Lieutenant Colonel Brandon Newell assumed his current post as the first Lead for Innovation on West Coast Installations in San Diego, California in July 2017. In this position he develops non-traditional partnerships around emerging technologies, from autonomous vehicles to artificial intelligence, with industry and other agencies. He was awarded the Secretary of the Navy 2017 Innovation Leadership award for this work. A native of St. Amant, Louisiana, he was commissioned in the Marine Corps via the NROTC commissioning program, in May 2001.

Following The Basic School and Basic Communications Officers Course, Lieutenant Colonel Newell was assigned to 1st Marine Division in Camp Pendleton, California, in December 2002. He served as the 11th Marines S-6 Alpha for the March to Baghdad in early 2003. Upon returning from Iraq, he served as the S-6 for 1st Battalion, 11th Marines until June 2005. His next assignment was as the S-6 for 3d Radio Battalion, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii from 2005 until June 2008.

Lieutenant Colonel Newell attended Naval Postgraduate School from 2008 to 2010, earning a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. During this period, he was selected by the Commandant of the Marine Corps to the Marine Energy Assessment Team, deploying to Afghanistan with the task of investigating energy, water and waste on the battlefield. Additionally, he deployed to Haiti in 2010 as part of the disaster response following the earthquake.

Upon graduation from Naval Postgraduate School, Lieutenant Colonel Newell was assigned to the Expeditionary Energy Office, Headquarters Marine Corps. He served as the Technology Lead for all renewable energy and energy efficiency until June 2013. In 2011, he deployed to Afghanistan, serving as an Energy Liaicson Officer to Regional Command (Southwest). Lieutenant Colonel Newell was assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force in July 2013. He deployed to Afghanistan as the C-6 Deputy and Operations Officer, Regional Command (Southwest) in 2014. Upon redeploying, he served as a Communications Plans Officer until June 2016.

Lieutenant Colonel Newell was the first Military Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory from June 2016 to June 2017, where he worked on energy enabled innovation, to include autonomous and electric vehicles. Lieutenant Colonel Newell is married to the former Sara Lovci of Cardiff by the Sea, CA. They live in San Diego with their three children; Sierra (11), Kai (9), and Ayla (6).