Michael Brown

Member, CNAS Board of Advisors

Michael Brown is a Partner at Shield Capital and a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Brown previously served four years (2018-2022) as the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) at U.S. Department of Defense. DIU fields leading-edge commercial capabilities to the military faster and more cost-effectively than traditional defense acquisition methods. During his tenure, DIU introduced 100 new vendors to DoD, fielded 50 new capabilities to the military and increased the transition rate of fielded capabilities to 50%. He also led the initiative for a new Defense Department-sponsored investment vehicle, National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) to fund dual-use hardware technology companies.

From 2016 to 2018, Brown served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow. During that time, he co-authored a Pentagon study on China’s participation in the U.S. venture ecosystem, a catalyst for the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA). FIRRMA was signed into law in August 2018 and provided expanded jurisdiction to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

Prior to civil service, Brown was the CEO of Symantec Corporation (2014-2016), the global leader in cybersecurity and the world’s 10th largest software company. He is also the former Chairman and CEO of Quantum Corporation (1995-2003) and Chairman of EqualLogic (2003-2008).

Brown holds an A.B. in economics from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

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