COMMAND CENTER

Paul Hawkins
Government Contacts Attorney
ReevesColey PLLC

Paul is a Government Contracts attorney with the law firm of ReavesColey PLLC in Chesapeake, Virginia.  Paul’s business and commercial law practice focuses on helping government contractors successfully navigate the various regulatory and statutory issues they face on a daily basis.  Particular practice areas include a wide range of compliance services in federal and state small business regulations and the Federal Acquisition Regulation; drafting and negotiating Subcontracts, Teaming Agreements, Joint Venture Agreements, and SBA Mentor-Protégé Agreements; representing clients in the preparation and submission of REAs and contract claims as well as bid protests and SBA size and status protests; and assisting and advising government contracting clients on corporate formation and governance, intellectual property, and transactional issues including specific government contracting regulatory and due diligence considerations in mergers and acquisitions.

Paul earned his law degree from William & Mary Law School in May 2018 and completed his undergraduate education at East Carolina University graduating in May 2009.  He is licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Prior to attending law school, Paul served on active duty as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy.  He continues to serve as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy Reserve.

Active in his community, Paul serves as the Vice President of the Tidewater Association of Service Contractors and as a Board Member of the National Veteran Small Business Coalition Mid-Atlantic Chapter and the Anchor Scholarship Foundation.  Paul is also active in his local church, Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA), and lives in the Great Bridge area of Chesapeake, Virginia with his wife and two sons.

 

Joshua Frank
Managing Partner
RMS Federal

Business coach, professional speaker, and bestselling author, Mr. Frank is an award-winning and nationally recognized authority on government sales and business acceleration. With more than 30 years in the government space, he specializes in bridging government sales strategy with general business strategy. He is a recognized expert in the development and implementation of tactics and strategies required to differentiate, position for, and win government contracts. His training seminars are consistently rated as one of the strongest sessions at national conferences and events. Mr. Frank’s coaching has helped companies win more than $2.8 billion in definitive contracts and $30 billion in indefinite delivery contracts.

Managing Partner at RSM Federal, Mr. Frank is author of The Government Sales Manual; Amazon’s #1 all-time GovCon bestseller An Insider’s Guide To Winning Government Contracts – Real World Strategies, Lessons, and Recommendations; and Amazon’s #1 bestseller Game Changers for Government Contractors. Mr. Frank received SBA’s award for Veteran Business of the Year in addition to the National Award for Industry Small Business Advocate of the Year by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME).

Mr. Frank serves as Chairman of the Board for the Midwest Veterans Advocacy Foundation (VAF) / Veterans Business Resource Center (VBRC). Mr. Frank also supports the SBA’s Emerging Leaders Program and judges applications for Arch Grants providing startup funding for entrepreneurs.

An avid outdoor enthusiast, Girl Scout and Boy Scout leader, Mr. Frank lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife, daughter, and son. He is a former military intelligence officer with an undergraduate degree in English, a Masters in Management Information Systems (MIS), and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). Feel free to contact Mr. Frank via LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuapfrank

Gloria Larkin
President and Chief Executive Officer
TargetGov

Gloria Larkin is the President and CEO of TargetGov. TargetGov celebrates its 22nd anniversary in 2019 and focuses on government contracting, business development, recruiting, RFP/GSA support and marketing services including the exclusive Federal Acceleration Strategies and Tactics FAST™ Process, the KickStart Program™, Capability Statements, certification services, business development, and expert federal contracting services, marketing communications and calendar development and execution.

TargetGov clients have won over $6 billion in federal contracts. Gloria has been quoted in the Washington Post, INC Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Government Executive Magazine, the Daily Record, American Express Trends and Insights and Bloomberg. She is the author of The Basic Guide to Government Contracting, co-author of The Veterans Business Guide: How to Build a Successful Government Contracting Business, and of hundreds of federal contracting articles in print and online. Gloria is also the Educational Foundation Board Chair Emeritus for WIPP.org and the American Express National Procurement Adviser.

She has been recognized by: Enterprising Women Magazine’s 2010 Enterprising Women of the Year honoree, Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) National Educational Foundation Past Chair, and SBA’s 2010 Women in Business Champion, Maryland. She has spoken at: hundreds of national federal agency and business conferences including the Department of Energy, Department of Veterans Affairs, the Social Security Administration, National Veterans Small Business Conference, National Women Business Owners Corporation National Conference, and Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School “Art of Entrepreneurship” Annual Conference.

