On his time at Beaver…
My Beaver experience was outstanding, and it was outstanding not just from an educational perspective, but from a social perspective. The supportive friends, academically, athletically—I can’t explain how much that experience molded me. While I can’t point to a particular event that led me to engineering, what I can say is the holistic experience of Beaver—the social, the athletic, the academic, the confidence-building—all of that led me to be able to just be curious, and explore different avenues where I could find success. I think the school was almost a perfect combination of encouraging effort and giving you the freedom to explore.

For example, when my daughter was in high school, she would come home with way too much homework and wasn’t able to pursue things outside of school, so she was only enriching the academic part. I found that Beaver was an enrichment of all aspects. That was one of the best educational experiences I could have had because of the holistic nature of it. I think it enabled me to have the success that I’ve had.

On his career path…
At Beaver I didn’t necessarily have an academic focus. It wasn’t like I liked math or science more than anything else. I did a lot of martial arts, I played a lot of basketball, those kinds of things. Then I went to Tufts University and I took the spirit of Beaver, which was to try to create a supportive environment. I majored in electrical engineering and computer science.

I went from there to working for Texas Instruments in Dallas, Texas. While I was there I got a Master’s degree in communication theory and electromagnetic field theory at Southern Methodist University. That’s where I really learned a lot of engineering. I was a design engineer and systems engineers would give you documents from which you’re supposed to design something. I realized that lots of the systems engineers had never designed something because some of the things they were asking for weren’t physically possible. So that kind of drove me to want to understand systems engineering and become a good systems engineer. That interest led me to come back to Boston to MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.

The key of MIT Lincoln Laboratory is that I had a Master’s degree but many people there had PhDs and it was a very different environment than Texas Instruments. At Texas Instruments I was with a group of people and all doing the same thing and at Lincoln Laboratories it was more individual contributors. I was with a team but I was focused on one dedicated area. That’s what led me to believe that I really needed to get a PhD. I needed to have a different level of expertise. So I did an MIT Fellowship and I got a PhD in optical communications. Then I went back to Lincoln Laboratories and started working in high-speed satellite communication and was there for a few years. I became a group leader which was my first real leadership opportunity at that level. Then I got into laser communication, but didn’t really want to continue doing that.

A friend of mine had left Lincoln to found a startup company in 3G Wireless. We’re on 5G Wireless now, so that was a long time ago. We created a company and about 2 or 3 years later sold it to Texas Instruments of all people. I called a buddy of mine from Lincoln Laboratories who was now a CEO of Draper Laboratories. He asked me to start a Communications Group at Draper. He wanted one like Lincoln Laboratory, so I started one there.

Then one of the guys who worked for me at Lincoln became an office director at DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in DC. He called me and asked me if I wanted to come to DARPA which was quite an honor. I went to DARPA from Draper and did four years there. It was excellent experience. I learned a lot about DC and the Pentagon and how the whole system works, the whole country’s science technology infrastructure. There’s a 3 billion dollar budget that DARPA has. I was there for four years.

I went from there to BAE Systems which is an international defense contractor. They asked me to try to help them understand the synergies between the different business units and create more systems as opposed to individual components. I was there for four years and I loved it, but then I got a call.

I was driving, my cell phone rang, I picked it up and they said, “Is this Dr. Brothers?”
I said, “Yes, who’s this?”
They said, “This is the White House calling.”

On getting called upon by the White House…
They said, “We’re calling to see if you’re interested in applying to be the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research.”
I said, “What is that all about?”
He said, “You will pretty much have oversight over all of the Department of Defense for Research.” Basically a 24 billion dollar budget. So I went through the whole interview and vetting process, which was painful to say the least. I got selected and did that for three years.

I was about to leave the Pentagon and go back into the private industry when the same thing happened. I was in the car, and the cell phone rings. “Hello is this doctor Brothers?”
“Yes it is”
“This is the White House calling.”
This was under the Obama Administration, and this time I knew the guy. They said, “Look, are you interested in being the Undersecretary for Science and Technology for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security?”

That’s a two-level promotion and I didn’t want to tell President Obama no, so I accepted. That was even more of a painful process because now I had to be Senate confirmed, so that was a whole other deal. I did that for three years.

