Scribble Talk
Baskar Sundaram and Ashley Kayes
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At Baachu Scribble, our mission is to DEMOCRATISE THE BIDDING KNOWLEDGE, sharing best free bid and proposal content in the known universe. One way we will be accomplishing this goal is through our NEW Podcast - Scribble TALK. Scribble Talk is a weekly show produced by Baachu Scribble and hosted by Ashley Kayes and myself, Baskar Sundaram. Every week, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry. https://baachuscribble.com/podcast/
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
2 days ago
Short Talk Episode 2 - Gratitude (4 lessons Pongal festival teaches us)
Today's key idea is gratitude. The episode also touches 4 lessons PONGAL (thanks giving festival for our Tamil People) teaches us.
Pongal is greatest and biggest festival for Tamils - it teaches us one thing *#gratitude*. Read more about Pongal Festival here : *https://lnkd.in/gZxdyau*)
தமிழர் திருநாள் தைப்பொங்கல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்.
On this auspicious week of the year, do not forget to celebrate the gifts of life. Show your gratitude to yourself, nature, animals, people and every little thing in your life. I pray that this festival may be the start of your brighter days filled with happiness, good luck, and prosperity. Happy Pongal 2021.
Feel free to wish me - "Happy Pongal" or "Pongal Valthukkal" in the comments.
2 days ago
Scribble Talk Episode 84 - Abhijit Majumdar (APMP India Board Member)
*Abhijit* is APMP Professional level certified (with three decades of experience in the Information Technology industry working for global IT organizations. He is one of the members of the Governing Board of APMP India.
Abhijit is a passionate and engaging trainer in Bid and Proposal management best practices and has trained over 487 participants from the industry since last 8 years. He has conducted international workshops in Singapore and Kenya, apart from different cities in India. His live online training programs today include participants from India and different countries. Participants of his training programs have a track record of 100% success in the APMP Foundation Level examination in their first attempt.
Abhijit champions the adoption of new technologies and practices to create value-differentiators for businesses. This focus led him to his role as a technology evangelist for DraftSpark, a Xerox PARC company, which he believes has the potential to change the way people are working to respond to RFPs, creating more value for their organizations.
Abhijit has spent a large part of his career winning strategic IT deals around the globe through his innovative and customer-centric approach and solutions. His last corporate stint was with Zensar Technologies until October 2016 when he left to pursue his entrepreneurial vision. His company Optimizory Technologies, which he co- founded, develops software products for systems engineering. Indglory Technologies is his personal consulting company where he trains and mentors Bid and Proposal management professionals to excel in their role and organisation.
Jan 1, 2021
Short Talk Episode 1 - Resolution or Real Solution?
2020 has been a year of challenges and it has now come to an end. *Let us make 2021 a better year*. New year gives us the opportunity to take ownership of our actions, change our habits and start to do things that support our mental, emotional and physical growth. The aim of this giveaway is to help you start your journey of personal growth and professional success.
The best step to take to *achieve a big stretch goal* is to understand very deeply why you want this goal and what motivates you to achieve sustained progress, and then address proactively your greatest fears about reaching this goal.
*Setting your goals*
The first thing to realise about goal setting is that there’s actually no such thing as *“completing” your goals. *As long as you’re growing and learning towards your future self, you’ll always keep adopting new goals and making new progress. The more you learn, the more you’ll want to discover.
Also, remember – *Your goals will draw you into situations, relationships, and endeavors that will force you to adapt, change, and improve.* Constant improvement will be its own reward and will fuel your desire for even more learning and growth. Therefore, it’s best to think about your bigger future as involving a *balanced approach to life and your goal.*
To inspire your goals, use the categories below to *articulate your vision for your future in ten crucial areas of your life*. You’ll find that some areas are easier to envision than others, but work to complete them all so that you’re maximizing all of your opportunities for growth.
Using the COMMENT SECTION provided, record the MOST important improvement you want to make in each area – 1. HEALTH 2. MONEY 3. RELATIONSHIPS 4. TIME 5. PROFESSIONAL CAPABILITIES 6. REPUTATION 7. CLIENTS & CUSTOMERS 8. DELEGATION & TEAM WORK 9. CONTRIBUTION 10. SPIRITUAL & SELF
Not sure how to set your goals, answer this very simple question – “If we were having this discussion 1 year from today, and you were to look back over that 1 year to today, what has to have happened both personally and professionally, for you to feel happy about your progress”.
*By posting your goals -resolution and sharing your post you will be holding yourself accountable. *
Yes, it might seem scary and daunting but success lies beyond your comfort zone. 2020 has shown us the strength of human resilience and the power of kindness and humanity even in the most testing times. *Let us manifest all the positive things we learned in 2020 and start 2021 on* the right note
*The steps*1. Enter your Email ID and get verified below.
2. Follow Baachu Scribble LinkedIn page below.
3. Write your resolution as a Comment below.
4. Dream. Plan. Act. (Also wait for the announcement of the results)
Join our New Year New You contest :) *
*New Year, New You - Resolution Contest & Giveaway - Baachu Scribble
Dec 31, 2020
Baachu Short Talk Intro - discover the most essential nuggets and helpful ideas into a pack you can explore in about 5 minutes.
Until recently, we’ve focused our articles and blogs in text format. Now, we’re adding podcasts to the mix. As lovers of great audio, we work hard to make sure our blogs are warm, pleasurable, and informative to listen to.
A Short Talk is a short version of a podcast episode crafted around its key ideas. Every Monday and Thursday, we’ll share new episodes to make sure you have access to the best ideas.
And now with Short Talks, *Baskar Sundaram, Baachu chief executive* will help you discover the most essential nuggets and pull out the most useful, interesting, and helpful ideas into a pack you can explore in about 5 minutes.
Dec 24, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 86 - Diana Parker (Proposal Leader, Microsoft, Hiker, Runner, Paddle boarding, Art)
Diana leads Microsoft’s newly formed, Proposal Center of Excellence, based in Redmond, Washington. The team of around 40 proposal professionals serves all sectors of Microsoft’s business globally and provides best practice approaches to proposals for the Microsoft sales team.
Originally from the UK, Diana moved to Microsoft headquarters in August 2019 following 6 ½ years in field sales and sales leadership at Microsoft UK. In her last role in the UK she led the sales team focused on the Retail & CPG sector. Prior to Microsoft Diana spent many years at IBM in sales roles.
Dec 14, 2020
SMA Exclusive Episode 6 - Amanda Traxler (Copy editing, Newspaper editorial, Writing poetry, US Healthcare solutions, Hunger game, 100 years of solitude, Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, Ice Ice Baby, Ice cream anti social, College basketball)
*Amanda Traxler*
1) Born in LA and raised in Kansas, lived in NYC, Chicago, LA (and now back in Chicago area)--love cities but like to be on the periphery (In Elk Grove Village we have elks)
2) Also have an MFA with poetry from the Art Institute of Chicago
3) My Career Path started with a Journalism degree -> Newspaper Copy Editor -> B2B Marketing -> Content Creator for Proposal Database -> Commercial Proposal Writing -> Gov't Program Proposal Writer
4) healthcare and software have become mainstays (Fascinated by IO and cloud-native)
5) First gig with SMA was in aerospace at Virgin Orbit (Rocket Factory); it was amazing
Dec 7, 2020
SMA Exclusive Episode 5 - Danny Long (Its OK - #1 kindness episode, Road Warrior, Make the world a better place, Samurai Sudoko, Repurpose furniture, Empathy, cowboy, Winston Churchill)
Experienced, successful program and market segment Business Development, Capture and Proposal Management for nuclear, infrastructure, site services, and Federal asset management. Projects include national and international multi-billion dollar Air Force, Navy, Army, other DOD, NASA, Department of Energy, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Postal Service contracts. Demonstrated expertise in life-cycle and infrastructure reinvestment planning, baseline and cost control, productivity improvement, Small Business/Small Disadvantaged Business subcontracting, and labor relations management. Consistently brought projects in ahead of schedule and under budget. He has a direct understanding of capture management requirements and evaluation criteria from both a Government and commercial customer perspective. Successful record in the development and delivery of innovative proposals, projects, products and services leveraging core competencies to maximize business diversification and growth. Domains include Defense, Intelligence, Telecommunications, Logistics, and Information Technology Market & Program Business Development, Capture and Proposal Management. Extensive briefing and presentation experience.
Nov 28, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 83 Isabel Moritz (APMP UK Veteran)
In 2004 *Isabel Moritz *had one of those ‘Ahah’ moments, when she recognised that putting together responses to tenders was what she should have been doing, instead of her current job. She did, however, stayed there to practise her bid skills until three years later, when the company was sold. Ever since then Isabel has been a freelance bid writer, mainly supporting technical and engineering bids. For this she has drawn on her family engineering background and her years of experience in technical sales. Isabel feels she is very at home with engineers and technicians, even if they are busy and overstretched, when she help them by doing as much as possible of the work before sending it to them for review.
Charitable funding bids are some of the types of pro bono work she get involved with, as well as other voluntary organisations.
APMP has figured enormously in her bid career and she spent from 2010 to 2016 organising and initiating training events around the country, helped by a small but able team. APMP still occupies some of her spare time, as for so many others. According to Isabel, it is the voluntary aspect of people’s contributions that is so inspiring.
Over the past five years she has focussed on the inclusion of APMP modules and best practices into university business degrees. Isabel is also part of APMP Intentional Career Path committee and am serving on the APMP CIC committee.
Nov 25, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 81 Karen Althen (Reader, Explorer, APMP UK Events Director)
*Karen Althen* is Senior Bid Manager and has been involved in bid
production and bid management for around 15 years. Throughout her career she has been excited by change and growth in the company. Karen enjoys working on and winning complex bids, particularly under the Competitive Dialogue procedure where she has been involved in managing significant wins.
Karen is qualified to APMP Professional level. Karen is Events Director for APMP UK and she organises member events throughout the country and enjoys meeting people and mentoring members through the certification process.
She has been previously presented at APMP UK national conference and the International Conference in the USA in addition to presenting at local events throughout the UK.
Nov 22, 2020
SMA Exclusive Episode 4 - Brenda Ballard (Avid reader, published author, professional knitter, advanced book folding expert, cyber attack incident, SMA Proposal Assessment Tool)
*Brenda Ballard* is an accomplished proposal professional with more than 20 years' experience in developing winning proposals for myriad clients and industries. Employing
actionable leading practices, her experience has spanned education, non-profit, IT, military, government, commercial, healthcare, science, and many other business spaces. Her personal win record includes more than $1.1 billion in awards while maintaining a 92% win rate. An expert in change mastery and joyous living, she is known for simplifying complex problems and creating actionable and effective solutions with measurable results.
