Meet the 2026 Speakers at Surface Warships

2026 Chairpeople

Admiral (Retd.) Henrique Gouveia e Melo
Chief of Staff of the Navy
Portuguese Navy

Vice Admiral (Retd.) João Aresta
Former Director of Portuguese Maritime Authority
Portuguese Navy

Rear Admiral Craig Wood
Deputy Commander
STRIKFORNATO

Rear Admiral Francesco Saladino
Head of Surface Capabilities Development Department
Italian Navy

Rear Admiral Cornel-Eugen Cojocaru
Fleet Commander
Romanian Naval Forces

Rear Admiral Jeroen Hodes
Director of the Directorate of Materiel Sustainment
Royal Netherlands Navy

Rear Admiral Carl Gillis
Strategic Advisor to the Chief of Navy
Belgian Navy

Commodore Ian Feasey
Commander of Surface Flotilla
Royal Navy

Commodore Kyrre Haugen
Chief of Naval Fleet
Royal Norwegian Navy

Commodore Jon Carrigan
Deputy Director
National Shipbuilding Office

Captain Adam Stein
Deputy Commodore, Destroyer Squadron 50
U.S. Navy

Captain Joseph Bubulka
N952 Branch Head
Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), US Navy

Commander Cameron Ingram
Commanding Officer, USS THOMAS HUDNER (DDG 116)
U.S. Navy

Commander Mário Migue Cortes Sanches
Plans and Policy Division at Portuguese Naval Staff and General Staff
Portuguese Navy

Anthony Antognoli
Assistant Commandant and PEO of Robotics & Autonomous Systems
U.S. Coast Guard

Jürgen Scraback
Head of Unit Maritime Domain
European Defence Agency

Lorenzo Raciti
HORIZON Program Manager
OCCAR-EA

Sebastien Le Bouter
Programme Manager
OCCAR-EA

Dr. Sidarth Kaushal
Senior Research Fellow
Royal United Services Institute

Neil Cogdell
Head of Innovation & Capability – Maritime
UK Defence Solutions Centre

Julien de Saint-Quentin
Lecturer in Anglo- French Defence & Politics
King's College London

James Mills
Vice President of Customer Success & Partnerships, Global Public Sector
Virtru

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