Dr. Shari Feth

Dr. Shari Feth is the senior executive responsible for directing and aligning corporate innovation, research, and governance as ArcQubit’s Chief Innovation and Research Officer.

She has a broad background with over 38 years of technical and leadership experience from fundamental research & development, test & fielding to program direction and management.

She is a retired Senior Executive (SES) with the Department of War/Defense (DOW/DOD) where she was the Director, Innovation, Science & Technology for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) responsible for MDA’s strategic investments in new technology and their alignment with priorities. Dr. Feth was responsible for a portfolio of up to $650M/year of future missile defense technologies and was the executive responsible for MDA’s Small Business Innovative Research/ Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program, the 4th largest in DOW/DOD. Additionally she provided governance for DOW/DOD’s technology investments covering the spectrum from fundamental research through prototyping and including advanced technology systems ready for fielding.

During her career, Dr. Feth held positions as the Senior Technical Director, Science & Technology where she was responsible for the science and technology efforts across the Agency (ST position); Deputy Ballistic Missile Defense System Architect where she was responsible for analysis, guidance and planning of future missile defense capability; the Chief Engineer of the Sensors Directorate where she was responsible for engineering MDA’s radars; Chief Systems Engineer of the Sensors Directorate where she was responsible for requirements and integration of MDA’s radar systems; and as a Test Mission Manager where she was responsible for ensuring the success of MDA’s test events. Dr. Feth’s earlier career included positions on a Systems Engineering Tiger Team working initial development, trade studies and requirements definition for future NASA manned and cargo vehicles, and as a research scientist for semiconductor materials development.

Prior to completing her Ph.D. she worked at Idaho National Engineering Labs and Oak Ridge National Labs in optical sensing and crystal growth, respectively. She has conducted fundamental research in materials engineering, semiconductor crystal growth, in-situ monitoring, optics, non-destructive testing, and fiber optics and holds a patent for a fiber optic sensor.

She received the Missile Defense Agency Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2024, the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Award in 2022, MDA’s highest leadership award in 2016 and was inducted into the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara, United States Air Defense Artillery in 2023. Dr. Feth has a Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from Virginia Tech and Bachelor’s/Master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering. She grew up in Wyoming and still enjoys outdoor activities.