Dr. Yisroel Brumer

Dr. Yisroel Brumer is a Founding Partner at Red Cell Partners and the Co-Founder, Executive Vice Chairman, and former Chief Executive Officer of Zephyr AI, a Red Cell portfolio company. He joined Red Cell following an extensive career of executive leadership in the Department of Defense (DoD) culminating as Acting Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE).

Reporting directly to the Secretary of Defense, Dr. Brumer led the annual program review process that built the five-year defense program totaling over $3.5 trillion. He also led CAPE’s oversight of all major investment programs, emphasizing analyses of alternatives, investment strategies, and programmatic tradeoffs. He led the SecDef-directed studies on high-stakes issues known as Strategic Portfolio Reviews that drove the strategic direction of the Department for the last decade. He was a member of DoD’s most senior decision bodies, including the Nuclear Weapons Council, the Missile Defense Executive Board, and the Deputy Secretary’s Management Action Group, among many others.

Dr. Brumer brings a wealth of strategic experience both in understanding the defense sector’s strategic roadmap and in identifying white space needs for future solutions. He has deep technical and product knowledge in a variety of defense related applications and a broad network across the traditional defense ecosystem as well as the defense innovation landscape.

Dr. Brumer holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics and a M.Sc. in Chemistry from Harvard University. He has received the highest civilian medal awarded by DoD, the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, along with honors like the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award and numerous other medals and awards for civilian service.