“Despite the many challenges, there are so many people in and outside our government working to secure our nation — we are humbled by their service. While we can only recognize a handful of the deserving each year, we want to encourage and appreciate ALL of those who dedicate their lives, careers, and companies to the mission of a safe prepared America” said Kristina Tanasichuk, founder and CEO of the Coalition. “This is our small way of saying thank you.”

Since 2012, the Coalition has developed a series of awards to recognize some of the unsung heroes working to improve how the public and private sector collaborate, assuring that innovation and efficiencies can find their way into the government and encouraging an environment of mentorship in support of the nation’s critical homeland and national security missions.

Federal Small Business Champion of the Year
Jose L. Arrieta
Director, Office of Small & Disadvantaged Business Utilization
Department of the Treasury

Most Valuable Player for Big Data
Scott Shoup
Chief Data Officer
Federal Emergency Management Agency

Most Valuable Player for Cyber Security
Suzanne Spaulding
Under Secretary for the National Protection & Programs Directorate
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Small Business Member of the Year 2015
SE Solutions

Mid-Tier Member of the Year 2015
MorganFranklin Consulting

Mentor of the Year 2015
Motorola Solutions

Market Maven 2015
David Olive
Principal, Catalyst Group Partners
Contributor, Security Debrief

Strategic Partner of the Year
InfraGard National Capital Region Members Alliance

Strategic Advisor of the Year
Elaine Duke
Elaine Duke & Associates

“SE Solutions has engaged deeply with GTSC and leads the organization’s Acquisition and Procurement Action Group. We believe that this work fosters a more open and efficient contracting environment, and we are proud to be a part of improving the quality of this critical area due to its significant impact on mission outcomes,” said John Rothenberger, Founder and CEO of SE Solutions. “GTSC provides us a platform to contribute to this important work, and this aligns with our mission to improve the nation’s homeland security.” The Small Business of the Year award is presented to a company that exemplifies exceptional quality, leadership, and ethics in the Federal market, and is a contributing advocate on behalf of our community.

“Since joining GTSC, MorganFranklin has become more and more engaged because we see progress. We see attention being paid to critical issues like challenges for the middle market, the procurement and acquisition environment, and communication between industry and our government partners,” said Frank Landefeld, Managing Director & Public Sector Market Leader at MorganFranklin Consulting. “These are core areas for all contractors, but they impact those of us concerned with mission the most.” Mid-tier Member of the Year is presented to the firm that has contributed positively to GTSC and to the opportunities, ideas, and understanding of mid-tier companies in the Federal market.

“Motorola Solutions joined GTSC because of the organization’s laser focus on moving things forward,” said Curt Steiner, vice president and director of sales for Motorola Solutions’ U.S. Federal Government Markets. “We engaged with GTSC because we wanted to see some progress in the interoperability mission and from that we reignited an engaged conversation around some of the challenges left to make our first responder community interoperable. Now we can roll up our sleeves and work with our federal partners to drive toward the finish line.” The Mentor of the Year award is presented to the company that has worked to increase GTSC members’ understanding of the homeland and national security market, increased business opportunities for small companies through formal and informal mentoring and engages to promote an innovative, robust, fair market for all.

“GTSC just ‘gets’ it. After years in the federal government, I found the leadership of GTSC to understand the challenges but more importantly, willing to do something about them. They have focused on where help is needed and created avenues, products, and services to fill those needs. I watched as they grew and found that their direction was critical to the success of the homeland market,” said Elaine Duke, CEO of Elaine Duke and Associates and former Under Secretary for Management at DHS. “They are tracking with what the market needs.” The Strategic Advisor of the Year is presented to an individual who works on behalf of GTSC to increase the organization’s capacity, membership and opportunities to bring the innovation, creativity and solutions of small and mid-sized companies to the homeland and national security mission.

“The mission of the FBI’s InfraGard program, particularly here in the National Capital Region, is to encourage sharing of information between private and public sectors to ensure our critical infrastructure is secure,” said Kara Sidener, InfraGardNCR liaison for the FBI. “Our partnership with GTSC is an example of the positive relationships built through the program and the tremendous progress we have made in educating new sectors in this essential effort.”

“I think we were one of GTSC’s first members – I recognized immediately that GTSC was a ‘new’ platform for government and industry to have a place to talk innovation, to talk the ‘hard stuff,’ to get to YES rather than languish in the purgatory of committees, meetings, and more meetings” added David Olive, Principal, the Catalyst Group and the GTSC Market Maven. “Our market must be agile, cooperative and coordinated to protect this nation and GTSC is providing the platform to do that.”

Other awardees include Under Secretary Suzanne Spaulding for her clear vision on how to better leverage existing data, and open source tools while reinforcing NPPD’s mission of protecting assets, systems, networks both real and virtual. FEMA’s Chief Data Officer, Scott Shoup who has been instrumental providing a vision in step with the execution of a big data strategy that makes this critical agency more readily available and accessible to its constituents and enables FEMA to work smarter through data by providing credible and actionable data on tools to support risk informed decision-making.

