45Drives COO Joins Velocity Summit Panel on Defense Manufacturing

45Drives, a leading manufacturer of open source enterprise data storage, virtualization infrastructure, and on-prem AI, has announced that Chief Operating Officer Robert MacQueen will join the marquee Industry Velocity Panel at the inaugural Velocity Summit on November 17 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Co-presented by the North Carolina Military Business Center (NCMBC) and The Protocase Companies, the summit brings together military, government, and industry leaders to tackle a critical national security challenge: accelerating defense manufacturing capacity.

The panel, titled “Building at the Speed the Mission Requires,” will feature MacQueen alongside Chelsea Lloyd, Director of Supplier Quality Engineering at Archer Aviation; Scott Lampe, President of Hendrick Technical Solutions; and Bradley Garris, Business Manager at Phillips Corporation-Markforged. Jon Phillips, CEO of PhillComm Global, will moderate the discussion from 12:45 to 2:00 PM EST. MacQueen brings hands-on experience across the full technology production lifecycle. Since joining 45Drives in 2014 in engineering, he now oversees operations from product development through customer fulfillment, spanning the challenges of designing, manufacturing, and delivering complex enterprise infrastructure at scale. “There’s a world of difference between proving you can build something and being able to deliver it quickly, reliably and at scale,” said MacQueen. “At 45Drives, we operate in that space between engineering, production and service every day. We know how much time gets lost to supply chain constraints, inefficient processes and unnecessary complexity. I want to bring that practical experience to the discussion about how North Carolina can help America build critical defense capabilities faster.”

The summit’s final program also includes video remarks from North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a keynote address by Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, and remarks from Lieutenant General (Ret.) Christopher O. Mohan, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Materiel Command. Senior military officials will examine readiness requirements and industrial constraints before an afternoon roundtable focused on practical steps North Carolina can take to strengthen America’s defense manufacturing base. The event takes place from 9:00 AM to 3:45 PM EST at Cape Fear Community College’s Union Station Conference Center, Room 508, 502 N. Front Street, Wilmington. For the complete program and registration, visit Velocity Summit.