About William Roper
Will Roper (William Roper Jr.) co-founded Istari Digital in 2022 and is its chief executive. He is also Distinguished Professor of the Practice at Georgia Tech's Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and a senior advisor to McKinsey & Company. Since 2021 he has been an honorary group captain in the U.K. Royal Air Force. He is a board member or advisor to Insight Partners, J.F. Lehman & Company, Ursa Major, Red Six and the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He has also served as a director of Hermeus, Vita Inclinata and BETA Technologies.
From 2018 to 2021 he was Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. Before that he was the founding director of the Pentagon's Strategic Capabilities Office, from 2012 to 2018. From 2010 to 2012 he was chief architect for missile defense at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. He served on the Defense Innovation Board from 2022 to 2025.
Experience
This experience comes from official bios and from SEC filings. For roles taken from filings, the years are when the filings name William Roper in the role, so the role may have started earlier or lasted longer.
Key Colleagues at Startups
The people William Roper works with at each company, as listed on that company's latest Form D.
William Roper in the News
- Roper (Istari): «AI could design an entire aircraft as early as next year»
- Istari Digital raises $22.6M in Series B as defense software bets on Pentagon contracts over hype
- Arlington defense tech startup Istari Digital raises $22.6M toward $40M goal
- Department of the Air Force and Istari Digital Unveil Industry Øne: The ARPANET for Engineering
- Blue Origin's moon dust battery was made by AI with Istari Digital
Sources
- SECIstari Digital, Inc. Form D, filed Jul 24, 2026
- SECHermeus Corp Form D, filed Apr 14, 2026
- SECVita Inclinata Technologies, Inc. Form D, filed Aug 3, 2022
- SECBETA Technologies, Inc. Form D, filed Apr 19, 2022
- Company sitePress release, Sept. 20, 2023: 'Istari Digital's Founder and Chief Executive Officer'
- University siteCurriculum vitae linked from the Ivan Allen College profile (opens a Google Doc)
- Company siteVita Inclinata news post (PR Newswire, Mar. 25, 2021): appointed to the Board of Directors
- SEC filingBETA Technologies prospectus (424B4, Nov. 4, 2025): William Roper in the director compensation table
- SEC filingADS Tactical S-1/A (2011): biography of William A. Roper, Jr., a different man
- Government siteSan Diego County Employees Retirement Association trustee biography of William A. Roper, Jr., a different man