Nov 18, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 82 Karin Mellow (APMP GA Chattahoochee Chapter)
*Karin Mellow* began her proposal career in 1997.Starting her career in IT, she has also worked in the Financial services field and Medical billing. She has experience in most proposal positions, including proposal writing, business engagement, database creation and management, and proposal management. Her focus is Government (State, Local, Fed, Ed), but also excels in large, commercial opportunities. Karin enjoys reading and gardening and spends a lot of time on her fixer upper house in Atlanta. She has a 16 year old son and a dog named Cujo. Karin completed her studies in Texas; BA in Psychology and an MBA in International Business. She is a certified APMP Foundation level.
Nov 13, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 79 - Heather Kirkpatrick (Rose Lover, Nature, Pride, APMP California Chair)
*Heather Kirkpatrick*, CP APMP is currently serving as Business Development Analyst at Pride Industries. She has been with the firm for 14 years taking various roles from Research Anaalyst, Proposal Development Coordinator and recently as Business Development Coordinator. Heather is an APMP 40 under 40 award winner and also serves in the APMP California Chapter as Chapter Chair. She joined the California board in 2015 as Membership Director. Heather is APMP foundation certified and has degree in Political Science and Government at the University of California, Sacramento.
Nov 11, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 80 - Sandy Luttrell (Painter, Decorator, Screenplay writer, Scotland lover, 50 year relationship with English penpal, Georgia Chattahoochee APMP Chapter Membership Chair, Southern Proposal Accent Conference (SPAC) conference Coordina
*Sandy Luttrell* has over 30+ experience in the bid and proposal industry and has worked for three great companies in her career. Her involvement with the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) started more than 15 years ago initially as a member attending her local Georgia Chattahoochee APMP Chapter meetings then she took bigger role by joining the chapter board. Sandy was the Membership Chair for 6 years and the Promotions Chair for almost two years. She has also given presentations at the National APMP conference in Savanna, GA. Also, for more than eight years, she was heavily involved with the annual Southern Proposal Accent Conference (SPAC) conference that was sponsored by the Georgia, Florida, and Carolinas chapters. Sandy is APMP Foundation certified.
Sandy recently moved to Washington DC and is exploring the possibility of getting back into the proposal management world. Sandy attended the University of South Florida and received her BA degree in…
Nov 9, 2020
SMA Exclusive Episode 3 - Alvin Whitt (US Airforce Major, Chief, MILSATCOM Logistics Integration, Sitting on the Chair, Finding retirement home, Smile a lot, British Humour, Fishing, Can you believe that movie, Dracula, Winston Churchill)
Alvin (Al) S. Whitt is a Principle Associate for SM&A, formerly Steven Meyers & Associates. SM&A is the world’s foremost management consulting firm providing leadership and mentoring solutions to position clients to PURSUE the right business opportunities, WIN new business, and PERFORM complex projects and programs.
Mr. Whitt is an executive level consultant for proposal development and program management services in both public and private industries. He leads integrated product teams through all phases of proposal and program execution from inception to completion. He guides the teams in the preparation of proposals, business plans, proposal work statements and specifications, operating budget and financial terms and conditions of contracts. He is an expert in Logistics enterprise, technology insertion, engineering change management, proposal development, program management, program assessments, program affordability analysis, configuration and data management, and moder…
Nov 7, 2020
SMA Exclusive Episode 2 - Alan Berman (Chemical Engineer, entrepreneur in residence, tribologist, strategy consultant, road biker, DIY Home - Hardware, plumbing, electrical specialist)
Alan Berman is Vice President for Research and Strategic Initiatives at SMA, Inc. He specializes in market analysis, strategy development, and new business creation. He focuses on growing the SMA business through new systems and processes to enable rapid scaling in core and adjacent markets. Alan also leads the SMA Research team, which conducts analysis on government contractors, major programs, and government agencies, to support business development and client engagement teams. Prior to SMA, Alan spent 11 years in strategy consulting at Monitor Group and Deloitte Consulting, focused on growth strategy and innovation. In that role, he led engagements with clients that included senior leaders of Fortune 500 companies, emerging technology-based firms, and the Department of Defense. These engagements tackled thorny challenges with multi-billion dollar implications. The projects spanned the aerospace & defense, healthcare, automotive, and consumer electronics industries. Prior to consulti…
Nov 2, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 78 - Edith Lopez (Chemical Engineer, APMP Maple Leaf, University Teacher Trainee, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Lover, Biker, Trail Walker, Family, Venezuelan heritage, Crafter, Jewellery designer)
*Edith Lopez* is a Venezuelan and Canadian passionate Proposal Manager with + 14 years of experience, in the Telecom sector, and always in the Bid & Proposals Management field, filling roles as a Bid Manager and Team Leader; in Latin-American and North America markets; mainly for Private Customers and complex proposals, some of them raising billionaire sizes. She is Chemical Engineer, with a specialization, and master’s degree in Project Management; in 2014 she obtained the CF and CP APMP Certificate (Certified Practitioner, APMP Member), in 2015 a Certification in Business Communications (Mount Royal University), and in 2018 the CPP Certificate that she just renewed it.
Additionally, to her full-time job in Nokia as a seasoned Bid Manager, Edith is an active member of the APMP “Maple Leaf” Chapter, in the past, she was Communications Chair and Western Region Chair, mentor for the mentorship program; besides, within Nokia, she is member of a group that promotes Women inclusion i…
Nov 1, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 77 Lauren Daitz (Ex. APMP Liberty Chapter Board Member, Hiker, Reiki Practitioner)
*Lauren Daitz,* CF APMP has been a proposal manager since 2005, after starting her career in marketing. She discovered the APMP in about 2007 and has been an active member since then, serving as Communications Chair of the NY Metro Chapter (now the Liberty Chapter) from 2009 to 2015. Lauren has spent her entire proposal management career in the business / commercial sector, in health care and the recognition industry, leading the proposal efforts for some of the largest pieces of business for the companies she has worked for. She specialized in managing small teams, wearing multiple hats throughout the sales cycle. In addition to proposal management, Lauren oversees the sales administration team and is the primary liaison for our division’s contracts.
Outside of work, Lauren enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, and spending time outdoors in fresh air, from the beach to the forest including Hiking. Since her involvement with yoga, Lauren started a regular meditation…
Oct 30, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 76 - Mitch Boretz (APMP California board member, APMP Non profit veteran, Cyclist, Photographer)
*Mitch Boretz *has been managing proposals for engineering research and education at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) since 1996. He helps faculty and researchers identify funding opportunities, develop pursuit plans, and write and submit winning proposals. He joined APMP in 1998 and became a Fellow, one of only a handful from the non-profit sector, in 2008. He has served on the APMP California board (and its predecessor Southern California chapter board)in many capacities over the years, and in 2010 he led an APMP task force on “rich media,” which sought to set standards for video and interactivity in proposals. Mitch’s group manages approximately 600 proposals per year to government agencies, industry, and foundations, producing about $50 million per year in grant and contract awards. Mitch has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and worked for about 12 years in newspapers before the transition to proposals. He is aiming to retire at…
Oct 15, 2020
Scribble Talk episode 75 - Sarah Hinchliffe (Shipley trainer and consultant, APMP 2020 UK Award Judge, Chef and Garden Enthusiast)
Since 2012, *Sarah Hinchliffe * has been helping clients win more business by improving the quality and professionalism of their sales and bidding skills. She works with large, medium and small businesses with a big focus on Public Sector tenders.
Sarah’s work today is built on a successful thirty-year career selling in the technology industry where she worked her way up from a rookie to a director. During that time, she was formally trained in key sales methodologies, including SPIN, Miller Heiman, Strategic Selling and Solution Selling. She developed an affinity with bidding – it plays to her strengths as a storyteller, an organiser and a timekeeper. Attending the Shipley bid management course in 2009 ignited her determination to switch careers and she has been a certified Shipley trainer and consultant since 2012.
Sarah regularly writes articles for professional sales and bid publications including APMP presentations.
In her spare time, she works hard on her home and gar…
Oct 15, 2020
Scribble Talk episode 74 - Keith Propst (APMP Fellow, Golfer, Guitarist, Magazine Articles, Drawing, Ex chair - Georgia Chattahoochee APMP chapter, Co - Chair for the Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC)
*Keith Propst* retired in 2018 with 30 years of experience in proposal management. He held proposal-related positions with two high tech companies for most of this time, with a 3-year period of independent proposal contracting between companies. Like most proposal professionals, Keith was drafted into proposal work unintentionally. He worked as a hands-on proposal manager as well as a director of a proposal organization. Before making the leap into proposal work, Keith worked for several Georgia-based manufacturing companies in a variety of roles.
APMP was a major factor in Keith’s success. APMP contacts helped him get started as an independent contractor and led directly to his second proposal position, which lasted 13 years. For more than 20 years, Keith filled a variety of leadership roles with the Georgia Chattahoochee APMP chapter, starting as program co-chair, then chapter chair for several years, and finally treasurer. He also served as co-chair for the Southern Proposal Acce…
Oct 13, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 73 - Bobbie O Brien (Founding Co-Chair APMP NY Metro Chapter, GoGo Dancer, Horseback rider, History buff, Wannabe Cowboy, Ex. APMP International Board Member)
*Bobbie O’Brien*, CF APMP Fellow, continues her attempt to retire. Having been lured from that idyllic state three years ago; another attempt will begin again in soon and also will probably only a few months! With almost 30 years’ experience in the Federal sector, she provides leadership to diverse proposal teams with direct accountability for leading strategic opportunities as well as development and continuous improvement of processes. Bobbie served on APMP’s international board (regional and strategic initiatives director); and was founding co-chair of the Liberty Chapter formerly known as NY Metro.
Oct 12, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 72 - David Gray (Dads Rock, Jose Mourinho connection, Guitarist, APMP 40 under 40 Winner, Work Hard and Be nice to people)
*David Gray* is Managing Director of AM Bid, a leading bidding and proposals specialist working with clients in a broad range of sectors across the UK, Ireland and Europe. David has over 14 years’ experience in bids and proposals, leading high-performance bid teams to success on high-value contracts, including those with national government departments, health agencies and commercial organisations across Europe. David is an accomplished trainer and has delivered bespoke in-house capture and bid training to organisations ranging from start-ups to multinational organisations. His contribution to the bidding and proposal industry was recognised in 2019, when he was included in the APMP’s global 40 Under 40 award recipients. David also speaks regularly at international conferences and events and is a regular contributor to APMP. David is based in Edinburgh, where he lives an active and busy life with his wife and two young children.
Oct 8, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 71 - Rita Mascia CPP (Father's secretary, Tourist Rep, Martial Arts Black Belt, 5000km drive from LA to NY, Independent movie lover, Cheese pasta specialist, ex. APMP Board Member)
*Rita Mascia* is Global Bid Manager at Altro Rail and has been leading bids in APAC, EMEA and North America. Since 2000, Rita has been involved in Business Development & Capture activities, Bid Writing, Bid Management and Training & Development. An active APMP member from 2012, Rita has presented at both the APMP UK and APMP Bid Con. She was a finalist in the 2019 APMP Individual Impact Award having been nominated for her impact setting up a Bid Management programme for Altro Rail.
