Lloyd Reshard

Lloyd Reshard is the Board Chairman and co-founder of Kukua Institute and he is also the CEO of Cognitive Big Data Systems Inc., an award-winning AI computer vision startup. In April 2012, Mr. Reshard retired from the Air Force Research Laboratory after 26 years, where he was the Chief of the Munitions Aerodynamic Sciences Branch for the last six years. He managed one of the largest branches with 34 employees, executing $250M in programs in six years, averaging over $40M per year. Research that he initiated and participated in investigated alternative methods to process data in real-time and found that AI using artificial neural networks was the most efficient, followed by reconfigurable computing.

His passion and drive led to the founding of one of NSF's most successful centers, the Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing. Currently, he serves on the Achieve Escambia Leadership Council, the Mechanical Engineering Advisory Committee at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, The First Bank Advisory Board for Alabama and the Florida Panhandle and both the Kukua Institute and Greater Pensacola Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Among his national awards are the Black Engineer of the Year Award for Career Achievement Government (2009), the DoD Civilian Meritorious Service Award for the Global War on Terrorism (2009), the General Lester L. Lyles Award for employee mentoring (2010), the National Science Foundation’s Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing Vision Award (2008) and the Air Force Material Command NAACP Award (2007) for promoting diversity in the workplace.