Exia welcomes John Herrman, Jay Miseli, and Itamar Atel

Bringing on new leaders to augment product strategy and design

We're excited to welcome John Herrman to our team as Head of Defense Products through the Hiring our Heroes corporate fellowship program, and we're equally delighted to welcome Jay Miseli and Itamar Atel as advisors. We’ve been working with Jay since September to improve product design for our planning and wargaming product. His insights as a former Corps G3 (I Corps) and Brigade Commander (2-2 SBCT) have been invaluable. John will start in January and his most recent role was the G5 at XVIII Airborne Corps. Having two former Corps level planners and commanders complement our gaming/wargaming experience. Itamar is a 3x exited founder who has also published over 100 peer reviewed papers. We’re excited to partner with Itamar to tackle some of the novel AI/ML spaces that Exia is operating in.

John Herrman

John is an accomplished leader with over 28 years of distinguished service in the U.S. Army, where he led Soldiers, developed critical plans, and shaped U.S. foreign policy. His expertise spans leading Soldiers, strategic planning, design thinking, data literacy, budget programming, and high-level diplomacy, consistently delivering impactful results in complex, high-stakes environments.

In his most recent role as the Director of Planning and Strategy for the XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Liberty, NC, John led strategic initiatives that supported key military operations. In his career John has had the pleasure to command, from battery to brigade, including during combat operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. Known as a visionary planner, John has been the lead architect behind some of the nation's most significant military operations. Notably, he played a pivotal role in planning non-combatant evacuation operations (NEO) in Sudan and Ethiopia, as well as developing the U.S. response to the Ukraine crisis during its first year of the war.

With over six years of combat deployment experience, John has honed his skills in leading and planning complex operations, building coalitions, and delivering outcomes in dynamic, volatile environments. His strategic insight and operational expertise have earned him recognition as a trusted leader in the field.

John holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas, an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, a Master’s in Operational Theory from the U.S. Army's School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), and a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.

In John’s own words, “I joined Exia Labs through the Hiring Our Heroes fellowship, inspired by the company's vision to build a groundbreaking decision tool from the ground up. At the forefront of innovation, Exia Labs unites top minds from gaming, AI, and military planning to develop a cutting-edge decision tool.”

Jay Miseli

Jay is a retired U.S. Army Colonel and proven executive leader, founder, and innovator. He brings 29 years of experience delivering sustained results from prioritizing, synchronizing, and resourcing across functions and stakeholders in military organizations and industry. Jay is currently leading the Sales and Business Development team for Hiller Measurements as a Senior Vice President, and he is co-founder and COO of Red Thread X. Jay is excited to join the Exia Labs team as a strategic advisor to advance their technology and contributions to warfighting capability.

His military career spanned a broad range of responsibilities including large unit command, executive-level plans and operations, multinational, joint, and interagency coordination, US Army modernization, human resource and program management, budget execution, chief of staff, and operational wargaming. Jay continues to support operational wargaming as a highly qualified expert for Army Futures Command.

Jay attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Jay holds a master’s degree in operations research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he earned the academic title of Assistant Professor of Mathematics as course director for the advanced mathematics program at West Point.

Jay lives and works in the greater Austin area where he can enjoy the many opportunities to mountain bike, hike, and be outdoors while tying into the burgeoning tech and defense innovation sectors.

Itamar Arel, PhD

An accomplished and successful serial entrepreneur, Itamar brings extensive expertise in building teams, products, and services powered by innovative AI technologies. He served as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Tennessee from 2003 to 2013, where he directed the Machine Intelligence Lab and published over 100 peer reviewed papers, and held a visiting professorship at Stanford University’s AI Lab from 2013 to 2015. Itamar co-founded Binatix, one of the first companies to apply deep learning to financial algorithmic trading, and Apprente, which pioneered AI-driven conversational agents for drive-thru restaurants (acquired by McDonald's Corporation and subsequently by IBM). Most recently, as CEO of Tenyx, he led the development of novel generative AI-driven voice automation solutions and successfully guided the company through its acquisition by Salesforce, where he served as Vice President of AI Strategy. He holds B.S., M.S., M.B.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Ben-Gurion University in Israel.