Ryan Umstattd
VP of Federal Programs
As the Vice President of Federal Programs for Zap, Ryan Umstattd oversees and develops Zap’s strategic relationships with federal stakeholders and partners for fission, fusion, and hybrid technologies.
After completing his PhD in Applied Science (Plasma Physics), Umstattd served for 20 years in the Air Force as a scientist, professor, program manager, and technology acquisition officer. Prior to transitioning to the private sector, he also served at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), where he helped prepare breakthrough energy technologies for transition from the lab to customers within the Department of Defense. During his last year at ARPA-E, he was the Deputy Director for Commercialization, responsible for oversight of 11 tech-to-market advisors and the hands-on management provided to 300+ project teams for a $250M/yr research and development portfolio.