Rick Wagner

CEO, Agile Defense

Rick Wagner said Agile Defense’s biggest recent achievement was completing its transformation from a traditional IT services firm into a solutions-enabled, AI-driven mission partner.

In 2025, the company operationalized accredited, deployable capabilities now delivering results in live mission environments, including expanded access to mission-ready AI through platforms such as the Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace. By making proven solutions easier to adopt and deploy without long pilot cycles, Agile Defense has positioned itself as an adaptive innovator heading into 2026.

Agile Defense operates with a lean, solutions-first model that prioritizes proven outcomes over custom builds, lowering cost, reducing risk and accelerating mission delivery. By pairing mission-ready technology with nontraditional contracting pathways, agencies gain faster access to proven AI and data capabilities while avoiding lengthy procurements. The focus is clear: measurable outcomes with less friction and greater efficiency.

Why Watch

The company is focused on building a delivery-first culture where technology and people evolve together. Through Agile Labs, Agile Defense University and empowered teams at the edge, innovation moves quickly from idea to deployment. The result is trusted capability that scales, adapts and delivers lasting value for customers supporting complex missions, improving efficiency and strengthening the workforce. Change is not something Agile Defense reacts to; it’s designed in.

“At the end of the day, what differentiates us is very simple,” Wagner said. “We meet our customers where they are — whether that’s in an operational mission, in a lab, inside a modernization effort, or in building their workforce. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about impact. We focus on delivering it.”

Fun fact: Early in his career as a civilian test engineer, Wagner spent over a year at sea on naval cruisers and destroyers, visiting nearly every Naval port on the East and West coasts, as well as Hawaii and Puerto Rico. The experience gave him deep respect for sailors who spend much of their lives at sea in service of the mission.