Kirk W. McLaren
Chief Executive Officer
Foresight CFO

A true thought leader & innovator in driving top percentile financial performance as a career Growth CFO. One meeting is all it takes to feel his passion & brainpower. Also, he is a secretly funny, 6 foot 4-inch professor at Georgetown University, one of the leading financial education institutions in the nation. Having built and sold his first company before graduating from high school, Kirk is a natural at building growth companies with talented CEOs & their leadership team. Using the numbers, coaching, & disciplined execution are hallmarks of his approach, with a side of passion.

These core traits were developed from decades of accelerating private companies, his service in the US Army, & the drive as a husband & a father of two. Incidentally, both of his sons are starting their careers out in service at West Point.

Alex Mikhelson, CPA
Senior Manager
BakerTilly

Alex is a Senior Manager in Baker Tilly’s government contractor advisory services practice and brings over 15 years of experience to the practice. Alex sets clients up for success by assisting with a wide spectrum of Government Contracting and Grant compliance challenges from business system reviews, contract pricing and proposals, terminations for convenience, indirect rate structuring to audit and investigation support and resolution. Alex is also the practice’s resident expert on Government Property and related challenges. Alex’s background includes Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness, Government property management, business process re-engineering, managers’ internal control program (OMB A-123), DoD acquisition and logistics, and forensic auditing. Prior to joining Baker Tilly, Alex worked as a management consultant contractor to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a task lead responsible for the Agency’s asset management program, financial audit support, and business process analyses. Alex was also a lead auditor for Army Audit Agency planning and managing complex acquisition and logistics audits as well as forensic audit work to detect and identify fraud.

Phil Panzarella
Chief Executive Officer
Panzarella Consulting LLC

A proven positive leader, executive coach, team builder, entrepreneur and trusted partner with extensive experience in achieving extraordinary results.  Phil is currently the CEO of Panzarella Consulting LLC. He assists individuals, teams and organizations maximize their potential to achieve business and personal success through Executive Coaching, Mentorship and Business Consulting. Throughout his extensive career as business leader and entrepreneur, Phil held a number of leadership positions (C-Suite) in both for profit and non-profit organizations where he assisted organizations in achieving their business goals.  He currently sits on a number of boards and is helping executives across industries unlock their potential through coaching. In 2021, Phil was selected as a member of the inaugural Coaching Collective with the Dr. Nancy Grasmick Leadership Institute at Towson University. Phil held positions with large corporations (such as IBM, ENTEX and Siemens) and was a successful entrepreneur where he started a number of businesses and had a successful exit. He has over 30 years of government contracting experience.  He is a veteran, soldier for life and recognized community leader where he donates a significant amount of his time and energy. Most importantly, he is a proud husband, father and grandfather of two wonderful granddaughters.

Wayne Pizer
Executive Director of Small Business
CACI

Wayne Pizer is the Executive Director of Small Business at CACI and is responsible for developing and executing the small business strategy, managing the highly successful DoD mentor-protégé program, and ensuring small business compliance throughout the CACI organization. The CACI Small Business Office has won numerous awards during his tenure including four Nunn-Perry Awards: 2018 (2), 2016 and 2014, Ten straight (2010-2020) Champions of Veteran Enterprise Award from the National Veteran Small Business Coalition and the 2016 Small Business Partner of the Year from the Small and Emerging Contractors Advisory Forum (SECAF).

Prior to joining CACI, Mr. Pizer was the Vice President of the Small Business Office at L-3 National Security Solutions (NSS), Mr. Pizer was at L-3 for over 8 years. During his tenure, his office has received numerous small business awards, including the 2014 Nunn-Perry Award and two DoD Prime Subcontractor of the Year Awards in recognition of its support for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses (SDVOSBs). His office was a five-time winner of the Champions of Veteran Enterprise Award from the National Veteran Small Business Coalition, as well as the recipient of the Montgomery County Prime Partner of the Year award for 2013, in recognition of its active support of the National Center for the Veteran Institute for Procurement (VIP).

