Our Team

We’ve brought together private sector technologists with veterans and national security experts who deeply understand the mission. Together, we build technology for defense and national security.

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Our Team

Ben FitzGerald
Chief Executive Officer
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Ben FitzGerald is the Chief Executive Officer at Rebellion Defense. His work with Rebellion began in 2019 as an early investor and board participant. Most recently, he served as the company’s Executive Chair from May to December 2023.

A seasoned executive with a diverse background in technology, national security, and investment, Ben held the position of Executive Director – Strategy, Data, and Design in the Pentagon’s Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. During this period, he orchestrated the most significant reorganization of defense acquisition systems since the Goldwater Nichols Act of 1986. He also served on the Senate Armed Services Committee, contributing to legislation that created new defense acquisition pathways and governance models.

Ben previously directed the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where he led the organization’s thought leadership on national security challenges associated with emerging technologies. His insights on these issues have been featured in Defense News, Foreign Policy, NPR, Reuters, Vice, and C-SPAN. Congress has sought his expert testimony on defense acquisition reform for building a more resilient and modern defense infrastructure.

An Australian native, Ben established the North American operations of the Noetic Group, an Australian-owned consulting firm. His exemplary work at the company earned recognition with the Australian Capital Territory Export Awards in 2007, 2008, and 2011. Earlier in his career, Ben worked in various technology corporations, including IBM and Unisys.

In addition to his role at Rebellion, Ben serves as a partner at Lupa Systems, leading the firm’s technology investments with security implications.

Jane Lee
Chief Government Relations Officer
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Jane Lee is the Chief Government Relations Officer at Rebellion Defense. She previously served as the Senate Majority Leader’s senior adviser on budget, appropriations, and economic policy where she helped steer the successful passage of the bipartisan CARES Act and COVID-19 economic rescue packages, the 2019 Bipartisan Budget Act, 2017’s budget resolutions and reconciliation vehicles for tax reform, and over 50 full year appropriations bills.

Jane has also served as a conference whip adviser to the Senate Majority Whip and held senior positions in the Senate, House, and the White House – as a senior policy adviser and subcommittee director on the Senate Appropriations Committee and as policy director and defense analyst at the House Budget Committee. She also held senior roles at the White House Office of Budget and Management, as a principal spokesperson on procurement, digital technology and financial management policy, and as a budget examiner for DoD's Defense-Wide programs.

Jane was a Jacob Javits Fellow on the Senate Commerce Committee and worked in the private sector in consulting and business development for start-ups. She received her BA in International Relations from Stanford University and her MPA and MS from Columbia University.

Tony Ierardi
Chief Operating Officer
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Lieutenant General (Retired) Tony Ierardi departed active duty in the U.S. Army in August 2019. Tony subsequently joined Rebellion Defense in December 2019 leading strategic partner engagement and currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer. Over the course of his military career, Tony served in a uniquely diverse set of assignments where he led challenging missions in strategically important Army and Joint units and organizations.

As a General Officer, Tony served in critical assignments at the DoD, Joint and Army enterprise-levels related to requirements, capabilities and the strategic allocation of resources. Tony’s culminating military assignment was as the Joint Staff’s J-8 Director where he oversaw JCS analytic assessments and all matters related to current and future requirements for forces, capabilities, budgets and resources for the U.S. Joint Force.

Tony led Army and Joint units at every level from platoon to division, in the U.S. and abroad, including commanding the First Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. Earlier, he deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the Deputy Commander for Programs, Combined Security Transition Command in Kabul, Afghanistan, and with the Second Armored Cavalry Regiment in Operation Desert Storm.

He has a bachelors degree in business from Washington & Lee University, and Masters degrees from Georgetown University and the Naval War College.

