Jason Providakes, Ph.D.

Jason Providakes was president and chief executive officer of MITRE from 2017 to 2024. Leading MITRE in its mission, Solving Problems for a Safer World®, Providakes steered cross-cutting work in artificial intelligence, aerospace, telecommunications, homeland security, cyber, transportation, defense and intelligence, health, and government innovation.

Amid increasingly complex and interdependent global challenges, Providakes directed MITRE in our role as an objective, trusted adviser and convener across government, industry, academia, and with international partners. He guided the company’s stewardship of federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) on behalf of U.S. government sponsors and our efforts to drive critical innovation, public-private partnerships, and advanced R&D to solve whole-of-nation problems.

Providakes set strategy and priority, working at the intersection of vision and experience, to chart MITRE’s path forward. He collaborated with the Board of Trustees to define how the company evolved to tackle complex systems problems that extend beyond any one organization’s reach: critical-infrastructure resilience, social and economic challenges, environmental issues, and more.

In addition to growing and diversifying our work for the Department of Defense-sponsored National Security Engineering Center, Providakes led MITRE’s rapidly expanding public-sector work, including for the departments of Health and Human Services, Transportation, Treasury, Commerce, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security.

To align with increasing R&D investments in the private sector, Providakes formed the Accelerator and MITRE Engenuity, a trusted tech foundation for public good. The initiative addresses challenges to our nation’s position as a global innovation leader. It includes the Center for Threat-Informed Defense’s contributions in cybersecurity, the creation of the Semiconductor Alliance, and partnerships across the Open Generation 5G Consortium.

Providakes created MITRE Labs—a compilation of 4,000+ scientists, engineers, and analysts across a range of Innovation Centers—to inspire and accelerate breakthroughs to transform the future of U.S. scientific and economic leadership. He oversaw formation of the Center for Data-Driven Policy that now serves as a resource enabling government, think tanks, and other organizations to objectively evaluate and model the impact of potential policy decisions. He also led the launch of the Center for Strategic Competition and guided its support to evidence-based decision-making and strategic planning for U.S. competitive advantage and national resilience.

In 2023, Providakes received the Achievement Reward for College Scientists (ARCS®) Foundation Metro-Washington Chapter’s Eagle Award. A three-time Wash100 awardee (2018, 2019, 2022), Providakes was also named the 2022 Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards CEO of the Year and listed among Consulting Magazine’s Top 50 Consulting Firm CEOs of 2022 and 2023.

He was named CEO of the Year in 2022 by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, was named among the Virginia Business Power 500 in 2020, 2022, and 2023, and was a 2022 WashingtonExec Chief Officer finalist.

Providakes holds a doctorate from Cornell University and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.