Uncategorized Bulletins
2019 NASPO Annual Conference
Annual Conference is the crown jewel of the NASPO conference season. The 2019 event in Grand Rapids, Michigan was no exception. This
years conference featured quality speakers offering content-rich sessions, fun networking receptions and a keynote speaker who was truly a gem.
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Ingram selected 2020 President-elect
Four directors at large to join the board next year
Roz Ingram,
Director of State Purchasing and CPO for the State of Florida, was elected NASPO 2020 President-elect following a vote taken at the State Member Business Meeting during the
2019 NASPO Annual Conference, September 8-11, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
As President-elect, Ingram will serve on the NASPO Executive Committee and Chair the Governance and Oversight Committee, which is tasked
with strengthening NASPO’s governance model and policies and ensuring NASPO’s elected leaders exercise appropriate oversight and accountability. As edits are proposed to an existing NASPO Board policy or a new Board policy is proposed, the Governance and Oversight
Committee reviews and offers feedback for the Board to consider prior to approving any new Board policy or modifications to existing Board policies. The term of the President-elect also provides Ingram an opportunity to study the NASPO bylaws, policies, guidelines,
procedures and charters in preparation for beginning her tenure as NASPO President in January 2021.
A frequent NASPO conference presenter and chair of the 2019 Annual Conference Planning Committee, Ingram is currently serving her second
term on the NASPO Board of Directors. She has more than 28 years of state government experience and has worked in several agencies to gain her diverse knowledge of state government and best practices in procurement.
In her current position with the Division of State Purchasing, Ingram oversees the creation of state term contracts that leverage all
state agency spend, as well as spend created through cities and counties that can use these contracts. The Division also provides training for Certified Contract Managers, Certified Contract Negotiators and Project Management Professionals.
Ingram has a BS in Business from Florida State University. She is also a Project Management Professional, Certified Public Manager and
Florida Certified Contract Negotiator. She occasionally teaches a negotiator class and is currently vetting an updated class curriculum.
You can learn more about Ingram in the
Procurement
Pulse “Day In the Life” series.
During the 2019 Annual Conference State Member Business meeting, four new directors at large were also elected to the 2020 NASPO Board.
Members elected for a two-year term include George Schutter of the District of Columbia,
Kelly Sanders of Ohio,
Debbie Dennis of Oregon and
Jamie Schorr
of Maine.
George Schutter named 2019 Incoming President
On September 16, the NASPO Board of Directors elected George Schutter of the District of Columbia as the 2019 NASPO President-elect.
Schutter is CPO for the District of Columbia, where he leads the DC Office of Contracting and Procurement, overseeing more than $5.2 billion
in acquisitions for more than 78 District agencies. Appointed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, Schutter is charged with the overall leadership, implementation and coordination of procurement activities in accordance with the laws and regulations of DC.
Schutter has broad leadership experience in the public and private sectors, serving most recently as the CFO of TechnoServe, an international
501 c3. Prior to that, he served as Grant Thornton’s US Executive Director of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. He also served in multiple roles in the Peace Corps including the CFO, as well as Director of Contracts for global operations in 74
countries. A former Major in the US Marine Corps, Schutter served for 10 years domestically and abroad, including four years as Director of a Regional Contracting Office. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, Certified Professional Contracts Manager
and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He holds degrees in Accounting from the Illinois Institute of Technology and an MS in Acquisitions and Contracts Management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.
As a current member of the NASPO Board of Directors, Schutter fills the vacancy of the 2019 NASPO President-elect position. The bylaws
specify that a vacated officer position be filled by a current NASPO Board member. Schutter was the sole nominee and unanimously elected by the NASPO Board of Directors.
As 2019 NASPO President-elect, Schutter will assume the role of NASPO President in January 2020. Following his one-year term as President,
Schutter will remain on the NASPO Board of Directors as Immediate Past President until December 31, 2021.
Regional Council Chairs, Vice Chairs elected
Members of the four NASPO Regional Councils elected their 2020 leadership during onsite meetings held during the 2019 Annual Conference.
The 2020 Regional Council Chairs and Vice Chairs are:
Eastern Region
Chair: Jaime Schorr, Maine
Vice Chair: Peter Korolyk, Delaware
Western Region
Chair: Meghan Holmlund, Montana
Vice Chair: Kelly Mix, Oregon
Midwestern Region
Chair: Heather Calahan, Michigan
Vice Chair: Tracy Diel, Kansas
Southern Region
Chair: Lisa McKim, Oklahoma
Vice Chair: Rebecca Krystopa, Georgia
Cronin Awards for Procurement
Excellence presented
A proactive contract management program developed by Michigan’s Central Procurement Services achieved the Gold Award, the highest honor
in the George Cronin Awards for Procurement Excellence, presented on September 11 during the 2019 NASPO Annual Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Designed to ensure greater compliance by state agencies and its vendors, Michigan’s award-winning contract management program was selected
by the Cronin Awards Committee for its achievements in innovation, transferability, service improvement and cost reduction.