Prior to joining L-3, Mr. Pizer held several positions during a nine-year career at IBM, where he led its Mentor-Protégé and Strategic Alliance programs for federal customers.
Mr. Pizer holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University and a Master in Business Administration from American University. He sits on the Veteran’s Institute for Procurement (VIP) Advisory Board for Curriculum Development. In addition he is a certified Project Management Professional and holds an SAP certification in Production Planning.

Brad Reaves
Attorney
ReevesColey PLLC

Mr. Rhodes has over seventeen years of legal experience representing government contractors on all aspects of government contracting law and commercial disputes. Having began his career as a civil litigator, Mr. Rhodes focuses on government contract litigation matters such as pre- and post-award bid protests at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and at the United States Court of Federal Claims (COFC). He has also defended size protests and other Small Business Administration (SBA) matters before the SBA’s Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA). Mr. Rhodes has also handled several commercial disputes in the state and federal courts throughout Virginia and Washington, D.C. As a veteran, Mr. Rhodes has a keen interest in the rules and regulations governing veteran-owned businesses.  

In addition to his law firm experience, Mr. Rhodes has spent several years as an in-house counsel to multiple government contractors. In those roles, Mr. Rhodes negotiated and reviewed various types of contracts from non-disclosure agreements, teaming agreements, statements of work, subcontracts, and various other commercial contracts. He also had the opportunity to roll up his sleeves and write and price proposals, which gives him a unique understanding of that aspect of the industry.  Having also served as an Ethics and Compliance Officer, Mr. Rhodes is well versed in conducting investigations and has traveled to places such as Baghdad and Timbuktu, Mali to handle ethics investigations.   

In addition to his legal career, Mr. Rhodes is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves. He has over 27 years of combined service to include multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan and possesses a TS-SCI security clearance.

Guy Timberlake
Co-Founder and Chief Visionary Officer 
GovCon Club™

For over thirty years, Go-To-Guy Timberlake™ has been a student and teacher of Government Contracting. His roots stem from his formative years supporting defense intelligence programs as far back as the first Gulf War. He is recognized as a resource for federal sector business development and competitive intelligence disciplines and shares that knowledge under the umbrella of Ethical Stalking for Government Contractors™.

With his wife, Margaret, Guy leads GovCon Club™, a reimagining of their first successful member community for Government and Industry. Guy’s nickname was given to him by Navy and Air Force customers in the 90’s because they could and did rely on him to get the job done.

Larry Stubblefield
Assoicate Administrator
U.S. Small Business Administration

Mr. Larry Stubblefield is the Associate Administrator for the Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). In this role, Mr. Stubblefield oversees the OVBD team in developing and implementing policies and programs that equip veterans, service members (active duty, National Guard, Reserve), and military spouse-owned small businesses with counseling and education, access to capital, and contracting opportunities. 

Mr. Stubblefield joined the SBA in 2016, serving as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights, and most recently as the Acting Associate Administrator for OVBD. Prior to the SBA, he held numerous leadership positions with the US Army, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Diversity and Leadership.  

Mr. Stubblefield has first-hand military experience, having served 30 years as an enlisted soldier and active duty officer in the US Army. In 2005, he retired from the military as a Colonel and was appointed to the Senior Executive Service. Mr. Stubblefield is the recipient of the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, holds an MBA from the University of Tennessee and a BS in Business Management from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University.  

Dr. Debra Suarez
Program Manager for Strategic Engagement Initiatives
U.S. Department of Education

Debra Suarez joined the office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) in 2019 as Program Manager for strategic engagement initiatives. In this role, she serves as an adviser and advocate to the OSDBU Director on small business program strategy, policy, procedural matters, and continuous improvement of service delivery in support of mission-essential goals.  Suarez is a nationally recognized expert in education and education business management. Prior to joining federal service, Debra was a university professor, designing and directing PhD and MA-TESOL programs. Prior to her professorships, she was a teacher educator and program director in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Suarez’s international experience includes serving as Invited Specialist for the US. Department of State, designing and evaluating programs around the globe, including West Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Mexico, the Middle East and South and Central America. Debra has a strong history of serving diverse populations via strategic program design and program management. Immediately prior to joining OSDBU, Debra was Senior Adviser in the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.