Benjamin Tartell

Senior Director of Deployment

Oklo Inc

Apr 2026 - Current (5 months)

Advisor

Selfemployed

Dec 2025 - Current (9 months)

Advisory work with founders and investors in autonomy, aerospace, and defense. Focused on execution, scaling complex technical organizations, and technical diligence.

Advisor

New Vista Capital

Jan 2024 - Current (2 years 8 months)

Functioning as an investment and advisory platform, New Vista Capital maintains a specialized emphasis on aerospace, space, and defense/national security technology. The company's business model is built on three essential components: early-stage venture, private equity, and strategic advisory. This strategic framework empowers New Vista Capital to actively collaborate with companies within its targeted sectors throughout the entirety of their life cycle.

Director of Program Management

Hadrian

Apr 2025 - Nov 2025 (8 months)

Hadrian is an advanced manufacturing company building autonomous factories for aerospace and defense; backed by Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz. - Led program management function reporting to CEO; partnered with CFO and leaders across Sales, Strategy, Ops, Engineering, and Manufacturing to deliver autonomous manufacturing and co-development efforts for defense and maritime systems customers. - Owned day-to-day execution and customer coordination on a $25M maritime autonomy program, managing complex hardware development, vendor integration, and risk across multi-site engineering teams. Directed a 20-person matrixed team, structuring ambiguous requirements into clear scope, budget, schedule, and risk plans, driving 7 CEO

Vice President Operations

Firestorm

Feb 2024 - Jul 2024 (6 months)

Firestorm Labs is a defense tech startup developing modular 3D-printed drones for edge logistics and autonomous resupply; backed by Lockheed Martin Ventures, Decisive Point, and Harpoon - Drove company alignment by implementing OKRs/KPIs across 12 technical teams and 5 products - Developed strategic plans incorporating sales goals and technical dependencies, improving milestone delivery and resource allocation. Collaborated with the CEO / CTO / CSO to align sales and engineering, facilitating timely accomplishment of R&D, manufacturing, and business goals - Oversaw hiring of 15 teammates which increased headcount 25%, and selection/implementation of new applicant tracking software - Delivered a 100-person strategic hiring plan and org c

Staff Market Deployment Manager

Cruise

Jun 2022 - Feb 2024 (1 year 9 months)

Cruise is an Autonomous Vehicle (AV) ride hail startup; backed by SoftBank, General Motors, Walmart, and Honda - Delivered 3 inaugural AV fleet launches in new markets; led coordination of 70 workstreams for over 100 stakeholders across real estate, engineering, product, infrastructure, network, mapping, regulatory, commercial, communications, marketing, and operations teams; postured company for rapid new market scaling and commercial growth - Created and led a 30-person Scout Team which assessed 9 new markets for commercial, technical, and operational feasibility of autonomous ride hail and delivery service fleet launches, provided launch recommendations to Senior Leadership Team resulting in 7 launch approvals and 3 markets launched. R

Senior Manager, Strategic Planning & Special Projects

Gopuff

Jun 2021 - Apr 2022 (11 months)

Gopuff is an on-demand consumer product delivery service startup; backed by SoftBank and Accel - Led execution of 3 company-wide strategic planning cycles; served as prime mover for 50 stakeholders; efforts improved KPI adoption and enabled CEO to deliver data-driven company-wide strategy guidance - Served as a thought partner to the co-CEOs and CoS to the VP of New Verticals; developed infrastructure, processes, and KPIs to set the foundation for rapid scale; improved cross-functional team alignment

Special Projects Intern, Office of the CEOs

Gopuff

May 2020 - Jul 2020 (3 months)

Gopuff is an on-demand consumer product delivery service startup; backed by SoftBank and Accel - Reduced general manager churn rate by 20% by driving adoption of improved manager KPIs - Accelerated by 2 months a supply chain fix which decreased yearly costs by $750K and increased HQ / field team alignment - Co-led build-out of corporate venture arm; established investment thesis, organized market evaluation, analyzed 20 companies and 10 VC firms for co-investment, conducted diligence on 4 companies resulting in 2 late-stage investment conversations.

Business Development Intern

Dialpad

May 2019 - Jun 2019 (2 months)

Dialpad is an AI/cloud business communications startup; backed by Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, SoftBank, and Work-Bench - Identified 10 verticals for strategic partnership and worked with engineering teams to identify requirements for a customized API; briefed C-Suite resulting in approval of an open API engineering initiative, enabling 2 new sell-through partnership opportunities

Navy SEAL Executive Officer

US Navy

May 2018 - Apr 2019 (1 year)

- "Plankowner" and founding Executive Officer of Tactical Communications Command ONE - Developed and executed strategy for improved communications capabilities across SEAL enterprise through cultural/operational realignment, upgraded HR processes, and new training; efforts increased qualified candidates by 40% and trained personnel by 200%, decreased communications node setup time by 30% - Oversaw all integrated voice, data, imagery, and information technology communication infrastructure for 4 SEAL Teams (800 people), enabling command and control during worldwide Special Operations combat missions - Served as CoS, COO, and Deputy Commander of 200 personnel, managed $100M of classified equipment and a $1.2M budget

Navy SEAL Troop Commander

US Navy

Aug 2016 - May 2018 (1 year 10 months)

- Selected 1 year ahead of peers for Executive Officer career milestone - Led 150-person Crisis Response Task Force across 5 countries, delivered urgently needed and immediate combat/rescue support to U.S. Military, State Department, and Coalition Allies - Managed relationship between the United Arab Emirates and U.S. State Department/Special Operations leadership; enabled approval of sensitive missions that increased U.S. national security - Stretched $100K training budget 60X by integrating training ops with other highly-funded combat units; enhanced synchronization of global operational capabilities and provided the SEAL Team access to new opportunities

Navy SEAL Training Manager

US Navy

Jan 2015 - Aug 2016 (1 year 8 months)

- Ranked #1 out of 6 managers; mentored 45 instructors, trained 400 students, managed $5M in equipment and $1M budget - Recognized opportunity to lead cross-functional team through first full update to SEAL diving curriculum in 20 years; spearheaded improvements which boosted student knowledge retention by 10% and reduced diving-related injuries by 25% - Supervised 3 selection and assessment phases for 300 students resulting in 200 quality candidates identified for advanced SEAL training; developed and taught leadership fundamentals class and provided 1-on-1 coaching for 50 SEAL officer candidates

Navy SEAL Platoon Commander

US Navy

Jan 2013 - Jan 2015 (2 years 1 month)

- Ranked #1 out of 25 managers; led Quick Reaction Force and coordinated emergency medical contingency and evacuation planning for 150-person Task Force with 20 units conducting combat operations across Middle East and Africa - Coordinated 20 missions across 10 military units as operations lead for a 50-member task force; degraded Taliban networks in Afghanistan

Navy SEAL Squad Commander

US Navy

Jun 2010 - Jan 2013 (2 years 8 months)

- Led 100 U.S. and Afghan personnel as Ground Force Commander during 50 combat operations in Afghanistan which degraded Taliban influence - Orchestrated 20 multi-village ‘shuras’, lived with and instructed 60 Afghan farmers in police tactics, and built lasting security improvements through co-opt of 15 village elders, which created autonomous defenses from Taliban oppression

Navy SEAL Candidate

US Navy

Jun 2007 - Jun 2010 (3 years 1 month)

Overcame an 85% attrition rate while leading 50 students through SEAL Qualification Training and Junior Officer Training Course

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