Veteran | Strategist | Builder | Founder of RKDS

Ryan Kaono-Wedemeyer is a mission-driven innovator, veteran, and systems thinker with a career built at the intersection of national defense, logistics, and digital modernization. A former Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and Department of Defense civilian, Ryan brings nearly three decades of hands-on experience managing complex operations, authoring policy, and building teams that thrive in high-stakes environments.

Throughout his military and civilian service, Ryan became known as the “go-to problem solver” — the person leadership turned to when the mission demanded more than checklists and status quo. Whether accelerating multi-billion dollar support agreements, streamlining base-level logistics, or helping write the definitive DoD policy on interagency support (DoDI 4000.19), Ryan led with precision, principle, and relentless resolve.

Now as the founder and CEO of Romeo Kilo Defense Systems (RKDS), he is building the solutions he wishes he had in uniform. RKDS reflects Ryan’s core values — Secure. Loyal. Sustainable. — and his belief that defense systems should empower people, not bury them in bureaucracy. His flagship platform, SAM-D, is a ground-up reinvention of how support agreements are managed across the Department of the Air Force. With SAM-D, he’s bringing automation, transparency, and true accountability to a process long plagued by manual workarounds and organizational churn.

Ryan’s leadership philosophy blends warfighter practicality with entrepreneurial boldness. He doesn’t build for the boardroom — he builds for the field. And whether he's demoing SAM-D to AFWERX, guiding his AI assistants at RKDS, or mentoring fellow veterans on their startup journeys, his north star remains constant: serve the mission, serve the people.

He currently lives in Springfield, VA, where he continues to lead RKDS, support national innovation pipelines, and supporting disabled veterans and rescue dogs.

Romeo Kilo Defense Systems (RKDS) is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) building Beacon Authority Ledger (BAL), an enterprise platform that helps government and commercial organizations illuminate complexity across legal, cybersecurity, engineering, business development, and operations.

Built on decades of defense and enterprise experience, BAL connects trusted information, intelligent automation, and human decision-making into a single operational environment that improves visibility, accountability, and execution.

Applications such as BAL-LIM for legal intelligence and SAM-D for support agreement management demonstrate how the platform transforms complex processes into connected, mission-ready workflows.