Dr. Marvin Sambur, former CEO of ITT Defense and Assistant Secretary of the US Air Force, currently holds the position of Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland Clark School of Engineering, serves on the Board of FARO Technologies and the SSA Board of the Canadian company OSI Geospatial. He also serves on several Government advisory Boards, including the USA Air Force Science Advisory Board and the National Academy of Science AF Study Board, and does extensive consulting for global technology and aerospace companies.

From 2001-2005, Dr Sambur served as Assistant Secretary of the United States Air Force for Acquisition and Research. In this position, Sambur formulated and executed a $220 billion Air Force investment strategy to acquire systems and support services for military combat capability for joint warfighting commanders. Among his many contributions in this role was transforming the Air Force’s acquisition process by bringing systems engineering into all stages of the process. From 1977-2001, Sambur held senior positions at ITT Corp., serving as President and CEO of ITT Defense from 1998-2001. During 1968-1977, Sambur also worked with Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Sambur completed his undergraduate studies in Electrical Engineering at the City College of New York in 1969, and earned his MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT in 1969 and 1972, respectively. During his years in industry, Dr Sambur made many scientific contributions in speech recognition, information technology, and satellite communication systems, holding patents in well used consumer products. As President and CEO of ITT Defense, Sambur opened new opportunities for the company that resulted in major growth in its business, and is highly regarded in the domestic and international defense industry as one of the leading minds in defense electronics.