Matt Schumacher became the Deputy Product Manager for Product Manager Information Warfare Cyber Development (IWCD) in April of last year. He is responsible for building the team and leading success across four major sub product lines involving: Cyber Development & Test Infrastructure, Tactical Radio Frequency Cyber Equipment, Cyber Libraries, and Network Mapping Capabilities. Last summer, Project Manager Cyber and Space (PM C&S) became a separate PM in PEO IEW&S, emerging from PM Electronic Warfare and Cyber (PM EW&C). He established a brand new product office, within the recently established PM C&S. IWCD is a product office that contains four capabilities: Rapid Cyber Development Network (RCDN), Foundational Toolkit (FTK), Tactical Cyber Equipment Radiofrequency Delivery Effects Platform (TCE RDEP), and SAVANT CATALYST (SC). These capabilities combine tailored hardware and software technologies to enable cyberspace superiority.
Schumacher built a staff and grew teams of functional experts across acquisition, engineering, logistics, test, contracts, and finance to address different product initiatives. He created the business processes to enable an effective office that was already established when Lt. Col. Micah DiGrezio joined the organization as the Product Manager. “Matt is essential to the success of the first year of the Information Warfare Cyber Development (IWCD) Product Office. He is one of those rare all-around acquisition athletes,” said DiGrezio. “He can tackle leadership, communication, program management, engineering tasks, and mentorship, among so many others, effectively and with a smile on his face. The vision and team-building that Matt applied to our organization, in its critical first year of execution, laid a foundation that will have a positive impact for years to come.”
Changing organizations can be challenging enough, but then you also have the added dimension of adding personnel to fill many new positions needed to meet the mission. “It's been a really fun and exciting role leveraging all my past experiences with Project Manager Positioning, Navigation & Timing (PM PNT) as a test director, chief engineer, and an assistant PM” Schumacher said. "Now I’m hiring and developing teams so they can succeed and create useful operational capabilities,” he added. “To translate all of that learning over the past ten years and then build the next great generation of acquisition professionals is a tremendous honor.”
The acquisition innovator began his career supporting the US Army Materiel Analysis Activity (subsumed under DEVCOM Data Analysis Center), where he advanced analyses to defend against improvised explosive devices proliferating abroad. He supported PM PNT where he served as Technical Director, Test Director, and Assistant Product Manager for both the Dismounted and Mounted product lines. In addition, he provided seamless execution across staff elements, addressed congressional actions, and shaped meaningful engagements with industry while directly serving the ASA(ALT) front office for the former Army Acquisition Executive, Honorable Heidi Shyu, as her Executive Operations Officer.
The added efficiencies and new personnel are resulting in Schumacher leveraging his experience for expedited and more effective solutions to real acquisition challenges. According to Schumacher, embracing agile acquisition approaches has allowed his team to organize the work into more manageable releases. Through this approach, his team can make small specific changes to software capabilities, delivering the right products based on constant feedback from the Warfighter.
As a result of successfully providing rapid development in the cyber landscape for the US Army, USCYBERCOM is now guiding requirements, which elevates IWCD to include broader DoD Strategic needs. Schumacher says, “that's an ongoing transition as we're seeing more funding and requirements come from USCYBERCOM. That's an exciting thing for our office as a whole and I'm glad to be a part of serving part of those needs.”
Schumacher is a devoted father to young daughter Claire, dog Lily, and has multiple hobbies. In his spare time, he enjoys travel, espresso, and is an avid car enthusiast. He also has his own You Tube channel where he talks about personal finances and real estate.
Social Sharing