, while also directing the Intelligent Systems Group and overseeing Internal Research and Development initiatives for the SEA sub-account.

Previously, Dr. Coker served as the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Portfolio Manager for Autonomy, where he led the Navy’s corporate strategy in autonomy and managed the corresponding investment portfolio. In this role, he focused on advancing transition, operationalization, and fielding of autonomy and unmanned systems, and led the development of the Navy’s Intelligent Autonomous Systems (IAS) S&T strategy focused on the intersection of Unmanned Platforms, AI, and Autonomy.

Before that, he was the Science Director for AI and Autonomous Systems at ONR Global (London), responsible for identifying cutting-edge research and facilitating opportunities for international collaboration and partnerships with the Naval Science & Technology Research Enterprise and with U.S. academic institutions. He also spearheaded an international grand challenge with the Alan Turing Institute (UK) to explore the creation of “AI Scientists” capable of making Nobel-level scientific discoveries by 2050.

Dr. Coker is widely published in peer-reviewed conference articles and journals, and is a frequent speaker at academic and industry forums. He received his BSc in Physics from the University at Albany (SUNY), his MSc in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University, and his PhD in Computer Engineering from Texas A&M University.

He is also a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine New Voices Program, which engages outstanding early- and mid-career leaders to expand the diversity of expertise informing the National Academies’ convening and advisory activities.