Thomas Kenney

Mr. Kenney is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center, focusing on entrepreneurship in the public sector. A lifelong entrepreneur with over three decades of experience as a Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Executive Officer in the software industry, he has helped lead companies to multiple successful exits totaling over $2B in valuation. He is currently the CEO of Tycho.AI, a Cambridge-based MIT spinout building dual-use autonomous intelligence at the edge for unmanned systems. His entrepreneurial work focuses on translating advanced research into operationally relevant solutions for both commercial and national security applications, bridging the gap between innovation and impact. He also holds board seats and is a seed investor with several emerging technology companies.

Mr. Kenney is a former technology executive at Google, a Special Government Employee serving on the Defense Science Board, and an affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. Prior to his current roles, Mr. Kenney was a Civilian Senior Executive serving as the Chief Data Officer and Head of AI for U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) in Tampa, FL.

In parallel with his entrepreneurial and executive career, Mr. Kenney continues to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve, where he has held multiple company and battalion-level commands, served in AI-focussed roles with the Joint Staff, and completed multiple combat deployments and overseas exercises. In addition, he completed his Senior Service College as a National Security Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Mr. Kenney earned his Master of Business Administration from the University of Notre Dame and his Master of Science in Computer Science and AI from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He resides in Boston with his wife Carrie.