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Balan Ayyar is the founder and CEO of Percipient.ai, a previous United States Forces Afghanistan commander, and Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Balan has over two decades of military experience, having started their career in the United States Air Force in January 2007. In September 2010, they were appointed Commander of the Air Force Recruiting, and in October 2012 they took on the role of Commanding General of Combined Joint Interagency Task Force 435 in Afghanistan. Balan led a sensitive $250M multi-service interagency mission of over 2000 personnel critical to the campaign in Afghanistan before returning to the United States in November 2013.

Balan Ayyar has a Bachelor of Science in International Relations from the United States Air Force Academy. Balan also has a Master of Public Administration (MPA) from Auburn University at Montgomery, a Master of Strategic Studies from Air University, and a Masters of Industrial Resource Management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Balan is currently a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and is also enrolled in their South Asia Leadership Engagement Program.

Some direct reports include Eric Schanafelt - Operations Executive, Steve Mullins - Chief Financial Officer, and Girish Narang - VP, Technology Operations.