Major General (Retired) John Wharton is the Executive Chairman of the Board and co-founder of NCUO. He completed 34 years of service in uniform as Commander of the Army’s Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). His commands include, among many others, the Army’s Sustainment Command, Commanding General US Army Central G4, and premier sustainment roles with the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, and 25th Infantry Division. John holds degrees from the United States Military Academy and Naval War College. John places special emphasis on material solutions to the challenges of urban operations.

Colonel (Ret) Patrick J. Mahaney, Jr. is Co-Founder and CEO of the NCUO. A Special Forces officer (Green Beret), he served over 30 years in the U.S. Army, including nine combat tours and extensive operational assignments worldwide. He commanded the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, a tactical Special Forces battalion, and a Special Operations Task Force. His efforts while the Director of the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group (CSA SSG) resulted in the establishment of the Dense Urban & Subterranean Community of Practice (DUST CoP), among other initiatives. He is a Senior Advisor in the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN), part of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a mentor in NYU Stern’s Endless Frontier Labs, and is the Senior Mentor for the Dense Urban Studies Strategic Broadening Seminar. COL(R) Mahaney is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). An Honorary FDNY BN Chief and Trustee of the NYC Fire Museum, he served alongside the FDNY during recovery operations in November 2001 at the World Trade Center following the 9/11 attacks.

Chris De Ruyter is a retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel. As an Infantry Officer, he spent the majority of his career in the 75th Ranger Regiment and Asymmetric Warfare Group where he deployed ten times to Iraq/Afghanistan and provided operational advisory assistance around the globe. He finished his career teaching the next generation of Army Officers as the Professor of Military Science at the University of Central Florida. He holds a Bachelors in Political Science from the University of Central Florida and a Masters in Business Administration from Auburn University. He continues to support the warfighter through his work at the National Center For Urban Operations.

Sergeant Major (Retired) Joseph Vega is the Deputy Director for the NCUO and former Senior Operational Advisor (SOS) to the Asymmetric Warfare Group and Detachment Lead for the Asymmetric Warfare Group’s Subterranean Operations (SbTO) Cell. Joe has spent more than thirty years as a warfighter, serving at every rank of enlisted Soldier: first as a Ranger, then a Green Beret, and finally as an Operator in the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta (1st SFOD-D). Joe has deployed multiple times worldwide to countries such as Grenada, Panama, Colombia, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, to name a few; was the Master Breacher and a Heavy Breacher for 1st SFOD-D with experience breaching the world’s most sophisticated obstacles; has trained over thirty Brigade Combat Teams, Ranger Battalions, and Special Forces Groups in the tactics, techniques, and considerations of hard target defeat and subterranean combat; and is one of the principal authors of the Army’s Training Publication 3-21.51 Subterranean Operations (2019).

Stephanie Simone-Mahaney is the Director of Finance and Administration for the NCUO. Active in the NYC military, veteran, and civilian communities, she is an appointed General Board Member of Brooklyn’s Community Board 10 and serves on the Intrepid Museum Council of Veteran Advisors. Stephanie has over 15 years of experience working on Soldier and family readiness issues, including casualty and survivor support, with U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) units and with the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG). She is the recipient of the Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Commander’s Award for Public Service, and other awards for support of deployed units and military communities. Stephanie has a Master’s in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a B.A. from NYU, and worked as an Adjunct Professor of Economics & Finance. She received her Veterans Entrepreneurship Training Certificate from NYU’s Veterans Future Lab.

Justin Bosanko, LTC, USA (Retired) is an operational advisor for the National Center for Urban Operations (NCUO), providing expertise and insights to leaders operating in dense urban environments. He served over 20 years as an Infantry officer with multiple combat and operational tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other countries around the globe. He served for over a decade in the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, specializing in Focused Targeting, Adaptive Soldier/Leader Training and Education, and Subterranean Operations. After retirement, Justin spent time as a science, engineering, and technical advisor for the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, then as the lead of DoD operations for Robotic Research, LLC. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Alfred University.

Erik Kramer is a strategic fellow at the National Center For Urban Operations (NCUO). Erik is the director and co-founder of the Ukraine Defense Support Group (UDSG) in Kyiv. With over 33 years of military and government experience, he’s been training Ukrainian Armed Forces since July 2022. Previously, he led training at The Mozart Group and served as Executive Director of Special Ops Survivors (SOS). Erik’s diverse background includes CEO of Emerging Technology Institute (ETI), strategic planner with the U.S. Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG), and consultant at Booz, Allen, Hamilton. He retired as an Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel in 2014, with deployments to Afghanistan, Bosnia, Congo, Iraq, and Kosovo. Erik holds degrees in Political Science and Eurasian Studies, and currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina.