On consulting and his current role at Peraton…
Then I started consulting for the former Secretary of DHS, Secretary Chernoff. He has a consulting firm called The Chernoff Group. I left after a year and now I’m the Chief Technology Officer for a defense contractor called Peraton. I do that, I do consulting, and I’m on a number of boards.

On his martial arts experience…
One of the big things I did at Beaver was karate. I went from karate to kung fu and then from kung fu to tai chi and jiu-jitsu and a bunch of other things. I did have the opportunity to compete on an international level because one of my kung fu students was actually training with the coach of the east coast wushu team, which was paving the way for the 2008 Olympics in China. In 2004 I was part of the U.S. team in China to compete in kung fu. I actually managed to win two gold medals out of that. I still train. Right now I’m about to start being a coach at F45 Fitness.

On the most challenging part of his career…
I guess the most challenging part has been the need to constantly adapt and learn new stuff in a highly technical field. I’ve always had to change and adapt to new technologies. Coming out of school, I was doing a thing called analog circuit design, and then I was doing micro-circuit design, and then I went to mimic circuit design, and then later systems design and high-speed radio frequency communications, and then laser communications and then 3G wireless communications.

Then I went to DARPA and everything changed. I had to learn about precision navigation and control systems. I had to learn about other types of communication, laser radar systems. After that I had to learn about aircraft and larger platforms. When I went to the government I had to learn how to not just look at many different technologies but how to manage a portfolio of technologies, not just being an individual contributor but leading a team to have an oversight over an entire portfolio in the Department of Defense. Leaving there I had to move to a higher level as the Under Secretary and I was still managing a portfolio, but not just that. I was leading the overall department strategy of technology for DHS. It’s been constant adaptation and it’s been enjoyable but it’s also challenging. I think that for someone to go into this kind of field you have to be curious and motivated to constantly learn. You have to constantly challenge yourself to learn because you can never fall behind or else you will get stuck.

On a skill that Beaver-aged Reggie might be surprised that he does…
I think it’s managing large groups of people. When I was at the DHS, my organization was 3500 people and right now my company is at 3500 people. Beaver-aged Reggie, well I liked math and science and was good at it, but I don’t think I would have been comfortable thinking I could run that sizable an organization. Leading is actually a better word because managing is one thing, but leading implies a vision. I don’t think I would have thought I could come up with a vision for a large organization to follow and then be able to influence people to do so. It’s selling. You’re selling your vision and I don’t think I would have been able to conceive doing that at that age.

How does collaboration play a role in your job? What does it look like?
It’s huge. Right now my job is essentially to try and grow the business through new technology services and capabilities, so that means I have to look across the three different sectors of our company and try to understand where there’s synergies that can lead to growth. Collaboration is key—both collaboration within the company with the different sector presidents, with the chief engineers of each sector, I have to work with the individual architects. But not only that, I have to be able to reach out and work with customers.

Part of what you do in this business is called “shaping.” You’re trying to shape what the government is doing for the purpose of improving our security and, of course, the purpose of making the company money. So I try think of my former life in the Pentagon and DHS—what do I think the government really needs? And then I try to see how I can help the government put this together based on capabilities I know my company has. That’s my collaboration.

So collaboration is essential, whether it’s with my peers, individuals in my organization, my subordinates, or with our customers.

On advice for current Beaver students…
I think the most important thing to learn at Beaver and in college and beyond is how to learn. It’s not what you learn. Sure, there are certain foundational things you have to learn. Math, physics, biology—those are foundational. But you’re really trying to understand how you can learn something you never knew before.

“I think the most important thing to learn at Beaver and in college and beyond is how to learn.”

– Reggie Brothers ’77

Here’s an example. A buddy of mine who has worked with me for the past 12 years and kind of comes with me wherever I go. He’s a wireless communications guy. However, when he came to the DHS I needed to have a space program. I needed to be able to put a satellite up for search and rescue operations. So I asked him to lead it. He said, “Yeah right Reggie. I don’t know anything about space.”

I said, “I know you and you can learn anything.”

He never had done any work in space or satellites or any of that stuff, but he figured out how to do it and we launched the satellite. The point is he learned how to learn. Everyone does it, and part of learning how to learn is having the confidence that you can approach anything and know how to learn it. It’s a process.