Ed Vaughan

Ed “Hertz” Vaughan operates at the intersection of customers, capital, and production, helping startups, investors, and national security organizations accelerate growth, industrial capacity, and strategic outcomes. He serves as Chief Strategy Officer of SEMPRE, a sovereign cloud and secure edge AI company, and advises emerging technology companies through Relentless Holdings LLC on capital formation, federal financing pathways, and industrial scaling.

Ed retired as a U.S. Air Force Major General after concluding his career in the Pentagon, where he simultaneously held four senior executive appointments, including Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Acquisition Integration and Interoperability and Executive Director of the Joint Rapid Acquisition Cell and Joint Production Accelerator Cell. He also served as Executive Secretary of the Ukraine and Taiwan Senior Integration Groups and of the Deputy Secretary of War’s Munitions Acceleration Council, aligning senior leaders, acquisition, industry, and allies to accelerate security assistance, industrial mobilization, and deterrence. A longtime Air National Guard leader, his operational career spans F-16 and A-10 combat aviation, LC-130 polar operations in Greenland and Antarctica, and wing command in Puerto Rico. Earlier in his career he worked as a manufacturing engineer in the private sector, experience he still draws on today.

Beyond his commercial work, Ed advises private capital firms and contributes to national security think tanks. He writes the Relentless Wingman blog and has delivered more than 250 keynote addresses over the past 30 years, with roughly twice as many other public speaking engagements. He holds degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Air War College.