Lauren Reade

Lauren is driving the development of the NIF’s adoption platform. As Platform Lead – Adoption, she’s focused on helping NATO nations better connect with emerging technologies by building the systems that bridge innovation with real-world defence and security needs.

Lauren was the first non-investor to join the NIF team, initially serving as Head of Operations. In that role, she helped scale the Fund from a bold idea into a fully operational organization, working closely with the leadership team and external partners to help make this happen.

Prior to joining NIF, Lauren spent 19 years as a Reservist in the Canadian Armed Forces in Ottawa. Alongside her military service, she worked at a range of tech startups—both bootstrapped and VC-backed—where she played a key role in growing teams and laying the groundwork for long-term success.

Now based in Amsterdam, Lauren continues to bring a unique mix of military insight, startup grit, and operational excellence to everything she does. Outside of work, she enjoys adventuring with her husband and rescue dog, learning new musical instruments, training for obscure races, and watching Seinfeld reruns.