Raj is the co-founder and Managing Partner of SHIELD. He manages all aspects of SHIELD, including firm governance, investment strategy and process, fiduciary fund management, capital raising, operations & administration, and the strategic partnership with L3Harris (NYSE:LHX). As a founder of two start-up technology companies, Raj brings an entrepreneur’s perspective, experience, and relationships to deal sourcing, evaluation, and working with founding teams to build businesses.

Raj serves on the boards of several SHIELD portfolio companies, including Howso, Overwatch Imaging, and Rangeview. He also serves as Chairman and Co-founder of Resilience, a cybersecurity and insurance firm addressing cyber risk of mid to large size enterprises.

Previously he was the Director of the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx), reporting to the Secretary of Defense. Raj co-authored the book, Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley are Transforming the Future of War, which describes DIUx’s efforts to modernize the U.S. military and bridge cultural divides between the technology system and the Pentagon.

Raj serves on the Board of Directors to the NATO Innovation Fund, investing in companies building emerging technologies in Partner nations across Europe. He is on the Board of Advisors for the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and served as a Commissioner on the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) Reform Commission.

Raj also served as Senior Director of Strategy at Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) where he reviewed corporate development, acquisitions, and technology partnerships. He joined PANW following the acquisition of Morta Security, the cybersecurity start-up company that he co-founded and led as CEO after his active duty service as an U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot where he completed multiple overseas deployments.

In addition to his business endeavors, Raj continues to serve in uniform as a reservist in the Air National Guard. He is currently assigned as the Director of the Joint Reserve Detachment at Defense Innovation Unit (DIU-JRD). The DIU-JRD is responsible for the operational employment of Reservists assigned to DIU to support Combatant Commands and the Joint Forces.

He holds an AB from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.