Rita was a Board Member of APMP UK in the role of Certification Director (2015-16). Since 2013 Rita has been volunteering as a coach and mentor to a number of fundraising professionals through the Small Charity Coalition and also informally through personal contacts.
In addition to being a Certified Professional (CPP APMP) Rita is also a certified Prince2 Project Management Practitioner and holds a level 7 Executive Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership (MCMI) from the Chartered Management…
Oct 5, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 70 - Ken Erskine (Erky, Been on TV 3 times, Trust in yourself, Always look for different path, Seek Challenge, Always learning, Always Improving, Ex. APMP UK and APMP International Board Member, APMP UK 2020 Award Judge)
*Ken Erskine* highly experienced professional with over thirty years of bidding experience in major building and infrastructure programmes across the UK. Having successfully won in excess of £25bn of bids over his career, Ken is a keen advocate of the APMP and is a champion of promoting industry best practise. He previously served on the APMP UK Board for ten years and on the International Board for two years. His roles included six tenures as UK Conference Director and two tenures as Chapter Chair (2010 and 2014).
Oct 3, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 69 - Pippa Birch (Pipster, Obstacle Course Runner, Think before you do, Turn every page, Simple Soul, APMP UK 2020 Award Judge)
*Pippa Birch* has worked in bidding for almost 20 years, the last eight as a freelancer. Her specialism is highways; however, she works with a diverse range of clients across many sectors. Pipster Solutions has become a successful, sustainable business with over 40 clients, providing bid writing, editing, management, coaching, and ongoing support. Pippa is a fan of keeping things simple, a champion of small companies and a supporter of creating and maintaining healthy connections with other bidding professionals. She wants young people to have easy access to information about amazing careers in bidding. Pippa is CPP APMP, APMP UK Rapport Mentor, Member of the Intentional Career Path Committee and is on APMP UK Awards 2020 Committee. Pippa also hosts #ThursdayThrong and #BidBites host and is part of the Bidding Quarterly award-winning team and a coach for APMP Professional submissions!
Oct 2, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 67 - Karina Ames (Private Investigator, Cold Play Fan, Writer, Oil Painter, Pianist, APMP ANZ Chair, Hop Dancer, Marge Simpson)
*Karina Ames* is experienced in winning work for engineering consultancies and currently leads Arup’s Infrastructure pursuit and bidding team in Australasia. She previously worked as a private investigator and with the Victorian Government. Karina holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne, APMP Foundation Certification and was a 2019 APMP 40 under 40 winner. She has been an APMP ANZ committee member since 2016 and the Chapter Chair since 2019. This year, the chapter won the 2020 Stephen P. Shipley Chapter of the Year award.
Sep 30, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 68 - Neil Cobb (Lead Singer, Rhythm guitarist, Church workship team leader, Avid reader, 6 Patents, Risotta Man, Be alert, Co - Author - Writing Business Bids and Proposals for Dummies)
*Neil Cobb*, APMP Fellow, is the former executive director of the AT&T Proposal and Knowledge Management Center. He is now retired after a 35-year career in telecommunications, 25+ years in proposal development and leadership, content management and repurposing, and marketing communication. Neil was also a college lecturer at the University of North Texas in Technical Communication for 3 years. Neil authored – Writing Business Bids and Proposals for Dummies (Wylie & Sons, 2016) with Charlie Devine, which presents the collected body of knowledge from the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) for newcomers to the proposal profession.
Neil holds six U.S. patents for his content authoring and repurposing methods and systems. Neil also led the Intentional Career Path (ICP) workshops at recent APMP Winning Business Virtual Experience (WBVE).
Sep 28, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 63 - Neal Levene (Nebel, Cruise lover, Grandpa's Amusement Park, PMP Certification Incident, Stephen King 1st Edition Collector, lifelong Orioles Baseball fan, groudhog day and Catch 22, He showed up, APMP NCA Chapter Board Member)
*Neal Levene,* CPP APMP is the Director of Proposal Management, Siemens Government Technologies. He has 30 years of sustained, progressive, and successful proposal development experience. He was previously the President and CEO of two small businesses, a 20-person, Data Warehouse company and a sole practitioner Proposal Management consultancy. He first caught the proposal bug shortly after graduating college when he was first asked to help out on resume preparation, and he never looked back. He is serving his third year on the Board of the National Capital Area Chapter of APMP, currently as the Technology Chair. He appreciates the opportunity to give back to the industry that has given him so much. Neal has been an active member of APMP since 2010, and he recently presented at the 2017, 2018, and 2019 Bid & Proposal Conference. In addition to APMP’s Professional Level Certification, Neal also holds a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from the Project Management Inst…
Sep 27, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 66 - Suzanne Jones (Trouble, Suzz, Tornado delivery, Never got a speeding ticket, photographer, Never drank coffee, Exercise lover, APMP 40 under 40, APMP Fellow, APMP Executive of the year 2020, Travelled to 48 of the 50 US states)
*Suzanne Jones*, CP APMP Fellow, has made her career as a capture/proposal professional. She is a Proposal Director and Business Winning Leader for one of the top U.S. defense contractors. Her winning record includes many billions in new and hyper-competitive wins in three top-ranked companies.
In 18 years, Suzanne has proven to be a capable leader in a complex industry. While gaining valuable experience, Suzanne has given back to the profession by volunteering her time to the APMP. She served on the Board of Directors (BOD) of the Nor’easters chapter for 4 years (1 as Secretary, 3 as President). During that time, she was instrumental in growing their membership and event attendance, and leading their award-winning annual symposia. In 2013, Suzanne won Chapter President of the Year.
Suzanne also served on the APMP International BOD for 5 years, 3 of those as an Officer [COO (2014); CEO (2015); and Past CEO (2016)] during a major time of transition. Under her leadership in 2…
Sep 23, 2020
Scribble Scholarships 2020 Exclusive (Why Education is my passion?, My father, Who does the scholarships honour, my 40th birthday special, walking without slippers, challenge details, APMP Memberships, SMA wow2k)
I did a short 15 min podcast episode to share the story behind scribble scholarships. In this special episode I cover,
* What is this Baachu Scribble Scholarship Challenge and should I Join?
* Why is it honouring Tony Birch, Late Howard Nutt, Alan Howard, Nic Adams and Cathy Day?
* How my early school life inspired Baachu Social Impact including Scribble Scholarships?
* Why education is my passion and Why I will be never be rich?
* How Scholarship Challenge relates to APMP certifications and wow2k campaign?
If you are considering APMP certifications or know some one looking to pursue APMP then please share.
Scribble Scholarship Challenge is FREE.
https://baachuscribble.com/scribble-scholarship-challenge/
*What Is The Baachu Scribble Scholarship Challenge?*
The Baachu Scribble Scholarship Challenge 2020 is a 45 min quiz challenge designed to accelerate your journey towards APMP certifications. Its FREE. The challenge has 100 Quiz based on bid and proposals a…
Sep 22, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 64 - Sunil Agrawal (Airforce career, 100 days running challenge, 2014 blue ribbon BOK panel, APMP India Chair)
*Sunil* has over 18 years of experience in Defence, IT & Telecom and Facilities Management sectors and has worked with MNCs like Thales Group, Ericsson and ISS A/S. Sunil is currently, the Head of Commercial Excellence (APAC) at ISS A/S, a facility management company headquartered in Denmark. At ISS A/S, Sunil established the Commercial Excellence function which encompasses of Bid Management, Price Management, CRM Administration, Graphics Designing and Knowledge Management. As a member of the ISS Asia Pacific Commercial Leadership Team, he supports the development and execution of the regional commercial strategy and governance, associated reporting and commercial model sign-offs.
Prior to his Corporate stint, Sunil has served as an officer in the elite Indian Air Force for 10 years. Sunil is the Chair of APMP India and a member of the Intentional Career Path Committee of APMP International. He is part of APMP 40 Under 40-Class of 2020 and was a Blue Ribbon Panel member for the APMP-B…
Sep 10, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 62 - Mairi Morrison (Mental Health Awareness Icon, Applied for proposal role in newspaper, scared of dogs, draw nude people, Mensa member, Geo catching, One Author books, APMP UK Board Member)
*Mairi Morrison *originally started her working life as a graphic designer, moving into bid and proposal management 18 years ago. She’s an all-rounder in the profession, with an excellent track record of proposal management – winning complex multi-million global bids for corporate companies; bid writing – helping clients focus their words on the customer, as well as successfully hitting the dreaded word and character count, and bid strategy. She’s worked across most sectors, in the UK and the US, and worked on specific deals in Greece, Kuwait, Norway and South Africa. Having worked her way up the ranks from small company to corporate life, she now works for Strategic Proposals. Mairi’s been a member of the APMP since 2014 and won the Bid Excellence award in 2015. Holding APMP Professional certification, Mairi now also sits on the APMP UK Board as Marketing & Communications Director. She’s also actively engaged in thought leadership, publishing her research paper on “Menta…
Sep 9, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 65 - Shubhada Kulkarni (APMP 40 under 40 winner, Charlie Devine Scholarship Winner, Introvert, Tattoos, HOPE, Accessories, Violin, Haruki Murakami Lover, K pop, SRK, Hulk, Voice your opinion)
*Shubhada* is APMP certified at the Practitioner level and this year’s APMP’s 40 under 40 awardee. She has recently debuted at the APMP WBVE, sharing her experiences and learning about Proposal Management in IT industry. Currently, she working as a proposal quality reviewer with Fujitsu Consulting India. She has over 14 years of experience into Presales and Business Development. Through her career span, she has served various roles such as project engineer, system design engineer, technical writer, manual tester and proposal manager. While working on her first proposal for an intelligent traffic management system, she caught the proposal bug and she never looked back. The ability to bridge the gap between Sales and Solution Delivery is what intrigues her about the Presales function. She is a budding grammar stickler and in her current role, she provides feedback on improving the compelling nature of the proposals.
Shubhada holds a Bachelor degree in Instrumentation and Control f…
Sep 4, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 61 - Jeremy Glover (special co-host Valerie Kessie), Recreational fishing, Batman FAN, Basketball player, Family first, APMP 40 under 40, Black Lives Matter)
We have a special co-host this episode - Valerie Kessie, APMP 40 under 40 winner.
*Jeremy Glover* is a TS cleared, certified Project Management
Professional (PMP) with 10 years of proposal and project management
experience with a track record of multiple billion-dollar proposal
wins. Jeremy graduated with a bachelors of arts degree from
The University of Virginia and currently works as a proposal manager lead
for Lockheed Martin. Jeremy is also a 2020 APMP 40 under 40 award winner.
