E. Darlene Bullock serves as the Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU).  Ms. Bullock has over 27 years of experience in procurement, federal assistance, and acquisitions management. Before joining the OSDBU in January 2011, Ms. Bullock was a Division Director and Contracting Officer in the DHS, Office of Procurement Operations (OPO). OPO is one of the largest procurement divisions in DHS obligating about $4 - 4.5 billion a year. Her division was responsible for supporting the Office of the Secretary and other high-visibility offices at DHS Headquarters.  

Ms. Bullock oversaw and managed the award process of the first DHS-wide Program Management, Administrative, Clerical, and Technical Services (PACTS) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracts which were set-aside for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs). PACTS had an estimated value at $1.5 billion. The award of PACTS enabled DHS to meet and exceed the 3 percent SDVOSB goal for the first time in Fiscal Year 2010.   

Ms. Bullock has held leadership positions at several Federal and local agencies including the Department of Homeland Security Headquarters, U.S. Agency for International Development, U. S. Department of Commerce, District of Columbia Government, and the U.S. Army.  Ms. Bullock began her acquisition career with the U.S. Army successfully completing the Department of Defense contract specialist intern program.  

She is a Certified Federal Contract Manager (CFCM) with the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and maintains her FAC-C Level III Certification in Contracting. She has completed various Federal Executive leadership courses throughout her career. She has an undergraduate degree in Agricultural Business and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park and a MBA in International Management from Southeastern University.  

Doing Business with DHS https://www.dhs.gov/topics/do-business-dhs 

Business Opportunities at DHS https://www.dhs.gov/business-opportunities

For questions, email [email protected]

Matthew Johnson is the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Industry Liaison and Communications Director for the Office of Acquisition and Assistance. In this role he helps to connect and engage with organizations around doing business with USAID. He has led a number of initiatives in support of these efforts, including the creation of WorkwithUSAID.org, the Agency’s live-feed Business Forecast, and the New Partnerships Initiative. 

He has been with USAID since 2008. Prior to joining USAID, he served as the Director of Presidential Personal Correspondence and the Deputy Director of Presidential Writers at the White House. He completed his undergraduate work at Taylor University and has a Masters of Business Administration in Finance and Management from Mount Saint Mary's University.  

Doing Business with USAID https://www.workwithusaid.org/  

Business Opportunities at USAID https://www.usaid.gov/work-usaid/find-a-funding-opportunity

Derek Sampson is the founder and lead Contract Specialist at LiaiCon, a service-disabled veteran-owned company that provides cradle-to-grave acquisition support to small businesses. As an Air Force veteran and former Contracting Officer, Derek uses his expertise to help small businesses owners navigate the complex world of federal contracting. Derek teaches individuals how to find, compete for, and win federal contracts through his flagship course, Federal Contracting Blueprint for Small Businesses. 

He currently supports federal agencies and contractors as an Acquisition Analyst and Technical Writer.  Derek is also the owner of a Dream Vacations franchise. He specializes in creating life-long memories and unforgettable experiences for clients. Dream Vacations offers a full range of travel planning services, including river and ocean cruises, excursions, tours, all-inclusive resort vacations, and custom Disney vacation experiences.

Mr. Mann joined the NASA HQ Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) as a Small Business Program Manager in March 2009. Currently, Mr. Mann is the Program Manager for Marshall Space Flight Center, Stennis Space Center, the NASA Shared Services Center, and the NASA Management Office for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

He also has OSBP responsibility for small business prime and subcontracting goaling and metrics (FPDS-NG and eSRS). From 2003–2009, Mr. Mann worked in various roles at NASA John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, including Contracting Officer, Procurement Analyst, and Small Business Specialist.   He has also been a Contracting Officer for the Defense Logistics Agency/Defense Energy Support Center and for the US Agency for International Development. 

Mr. Mann is a Certified Professional Contracts Manager (CPCM), has an MBA with a concentration in Contracting from the Florida Institute of Technology, and a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University.

For this episode, we will be interviewing Thao Jones-Hill a govtech executive with 22 years of experience leading cloud-based software companies and projects at the Federal, State, Regional, and Local levels. For 10 years, Thao was a member of the founding executive team for Granicus, growing it to become one of the leading local government cloud-based software companies today.   

During his tenure there, he led their highest-profile project implementations, including the U.S. House of Representatives, The U.S. Senate, the Tennessee Legislature, and the City of Los Angeles. He has led engineering teams, customer support teams, hosting infrastructure teams, and sales and marketing teams for several govtech companies, including Granicus, Govdelivery, and Public Systems Associates. 

He has also worked as a reliability engineering consultant for Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Amazon, Pinterest, and CBS Interactive. He received his electrical engineering degree from Tennessee Technological University. He is currently the product owner for OpenGov Procurement.

