Our Leadership
We are a team of engineers, scientists, and operators driven by a shared mission to solve intractable problems and build what's next.
Peyton Steele
Founder & Chief Architect
Peyton Steele is the Founder & Chief Architect of Vesper Advanced Defense Systems, a company built to answer a specific call: to develop capabilities that modern threats and challenges demand but existing systems were never designed to deliver.
His path to defense innovation began not by convention, but by necessity. Working across the private sector for over two decades, Steele advised leaders at the highest levels of Fortune 500 companies, helping reshape the organizations from the inside out. Companies like Samsung, national developers, major airports, national embassies, the largest healthcare networks, and more than two dozen of this nation's premier universities all benefited from Steele's unique perspective. The work was large in scale and complex in nature, often touching global supply chains, national infrastructure, and public-facing systems that had to function under pressure. The stakes were real, and the margin for error was narrow.
Alongside this work, he devoted a meaningful portion of his time to non-profit initiatives supporting vulnerable populations—most notably with companies like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDs Foundation.
That success led to a new kind of challenge. Steele was tapped by the leader of a project with the U.S. Department of Defense to help lead an initiative focused on technology development and infrastructure security. The program prefigured many of the challenges the government faces today: asymmetric risk, degraded environments, and the need for operational trust without reliance on traditional networks.
...asymmetric risk, degraded environments, and the need for operational trust without reliance on traditional networks.
He would later serve as an executive at Herman Miller, Inc., where he directed the global launch of the company’s most ambitious program in its 100-year history. There, he oversaw cross-continental deployment of next-generation designs across North America, EMEA, APAC, and LATAM.
The throughline of Steele’s work has always been the same: see it clearly, challenge assumptions, and build what is necessary, not just what is known. That principle led to the founding of Vesper. Today, he leads Vesper’s strategic direction—guiding the development of integrated technologies that span every domain of conflict and coordination. Under his leadership, the company engineers full-spectrum solutions across activation, control, detection, synchronization, and response—each built to perform under the pressures of tomorrow’s fight, not yesterday’s assumptions.
Mr. Steele continues to advise on field-level deployment strategy and government-facing partnerships as Vesper advances toward full operational capability across multiple platforms. He resides in Charleston, South Carolina.
Marc Jasper
Marc W Jasper was born in 1962 and retired from the US Marine Corps in 2004. He achieved qualifications in six languages (to include Arabic and Russian), with over a decade of service overseas ranging from deployed infantry battalions, US Embassies, UN observer missions, and intelligence assignments.
He served five years at sea and commanded or supported nearly a dozen humanitarian missions (most immediately post-disaster) as well as several demining deployments where he led military, State Department and NGO stakeholders. He is a qualified USMC Mountain Leader, NATO Winter Warfare Instructor, and a USMC-certified firearms and close combat instructor.
Major Jasper completed a Master’s Degree in Middle East Studies in 1997; and a Doctorate in International Relations (Virginia Tech) in 2021, with an emphasis on Israeli prisoner policy and conflict resolution. He has lectured worldwide on US foreign policy and US intelligence; and his dissertation is now being used by university professors to teach research methodology.
Jasper developed some of the first counter-UAV doctrine for the US Government in operations off Somalia...
Dr. Jasper’s recent work is focused on global public health and communications security, as well as data center development. Jasper developed some of the first counter-UAV doctrine for the US Government in operations off Somalia while running a maritime security company and he has maintained deep contacts in the UAV community across several US government agencies. He has performed successfully as a business developer & capture manager, writing proposals which booked over $900 million in proven revenue and $15 Billion in contract value. He has built single-room clinics in Africa, and at the other extreme, proposed and won the contract to construct several $150 million Central Reference Labs (CRL) and National Influenza Centers (NIC) in Central Asia. These projects required general construction, biosafety & security, and cooperation with CDC and the Russian government in creating a pandemic surveillance and response system, culminating with a full-scale exercise of the international vaccine stockpile.
Upon returning to the US after twenty years abroad, (to include residence in Siberia, Moscow, Munich, Warsaw, Central Asia, North Africa and Brazil), Marc currently resides in Yorktown, Virginia.
Stephen Volandt
Stephen Volandt is a former US Marine Corps logistics officer and a Citadel graduate with a deep background across corporate, governmental, and national security domains, where he has managed technology and operations project portfolios valued in the $billions.
He is the Founder and President of the Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience (FIR), a non-profit dedicated to enhancing the security of U.S. infrastructure. FIR mobilizes national security, infrastructure, and cyber/physical security professionals to educate industry leaders, policymakers, and the public on critical infrastructure threats, providing mitigation strategies to ensure business continuity during major disruptions.
A proven leader and problem solver, Mr. Volandt has been key in driving large-scale organizational change, enterprise transformation, and modernization. His work spans numerous high-profile entities, including the Department of Defense CIO, FBI CJIS, Headquarters Army (including nuclear weapon detonation response), Headquarters Marine Corps, NC Board of Elections and major corporations such as Cigna, GlaxoSmithKline, and Bayer. Earlier in his career, he led thousands of commercial real estate assessments, construction inspections, disaster recovery, and environmental cleanup projects.
Mr. Volandt's commitment to national security and resilience is underscored by his nine years of volunteer service as Vice Chair for the FBI-InfraGard National Disaster Resilience Council (NDRC). In this role, he focused on high-risk vulnerabilities like the catastrophic "Black Sky Event" (a nation-wide, long-term power loss). He is the recipient of the 2023 InfraGard Cross-sector Council Leadership award and co-authored two influential books on the subject:
Powering Through: From Fragile Infrastructures to Community Resilience Powering Through: Building Critical Infrastructure Resilience
His extensive experience in corporate and military operations and enterprise modernization provides unique insight into developing effective strategic, operational, and technical transformation.
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Jerry Brown
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Jerry Brown is a decorated combat veteran with 22 years of U.S. Army service and over 45 years of leadership experience in government research, development, and acquisition.
He graduated from The Citadel in 1966 as a Distinguished Military Graduate and was commissioned as an Airborne-Ranger qualified Armor/Cavalry Officer. During his military career, LTC Brown served in command and staff roles in Armor and Infantry units, including combat service in the Republic of Vietnam, earning numerous awards for valor and service. As a member of the DoD Acquisition Corps, he was the Project Manager for provisioning the M1 Abrams Tank's turret and its advanced subsystems. His final assignment was on the Army General Staff at the Pentagon, where he led the Armor Team for the Assistant Secretary of the Army, managing all armor programs and funding.
...led the Armor Team for the Assistant Secretary of the Army, managing all armor programs and funding.
After retiring from the Army in 1988, Mr. Brown joined Allied Defense Industries Inc., serving as President of ADI Technologies for over 30 years, and was also President/CEO of ADIT Solutions Inc., a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business. His civilian expertise covers the entire program life cycle, leading to the management of numerous high-stakes government contracts. Key programs included the propulsion system for the Army's Crusader Howitzer, automatic fire suppression systems for MRAP and JLTV programs, high-altitude navigation kits and physiological monitoring systems for SOCOM, and social media intelligence software for the U.S. Secret Service.
Mr. Brown holds a Master of Science from the Florida Institute of Technology and has completed advanced studies at the Army War College, Defense Acquisition University, Shepherd’s Heart Seminary, and the Defense Language Institute (Greek). In retirement, he has served as a Priest in Charge at Shepherd’s Heart Anglican Church, President and Chaplain for his Vietnam unit's association (77th Armor), and Chairman of the Board for the University of North America. He has been married for 59 years and has two daughters, four grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.