Brigadier General Velma “Von” Richardson, U.S. Army Retired, most recently served as the vice president of Department of Defense Information Technology (DoD IT) Programs at Lockheed Martin in Washington, D.C. In this role, she supports Washington-based DoD Chief Information Officers and other IT leaders in identifying priorities, increasing program visibility, taking new technology directions and recommending innovative IT solutions. Richardson manages executive branch customer relationships with the senior leaders in the U.S. Military, Defense Information Systems Agency and Office of the Secretary of Defense. In addition, she assists Lockheed Martin business units with customer relations and helps program managers overcome funding challenges to develop cost-effective and competitive proposals.

In her position, Richardson focused on corporate priority and key DoD IT programs including U.S. Army Corps of Engineers IT services, ITES-2S, ENCORE II, CR2, ITA, Global Military Mail, OPTARSS, CENTCOM (U.S. Central Command) and AFRICOM (U.S. Africa Command). A strong advocate for Warfighter information technology and systems, Richardson is following the DoD’s new Stability Operations role.

Richardson is a member of Lockheed Martin’s Joint and Army Customer Focus Teams and AFRICOM Integrated Product Team. In addition, she serves on the board of directors for The ROCKS, Inc., an organization dedicated to the professional development of the U.S. officer corps. Before joining Washington Operations, Richardson served as vice president and DoD customer relations executive at Lockheed Martin Information Technology.

Richardson attended the U.S. Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, from 1993 to 1994. She received a Master of Arts degree from Pepperdine University in Human Resources Management.