Master Sergeant (Retired) Jose Gordon is the Senior Operational Advisor with the NCUO and actively works to generate irregular warfare solutions to address capability gaps during subterranean operations (SbTO). He spent his career in uniform leading Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment, fighting in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan in over 25 deployments. During this time, he helped develop the Army’s current doctrine for subterranean maneuver and specialized progressive breaching. After retirement, he continued to serve in the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) under then Colonel Patrick Mahaney, leading operational advisors to improve combat proficiency of Soldiers across the joint force. While in AWG, he trained every one of the Army’s twenty-eight Brigade Combat Teams in subterranean maneuver operations. Through NCUO, he remains actively involved improving the proficiency of Rangers and Green Berets in confined space clearance.

Clay is the inaugural F. T. Aquilino 9/11 Memorial Fellow with the NCUO and actively works to generate irregular warfare solutions to address tactical offensive capability gaps. He continues to serve in the Army as a Special Operations Airborne Ranger-qualified Mission Leader, with experience leading in the US Army 75th Ranger Regiment and training Special Forces as an Irregular Warfare Officer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Princeton University and a Master’s degree in Counterterrorism and Substate Violence Prevention from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Command Sergeant Major (Retired) James Spencer is a Senior Operational Advisor with the NCUO. He served over twenty years in the US Army as a Special Operations Ranger Infantryman, leading at every echelon of the 75th Ranger Regiment from Rifleman to Battalion Command Sergeant Major with speciality assignments to the Ranger Sniper & Observation Team (SNOT) Platoon and Ranger Requirements, Acquisitions, Integration, and Development (RAID) Cell. He led Rangers in multiple combat deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan, served as a Troop Sergeant Major in the Asymmetric Warfare Group, and was selected to Liaison on behalf of the SOCOM Commander with the SOF AT&L Join Acquisition Task Force (JATF).

Brian J. Higgins currently serves as the Interagency Coordinator with NCUO and has been supporting the organization since its inception, originally as the U.S. Army Fellow. His bilateral career serving in both the military and law enforcement brings an extensive network to the team. Brian is a retired Detective with the NYPD, serving over 21 years with the majority of his experience in the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit, assigned to the Apprehension Tactical Team. This experience supported his selection to the US Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, where he served as the Officer in Charge of the Group’s Dense Urban Terrain Detachment in NYC. Brian’s focus on urban challenges continued with his follow on assigned to TF46, an “all hazards” response force where he served as the Interagency Coordinator collaborating with several major cities emphasizing the understanding and complexity of Innovation, Infrastructure, Information Operations, Interagency and Interoperability with regards to the Urban Environment. Currently, Brian is a Lieutenant Colonel with the NYARNG with over 25 years in uniform and is a Corporate Global Security professional with JP Morgan Chase in NYC.

Thor Johannessen is the Fire Service Fellow with NCUO and has supported the organization from its beginning. Thor is a Battalion Chief with the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). Since his appointment in 1990, Thor served as a Firefighter, Lieutenant and Captain before his promotion to Chief, having served most of his time with FDNY Special Operations Command. He is a Task Force Leader for FEMA Urban Search and Rescue, New York – Task Force 1. Through the FDNY Center for Terrorism and Disaster Preparedness, Thor is a FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner. He’s also been attached to New York City Emergency Management as the Director of Field Response. Thor commissioned into the US Army National Guard in 2004 and currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the NYARNG. An Infantry Officer, Thor has also served in various homeland response capacities and currently supports the National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program with a focus on Dense Urban Operations.

Grant Fox is an Innovation Fellow with the NCUO since 2023. He currently is the Director for Innovation at DZYNE Technologies, a global business focused on unmanned autonomous systems (UAS) and counter-UAS with the US Government and international customers. Prior to DZYNE, Grant worked for the Department of Defense National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) as a Regional Director within the Northeast United States. Grant previously led the Veterans Future Lab at New York University and has been an advisor, investor, executive, and professor supporting the innovation ecosystem. He currently leads the New York chapter of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum and is a veteran of the US Navy.

Faith Durdin is an Administrative and Outreach Specialist for the National Center of Urban Operations. As a commissioned officer in the United States Army, Faith serves as the Medical Operations Officer in an infantry battalion, excelling in logistics and supporting the warfighter by ensuring the well-being of her fellow soldiers. Alongside her military duties, Faith works full-time in consulting, specializing in talent acquisition and coordination. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Military Science from the University of Central Florida. Currently, Faith is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on the military population, driven by her commitment to enhancing support systems for service members and their families.