HOPLITE GROUP
LEADERSHIP TEAM
Ioannis Koskinas,
CEO
Ioannis "Gianni" is a retired special operations military officer, published author, leader, coach, and mentor. Prior to retirement, Gianni focused on national security matters as senior advisor to General Stan McChrystal (twice), General Nordy Schwartz (Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force), and the Honorable Mike Vickers (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict).
In commercial life, he has focused on extractive industries, capacity development, aviation, risk mitigation strategies, and bespoke consulting for Fortune 500 company initiatives.
Sarah Lain,
Director of Capture & Proposals
For the past 15 years, Sarah has supported the development of new programs for the Combatant Commands, Intel Community, and U.S. DoD Services. This has included capture management and proposal development for Special Operations, global flight simulation training, and worldwide expeditionary support for the DoD, and for multiple Universities and the National Labs.
In her former roles, she led the Lukos proposal development team for a range of Defense services; liaised among faculty, small businesses, and MacDill Air Force Base tenants; hosted conferences and events for DARPA and the Army Research Lab; and led the capture and development of new contracts for DoD research labs, CENTCOM, and the 6th Air Refueling Wing.
Patrick Simon,
Director of Operations
Robert Wise,
Program Manager &
Deputy Director of Operations
Colonel Patrick Simon, USMC (Ret.), serves as the Director of Operations for Hoplite Group. He manages the company's Defense Security Cooperation University, Institute for Security Governance Program, and oversees global program execution, consultant operations, business processes, and customer engagement.
A retired U.S. Marine Corps infantry, special operations, and intelligence officer, he brings more than 34 years of leadership experience spanning military operations, national security policy, intelligence, and international security cooperation.
During his military career, Patrick served as the Senior Intelligence Officer for Marine Forces Central Command and Marine Forces Special Operations Command, advising senior military leaders on global threats, strategic risk, and intelligence operations. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a Military Advisor for Homeland Defense and Global Security.
Robert is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant and intelligence program manager who has led multi-agency efforts for nearly forty years. From 1995 to 2009 he served with 5th Special Forces Group, directing mission lifecycles and leading multinational teams in twenty-five countries.
After leaving active duty he stood up a 52-person analytical workforce in Afghanistan, led Counter-WMD and all-source teams for SOCPAC and USSOCOM, and managed eight SWMS task orders as a government contract program manager.
Since 2023 he has led USSOCOM’s C-UXS Prior to Launch effort, aligning Intelligence Community and Combatant Command partners and briefing senior DoD leaders.
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Marylln Blankenship,
CFO
Marylln with over 14 years of experience in administration, finance and high level management experience is driven by process improvement and takes pride in providing the best solutions to increase efficiencies while ensuring the best financial outcomes. In the past, Marylln has been involved in multiple company relocations, and system integrations.
Since 2016, she has found an increased passion for employees & HR. Her belief in continuous learning brought her to the Hoplite Group where she is hands on in the everyday accounting, administration and HR needs within the government contracting and security space.
Christi Skiles,
Director of Admin & Finance
Christi Skiles is a senior defense financial management and executive operations professional with more than 28 years of combined United States Air Force military and federal civilian service. She has extensive experience in defense financial management, executive administration, strategic planning, and mission support, with a career spanning enterprise-level financial operations, compliance oversight, and senior leader advisory roles.
Throughout her service, she has managed multi-million-dollar budgets, directed large-scale financial operations, and provided fiscal policy and resource management guidance to senior military leadership in Air Force major commands and deployed operations.