The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Director of Research and Development, Dr. Ronzelle Green, has joined the elite roster of defense experts and leaders who will speak at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 23. Read along for more information about the NGA leader, his career and his key priorities in his role.
Meet and learn from Dr. Ronzelle Green on Jan. 23! Save your seat for the 2025 Defense R&D Summit today.
Ronzelle Green’s Career
Green assumed his current role in September 2023. Before joining NGA, Green served as the reserve chief of staff, senior reserve officer and a captain for the Atlantic area in the U.S. Coast Guard. Green was also a senior advisor in the Maritime Expeditionary Security Group II for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.
Prior to his time with the Coast Guard, Green was the chief information officer for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. In this role, he spearheaded the agency’s digital transformation initiatives. Green also served as the director of commonwealth integration in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.
NGA’s R&D Directorate
The organization Green leads underwent a name change last year to the Research and Development Directorate. Green said the rename reflects the organization’s shift toward delivering geospatial intelligence, or GEOINT, solutions to the warfighter and its prioritization of speed.
“We changed the name to NGA’s Research and Development Directorate to show that there is an input and then also an output,” said Green in an interview with SIGNAL. “[It is really about] accelerating how we go from this science and research, to operations to the mission. We decided to change the name to show that process.”
“And even over the last couple months, we have really been focused on the GEOINT hard problems for the GEOINT community, and actually building our R&D around those hard problems, to deliver results for our mission users and our warfighters,” Green added.
Ronzelle Green’s Tech Priorities
NGA’s R&D Directorate focuses on conducting research specifically in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning, software, data analytics, predictive modeling and data management. One of Green’s top focus areas now is transitioning the research in these areas into solutions for the warfighter.
“In our R&D world here at NGA, we have the mantra of explore, prove and deliver. Explore new technology, and then go through a rigorous process to actually prove that technology to see if it accomplishes what we need to accomplish, and then actually deliver into the operational baseline.”
Green also noted that the agency is leveraging the insights of the scientists and experts at NGA to look ahead at some of the capabilities that might be needed five to ten years down the road.
Hear directly from Ronzelle Green on Jan. 23 at the 2025 Defense R&D Summit hosted by the Potomac Officers Club. If you’re in the defense technology sector, you won’t want to miss this event packed with insights from some of the nation’s leading defense and research experts. Register for the 2025 Defense R&D Summit now to save your seat.