Mr. David Beck is the founder of HUB Venture Partners and Autonomous Directive Ventures also leads a team of engineers in the Government sector in autonomous unmanned systems development. He is an expert in systems engineering and human centered autonomous and smart-city autonomous systems.  

Contact David: [email protected]  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbeckmba/

In this episode, we will be interviewing Dr. Jennifer Shieh, Chief Scientist and Program Manager Office of Innovation and Technology Office of Investment and Innovation U.S. Small Business Administration. She advances technology commercialization through the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) programs, building partnerships and coordinating policy across the 11 participating Federal agencies.   

She served as the Assistant Director for Entrepreneurship at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), where she led national efforts to improve the transfer of federally-funded technologies from lab-to-market, advance Federal agency coordination on R&D infrastructure, and champion open innovation through prizes and citizen science.   

Previously, she managed the Small Business Program for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and served as a Program Director at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Development Center, having joined NCI as an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow. She was involved in product and customer development at Syapse, a precision medicine-focused startup, and mobile games startup Subversus Interactive.   

Dr. Shieh studied the brain and cognitive sciences at MIT then earned her Ph.D. in neurosciences at Stanford University. She is co-author of the textbook Guide to Research Techniques in Neuroscience.   

Visit the page: https://www.sbir.gov/about/leadership

More About Government Coins:  Government Coins is a podcast hosted by ShaKeia the founder of GovLia, Christlie the founder of Christlie G Consulting & Hamza Sabree the founder of Global Connects. Government Coins is a podcast focusing on— increasing small and minority owned business participation in government contracting! Our goal is to dismantle barriers of entry by educating the small minority business community and providing them with more insight on how to navigate the government contracting landscape. Unlike traditional outreach events and tradeshows, our podcast will allow us to connect with a wider range of small businesses both locally and nationally.   

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More About The Hosts:   

- ShaKeia is the founder of GovLia ( www.govlia.com), specializing in supplier diversity management, engagement, and outreach.  

- Christlie is the founder of Christlie G Consulting  (www.christliegconsulting.com) specializing in human resource and human capital management.   

- Hamza is the founder of Global Connects (www.theglobalconnects.com), specializing in facilitating the process of procuring government contracts.   

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Connect with us on Instagram  Government Coins: https://www.instagram.com/governmentcoins   

ShaKeia : https://www.instagram.com/govlia/   

Christlie: https://www.instagram.com/christlieg/   

Hamza: https://www.instagram.com/globalleader_/  

Now let's get some of these #GovernmentCoins !

More About Government Coins:  Government Coins is a podcast hosted by ShaKeia the founder of GovLia, Christlie the founder of Christlie G Consulting & Hamza Sabree the founder of Global Connects. Government Coins is a podcast focusing on— increasing small and minority owned business participation in government contracting! Our goal is to dismantle barriers of entry by educating the small minority business community and providing them with more insight on how to navigate the government contracting landscape. Unlike traditional outreach events and tradeshows, our podcast will allow us to connect with a wider range of small businesses both locally and nationally.   

______   

More About The Hosts:   - ShaKeia is the founder of GovLia ( www.govlia.com), specializing in supplier diversity management, engagement, and outreach.   

- Christlie is the founder of Christlie G Consulting  (www.christliegconsulting.com) specializing in human resource and human capital management.   

- Hamza is the founder of Global Connects (www.theglobalconnects.com), specializing in facilitating the process of procuring government contracts.   

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Connect with us on Instagram  Government Coins: https://www.instagram.com/governmentcoins   

ShaKeia : https://www.instagram.com/govlia/   

Christlie: https://www.instagram.com/christlieg/   

Hamza: https://www.instagram.com/globalleader_/  

Now let's get some of these #GovernmentCoins !

In this episode, we will be interviewing Ebony Smith, the founder of Ebenum Equation. Ebony is a leadership development expert with a passion for creating forward-thinking leaders. After 20 years of risk management experience in the Fortune 100 (Sunoco, BP, and World Fuel Services), her full-spectrum-lens view of leadership has empowered her to help individuals hone their goals and reach their full potential.    

Ebony has worked in operational risk management as a health & safety advisor and in financial risk management on the derivatives trading desk. Today, she centers her career around transformational risk management where she partners with clients to develop leadership resilience and design foresight strategies for deployment.    

Ebony has a B.S. in Chemistry from Jefferson and an M.S. in Environmental Protection and Safety Management from St. Joseph’s University of Philadelphia. After attaining a PPC (Professional Certified Coach) designation, by the ICF (International Coach Federation), she founded the ICF-certified Ebenum Leadership Academy to transform leaders into coaches. She is also a valued faculty member at Florida International University’s Center for Leadership.