unrivaled expertise.
invaluable experience.

Today, he is the CEO of Del Toro Global Associates, Inc., a strategic advisory services firm aiding commercial and government clients to manage and successfully grow their portfolios.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Carlos immigrated to the U.S. with his family as refugees in 1962. Raised in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City, he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and commissioned as a naval officer upon his graduation in 1983. His 26-year naval career included a series of critical appointments at sea and ashore. Experience included command as the Commissioning Commanding Officer of USS BULKELEY (DDG 84), a destroyer; service in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a defense analyst; service in the White House Office of Management and Budget as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Director; and service in a combat zone during Operation Desert Storm.

After retiring from active-duty service, in 2004, Carlos continued to support a range of government and private sector programs by founding SBG Technology Solutions, Inc., an engineering services company focused on national security, space systems engineering, cybersecurity, AI, training and numerous other program management related services. 

He served at the National Security Council during the Obama Administration as Director for Asia Security Affairs as well as Director for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. He also co-chaired, with White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair, the Interagency Policy Committee for the strategic rebalance to the Asia-Pacific including the national security milcon prioritization of Guam. At the Pentagon, he served as Chief of Staff of the Chairman Joint Chief’s ISR Activity. He also served as Deputy Director for Intelligence (DDI) at the Joint Staff and Operations/Intelligence Briefer for Secretary Panetta. Captain Brock served in a number of senior capacities in the deployed Joint Force and the Fleet including N2, Assistant Chief of Staff (Information Dominance) for Strike Group Eleven (NIMITZ Strike Group), Officer in Charge of DOD Field Operating Base Europe – Berlin, and Senior Analyst and for the United States Seventh Fleet based in Yokosuka, Japan.

He also served as a Military Advisor to Ambassador Holbrooke and Ambassador Negroponte at the US Mission to the United Nations in New York. Additional assignments were at the Office of Naval Intelligence and with NATO’s Combined Air Operations Center for operations in the former Yugoslavia.

Steve was a Federal Executive Fellow at RAND. He is a 1990 graduate of the US Naval Academy (Marine Engineering) and is a distinguished graduate of master degree programs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the National Defense University’s Eisenhower School.  

He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a fellow of the US-Japan Foundation. His wife Melanie is a State Department official, and they reside in Alexandria, Virginia with their two daughters, Emma and Kaia.

During her extensive career practicing law, her clients included a U.S. based national public service television network as well as national non-profits. She was the Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration (PRFAA), the national mainland office of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. PRFAA managed all aspects of the Federal funding flow to Puerto Rico as well as providing community services to Puerto Rican communities in the United States through a network of 13 offices nationwide.   

Ms. Aponte has served as member of the Board of Directors of influential Hispanic organizations such as Unidos US, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, the first woman to preside the Hispanic National Bar Association, and served on the board of a publicly traded corporation: Oriental Financial Group (NYSE-OFG). She has been a member of the Board of the University of the District of Columbia, as well as Rosemont College (PA). She was also appointed a member of the Board of Visitors of the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA (2018-2022). Because of her extensive life’s work in education and the Hispanic community, Ambassador Aponte has received honorary degrees from the University of the District of Columbia School of Law and Temple University in Philadelphia.

Ms. Aponte arrived in Washington, DC in 1979 as a White House Fellow, where she served as Special Assistant to United States Housing and Urban Secretary Moon Landrieu.

Selected for Flag in 2013, Galinis’ flag assignments include commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center, deputy commander for Surface Warfare, Naval Sea Systems Command; and Program Executive Officer, Ships. In 2020, he was selected to serve as the 45th commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). 

Since retiring in 2023, Galinis has started his own company working with several companies ranging from software development firms, engineering and manufacturing companies to shipyards and smaller ship repair sub-contractors, supporting Navy ship acquisition programs and Fleet maintenance efforts.

He is a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy where he received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering. He also holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School.

Leija also has extensive experience with higher education. He has served on the Army Education Advisory Committee, as an SGE to the Command General & Staff College. While on active duty, he worked on redistributing the U.S. Army research portfolio across U.S. universities and was a pivotal leader in the establishment of the George H.W. Bush Combat Development Center at Texas A&M in 2019. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Norwich University in Northfield, VT and of Manhattanville University in Purchase, NY.

Leija retired from the U.S. Army as a Colonel after 27 years of continuous active-duty service. He began his military career as an enlisted man and commissioned 4 years after his initial enlistment. Throughout his military career, Leija managed intelligence operations, field artillery operations, was an assistant professor at United States Military Academy (USMA), a School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) Planner, a co-founder of Army Futures Command, and managed a HQDA G8 $17B portfolio to procure all rockets, missiles, and cannons for DoD. He was a White House Fellow in 2014-15, with special duty to the Secretary of Homeland Security on immigration and border security affairs. He also served as an advisor to the National Guard in eight states, planning title 32 and title 10 operations. Leija has significant Program Objective Memorandum experience in the development of the Defense Planning Guidance and the Future Year’s Defense Program. His awards include the Ranger tab, the Purple Heart, and the Bronze Star. He has combat service experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He is a graduate of Kansas State University (B.A.), Norwich University (M.A.), the School of Advanced Military Studies (M.M.A.S.), and the Marine Corps University (AWS).

In 2019, Smith began serving as the Small Business Director for the Department of the Navy. There he was chief advisor to the Secretary of the Navy on all small business matters. Smith was charged with overseeing small business acquisition policy; strengthening government and private sector partnerships; and fostering opportunities to leverage small businesses as a strategic advantage for the benefit of our warfighters. In fiscal year 2022, in a collateral duty capacity, Smith served as the Chairman of the Federal Office of Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization Directors Interagency Council. There he led small business directors from 87 different Federal agencies. He worked closely with Congress, the Small Business Administration, and the Office of Management of Budget to ensure that the barriers to small businesses doing business with the Federal government were eliminated through more inclusive policies and the adoption of best practices. 

In 2017, Smith served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Expeditionary Programs & Logistics Management delivering upon urgent warfighter needs and overseeing acquisition logistics policy for the entire U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps team. 

In 2013, Smith served as the Director for Integrated Nuclear Weapons Safety and Security within the U.S. Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs. There he was charged with the safekeeping of nearly 70% of this Nation’s nuclear arsenal. 

Other notable positions Smith served in included: Executive Director for Undersea Technology; Deputy Program Manager for the Ohio Class Guided Missile Submarine (SSGN) Program; Construction Manager, Test & Evaluation Manager, and Environmental Manager for the VIRGINIA (SSN 774) Class Submarine Program. 

Smith received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, in 1990, from Tuskegee University. Graduate-level studies included Environmental Engineering, Marine Engineering, and Business Management. He also possesses four executive leadership certificates from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations and two executive business certificates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill–Kenan-Flagler Business School. 

Neal served as Director of External Relations at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) a large national security think tank, and has worked at PR firms including Edelman, Antenna Group, and LEVICK. An op-ed expert, he has ghostwritten and placed op-eds in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post among many others, and has published under his own name in The USA Today, Politico, The Houston Chronicle, CNN.com and FoxNews.com among many others. Neal has written ghostwritten and placed pieces for politicians, national security officials, CEOs, college presidents, and hedge fund executives.