Scott Tait, CAPT, USN(Ret), is COO and Director of the Security & Resilience portfolio at Lumetec (www.lumetec.com). Lumetec provides AI-powered Distributed Acoustic Sensing solutions to protect the world’s undersea infrastructure and provide unique maritime domain awareness information.

Scott previously served as the inaugural Executive Director of the National Security Innovation Catalyst (now UCSD Forge) located at UC San Diego from 2019-2025. The Catalyst (now UCSD Forge) is a broad, collaborative effort that compliments and supports existing national security innovation initiatives across Europe, North America and Australia to discover, develop and deploy innovative solutions to national security challenges.

Prior to joining Lumetec, Scott also served as CEO of Pacific Science and Engineering (PSE) from 2020 until early 2024. PSE is a San Diego-based technology company that designs science-based human-machine interfaces for complex and high consequence systems including space, aerospace, autonomy, decision support and electrical grid management (https://www.pacific-science.com). From 2024-2026 he served as COO for Startup Science, a unique global platform supporting entrepreneurs by providing training, structure and an AI-tailored ecosystem around them, from 2024 until early 2026 (www.startupscience.io).

Scott served in the U.S. Navy for 27 years, entering through the University of Michigan NROTC program and transitioning in 2019. His assignments included positions leading strategy, policy and innovation efforts, working directly for 3 and 4-star commanders in the Indo-Pacific region and Washington, D.C. He also held senior policy positions, with a focus in Indo-Asia, on the Joint Chiefs of Staff (J-5), Pacific Fleet staff and U.S. Seventh Fleet staff. At sea he served in Cruiser and Destroyer ships, commanding USS Mustin (DDG 89) and, most recently, USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000).

He holds Masters degrees from Stanford University in International Policy & Economics, and the U.S. Naval War College in National Security and Strategic Studies. He is also a graduate of the Columbia University Business School’s Executive Program in Venture Capital, Private Equity and Mergers & Acquisitions. At the U.S. Naval War College, he was a member of the Halsey Alfa Advanced Research and Wargaming Project.