A team of veterans and experts

We’re building the tools we wish we had when we did this job

  • Founded

    2021

  • HEADQUARTERS

    Washington, D.C.

  • SATELLITES

    Falmouth, MA
    Groton, CT

    Duluth, MN

Solutions, methods, and processes that apply hard-won lessons from every mission.

Our Team by the Numbers

300
+
Cumulative years of MILITARY service
70
+
team members
41
%
military veterans

Eductional Backgrounds

AERONAUTICS & ASTRONAUTICS
Aerospace Engineering
APPLIED PHYSICS
Business Administration
Computer Science
Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics
Data Science

Economics
Electrical Engineering
Information Management
Information Technology
International Relations
Machine Learning
mathematics

Mechanical Engineering
national security
Nuclear Engineering
Ocean Engineering
Organizational Leadership
Physics
Systems Engineering

our mission
We exist to strengthen U.S. national defense and homeland security — delivering advanced AI/ML software, maritime sensing systems, and engineering services purpose-built for contested maritime and undersea environments.

Spear AI enables faster detection, enhanced situational awareness, and data-driven decision-making across distributed naval, joint, and interagency operations.

Our Leadership

our founders

Michael Hunter

Co-Founder, CEO

EDUCATION

Bachelor's in History & International Relations and Master's in National Security from Georgetown University

BACKGROUND

Navy intelligence analyst and human intelligence specialist with the Office of Naval Intelligence's Trident office. Deployed to Baghdad with SEAL Team Two as a targeting officer. Supported the Defense Attache Service and the Defense Intelligence Agency's field operations directorate and later served the Joint Special Operations Command in an intelligence capacity. In 2018, joined Project Maven as the Navy projects lead.

John McGunnigle

Co-Founder, Executive Chairman

EDUCATION

Bachelor's in Computer Science from United States Naval Academy and Master's in Operations Analysis from Naval Postgraduate School

BACKGROUND

Retired U.S Navy submarine Commanding Officer and Commodore with over 30 years of service. Served in various senior leadership roles including Commanding Officer, USS NEW HAMPSHIRE (SSN 778), Commander, Submarine Squadron FOUR and at the Undersea Warfighting Development Center (UWDC), including Chief of Staff, Director of the Tactical Analysis Group (TAG), and Director for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, where he co-founded and led Project Harbinger.

our vice presidents

Alex Buck

VP of Data Engineering

education

Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering from U.S. Naval Academy and Master's in Aeronautics & Astronautics from MIT

background

Former Naval Aviator and Seahawk Weapons and Tactics Instructor. Worked on Project Harbinger Air, developing processes for collecting operational acoustic data from MH-60R units, and has accumulated over 1,600 flight hours. Holds AWS Cloud Practitioner and CompTIA Security+ certifications.

Carl Kaiser, Ph.D.

VP of Hardware Engineering

education

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering/Robotics from Colorado State University

background

Managed the UUV portion of the National Deep Submergence Facility at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Also worked at Naval Undersea Warfare Center and Saildrone, where he specialized in sensor development and integration for unmanned surface vessels.

Dennis Torres

VP of Software Engineering

education

Bachelor's in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University

background

Developed machine learning models in the food and grocery domain, becoming an early adopter of Transformer models for translating human speech to machine code.

Jeff Reilly

VP of Services

education

Master's in Business Administration from Georgetown University

background

Former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and data scientist. Drove AI infrastructure strategies for defense applications on Project Maven and led AI integration for the GLIDE at CDAO.

Our Team

Our Story

Spear AI began with a simple realization from our time in the Navy: operators are often asked to make high stakes, split-second decisions without a clear picture. Information is scattered, systems don’t always keep up, and what’s straightforward on land becomes far more challenging at sea.

Our goal is to give maritime and defense teams the technology that actually helps them see what’s happening and respond quickly with confidence. We take the best of what’s emerging in AI and pair it with hard-earned operational experience. And we build it in a way that fits existing systems, respects constraints, and works in the environments we know well.

Today, that vision is taking shape. Our software is being licensed. Our hardware is being deployed. And our team is growing around the mission that brought us here.

Spear AI is not about replacing people. It’s about giving them clearer information and tools they can trust when every second matters.