Cronin Committee Chair Kelly Sanders of Ohio also presented to Florida the Silver Cronin Award for its submission, “Market Analysis and
Procurement Strategy (MAPS).” The Bronze Award went to the State of Minnesota for its submission, “Innovation Begets Innovation: How Challenge-Based RFPs Have Been a Winning Solution for Minnesota.”
Two additional states were named finalists for this year’s Cronin Awards; the State of New York for their submission, “Online Filed Requirements
System” and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for their submission, “Excellent Data= Meaningful Analytics: Improving Vendor Report Information Management.”
The Cronin Awards annually recognize innovative and exemplary state procurement initiatives while also spotlighting the state procurement
personnel who have undertaken and accomplished projects resulting in distinct benefits to their state’s economy and the efficient delivery of services. By calling attention to these efforts, the Cronin Awards seek to disseminate and encourage adoption of these
initiatives by other states.
Congratulations to all of this year’s finalists and award recipients!
Hall receives Mazzone Distinguished
Service Award
Norma Hall, a longtime NASPO member and procurement professional from the State of South Carolina, was presented the Giulio Mazzone Distinguished
Service Award during the Awards Celebration Dinner at the 2019 NASPO Annual Conference.
Hall has helped to support some of the most significant educational initiatives of NASPO, including the launch of Procurement U, the
development of the State Training Coordinators Conference and the newly released 3rd
edition of the Practical Guide. Since 2015, she has been a frequent presenter at NASPO conferences events and has also led trainings for other procurement organizations.
During her career, Hall has held a variety of procurement leadership positions, including serving as both a member and chair of the UPPCC
Governing Board; both former President and a former Board member for NIGP; and was a founding member of the National Council for Public Procurement and Contracting.
Hall previously has been recognized for her leadership and presented a number of other distinguished service awards, including: The James
H. Barnes Award for Outstanding Contributions to Procurement; NIGP Purchasing Manager of the Year; NPI’s Achievement of Excellence in Procurement; and The Albert H. Hall Memorial Award for Procurement Excellence.
Hall has been an active member of her home state’s Association of Governmental Purchasing Officials since 1981, serving as its President
in 1989. She has earned dual certification from UPPCC as both a CPPB and CPPO and is a Certified Public Manager, a Master Instructor and NIGP Fellow.
Gragan elected NAPA Academy Fellow
David Gragan, Chief
Learning Officer for the District of Columbia and a NASPO Life member, is one of 51 leaders in the field of public administration to be elected to the National Academy of Public Administration’s (NAPA) 2019 Class of Academy Fellows.
Chartered by Congress to provide nonpartisan expert advice, NAPA is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1967 to assist
government leaders in building more effective, efficient, accountable and transparent organizations.
Selection as an Academy Fellow is a prestigious accomplishment that entails a rigorous review of the individual’s contributions to the
field of public administration and policy. The 2019 class joins more than 900 Academy Fellows, which include former cabinet officers, members of Congress, governors, mayors and state legislators, as well as prominent scholars, business executives and public
administrators.
Induction of the new Fellows will take place during the Academy’s upcoming meeting, November 7-8, in Arlington, VA.
Mentorship Toolkit available
Talent management strategies and increasing employee retention in state public procurement offices have been among NASPO’s Top 10 priorities
for the past five years. Mentorship programs can be a relatively low-cost tool state procurement offices can use to attract new employees and integrate them into the office culture.
Formal mentorship programs provide employees with continuing educational opportunities and are widely known to contribute to career success.
Indeed, having a formal mentorship program is one of the criteria Fortune uses when creating their list of “Best Companies to Work For!”
If you are thinking about implementing a mentorship program, NASPO has the tools to help you get started. Download a copy of the new
NASPO Mentorship Toolkit here.
ProcurementIQ, GovWin IQ market research training webinars coming up soon
On September 30 and October 3, NASPO will offer introductory webinars for members who are interested in learning about ProcurementIQ
and GovWin IQ, NASPO-sponsored market research tools available to NASPO members.
ProcurementIQ
provides market intelligence resources to aid in all of your state’s sourcing events.This resource helps to identify opportunities for cost savings and cost avoidance with
the confidence that all the data is credible, allowing you to conduct market research in a timely manner.
This introductory webinar will be held on
Monday, September 30 at 3:00 pm ET. Click HERE
to register.
GovWin IQ
provides a searchable database of hundreds of thousands of planned federal, state, and local government solicitations, as well as historical contracts and associated documents.
It also includes over 1.9 million profiles of companies that do business in the public sector at the state and local levels.
NASPO will host an introductory webinar on how to use GovWinIQ on
Wednesday, October 3 at 2:00 pm ET. Click HERE
to register.
Have you checked your Pulse?
Sign up for weekly updates from
Procurement
Pulse to read the latest on emerging issues and hot topics in state procurement.
Some of the most recent posts on Procurement Pulse include a
recap
of NASPO’s 2019 Annual Conference;
a feature on the
George
Cronin Awards for Procurement Excellence;
a
2019 Annual Conference preview; and another
“A
Day in the Life” feature on NASPO member
Gary Lambert of Massachusetts.
Visit
https://pulse.naspo.org/
to read all the blog posts and subscribe to receive
weekly updates from The Pulse!