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Jim Shannon leads government relations for the VTG enterprise. He is responsible for enhancing the support VTG delivers to its Defense and Intelligence Community customers and for positioning VTG’s growing technology portfolio to meet its customers’ emerging mission requirements. Jim also plays a leading role in managing VTG’s relationships with executive branch and congressional leadership, as well as with aerospace & defense industry associations.

As a leader in the Department of the Navy’s acquisition workforce for over 15 years, Jim spent his final eight years in the Navy as a Flag officer. In his first 20 years in the Navy, he was a fleet operator serving on seven different afloat commands including as commanding officer of a guided missile frigate. Jim led a diverse group of programs from cruise missile defense to counter IED threats. He was a leading Navy spokesperson for weapon system architecture, led the Navy’s warfare center enterprise of over 20,000 personnel, and oversaw future modernization plans and budgets for all non-nuclear ships in the U.S. Navy while serving as a Deputy Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command. As Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for International Programs, he advised dozens of partner nation leaders, among more than 40 countries, where Jim personally coordinated maritime solutions for local and regional security problems across the globe. Following his service in the Navy, Jim joined PricewaterhouseCoopers public sector, which later rebranded as Guidehouse LLP. In that capacity he was a leading consultant for all Naval Executive advisory in support of maritime security matters.

Jim is the former President of ASSETT, Inc. where he had full profit and loss accountability. At ASSETT, Jim led an innovative team of engineers, software developers, and scientists renown for developing transformative undersea warfare technologies, including pioneering AI/ML applications for undersea and unmanned systems, and industry-leading submarine SONAR acoustic and signal processing tools. He assumed his current position following VTG’s acquisition of ASSETT in August 2021.

Jim holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, a Master of Science degree from the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California), a Master of Arts degree from the College of Naval Warfare (Newport, Rhode Island), and a fellowship from The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs (Syracuse University). He was certified Level III as a Program Manager in the Defense Acquisition Workforce and attended the Defense Acquisition University (Ft. Belvoir, Virginia).