The awards will be presented in Tysons, VA on December 18th. More information is available at www.GTSCoalition.eventbrite.com. The Holiday Awards are part of GTSC’s programming to build the community in support of the homeland and national security mission. GTSC works on behalf of its members with the U.S. Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, Justice, Treasury, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Join us for an extraordinary celebration of a great year and a toast to a new and prosperous 2016 at our Holiday Awards Celebration!

Small Business Member of the Year

Mid-Tier Company of the Year

Mentor of the Year

Federal Small Business Champion of the Year

Market Maven Award

Federal MVP

Strategic Advisor of the Year

Strategic Partner of the Year

December 18, 2015

Capitol One – Tysons Campus

5:30 pm – 8:30 pm

REGISTER

Support and sponsorships of our holiday event are welcome — please contact us to help make this our best event ever!

Join us to discuss the changing challenges to FEMA and other government facilities posed by changing climate conditions, the advances in alert systems and disaster communications, new technologies to support the mission and what concrete steps we can take to strengthen the exchange between the public and private sector.

 REGISTER

Antwane Johnson

Anne Petera

DHS Client Executive, Harris

Brian Lepore

Director of Defense Capabilities and Management, GAO

 

Todd Jasper

Kevin Delin
Founder, SensorWare Systems

Ryan Denmark
CEO, RSDCGroup

David McKernan
Coordinator of Emergency Management, Fairfax County Office of Emergency Management

Thank you to our National Preparedness Month Chair!

Jason McNamara
Vice President, Obsidian Analysis
Former Chief of Staff, FEMA

If you are interested in supporting the National Preparedness Month program, please contact us!

 Register

“GTSC is honored to attract the support and intellectual capital of such distinguished and accomplished leaders in our community. Their advice, counsel and understanding of our federal partners’ missions contributes to a better working relationship between the public and private sector by increasing our mutual understanding,” said Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO of GTSC.

“After years at HSARPA, I am excited to join GTSC to help small, innovative firms understand the federal process, the keys to a successful strategy and why many firms with great ideas fail,” said Benda. As director of HSARPA, Benda managed a budget of nearly $450 million within the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) of DHS. As chief of staff for S&T, Benda oversaw staffing, organizational plans, budget execution, and strategic plan development and implementation. Previously at the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, Benda oversaw the design, implementation, testing and commissioning of all security systems on the Pentagon Reservation and started his federal civilian career as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

“At FEMA we worked with numerous small businesses on response and recovery efforts and to improve communications, alert systems and other vital FEMA missions; I look forward to continuing to improve their success and increase their understanding of how the public and private sector can work together to further advance our nation’s preparedness, response and recovery,” said McNamara.

McNamara directly impacted FEMA’s transition toward emphasizing survivor outcomes and incorporation of the Whole Community in delivering response and recovery solutions while serving as administrator Craig Fugate’s chief of staff. His successes include developing the Sandy Recovery Improvement Act and the five-year reauthorization of the national flood insurance program. McNamara now directs the disaster recovery program area as well as services for state and local clients for Obsidian.

“I am excited and energized to re-engage with the small business community-particularly on behalf of the homeland and national security mission. I learned from years on the Hill and in the SBA that small companies really do provide a fresh take on age-old problems and that their insights can lead to tremendous cost savings and efficiencies,” said Wilkinson.

During her time on the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in the United States Senate, Wilkinson played a critical role in getting the Federal Acquisition Institute Improvement Act through the committee. Before working on Capitol Hill, she spent time as chief of staff at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), chief acquisition officer at the U.S. General Services Administration and associate deputy secretary for management at the U.S. Department of Labor. Her broad range of experience includes homeland security legislation, acquisition management and government relations. In 2009, she was awarded as a Federal 100 winner for improving SBA’s efficiency, including the Business Development Management Information System that allows small businesses to file online applications for 8(a) status.

A full list of GTSC’s board of strategic advisors, members and mentors is available at www.GTSCoalition.com.

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GTSC is a nonprofit, non-partisan 501(c)(6) association of companies that create, develop and implement solutions for the federal homeland and national security sector. Our mission is two-fold: first, to provide exceptional advocacy, capacity building, partnership opportunities and marketing in the Federal security space for small and mid-sized companies. Second, to support and assist our government partners achieve their critical missions with the highest integrity; best and most innovative technologies; and results-based, quality products and services to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to and recover from any terrorist attack or natural disaster. For more information on these mentors and the Government Technology & Services Coalition, please visit www.GTSCoalition.com.

For more information, please contact Kristina Tanasichuk, CEO, by phone or email: 703-201-7198 or ktanasichuk@gtscoalition.com.

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