45Drives, a manufacturer of open source enterprise data storage, virtualization infrastructure and on-prem AI, announced that Chief Operating Officer Robert MacQueen will participate in the marquee Industry Velocity Panel at the inaugural Velocity Summit on November 17 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The event, co-presented by the North Carolina Military Business Center and The Protocase Companies, aims to address a critical national security challenge: accelerating defense manufacturing capacity.
The panel, titled “Building at the Speed the Mission Requires,” will feature MacQueen alongside Chelsea Lloyd, Director of Supplier Quality Engineering at Archer Aviation; Scott Lampe, President of Hendrick Technical Solutions; and Bradley Garris, Business Manager at Phillips Corporation-Markforged. Jon Phillips, CEO of PhillComm Global, will moderate the discussion from 12:45 to 2:00 PM EST.
MacQueen’s participation matters because he brings practical, end-to-end production experience to a conversation often dominated by policy and strategy. Having joined 45Drives in 2014 in an engineering role, he now oversees operations from product development through customer fulfillment. His work spans the challenges of designing, manufacturing and delivering complex enterprise infrastructure at scale—precisely the kind of operational expertise needed to translate defense manufacturing goals into actionable steps.
“There’s a world of difference between proving you can build something and being able to deliver it quickly, reliably and at scale,” MacQueen said. “At 45Drives, we operate in that space between engineering, production and service every day. We know how much time gets lost to supply chain constraints, inefficient processes and unnecessary complexity. I want to bring that practical experience to the discussion about how North Carolina can help America build critical defense capabilities faster.”
The summit’s program also includes video remarks from North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a keynote address by Secretary of Commerce Lee Lilley, and remarks from Lieutenant General (Ret.) Christopher O. Mohan, former Commanding General of U.S. Army Materiel Command. Senior military officials will examine readiness requirements and industrial constraints before an afternoon roundtable focused on practical steps North Carolina can take to strengthen the defense manufacturing base.
For readers in the defense, government and enterprise technology sectors, the Velocity Summit signals a growing push to align industry know-how with military needs. 45Drives, part of The Protocase Companies, designs and supports data storage and virtualization systems built on open-source software and non-proprietary hardware for government, defense, research and enterprise customers. The company’s involvement underscores how commercial manufacturers can contribute to national security discussions. The full program and registration details are available through the 45Drives website, and the original release can be viewed on www.newmediawire.com.