Karen D. Dacres
Chief Legal Officer
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Karen D. Dacres is the Chief Legal Officer at Rebellion Defense. In this capacity, Karen oversees the company’s legal and compliance matters worldwide. She is a seasoned and mission-focused leader with more than 25 years of deep legal and business experience – bringing to the role a strong combination of government and private sector acumen that spans government and early-stage startups to later-stage companies. She provides critical and strategic legal, regulatory, acquisition, and policy thought leadership and has a proven track record of building and leading scalable legal and regulatory compliance operations. Formally recognized by the National Security Council, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and the Intelligence Community for her leadership of space and technology legal and policy initiatives, Karen is passionate about developing and strongly executing strategic acquisition and business initiatives that accelerate sales and promote corporate business growth.

Previously, Karen served as SAILDRONE Inc.'s first Chief Legal Officer, an advanced technology and data disruptor, which designs, manufactures, and operates innovative, autonomous wind and solar-powered Uncrewed Surface Vehicles for persistent atmospheric, surface and subsurface ocean data collection. Prior to that role, she was a Founding Partner of SLG | The Space Law Group, in which she served as the external legal advisor to SAILDRONE, and was the General Counsel and Director of Government Relations for PlanetiQ. Karen has also served as a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), where she led and executed legal and policy initiatives for advanced technology and commercial remote sensing to support the warfighter and the Intelligence Community. Finally, she has served as the Satellite Programs General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Senior Intellectual Property Attorney for the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Karen holds a BA from Northwestern University in French Studies and Chemistry, and a JD from The George Washington University’s National Law Center, with a focus on intellectual property.

Sara Pryor
Chief People Officer
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Sara Pryor is the Chief People Officer at Rebellion Defense. Prior to joining Rebellion, Sara worked at Amazon for nearly a decade, leading the HR team for Italy and Spain, and leading the implementation of a number of large-scale, global HR initiatives, including the implementation of a new performance management system and software for all Amazon employees.

During her tenure at Amazon, Sara lived and worked in the US, Luxembourg, and Spain. Previously, she worked at Accenture, leading consulting engagements related to talent management, change management, and communications for clients in the US Intelligence Community and Department of Defense.

Sara holds a BA in International Relations and Spanish from the College of William and Mary. She and her husband have two children and one very unruly (but very sweet) labrador retriever.

Our Values

Rebels take ownership.

  • We own all outcomes — good and bad — to deliver even better results.
  • We take ownership by acknowledging difficulties and challenges and seek to course correct when necessary. We don’t sweep things under the rug.
  • We embrace ideas from all Rebels regardless of title, seniority, or background to drive the best outcomes.
  • We make decisions for the Rebellion and we do it boldly in search of better outcomes, instead of settling for stability.
  • We speak up if we see something that needs to be done or improved.

Rebels are customer-centric.

  • We keep our customers and their mission at the center of our work, and we remember why we built this Rebellion — even when the going gets tough.
  • We are motivated by helping our customers. We build our products for them, not us.
  • We want our customers to be enthusiasts about our products, services, and teams.

Rebels emphasize speed, action, and outcomes.

  • We solve problems with software and technology.
  • We develop our products expeditiously to get them into the hands of our customers as quickly as possible.
  • We have high standards in the products we build and in the people we hire. We build software that scales and is always improving and adapting.
  • We are nimble and strive to overachieve.

Rebels lead with empathy and courage.

  • We think beyond our teams when making decisions.
  • We are humble yet tenacious. We debate ideas with passion and civility.
  • We are mindful of others and treat them with dignity and respect.
  • We take feedback, evolve and keep moving forward.

Rebels practice transparency.

  • We practice consistent transparency around decision-making and goal setting.
  • We understand the responsibilities we have as a company entrusted to work on sensitive and classified projects for our customers.
  • We trust our fellow Rebels to act in good faith and in support of our mission.

Rebels embrace diversity and difference.

  • We embrace diversity and difference by hiring the best and most diverse candidates to join the Rebellion, developing fellow Rebels and aiming to promote from within.
  • We invest in the potential of others. We bring in talent and help them grow to build a more diverse and talented team of Rebels.
  • We enable, recognize and reward exceptional talent.
  • We don’t operate by consensus but seek diverse viewpoints to inform the process. When we make a decision, we commit wholeheartedly.
  • We form one Rebellion. We strive to foster equity, belonging and inclusion at all levels.

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