Listen to the legend from the recent Scribble Talk Mix and Mingle at APMP WBVE.
Can you guess his 2 truth and a lie?
Sep 3, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 60 - Maria Flikkema (Proposal Addict, Chemistry degree, Iraq born, Tik Tok, Strawberries, Family, Shopper, APMP Maple Leaf Chapter )
*Maria Flikkema* directs proposal development for IBI Group. With a primary focus on the Canada East region, she has managed large scale proposals across the firm globally and provides strategic direction to proposal teams outside of the Toronto headquarters. Overseeing all aspects of proposal activities, including management of proposal deadlines and progress, and directing the Canada East proposal team, Maria is also responsible for developing a wide variety of customized marketing materials for new pursuits and contract renewals. Having been with the firm for more than 12 years, Maria has a proven track record delivering winning, multi-million to -billion dollar proposals under challenging deadlines for both public- and private-sector clients.
Aug 30, 2020
Scribble Talk SMA Exclusive - Jacque Keats (SMA - TOD COO, APMP Wind down Webinar, Software Developer, Mechanically inclined, I dont quit, professional musician)
As the Chief Operations Officer at SMA, Inc. I have spent the past 12 years creating a work environment that ensure the world’s best talent can focus on what they do best. As a Software Engineer, I am recognized in industry as expert in the field of system design and integration for project management, developing and implementing award winning scheduling, resource planning, costing, and enterprise project management systems for fortune 500 companies and government agencies. Including direct responsibility for bringing five commercial software applications (SMA Talent On Demand (TOD), TRAKKER, iPursuit, iPortfolio, and Traction) to market with cumulative revenues over $50M I have received industry and government awards for successful project management and earned value systems implementations including recognition from: Brookhaven National Labs, Xerox, Boeing, National Missile Defense Program, Navy, and Army.
TOD : https://tod.smawins.com/TOD_Web/
SMA : https://smawins.com/
Scr…
Aug 24, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 59 - Sonya Wooley (Certified Sailer, Taekwondo Instructor, Mountain Biker, Wight lifter, Ernest Hemmingway fan, Past APMP International Board Member)
*Sonya Wooley* is the President of Mammoth Technologies, LLC, a small boutique proposal firm specializing in proposal management for small business federal contractors. She has over fifteen years of experience in business development, proposal preparation and management, and pricing for federal government opportunities. She has generated proposals valued from $25 thousand to over $1 billion, acting as both Proposal Manager and Capture Manager for small to mid-sized government contracting firms. Sonya has a MA in Behavioral Science from University of Houston-Clear Lake, and received her BA in History from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. She has served as the Chapter Chair for the Lone Star Chapter of APMP for seven years, served on the international board of APMP from 2015 to 2016, and currently serves on multiple APMP committees
Aug 23, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 58 - Christopher S. Kälin (Mr.Chocolate, Wannabe fighter pilot, Realist, private jet submission, Structure freak, lord of the rings fan, everything electronics, Organiser - Bid and Proposal Virtual Summit, APMP DACH co-founder)
*Christopher S. Kälin, CPP APMP Fellow *is a global authority on bid and proposal management. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of CSK Management. He has worked with companies around the world to improve success rates, generating over 50 billion dollars in business across many industries, including IT, telecoms, defence, transportation, financial industries, event organisation, gambling and business outsourcing. He developed the BidMaster™ Framework and the Storyline Method™ for developing compelling proposals. Chris regularly presents at business development conferences and sales conventions around the globe and conducts live and virtual training programmes on Winning business with convincing proposals and bid management best practices.
Chris was co-founder and chairman of the German-speaking APMP chapter (Association of Proposal Management Professionals) and regional director for Europe/Africa. He is APMP-certified at Professional Level (CPP APMP) and is an APMP Approved T…
Aug 19, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 57 - Mark Taylor (Child prodigy in Arts, 1980s television celebrity star, Reflective practitioner, people pictures and patterns, Be here now, choose your boss, leadership masterclass, Shipley UK Managing Director)
*Mark Taylor *is Managing Director and a Founder Member of Shipley UK. Having studied Electronic Engineering with Medical Electronics, Mark embarked on a generalist journey spanning 15 years in medical equipment manufacturing, aerospace and defence. He held roles in production engineering, design engineering, engineering consultancy and business winning. Mark pursued his practical enthusiasm for lifelong learning at Nottingham Trent University where he was Course Leader for an Executive MBA Course and subsequently as Head of Training for Linklaters, an international Law Firm.
During his 19 years with Shipley, Mark has been lucky to work with inspiring clients for whom he has designed multinational business winning curriculum’s and delivered over 500 workshops. Always, Mark’s aim is to enthuse specialists from all disciplines to become involved in business winning and to help them develop the skills to do so.
Mark is from Bermondsey and now lives in Worcester with his super wife…
Aug 17, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 56 Gareth Earle (Queen Elizabeth I espionage specialist, Culture Club, Swansea Lover, Navy reservist, Duran Duran Fan, APMP UK Chair)
Gareth has been in bid and proposal management pretty much throughout the whole of his career, with nearly 15 years’ experience in managing the submission of winning bids and leading the delivery of projects and programmes to achieve customer and business objectives. He made the conscious decision to specialise in the profession 7 years ago.
Gareth has been on the other side of the table, evaluating proposals and commissioning work for a major technical and social change programme on behalf of the BBC. For the past 5 years, Gareth has worked for TP Group, a specialist engineering and consultancy company, where he has developed and implemented TP Group’s Bidding Process and is the bid and project management office function owner across the Group globally.
Gareth has been a member of APMP since 2015. Ever since joining, Gareth has been a great supporter of APMP, encouraging other bid professionals to join and pursue certification, as well as attending best practice sharing events.…
Aug 15, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 55 - Gillian Dionne (200,000 Mile Travel in 2019, Florida Tennis Champion - No 1 in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles, Butterfly Yard , APMP Fellow)
After 23 years in the DC metro area working for various federal contractors including The MITRE Corporation, General Dynamics IT, and several 8(a) companies, *Gillian Dionne* is now a one-woman proposal shop based on the Space Coast of Florida. Eau Gallie by the Sea Proposal Consulting focuses on helping small businesses win federal and state contracts. An APMP member since 2001, Gillian has presented at numerous international and regional APMP conferences and professional days, served as a certification mentor, served on the APMP International Board of Directors, and is currently the Venue/Hotel Coordinator for the Southern Proposal Accent Conference (SPAC). She is certified at the practitioner level (CP APMP).
Aug 9, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 54 Mike Walsh (APMP Current Chair, Walshy - ocean swimmer, middle school history teacher, fire training captain)
*Mike Walsh*, CF APMP is the current Chair of APMP. Concurrently, he leads the Alumni and Strategic Business Development efforts for EY’s Financial Services Organization. Mike has spent his entire time at EY in Business Development, starting more than 8 years ago as a Communications and Pursuit Strategist then leading the Service Line Enablement team prior to taking his current role. He was first introduced to proposal management while at Odyssey Systems Consulting Group, a midsized defense contractor. His professional career began 24 years ago as an officer in the US Coast Guard, and since then has taken a few twists and turns on its way to Business Development including stints as a Fire Training Captain for the State of New Hampshire, a middle and high school English and History teacher.
Mike received a B.S. in Government from the US Coast Guard Academy and M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University. He has been on the Nor’easters board of directors since 2012 and…
Aug 6, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 53 - Ginny Carson (Past APMP Chair, Sweet Virginia - Entrepreneur, 200 mile cross country runner, Water skier, Fly fisher, Risk analyst, Rolling stones fan, Waitress)
*Ginny* *Carson* is the Director of the Business Development Resource Center (BDRC) at Life Cycle Engineering. BDRC functions include BD Process Development and Support, Competitive and Market Intelligence Research, Opportunity Identification and Development, Account Management, Capture Planning and Proposal Support. Life Cycle Engineering provides engineering solutions that deliver lasting results for private industry, public entities, government organizations and the military.
In this episode, I also share Howard's impact on my life and the why behind Scribble Talk... Listen in.
Aug 4, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 52 Valerie Kessie (APMP 40 under 40 Winner, DC Comic Fan, Such is Life:)
As the only named Federal Proposal Manager at Michael Baker International, Valerie leads the proposal team through complex federal and state proposal pursuits as well as facilitating capture planning and strategy meetings on company must-win architecture / engineering / construction efforts worth millions of dollars. Valerie has diverse marketing and communications experience in developing, implementing, and managing large-scale, complex, and multi-million-dollar submittals for federal, state and local, education, aviation, commercial, and defense markets.
Valerie developed “Cover Letter/Executive Summary'' manual within the Proposal Development (PD) group at Michael Baker. The manual is shared to new hires during their on-board training, as well as to current hires to be used as a refresher in developing strategic narrative content. Additionally, Valerie provides six to eight weeks mentoring and training to new hires, and refresher training to PD staff. Valerie is Winner of APM…
Jul 30, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 51 David Sotolongo (Live in the moment, Zombie fan)
David Sotolongo is a proposal development consultant working from his home in Durham, NC. Previously, he served as vice president of RTI International’s Multimedia Communications Services. In this capacity, he led a staff of 85 communications and publishing services professionals who provide full-service support in publications, graphic design, editing and writing, and product development, as well as multimedia design, conference and meeting support, and media and audience outreach. Mr. Sotolongo is also vice president of business and proposal development at RTI, comprising more than 2,000 staff and $750M in annual revenue.
Previously he started and led RTI’s proposal development group, that is responsible for managing and submitting more than 1,000 proposals annually at a bid value in excess of $1B.
David, is APMP professional accredited, was the conference Co-Chair for APMP Bid & Proposal Con 2013, former APMP Board member and Carolinas Chapter co-founder. David also co-…
Jul 25, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 50 Nigel Dennis CPP APMP Fellow (Airforce engineer, long jumper, world record holder for 3 hours, theatre artist, trombone player, Most Qualified Proposal Professional in Australia)
Nigel is a proposal pioneer in Australia and has arguably done more to shape the landscape of bidding professionalism in Australia than any other person in the region. He started the APMP Australia New Zealand Chapter, was the first Australian to achieve APMP Professional certification and is the only Australian APMP Fellow.
Nigel now runs BidWrite, a company he co-founded in 2008 and which is now Australia’s largest (by staff numbers) specialist bid consultancy. With degrees in engineering and business, and with bidding experience of 26 years, he is a strong advocate for development of the proposal profession.
In his spare time, Nigel has been a serial volunteer for local community and association committees. He has pared that activity down of late and so has more time to pursue his other interests of gardening, music, sport, and tinkering in his shed. He plays trombone in an 18-piece swing band (The Oz Big Band), still plays the odd game of cricket in summer and is a father to…
Jul 22, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 49 Wolfram Seyring (International German, Co-Founder APMP DACH, Founder APMP India)
Wolfram Seyring has more than 26 years of experience in business development, sales and sales support with national and international clients.
