Name: Raj Shah
Title: Managing Partner, Defense Innovation Unit Experimental
Agency: Department of Defense
Determined innovator. Shah, a former Air Force pilot, was tapped to run the Defense Department's experimental division in 2016. Under his leadership, DIUx had awarded $184 million to fund 59 pilot projects by the end of 2017 -- a nearly 500 percent jump compared to its 2016 fourth-quarter results. He also played a key role on two follow-on production contracts in the areas of artificial intelligence, human systems, IT and space. Shah is the founder of the Nanubhai Education Foundation, which provides access to higher education for financially vulnerable students in rural India. He recently left DOD to return to the private sector.