Episode 1: Request Permission to Come Aboard

Learn about the origin of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, get an inside look into how the ship was developed, and discover what autonomous exploration means for marine research and national security missions.

Featuring interviews with:
Ray Spicer, VP, Defense and Intelligence, IBM Federal
Brett Phaneuf, Founder and Chief Executive, Submergence Group LLC (USA) / M Subs Ltd (UK)

Michael D. Stevens, Navy League National Executive Director 

PANELISTS 
 
 

Ray Spicer 
VP, Defense and Intelligence 
IBM Federal 

Retired Navy Rear Admiral Ray Spicer leads IBM Federal’s Defense and Intelligence Client Executive team, responsible for providing IBM products and services support to the Defense and Intelligence Community.  Prior to that, he ran IBM Federal’s Strategic Business Relationships Team, comprised of former Flag, General Officer and Senior Executive Service professionals who provide professional consulting services to IBM Federal.
 
Prior to joining IBM in 2015, Spicer was the director of Kestrel Programs for the Intelligence Systems Group at Boeing Defense, Space & Security.  His leadership of diverse engineering, analytic and management teams ensured the continued, successful delivery of Kestrel Programs' products and services to a variety of government, commercial and international customers.

Spicer completed a successful career in the U.S. Navy in 2010, with extensive leadership experience in assignments that included command at sea of the destroyer USS MITSCHER (DDG 57), Destroyer Squadron SEVEN and Carrier Strike Group TWELVE.  During his tenure, he completed eight deployments, including combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ashore, he served in numerous key major staff assignments on the Pacific and Atlantic Fleet staffs, as Officer in Charge of the Aegis Combat System Engineering Development Site in Moorestown, NJ, and on the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) staff in the Pentagon, most significantly as the Deputy Director of Surface Warfare, and Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Operations, Plans and Strategy. He also served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Military Office where he maintained responsibility for all military assets supporting the White House and Continuity of Government, including Air Force One, Marine One, Camp David, the White House Communications Agency, and the White House Medical Unit.

Spicer is a 1979 graduate of the United States Naval Academy.




Brett Phaneuf
Founder and Chief Executive
Submergence Group LLC (USA) / M Subs Ltd (UK)

Brett Phaneuf is the founder and chief executive of Submergence Group LLC (USA) / M Subs Ltd (UK) and through his office in the United Kingdom overseas the design and production of manned and unmanned, underwater vehicle systems.  A serial entrepreneur, Mr. Phaneuf has recently turned his attention to machine learning and artificial intelligence; a new company (Marine Ai) has been spun out from M Subs Ltd with the goal of creating cognitive AI to enhance maritime capabilities by drawing on decades of experience in manned and unmanned marine vehicle design, manufacture and operations, coupled with vast experience in automation and autonomous systems software architecture, and computer vision expertise.  Brett is also one of three founding board members of ProMare, a non-profit (501c3) public charity founded in 2001 to promote marine exploration throughout the world.

Through the confluence of these varied and interrelated fields of endeavor, Brett is leading the development of the Mayflower Autonomous Ship, which will sail from Plymouth UK to Plymouth US, in commemoration of the 400^th anniversary for the original Mayflower sailing in September 1620.  The Mayflower Autonomous Ship is a ProMare project but will draw on the expertise resident in Submergence Group, M Subs Ltd, Marine Ai, ProMare, and many other private and corporate sponsors.

Prior to a career in the marine technology and exploration world, Brett studied Physics before switching to Archaeology, and then worked as a classical archaeologist on ancient sites in North Africa.  His love of physics, technology and history lead him to marine archaeology and the founding of ProMare, through which numerous underwater archaeological research programs have been carried out in the past two decades.

Michael D. Stevens
Navy League National Executive Director 




Retired 13^th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Michael D. Stevens assumed the position of Navy League national executive director in January 2019.
During his 33 years in the U.S. Navy, Stevens rose through the ranks, becoming the 13^th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, a post he maintained from 2012 to 2016. Steven’s naval career began at the Aviation Structural Mechanic Apprentice School in Millington, Tennessee. He served as Master Chief Petty Officer when assigned to Fleet Composite Eight as the Maintenance Master Chief and Command Master Chief starting in 2002; Command Master Chief for Helicopter Mine Counter measure Squadron 14 in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2006; Commander of the Helicopter Sea Combat Wing Atlantic in 2007; Command Master Chief for the Commander of the 2^nd Fleet in 2009; and 16^th Fleet Master Chief for Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command in 2010, to name a few highlights.

Stevens most recently served as CEO of Viqtory, a marketing company focused on increasing veteran hiring and transitioning service members and their families to civilian life. He was hired by the Pittsburgh company as chief operating officer in 2016.

Stevens has served on the board of directors for the Association of The United States Navy (AUSN) and was the Chairman for AUSN’s Anchor Society, and was a Navy League member prior to his hire. Previously, he served as a board adviser for the National Museum of the American Sailor and the Global War on Terror Memorial Foundation. Stevens is frequent guest lecturer for the Naval Postgraduate School.

Stevens received a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior College. His personal awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (five awards), the Navy Achievement Medal (six awards), the Coast Guard Achievement Medal with operational “O,” the Enlisted Aviation Warfare Specialist Insignia and Enlisted Naval Aircrew Wings.
Stevens is married to Theresa Gautreaux-Stevens, of Pensacola, Florida.