Wolfram owns Shipley GmbH, Shipley Associates, SEYRING GmbH and co-founder of BidBox GmbH, registered in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 2011. Previously. Wolfram was Global Head of Sales – VimpelCom at NSN, Head of CMO Restructuring –Global at NSN, VP/Head of Global Sales Support – Global at NSN/Nokia, Account Director – France Telecom Germany at Nokia, Global Account Executive – Deutsche Telekom at Ericsson.
Wolfram also led diverse workshops on capture and bid management as well as on writing winning proposals and implementing successfully processes in defence, aerospace, telecommunications and transport sectors.
Wolfram was co-founder of APMP DACH in 2007. He is also an APMP certified proposal manager. Wolfram Seyring holds a degree in Electrical Engineering (Applied Science, Düsseldorf) and has had considerable additional busin…
Jul 18, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 48 Sarah Jones (APMP Middle East Founder)
Sarah is an APMP-qualified bid consultant with over two decades of experience, she has delivered large-scale proposals and advised businesses on capture, bid and proposal processes. She is adept at coaching and mentoring people at all levels, with standout success helping emerging talent to pass APMP exams and develop exceptional bid management careers.
Previously Global Head of Bid Process, Bombardier Transportation, a multinational leader in the rail industry, Sarah head up its global bid function, motivating a team of 300 and optimising a £100M+ bid budget.
As UK Head of Bids, General Dynamics, she built a new proposal management department.
Between 2008 – 2013 she supported Shipley Middle East delivering Shipley methodologies to major customers across that region and beyond. In 2006 Sarah moved to Dubai to build the bid function from the ground up for The Olive Group LLC, a security company. This resulted in a major increase in bid win rate, from 8.5% to 48%, delivering com…
Jul 12, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 47 Roshinee Naidoo (APMP Professional South Africa, Dancer, Fashion Icon)
*Roshinee Naidoo* is an intrinsically motivated, highly accomplished professional with around two decades of experience in preparing detailed deals for multiple projects and composing & presenting winning proposals. She is an expert in strategizing the different disciplines and departments and implementing bid governance models and best-practice methodologies.
Roshinee has successfully delivered 250+ professionally produced, compliant proposalsis and has worked on tenders ranging from €150K to €20M. She won strategic bids accumulating revenues AED 50M (australian dollars) for her company. Also Roshinee is the first ever and only person of colour with the highest proposal professional accreditation in Africa.
Jul 10, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 46 Graham Ablett CPP APMP (1998 Commonwealth Games Gold Medallist)
As a Director of Strategic Proposals UKs and with nearly twenty years’ experience in proposals, Graham helps clients to win business in a number of different ways including:
* Winning specific projects and contracts for clients by providing ‘hands-on’ strategic proposal and presentation support in formal procurement and informal / proactive sales scenarios
* Delivering interim management and consultancy services to help organisations to improve their win rates whilst increasing the efficiency of their bid and proposal operations
* Delivering proposal skills development, coaching and APMP accreditation training
Graham has supported clients across a wide range of industries including IT services, professional services, travel, logistics, oil and gas, insurance, roadside services, catering, healthcare, facilities management, real estate, office supplies, telecommunications and defence markets.
Graham holds the highest level of proposal certification – Professional.
Jul 7, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 45 Ceri Mescall (APMP Fellow, APMP 40 under 40 winner )
Currently a Pursuit Strategist at EY, Ceri has 14 years of bids and proposals experience in progressively senior positions. Over her career, she’s played an instrumental role in $250m of new business acquisition and $500m of successful business campaigns. Her key strengths are in win strategy development, executive summary writing, and oral presentation coaching.
Ceri is a British expat in Canada. She previously served as Western Regional Chair and Communications Chair for the APMP Canada Maple Leaf chapter.
Ceri is passionate about self-development. She holds APMP Professional certification, is part of the APMP 40 Under 40 Class of 2019, and is a recent recipient of the APMP Fellows award. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature, a post-graduate certificate in Project Management, and has professional qualifications in communications and leadership.
Jul 4, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 44 Constance Reid (APMP 2015 - 17 Board Director, Marriage Officiant, Spirit Collector)
Constance D. Reid, PMP, CF APMP is a senior-level business development professional with over 12 years of providing leading capture and proposal strategy. She has led bid efforts for up to $25B global public sector and commercial deals for Leidos, IBM, and currently, Amazon Web Services. She is skilled in marketing to a variety of government and commercial customers, including Dept. of Energy, Dept. of State, DoD, DVA, and many commercial medical providers, payers, and researchers.
Constance has been active in APMP for many years, sat on the 2015-2017 Board of Directors and on the 2015-2017 NCA Board of Directors as Secretary. She was the Inaugural APMP Future Leader awardee and a part of the Inaugural APMP 40 under 40 class. She has participated as a speaker at the 2018 Bid and Proposal Con in San Diego, CA, presenting on “Building Efficient and Effective Bid Processes” She is particularly proud of having developed the ongoing Mentorship Program for Association of Proposal Ma…
Jun 26, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 43 Dr. Idara Umoh (Author, Poet, Love Colour Red, Woman of the Year, APMP 40 under 40 winner)
Dr. Idara Umoh, CP. APMP has worked in several Proposals and Sales roles within multinational Oil and Gas and Construction companies for the past 17 years. Her career has spanned between the UK and the UAE where she has been involved in worldwide bid management, leading several winning multi-million dollar contract wins.
She has been responsible for leading commercial operations covering commercial bid preparation and technical teams both in a centralised and country localised proposals management setting. She has also travelled vastly facilitating staff training on proposals best practice.
Idara is the author of “How to Create and Maintain a Bid Content Library” and the French language Textbook “La Vie de Marie”. She is fluent in both English and French.
Idara holds a PhD in Business/Corporate Communications from the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland. She is Shipley trained and APMP certified, having been one of the recipients of the inaugural APMP 40 under 40…
Jun 25, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 42 Christoph "the Count" Mlinarchik (Author, Attorney, Dinosaur lover, Moonwalk dance expert)
Christoph Mlinarchik, JD, CFCM, PMP is an expert in government contracts, former federal contracting officer, attorney, expert witness, professional instructor, frequent public speaker, and the author of the best-selling book, Government Contracts in Plain English. He is the founder and owner of www.ChristophLLC.com which provides expert advice in government contracts to a wide range of clients, including business owners, bid and proposal managers, industry trade groups, federal contractors, and subcontractors. Christoph was honored with the “Top Professionals Under 40” award by National Contract Management Association (NCMA). Christoph is an experienced expert witness in federal contracts who has provided expert opinions and reports, research concerning damages, key findings, and case strategy for complex government contracts litigation. As an instructor, Christoph has taught or trained 1000+ federal, military, and contractor professionals nationwide—from novices to C-level exec…
Jun 23, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 41 Stacey Duwe (APMP Great Mid West Chapter President, Interior Designer, Comic Book Collector, Painter)
Todays guest is Stacey Duwe
Stacey runs her own consulting business, Write Fit Solutions, helping her clients with all the things she loves about proposals, for clients that range from small, tech based start-ups to non-profits to fortune 100 companies in commercial and government sectors and across a range of industries. Stacey earned her BA in English and women’s studies from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH, is APMP certified (Foundation and Practitioner), and was recognized in the inaugural class of APMP 40 Under 40. She is also an active APMP member and has served on the Greater Midwest Chapter Board of Directors since 2017 as the Publications Chair, then Secretary, Vice Chair, and currently as Chapter President.
Jun 21, 2020
Scribble Talk Exclusive - Rick Harris, Part 2 (Chief Executive, APMP - Cool Whip - Exclusive Announcement)
Today's guest is Rick Harris
Rick is a senior-level association executive with more than 30 years of experience with notable achievements across multiple industries including professional and trade associations.
Rick's superiors and co-workers alike constantly applaud his ability to build strong, sustainable relationships and secure consensus among cross-functional team members for key initiatives. Most recently he has served as Executive Director of the MdTech Division, Tech Council of Maryland and the Executive Director, Tech Council of Maryland Foundation. His experience includes senior management roles working with both domestic and foreign economic development offices and boards to develop stategic plans and then execute that plan. Rick has been part of international business development teams for several associations. Rick is adept decision maker who strategizes operational frameworks to integrate and align with organization vision and objectives, fostering enhanced staff p…
Jun 21, 2020
Scribble Talk Exclusive - Rick Harris - Part 1 (Chief Executive, APMP - Cool Whip)
Today's guest is Rick Harris
Rick is a senior-level association executive with more than 30 years of experience with notable achievements across multiple industries including professional and trade associations.
Rick's superiors and co-workers alike constantly applaud his ability to build strong, sustainable relationships and secure consensus among cross-functional team members for key initiatives. Most recently he has served as Executive Director of the MdTech Division, Tech Council of Maryland and the Executive Director, Tech Council of Maryland Foundation. His experience includes senior management roles working with both domestic and foreign economic development offices and boards to develop stategic plans and then execute that plan. Rick has been part of international business development teams for several associations. Rick is adept decision maker who strategizes operational frameworks to integrate and align with organization vision and objectives, fostering enhanced staff p…
Jun 19, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 40 Janneke Orriëns (Dolly Parton Fan, 1st CEO APMP NL Chapter, FUN FUN FUN)
Janneke is recognised for her passion for proposals, championing proposal management best practice as she and her team help bidders to capture ‘must win’ deals and to bring about radical increases in win rates. She has completed proposal assignments with clients in sectors such as IT, telecoms, accounting, facility management, staffing and logistics.
Janneke served as the first Chief Executive of the Netherlands chapter of APMP in 2004-2006. Today, the Netherlands Chapter is one of the largest APMP chapters. Additionally, since 2007, she has been part of the Board of Directors of NEVI, the Dutch association for procurement professionals. Over 6,000 procurement professionals are NEVI members.
Prior to joining Strategic Proposals, Janneke worked at KPMG International, one of the largest professional services firms in the world and one of the Big Four auditors. As a buyer, she successfully ran Global RFPs and negotiations, such as a Global RFP for PC hardware and services.
