The Crew
Chris Devine
Chief Executive Officer. Chris has enjoyed a 30-year career building and running defense businesses for small and large companies. Since leaving an executive position with Boeing Defense in 2017, he has worked directly with emerging defense companies to implement operational improvements, execute growth strategies, and navigate critical business transitions. While at Boeing and Argon ST, Chris led large maritime P&L businesses, delivering technologies in communications signals intelligence, electronic warfare, inertial navigation and underwater acoustics. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and the George Washington University respectively.
Bob Pudney
President, Mission Solutions. Bob Pudney brings over 25 years of experience to his role as President of Mission Solutions for BlackSea Technologies. The former U.S. Navy officer spent 21 years in the service's surface and special operations forces before transitioning to corporate leadership in 2019. That year, Pudney took the helm as President of Blue Tide Marine, a maritime logistics firm specializing in government services, undersea and aviation operations, and test and evaluation services. Guiding BlackSea's maritime missions today, he draws from his U.S. Naval Academy BS in Political Science and Troy University MA in International Relations.
Jason Lamb
Chief Strategy Officer. Jason founded Hard Yards in 2014 and served as a systems engineering technical advisor for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) transitioning technologies to USSOCOM. Prior to Hard Yards, Jason was a Vice President at The HumanGeo Group and a Product Manager at Ringtail Design. Jason was a Navy SEAL officer and brings more than 20 years of deep special operations and intelligence community expertise. He holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business, an M.S. in the Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia, an M.A. from the Naval War College, and a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy.
Brian Fitzpatrick
Chief Technology Officer. Brian Fitzpatrick joined BlackSea Technologies as the Chief Technology Officer in February 2023. He has over 20 years of experience developing and transitioning technology with the US Navy with expertise in Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) and applied superconductivity. Prior to BlackSea, Brian was a program manager at NAVSEA responsible for developing and delivering a portfolio of USVs and the associated enabling capabilities for those platforms. He holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Rowan University, has published over 20 peer reviewed papers and holds 2 US patents.
Patrick Pelton
Chief Security Officer. Patrick Pelton joined BlackSea Technologies as Chief Security Officer in May 2023. He brings a 30+ year Federal Law Enforcement career within the US and overseas focused in Counterintelligence, Force Protection, Insider Threat Investigations, Program Security of Sensitive DOD Acquisition Programs, and Industry Security Oversight. After retiring from government, Patrick continued by leading Industry security and cybersecurity teams, with responsibility for the security management of multiple IC and DOD accredited facilities and associated security programs. He holds multiple National Security Certifications and holds an M.S. in Strategic Intelligence from National Intelligence University.
Percy Mahatan
Chief Financial Officer. Percy Mahatan joined BlackSea Technologies as a Vice President in July 2022. He has over 15 years of aerospace, defense, and intelligence community industry experience focusing on financial operations, budgeting, planning and analysis, contract pricing, mergers & acquisitions, and divestitures. Percy holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Elizabeth Hines
Vice President of Operations, MAPC. Elizabeth Hines is the Chief Operating Officer of BlackSea Technologies. Elizabeth joined Maritime Applied Physics Corporation in the Spring of 2016 working on marketing, conferences, and business development efforts. She manages the day-to-day operations of the company, processes improvements, and orchestrates business development efforts. Her previous 15-year career before joining MAPC was with State and local governments in various appointed positions, such as Chief of Staff for the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives and Director of the Foreign Trade and Enterprise Zone for Baltimore City. She has a B.A. from Oberlin College in Political Science and French and a 2019 graduate of Seth Godin’s AltMBA program.