William Nelson

Deputy to the Commanding General, Army Futures Command

U.S. Department of the Army

Mr. Nelson is a member of the Senior Executive Service and currently serves as the Deputy to the Commanding General of Army Futures Command. As the Commanding General's Senior Civilian Advisor, he serves as an Army acquisition and technical expert working closely with industry and academia to deliver future Army capabilities. In addition, he oversees Command-wide programs for 19,000 personnel.
Prior to this assignment, Mr. Nelson was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research and Technology / Army Chief Scientist, under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology). He was the principal advisor to the Secretary of the Army on Science and Technology and provided strategic direction and oversight of basic, applied, and advanced technology development for all Army laboratories, research, development, and engineering centers with a combined annual budget of approximately $3 billion.
Preceding his position with the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics & Technology), Mr. Nelson was the Director of the Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing/Space (APNT/Space) Cross-Functional Team (CFT), Army Futures Command (AFC). He was responsible for accelerating the development and delivery of advanced APNT, Tactical Space and Electronic Warfare capabilities. Working across the Army Modernization Enterprise, his team informed technology and system requirements through continuous experimentation and prototyping, technology integration and Soldier feedback and delivered next generation weapons, vehicles, and equipment to the field at an unprecedented rate.
Mr. Nelson previously served as the Director, Programs and Technology at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command / Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT), where he directed research, development and test programs for all space, missile defense, directed energy and hypersonic weapon technologies. He served as the Deputy Director and Director of Space and Strategic Systems at the SMDC Technical Center and served as the Acting Deputy Chief of Staff G-3/4 for Current Operations at US Army Materiel Command.
Mr. Nelson spent 13 years at the Missile Defense Agency, where he led Agency- level programs and technical integration of the Ballistic Missile Defense System as MDA’s Deputy Chief Engineer. He also served as the Chief Engineer for the Targets and Countermeasures Office and as the Director for Mission Management & Integration.
Mr. Nelson earned a U.S. Air Force commission through ROTC at the University of Texas at Austin and retired as a Space and Missile Officer after 20 years of combined active duty and reserve service. His operational deployments include Operations Northern Watch, Noble Eagle, and Enduring Freedom. He is a graduate of Harvard’s Senior Executives in National and International Security and Oxford’s Advanced Management & Leadership Programs.

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