Respecte…
Jun 17, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 39 Olessia Smotrova (Multi linguist, Author, Dancer, Singer, Tennis Player - APMP Fellow, President OST Global Solutions)
*Olessia Smotrova, CF.APMP Fellow,* the president of OST Global Solutions, Inc. has more than 20 years of experience in business development. She led winning bids for four out of the five top government contractors, winning more than $22 billion over the course of her career. She is the author of the book How to Get Government Contracts: Have a Slice of $1 Trillion Pie, and seven other books. She has taught a graduate course for the Stevens Institute of Technology, and provided training to Treasury and NASA. She has served for 2 years as the President of the National Contracts Management Association (NCMA) Bethesda/Medical Chapter, and for 2 years as the President of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) National Capital Area Chapter. She is recognized as an APMP Fellow for her contributions to the field of capture and proposals – the highest honor in the business development profession. Her skills span every aspect of business development, sales, and marketing.…
Jun 16, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 38 Krystn Macomber Gull (APMP Vice Chair, Former college basketball player)
*Krystn Macomber* has more than 17 years of experience in various marketing and pursuit roles within the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry. Her career has been dedicated to developing and implementing holistic marketing, sales, and pursuit processes that align with best practices and win work.
She regularly serves as a trainer and workshop leader in her roles at work and throughout the industry, including for the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP). She also regularly presents on marketing and pursuit best practices to small and diverse-owned businesses throughout California.
Krystn serves as the marketing manager for Burns & McDonnell’s California regional operations where she is responsible for strategic marketing and pursuit efforts across the state.
Krystn is currently serving a three-year term for the APMP International executive committee as vice chair, chair, and past chair. She previously served in various board of director rol…
Jun 15, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 37 Carl Dickson (Celebrity Publisher captureplanning.com)
Carl Dickson is the founder of CapturePlanning.com and PropLIBRARY. Carl is a proposal manager, writer, trainer, and coach. A career spanning 30 years, Carl has published over a thousand articles, whitepapers, books, and training materials. The articles he publishes reach over 100,000 professionals every week and over 7 million professionals have visited his websites.
As a speaker, Carl has presented at conferences and events sponsored by (APMP); Society for Marketing Professional Services; Marketing Research Association; Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Assoc. (AFCEA); FOSE; Deltek; Fairfax County Community Business Partnership; Government Contracting Institute; and the Washington DC Office of Contracting and Procurement.
Jun 11, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 36 Chris Whyatt (Co - Founder APMP UK)
*Chris Whyatt *has spent the last 25 years of his career working in the adjacent disciplines of sales and bidding. After winning major £10m pa deals with British Gas, Barclays Bank and the Halifax Building Society in the late 90’s, Chris established Practical Bid Solutions Limited (PBSL) as an independent bid consultancy. This work led to more involvement with sales improvement programmes, and as a result, PBSL was rebranded as Get to Great in 2008 and he supported 100+ small and big organisations such as VMware, McAfee, NICE Systems, Camelot , HP, Glory, LivePerson, Virtual Clarity, G2Speech, Cyient, NetApp, Fujitsu, Babcock, NTT, SIMS and Babcock.
Chris has been delivering training programmes for TechUK for 15 years and has supported clients on ~50 major deals, co-created 25 business winning frameworks, trained ~1,000 people in sales and bid aspects of business. Chris co-founded the UK chapter of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) in 2001 with Jon Wil…
Jun 9, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 35 Jamie Ninneman (Martial Arts Specialist, Guitarist) and leading enterprise shared services leader
*Today’s Guest is Jamie Ninneman *
Jamie is an industry expert with more than 21 years working in customer-facing roles across the information technology spectrum, focusing on enterprise software and related services. In his current leadership role at SAP, he is both the global lead for Bid & Proposal Management as well as head of multiple global shared-service organizations. Previously his experience includes leading services organizations, defining and executing enterprise transformation strategies, and managing key customer relationships.
Jamie is a past Chair of APMP International’s Board of Directors (Association of Bid and Proposal Management Professionals) as well as a member of APMP’s Business Sector Committee.
In this insightful episode, we will discuss
Early life and education
Early career
Enter the proposal field?
Views on setting up global shared services do's and dont's
Memorable proposal effort
Key achievements
Advisory role at Rutgers University's Cyberse…
Jun 8, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 34 Larissa Cornelius (Actress, Fantasy Book Author and South Africa Chapter APMP Chair)
*Larissa Cornelius* owns nFold, a South African proposal consultancy that inspires success through words that win. She is the current chair of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) SA chapter. She has over 17 years’ business development and operational experience. She is a certified APMP Professional and was voted as one of the 40-under-40 APMP professionals in 2018. By combining proposal best practice with her operational and sales background, she actively promotes the proposal profession and helps businesses to win more. She is passionate about proposals and following best practices; as winning proposals ethically - improves lives, by creating and retaining jobs.
In this very interesting episode, we will discuss Larissa's
Early life and career
Call Centre experience
Entry to proposal world
Memorable projects
View of South African government procurement
nFold and her mentor Sandy Pullinger (1st chairperson of APMP SA and an APMP fellow)
People influential in…
Jun 4, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 30 Jim McCarthy (Founder, AOC Key Solutions and Government Contracting Clint Eastwood)
*Jim K. McCarthy* career spans over 37 years of marketing and proposal strategy creation, proposal development, and oral presentation coaching in support of contractors seeking to expand their market shares or to enter the government contracts market sector. As a founder of AOC Key Solutions, he built an organization that, since its inception, has played a part in winning more than $184 billion in federal contract awards for its clients.
Jim frequently serves as a conference guest speaker or panel moderator on topics ranging from leadership to winning government contracts through every legitimate means available. He has served in an advisory role with the George Washington University, Virginia Science and Technology Campus, Technology Accelerator and has been a frequent speaker with the George Mason University Procurement and Technical Assistance Center. Jim has also served on the board of the Veterans Institute for Procurement GovCon Council. In February 2016, Jim was named to Execut…
Jun 2, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 33 Bruce Farrell (simplistic designer, guitarist) aka Bilbo Baggins
Today’s Guest is Bruce Farrell - Ashley
Bruce Farrell is proposal director for Plante Moran’s consulting group. He leads a multi-national team who provide proposal, presentation, and other practice development related support. He is also a design geek who specializes in bringing strong design principles to brands, proposals, presentations, and other business documents. He particularly enjoys using thoughtful design to help people create documents that can make an impact. Bruce is a frequent presenter at Association of Proposal Management Professional (APMP) events, primarily focusing on presentation or proposal design. He is a member of APMP’s International Board of Directors.
In this thought provoking episode, we will discuss Bruce's
Early life and career
Entry to proposal world
Career at Plante Moran
Design principles
APMP Great Mid Western chapter contributions
Favourite songs and books
Memorable presentations at Bid Con
Irish roots and Celtic music
Love for Lord of Rings…
May 30, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 32 Mel Smith (Relentless and Determined)
Today’s Guest is Mel Mae Smith
Mel is a Senior Business Winning Consultant with Harmonic with a track record of winning bids in the commercial and public sectors worth up to £1.4bn. As a certified Professional within the APMP, Mel adopts best practice techniques to shape winning bid campaigns alongside mentoring fellow proposal professionals to help advance the profession. Mel has a varied career background spanning Graphics, Marketing and Communications for International Investment Banks, Asset Management Companies and Hedge Funds as well as having owned her own Florist business before returning to the corporate life and the world of bidding.
Mel has been a member of APMP since 2012. Mel is current past UK APMP chair and is 2020 conference director. She is member of the APMP UK Chapter Board since 2018 where she held Marketing & Communications Director and Vice Chair positions. Mel led the delivery of chapter's strategic goals, building on its current comms and engagement ac…
May 27, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 31 Brenda Crist (Happiest APMP Fellow with a powerful message to Increase kindness in the world)
Today's guest is Brenda Crist.
Brenda has 25 years of experience providing capture, proposal, and program management support for information technology companies serving the Federal market. She is currently the Vice President at the Lohfeld Consulting Group. Prior to becoming a full-time proposal professional, Ms. Crist served as a Group Manager for OAO Corporation and Project Manager for Harris Corporation. She has provided onsite system, application, and network management solutions for civilian and military clients. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from American University. She is certified at the Professional Level from the Association of Proposal Management Proposals and has delivered APMP certification training to hundreds of students since 2011. She is a Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) and former Chapter Chairperson of the Year.
In this longest random rapid fire question round and the most happiest yet powerful…
May 23, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 29 Jon Williams (The Special ONE)
Ashley gives her apologises, we had this call scheduled UK morning.. Hope I did a OK job Ashley.
Today's guest is Jon Williams
Jon Williams is the UK managing director of Strategic Proposals. He holds the unique status of being a Fellow of each of APMP, the Institute of Sales Management and the Royal Society of Arts. In over twenty years in proposals, he’s worked with sales organisations in more than thirty countries, helping them to radically improve their win rates. Jon’s published numerous research white papers, and is a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world. He’s the co-author, with BJ Lownie, of bestselling book “Proposal Essentials”, and is recognised for his passionate for all things proposals!
In this deeply personal episode, we will discuss Jon's
Early life and education
Debating Passion
Career at Charity, Barclays Procurement and Compaq
Relationship with BJ Lownie
3 things not many people know about you?
Memorable training effort?…
May 20, 2020
Scribble Talk Special co host Sam Enslen and Ashley Kayes as Guest (Pro Gymastics player)
Todays's guest is Ashley Kayes (normally co-host of Scribble Talk)
Currently a Senior Proposal Consultant with AOC Key Solutions, Inc. (KSI), Ashley has more than 13 years of proposal experience, including serving as a proposal specialist, proposal coordinator, proposal writer, and proposal manager. Over the course of her career, Ashley has contributed to over $6 billion in proposal wins. She has a Master’s degree in English concentrating in Professional Writing and Editing, holds a practitioner level certification through APMP, and was recognized as a member of the APMP 2018 class of 40 Under 40. Ashley is an active contributor to the KSI company blog and led the effort to update and publish the KSI Advantage© Capture and Proposal Guide. Additionally, Ashley manages a professional blog, Proposal Reflections, which features articles aimed at fostering business development, capture, and proposal success and is normally the co-host of this podcast, Scribble Talk. In addition to contr…
May 20, 2020
Scribble Talk - Baskar Sundaram (Privilege, Walking without slippers, Comedian, Foodie - The Camel, Fitness Addict, Wannabe Linguist and Historian, Proud Tamil, Trekker, Education is my passion)
Special Episode - Samantha Enslen joins us a co-host
Today’s Guest is Baskar Sundaram.
Baskar is Founding Director of Baachu, UK based Market Development advisory. He is an award winning entrepreneur and is ranked #1 advisor to investors in business services industry. Baskar established Baachu Scribble, learning platform for bids and proposal community in 2019. Scribble is APMP Approved Training Organisation and has supported 170 professionals in 29 countries attain APMP Certifications.
He launched Scribble Scholarship in 2019 for aspiring bid and proposal professionals honouring his mentors Howard Nutt and Tony Birch. Recently Baskar launched Scribble at Home free and low cost programmes and is normally the co-host of this podcast, Scribble Talk.
