Jane Edwards 
Seekr has appointed Joel Babbitt, a retired U.S. Army colonel, as vice president of Army and Special Operations Command, or SOCOM, programs.
Leadership developments across the defense AI sector continue to shape the broader government technology landscape. For executives and officials tracking these shifts, the Potomac Officers Club will host its 2026 Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 18. Save your seat at this Seekr-sponsored event to connect with public- and private-sector leaders and stay informed on the evolving role of AI in government.
The company said Thursday Babbitt will oversee efforts to expand the delivery of explainable artificial intelligence capabilities to Army and SOCOM customers. He will build on Seekr’s existing Army and SOCOM engagements and scale those efforts across additional defense programs.
Seekr President Rob Clark said Babbitt brings a combination of strategic vision and operational experience and has helped shape Army priorities, establish coalitions and translate complex technology into scalable capabilities.
“As we expand our partnership with the Army and SOCOM, Joel is exactly the leader we want at the table: mission-first, program-savvy, and relentlessly focused on delivering trusted outcomes,” added Clark.
Who Is Joel Babbitt?
Babbitt has over 30 years of experience managing and supporting Department of War programs, with work spanning tactical networking, command and control, satellite communications and electronic warfare.
He joins Seekr from Viasat, where he served as VP of Army strategy and business development. In that role, he led initiatives supporting the service’s Next Generation Command and Control program and efforts that resulted in a new $2 billion set of mobile network opportunities.
During his military career, Babbitt served as program executive officer for Special Operations Forces – Warrior Systems at SOCOM. He also served as principal program manager for the Army’s Tactical Network and as product manager for the Army’s Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems.
Babbitt said Seekr has demonstrated the operational impact of explainable AI in mission environments and that he plans to broaden that impact.
“I look forward to getting trustworthy decision-ready AI capabilities in operators’ hands to solve military problems securely, quickly, at a pace previously not possible in the environments where it matters most,” he added.
What Is Seekr?
Seekr is an artificial intelligence company focused on developing secure AI platforms for government agencies, enterprises and highly regulated industries. It offers SeekrFlow, an end-to-end AI platform that enables organizations to train, validate, deploy and scale AI tools to meet enterprise requirements.
The company has secured an Army contract to deploy AI agents to support weapon system vulnerability analysis and partnered with PCI Government Services to support federal AI adoption efforts. Seekr also launched SeekrGuard, an AI evaluation capability designed to assess model performance and risk, and introduced new agent-based capabilities within SeekrFlow.
In addition, the company made SeekrFlow available in AWS GovCloud through AWS Marketplace to support secure deployment in government cloud environments.
