I can’t believe our Spring Training Conference is already less than a week away, coming up next week on Thursday, April 10th! As the Vice President of Membership and Marketing here at The Coalition, my number one priority is to form a relationship with each of our members and gain a solid understanding of their business so that we as an organization can help maximize the value The Coalition provides, with the help of your feedback. Our Spring Training Conference offers the perfect setting, the trifecta of 1.) education and training; 2.) discussion and discourse; and 3.) networking and camaraderie.
We will begin the morning focusing on the education piece, hearing Cameron Leuthy, Senior Budget Analyst at Bloomberg Government, talk about Selling in the Federal Market – Who’s Buying and Who’s Not. Cameron will be followed by an excellent panel discussion on Oversight and Enforcement – The OIG Perspective, which will be moderated by Angela Styles of Crowell & Moring, and will include panelist Richard Levi, Counsel to the Inspector General, GSA; and Maureen Regan, Counsel to the Inspector General, VA. Next up is our Legal Panel discussion on Maximizing the Benefits, Avoiding the Risks, led by Jason Workmaster of McKenna Long & Aldridge; Jonathan Aronie of Sheppard-Mullin; and David Dowd of Mayer Brown. Following the legal panel you will have the pleasure of listening to Harry Hallock, Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Army, discuss Army Acquisition – Current and Future Initiatives. Our last panel discussion will be held after lunch and titled Government-Wide Acquisition Summit. This discussion will be moderated by Bill Gormley of The Gormley Group and will included panelist Dr. Angela Billups, Senior Procurement Executive, Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, HHS; Richard Ginman, Director, Defense Acquisition and Procurement Policy; and Jeffrey Koses, Senior Procurement Executive, GSA.
After the conclusion of the Government-Wide Acquisition Summit, we will move on to the piece of the day that allows for great discussions by way of breakout sessions. You will be able to attend two out of eight sessions based on what topic is most relevant to you. These will be hour long sessions complete with presentations, but will also provide the opportunity to ask questions directly to the presenters! The first group of breakout sessions you can choose from include The GSA Acquisition Centers; The GSA Services Portfolio; Doing Business with DHS; and an Update on Government-Wide IT Acquisitions. The second group of breakout sessions will consist of Small Business Preferences – What Does it Mean for Your Business; Air Force Strategic Sourcing – What’s the Current Status and What’s Next?; The GSA Schedule Crystal Ball – What to Expect for the Program and its Pricing Policy; and The GSA Category Management – What Does it Mean to Your Business?
The third piece of the puzzle is networking, and there will be plenty of it! The morning will get kicked off with breakfast and networking, sponsored by The George Washington University. We will have a morning break sponsored by The Gormley Group and 3M where you will be able to grab some extra coffee and a snack before heading back into the main session. Lunch will be an excellent opportunity to spend an hour getting to know new faces and making business connections, and is being sponsored by Deloitte and AMERICAN SYSTEMS. Finally, the day will conclude with a networking reception sponsored by Berkeley Research Group, complete with open bar and appetizers.
I would like to recognize the contributions from all of our sponsors, especially our Title Sponsor, Bloomberg Government; our Gold Sponsor, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems; our Silver Sponsor, Deltek; and our Media Sponsor, Federal News Radio, who will be set up all day at the Marriott broadcasting live during the day’s events! Additionally, a big thank you to all our Keystone Members and Strategic Partners who make events like this possible in the first place.
If you haven’t registered yet, please do so today as space is filling up fast! For everyone else, please find me and introduce yourself if we haven’t already met. A lot of hard work goes into creating this successful event and we couldn’t be more excited it’s just around the corner. From all of us at The Coalition, we look forward to welcoming you to our 2014 Spring Training Conference!
Sincerely,
Matt Cahill
Vice President of Membership and Marketing