Legend has it that Len wrote the first version of the MAK RTI over a weekend in 1998, and since then, he’s had a hand in designing almost every product in the MAK ONE suite – and in ensuring that together they all form a cohesive Common Synthetic Environment. In recent years, Len has spent much of his time helping to solve the M&S community’s “big problems”: terrain correlation in the age of procedural generation (VR-TheWorld), web-based modeling and simulation (WebLVC), scalability (MAK Legion), hybrid Entity / Aggregate Level simulation (VR-Forces for Wargaming), run-time switching between CGF and player control of an entity (VR-Engage), game-like visual quality in an engine that’s tailored to whole-earth multi-domain-operations (VR-Vantage), and most recently the application of Generative AI to the problems of scenario generation, course of action analysis, natural language interfaces, and intelligent CGF agents (NICO AI).

What Len’s most proud of, though, is that he’s helped to build a fun and engaging culture at MAK where so many great people have wanted to stay and work together as a team for so long.

Around the office, Len’s known for pushing discussions way past surface level agreement, sometimes arguing a decision everyone’s already agreed with until everyone supports it for the same set of reasons! His own mother-in-law once good-naturedly gave him a shirt that says, “I’m not arguing, I’m just explaining why I’m right”.

Outside of work, Len’s goes all-in on his hobbies as much as his work: from competitive poker, to mentoring his son’s high school robotics team, to Monopoly (Massachusetts State Champ in 1991), to running three marathons and running across the Grand Canyon (rim-to-rim) twice. And some say he spends more time practicing for Wednesday-night karaoke at I/ITSEC (often in a foreign language) than for his actual I/ITSEC presentations.

Since it’s almost April Fool’s Day, enjoy this throwback to a 2019 April Fool’s Day announcement that unveiled an interesting new “product” that allows you to physically travel to geo-specific locations represented by our MAK Earth terrain databases. Watch Len and his family experience this new technology firsthand. 

From the systems and standards he’s shaped to the humor and kindness he brings to the people around him, MAK wouldn’t quite be MAK without Len. Enjoy a few photos of Len from the archives (he wears a lot of hats at MAK).

Stay tuned for our next MAKer Spotlight, coming in our Q2 What’s Up MAK newsletter.