Prior to founding Baachu, Baskar served as Head of Business Development at Serco where he worked for 11 years. Baskar received a Bachelor of Engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, India and Master of Scie…
May 19, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 28 Chris Simmons (Rainmakerz - Hangover 3 - Philanthropist)
Today's guest is *Chris Simmons
Chris *has 30+ years business development consulting experience including Deloitte Consulting and CGI/AMS. Chris is Founder & Principal at Rainmakerz Consulting LLC (served 200 customers and has won tens of billions in new business for his clients). An APMP Fellow and Certified Practitioner, Chris is former APMP National Capital Area Chapter (NCA) Vice President and Membership Chair and was also APMP NCA Mentor of the Year. Chris won the first ever John Elder APMP Journal Award for the topic (How to Create Winning Proposal Themes). Chris has presented at numerous APMP International, NCA, other APMP chapters events. Chris was also voted as Consulting Magazine’s Top 25 Consultant. Chris has his MBA, Information Technology, University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and BA, Psychology, Boston College, Magna Cum Laude
In this beautiful episode, we will discuss Chris's
Early life and career
Entrepreneurial venture Rainmakerz
APMP contributions and F…
May 18, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 27 Steve Skeldon (Avid Flyer to Emerging Bid Leader)
Todays guest is Steve Skeldon
Steve is APMP Certified at the Practitioner level and currently works as a Senior Proposal Manager for Vectrus. He has more than 8 years of proposal experience across the Federal services industry, managing and supporting bids for a variety of customers across civilian and defense sectors of Government, with heavy support to Navy and Army clients. He is heavily involved in APMP at the local and international levels, receiving the distinction of being named a 40 under 40 in 2018 at the APMP International Conference in San Diego. Steve currently serves as the Vice President for the APMP National Capital Area Chapter and previously served as the Conference Co-Chair for the APMP NCA MAC 2019 conference. He holds a Bachelor degree from Roanoke College and a Master of Professional Studies from The George Washington University.
In this relaxed episode, we will discuss Steve 's
Early life and career
Flying passion
Experience at APMP’s Bid and Proposal C…
May 15, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 26 Jeff Leitner (Softest Bid Leader with Strongest Passion)
Today's guest is Jeff Leitner
*Jeff Leitner* has 30 years of experience supporting proposals, capture, and business development across the public sector. Currently Vice President of Consulting for Red Team Consulting, he leads the company's proposal, capture, and growth strategy consulting practice, working with Red Team’s clients and consultants. He also leads the company’s proposal best practices and develops and delivers proposal training. Jeff earned his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, so he is literally a rocket scientist. He is active in the Colorado Chapter of APMP and regularly presents at APMP conferences and delivers webinars to APMP members. Jeff is known for his dry, witty humour. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his two teenage children and passionately protesting environmental destruction, civil rights injustices, animal cruelty, and gun culture.
In this episode, we will discuss Jeff's
Early life
R…
May 12, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 25 Ajay Patel (President and CEO, SMA Inc)
Today's guest Ajay Patel
Ajay leads SMA, Inc. as President and CEO. SMA, Inc. is the world’s largest advisory firm dedicated to improving its client’s competitiveness across their entire program lifecycle from market and competitive strategy to capture strategy and bid/proposal development to profitable program execution for public sector markets.
Mr. Patel has over 35 years of consulting, business development, operations, program management and systems engineering experience. Prior to coming to SMA, Ajay was a Director at Deloitte consulting in the Aerospace and Defense practice. He was a Senior Partner at the Monitor Group for twelve years, and created and led it’s global National Security practice. During the 1990s, Ajay served in various roles at SMA including Vice President of Business Development, Executive Vice President of SMA’s Proposal Management group and as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer. Previously, Ajay was at TRW serving in technology development, systems…
May 8, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 24 Robin Davies (The all rounder with a big heart)
Today's guest Robin Davies
Robin has more than 20 years of commercial and state and local proposal experience. In 2009, Robin established Metre, a successful proposal and sales operations consulting firm that helps healthcare clients win business. Working with start-ups to some of the largest health plans in the country, Robin and her team have helped secure billions of dollars for her clients. She’s proud that over 80% of her work comes from repeat business—a testament to the trusting relationships her and her team build with clients. Prior to founding Metre, Robin fell into proposals at Health ways and then built the company’s first knowledge management and proposal’s department over the next nine years. Robin is an APMP Fellow, former member of the International Board of Directors, and Chapter Chair of the Rhythm & Harmony chapter, which includes members from Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Robin describes herself as a brave, passionate, life-long lear…
May 7, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 23 Kevin Switaj (Disney Inspired Empathetic Bid Leader)
Today’s guest is Kevin Switaj
Kevin is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BZ Opportunity Management. An experienced proposal professional, he has led bids of diverse sizes and requirements for a wide range of Government clients. He has developed, implemented, and refined life cycle processes at firms, resulting in a minimum of a 50% improvement in win rate year-over-year. He is a former member of the APMP National Capital Area Board of Directors and served as a mentor in the chapter’s mentor-protege program for multiple years. He is a well-recognized thought leader in the field who speaks regularly at regional and international conferences. Kevin has won multiple awards for his writing on opportunity management and regularly blogs on the BZ Opportunity Management site. He is also involved in his community, volunteering for his community swim association and his son’s Cub Scout pack.
In this episode we discussed Kevin's
Early life and career
APMP NCA Chapter memori…
May 1, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 22 Marina Goren (#avid NASA FAN Capture Superstar)
Today’s guest is Marina Goren
Marina Goren is the President/CEO of Smart BD Consulting – a successful MD/DC/NVA area Capture and Proposal Development firm. Over the past 7 years she has successfully grown her company to over 150 consultants serving over 50 Federal Government contracting clients. She teaches numerous Proposal Development and Capture courses and was an APMP speaker since 2014. Ms. Goren continues to personally support her clients in pioneering new frontiers and winning large strategic bids, while running her company. Ms. Goren has been instrumental at Billions of Dollars in wins for her clients (including a recent single award $1.2B win). Prior to starting her own company, Ms. Goren was a Vice President of Business Development at ASRC Primus and helped grow the company from 2 to over 1,600 FTEs in just a little over 5 years. Ms. Goren had a progressive career in IT, Operations and Business Development for the past 23 years.
In this energetic episode, we will…
Apr 29, 2020
Scribble Talk Episode 21 - Dr. Tom Sant (Father of Proposal Automation)
Today’s guest is Dr. Tom Sant
A former college professor, stand-up comic, and founder of two successful firms, Dr. Tom Sant was named the world's foremost authority on winning sales proposals by the American Management Association and one of the top ten sales trainers in the world by Selling Power Magazine. He was named one of the first-ever Fellows of the APMP in recognition of his contributions to the profession. Tom is the author of the best-selling Persuasive Business Proposals, which was named one of the ten most important books in sales Inc. magazine. He is also the author of the highly acclaimed The Giants of Sales and The Language of Success.
As a consultant, Tom has written over $30 billion in winning proposals for clients in every industry sector, including General Electric, Honeywell, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, VMware, Accenture, BAE Systems, and dozens more.
In addition, he invented the world's first proposal automation tools, ProposalMaster, RFPMaster and Presen…
Apr 26, 2020
Scrible Talk Episode 20 - Larry Newman (Shipley Proposal and Capture Guide Author)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Larry Newman
Larry is a partner and board member, Shipley Associates. Larry started at Shipley Associates in 1986, so that's 36 years of consulting and training clients in 5 continents (North America, Europe, South America, Australia, and Asia), 30 countries, and more than 100 organizations.
Larry authored the Shipley Proposal Guide, Capture Guide, and Business Development Lifecycle Guide. He is a Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals, accredited at the APMP Professional Level. Larry has MS and BS Industrial Engineering from University of Iowa.
In this relaxed conversation, we will discuss Larry's
Airforce career
36 years with Shipley worki…
Apr 23, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 19 Randy Richter (Capture and Price to Win Legend)
Todays guest is Randy Richter
*Randy Richter* is Chairman and Price to Win Director at Richter & Company, Competitive analysis and market research firm focused on the Federal market. Previously, Randy was a Senior Consultant at CAI/SISCo, served as Vice President, Strategic Business Development for Integrated Communication Solutions, responsible for the capture and operation of long-term programs within the Federal government.
Randy received a B.S. from Cornell University and M.S. from the State University of New York at Cortland. He has completed sales and technical certifications from Cisco, Nortel Networks, 3Com, and Unisphere Networks (now Juniper Networks). Randy has been a featured speaker at federal conferences, telecommunications industry association events and is an active member of SCIP and APMP. Randy is also founder and president at Western Maryland Lacrosse Officials Association
In this most powerful and inspirational episode, we will discuss Randy's
Early l…
Apr 21, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 18 Alan Howard (Mentor to Mentors)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Alan Howard.
Alan, a 40+ years proposal industry veteran is a Certified Professional of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP®). Alan joined APMP in 2009 and was appointed to the APMP UK Board in 2016 as the Certification and Apprenticeship development director where he was heavily involved with the mentoring programme and the conference training days.
In his 40+ years’ working on proposals, Alan has worked on 100’s of proposals, has trained and mentored 150+ proposal professionals
In this episode, we will discuss Alan's
Early Life
4 years Experience at Royal Navy
22 years at IBM and Proposal Entry
APMP UK Chapter contributions inclu…
Apr 18, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 17 David Bol (Model Train Builder and Visionary Leader)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is David Bol
As Sr. Vice President of Consulting at Shipley Associates, David Bol has over 30 years as a Senior Proposal Manager helping client’s win over $220 billion dollars of revenue. He has co-authored three books for APMP that still influence winning business development practices today. Mr. Bol is APMP certified at the Professional level, is an APMP Fellow and co-founded the Rocky Mountain APMP Chapter. He earned the Visionary award guiding the APMP group through the 90’s. He has held every international APMP Board position including being CEO of the Board of Directors in 2009.
In this classic episode, we will discuss David's
Early Life
US West and entry to…
Apr 15, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 16 Samantha Enslen (Beyond Grammar - a beautiful human at heart)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Samantha Enslen
Samantha runs Dragonfly Editorial, an agency that helps companies around the world write, edit, and design great content -- including proposals. Sam is an APMP member and a frequent speaker at Bid & Proposal Con. She's on the board of ACES: The Society for Editing, and she's a writer for the Grammar Girl podcast. In short, she's a book lover, word nerd, and grammar geek all in one.
In this cracking episode filled with laughter, we will discuss Sam's
* Early Life at Ohio
* Barista to Editorial Manager journey
* Dragonfly Editorial Company
* Return to Dayton, Ohio
* Favorite writers
* Contributions in Grammar Girl, Editorial Eye, AP…
Apr 13, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 15 Nic Adams ( APMP Veteran aka Masterchef)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Nic Adams
*Nicholas Adams* is an industry veteran with 30+ years IT and bid and proposal experience having recently worked for Teradata as Lead for EMEA proposal management and RFX process previously leading their UK & Ireland Opportunity Management function. Before Teradata, Nic also worked at Liberata, Atos/Siemens IT Solutions, Dell, HP and Fujitsu.
Nic has served on the APMP UK Chapter Board of Directors since 2007. Nick was also 2017 and 2018 UK Conference director. At an international level, Nic has served as APMP International chair, past chair and was also first ever Treasurer for the Association. Nic is APMP Practitioner certified and has a business management deg…
Apr 11, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 14 Dick Eassom (aka Wordman)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Dick Eassom
*Dick Eassom*, aka Wordman, a Certified Fellow of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP®), past APMP Chief Executive Officer, recipient of the APMP William C. McRae Founders' Award, past Chair of the APMP California Chapter and a proud member of the chapter’s Mentor program. Dick has presented at 15+ APMP Annual International Conferences on using Microsoft Word for proposal development.
Dick has authored over forty articles for "Wordman's Production Corner" in the APMP Perspective. In his 40+ years of experience, Dick has led or contributed to numerous proposals in the USA, UK, Canada, Germany and Australia. Dick has a BSc in Electrical…
Apr 9, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 13 BJ Lownie (Founding Member APMP)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is BJ Lownie
BJ Lownie was one of the 28 founding members of APMP, true “Proposal Patriot, an accredited Professional and elected Fellow of APMP and started Strategic Proposals in the US in 1987. He is a truly “Passionate about Proposals”, an outstanding presenter and trainer and is recognised as one of the gurus of the proposal world. In his 35+ years’ working on proposals, BJ has worked on 1000’s of proposals, has trained 10000 proposal professionals and has presented at countless conferences.
In this episode we will discuss BJ's
* Early Life at Farm
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* 3 things not many people know about him
* Founding APMP Member…
Apr 6, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 12 Margaret Helsabeck (2nd CEO of APMP UK Chapter)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is *Margaret Helsabeck*. Over the last 30 years Margaret has focused on leading proposal management, learning and communications across large business winning organisations in UK and USA. Margaret was the second UK APMP CEO and became an APMP Fellow in 2009. Margaret officially retired in 2015 and now runs Mags Arts Space travelling, drawing and painting.
In this episode we will discuss Margaret's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* 3 things not many people know about him
* APMP UK CEO contribution
* Working alongside Shipley colleagues - Tony Birch and Mark Taylor
* UK and USA bid experience
* Cooking passion
* Advice to bid and prop…
Apr 4, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 11 Tim Snell (Deputy APMP Chief Examiner)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s Guest is *Tim Snell *, Tim has 20+ years’ experience in helping companies create solutions to win business. He has worked in some of the most remote, austere and dangerous places in the world including Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, Mali and Sudan in support of military, United Nations, NATO and commercial organisations. Tim is an executive & Personal Coach, Business Winning consultant and Trainer. Tim is APMP Deputy Chief examiner and a regular speaker and contributor to APMP.
In this insightful episode we will discuss Tim's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* 3 things not many people know about him
* Global field based experience
* APMP Deputy Examiner…
Apr 2, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 10 Ali Paskun (APMP History Author and Inspiration behind Scribble Talk Ethos)
Today’s guest is Ali Paskun
Ali Paskun CF.APMP is the founder of AbiL Solutions LLC and RFPtrainer. Ali is a veteran in the world of Federal Government contracting having worked for a number of government contractors to develop and refine successful approaches to winning Federal Government contracts. She has spent 35 years developing win strategies with expertise throughout the entire phase of proposal development cycle, primarily for small and mid-sized companies. Ali has an impressive track record of collaborating with and managing capture teams to identify best possible solutions for proposals. She used to manage the Journal of the Association of Proposal Management and has lectured nationally. She is an APMP Fellow and has earned APMP certification
In this insightful episode we will discuss Ali
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* 3 things not many people know about her
* Her passion in helping SMEs find extra time
* Being APMP Journal Editor…
Mar 27, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 9 Kristin Dufrene
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
*Today’s Guest is Kristin Dufrene*
Kristin (Baron) Dufrene, CPP APMP Fellow, has twenty-six years of experience in Federal sector business development, including capture management and proposal development. Kristin has been a member of APMP since 1995 and served as the 2017 Chair of the International Board of Directors. She has led many joint Industry-Federal initiatives, including the Procurement Improvement Committee (PIC), the Federal Procurement Community, and the Government-Industry Acquisition Task Force. Kristin is currently Strategic Capture Executive Director for CACI and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from LSU.
In this insightful episode we will discuss Kristin's
* L…
Mar 24, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 8 Betsy Blakney
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Todays Guest is *Betsy Blakney*, CPP APMP, is an APMP Fellow, past APMP International CEO, COO, Board Secretary, and Eastern Regional Representative, and a former APMP National Capital Area (NCA) President. With 25 years of proposal management experience, Betsy is currentlyDirector of Proposal Operations Support for CACI. Betsy was previously the Director of Proposal Services for UNITECH (acquired by Lockheed Martin), served in the Washington Federal Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Federal Proposal Manager, and began her proposal management career at Datatrac Information Services, Inc. (acquired by CSC).
An APMP member since 1996, she actively served as an APMP certification mentor…
Mar 21, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 7 Colleen Jolly (Youngest APMP Fellow and APMP Chair)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
*Today’s Guest is *Colleen Jolly, Colleen has 20 years' experience in visual communications, training, marketing (event management and sales (B2G, B2B, and B2C) across several industries and countries including deep expertise in the US, UK, and Australia. Colleen served as Secretary of APMP NCA chapter 2010-2012; and on the International Board of APMP 2012-2015 as Secretary, COO, the youngest CEO in the organization's history, and Past CEO.
Collen is the youngest person to win the APMP Fellow Award in 2010; she won the APMP Insight Award in 2012 for her article on international business an was also honoured at inaugural APMP "40 Under 40" honor in 2017.
In this "inspirational" episode we…
Mar 18, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 6 Mike Parkinson (Everyone knows Mike - Beyond Presentation Guru, a Great person)
Todays guest Mike Parkinson. Mike is* *(Microsoft MVP and APMP Fellow) is an internationally recognized Visual Communication and Presentation Expert and award-winning author of (“Billion Dollar Graphics” and “A Trainer's Guide to PowerPoint: Best Practices for Master Presenters.”). He owns Billion Dollar Graphics and is a partner at 24 Hour Company, a premier creative services firm. Mike has spearheaded multi-billion-dollar projects and helped Fortune 500 companies and international learning institutions win billions of dollars.
In this episode we will discuss Mike's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* Microsoft Powerpoint, Graphics & Creative Design Passion
* APMP Contributions
* People influential in her life and career
* Advice to bid and proposal professionals
* Next Steps and
Few fun Qs....
Get to know the human side of your industry expert, Mike Parkinson.
Mar 15, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 5 Kirste Webb (APMP Past Chair and Rick Harris Interviewer)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today's Guest is Kirste Webb*. *Kirste is APMP Fellow with 30+ years’ experience in all facets of business development and marketing services. Kirste is Senior Vice President Business Development at ARS Aleut Remediation. Kirste has twice been the volunteer Chair of APMP and was also instrumental in APMP’s certification program by pushing for an APMP Body of Knowledge (BoK). Kirste also serves as a counselor with the East Tennessee Procurement Technical Assistance Center. She achieved APMP Certification – Foundation Level, and holds Bachelor’s degree and MBA from the University of Phoenix.
In this episode we will discuss Kirste's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry…
Mar 12, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 4 Eric Gregory (APMP Fellow, Mentor to the Mentors)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Eric Gregory*. *Eric has 42 years experience in business development, capture and proposal operations. Eric has been honoured with APMP’s highest service award, the William C. McCrae Memorial Award, he also received CACI’s top honor for service excellence, the Admiral Thomas H. Moorer Award. Eric is APMP-certified proposal professional (APMP CPP) and an APMP Fellow, Twice ex. CEO of APMP.
In this episode we will discuss Eric's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* APMP CEO role and wider APMP Contribution
* People influential in her life and career
* Advice to bid and proposal professionals
* Next Steps and
Few fun Qs....
Get to k…
Mar 8, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 3 Cathy Day (APMP Chief Examiner)
You are listening to Scribble Talk, a podcast for bid and proposal professionals. My name is Baskar Sundaram and with my co – host Ashley Kayes, we will be sitting down with our industry veterans to share their stories, discuss their career, and learn how to make an impact in the industry.
Today’s guest is Cathy Day. Cathy has over 35 years’ experience directing, delivering, and training capture and bid teams. Cathy designed and developed the Association Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) Accreditation Programme. Cathy is APMP Fellow, APMP Accreditation Director and Chief Examiner since 2004
In this episode we will discuss Cathy's
* Life and Career
* Entry to Proposal Industry
* APMP Chief Examiner role
* APMP Certification history and Development
* People influential in her life and career
* Advice to bid and proposal professionals
* Next Steps and
Few fun Qs....
Get to know the human side of your industry expert, Cathy Day
Mar 4, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 2 Tony Birch (Shipley Chairman, Architect - APMP Certifications -Foundation, Capture and Practitioner)
Tony has the biggest heart among all my relationships. His giving cannot be measured... My godfather in the industry.
Today’s guest is Tony Birch. Tony is Chairman of Shipley Limited. An industry veteran with 40+ years’ experience who has trained over 10,000 people, helped win over $30bn in new business. Elected a APMP Fellow in 2006, Tony served on the main board of the APMP for 4 years; during that time he oversaw the development and launch of the APMP's Certification Program. As one of the founders of APMP UK, Tony’s mission is to ensure that the role of a bid or proposal manager is recognised throughout the world as a profession - and not just a job.
In this episode we will discuss Tony's
* Life and Career
* Shipley Journey
* APMP Board tenure and his founding role in APMP UK
* Role in designing certification programme
* People influential in his life and career
* Advice to bid and proposal professionals
* Next Steps and
Few fun Qs....
G…
Mar 2, 2020
Scribble Talk - Episode 1 Guest Howard Nutt (Founding member APMP)
Today’s (our very first) guest is Howard Nutt. I owe everything to this man....
Howard Nutt is Executive Director of the Business Development Institute International (BD-Institute). An industry veteran with 45 years experience.
Howard was one of APMP's 28 founding members, developed its original strategic plan, is the recipient of APMP Founders and Vision awards and continues as an APMP Fellow. He leads development of the Capability Maturity Model® for Business Development and was a former Senior VP of Consulting for Shipley Associates.
In this episode we will discuss Howard's
* Life and Career
* BD-CMM History
* 28 founding APMP membership
* His role as APMP's first ever Director Strategic Planning
* People influential in his life and career
* Advice to bid and proposal professionals
* Next Steps and
Few fun Qs....
Get to know the human side of your industry expert, Howard Nutt..