Mr. Walt Blackwell serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer for The Veterans Corporation. Mr. Blackwell brings over 30 years of global management and communications experience. During 25 years with IBM, he worked in product development, internal communications, employee recognition and developed a non-profit organization to promote technology education in local schools. After leaving IBM, Mr. Blackwell continued performing executive functions with many other non-profit associations.

A Navy eteran, Mr. Blackwell served as an aviation Photographer’s Mate Second Class as aircrew and photographer for multiple fixed-wing and rotary aircraft from 1965 to 1969. Most recently, Mr. Blackwell has been an independent industry and technology consultant.

Mr. Charles Cervantes was appointed Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, United States Department of Defense on June 18, 2004. His experience in the fields of government and business through chambers of commerce, business trade associations and diplomacy provides a broad-based background to advance the interests of small businesses in the federal acquisition marketplace.

Mr. Cervantes’ prior federal service was from 1973 through 1981 in Washington, DC, where he served as Counselor for Legal Affairs to the Ambassador At Large for US-Mexico Relations, US Department of State, Washington, DC. He advised and assisted the Ambassador on a variety of matters, including trans-boundary oil pollution, a stolen aircraft and auto treaty, international bridge permits, border trade and environmental matters. He began his legal career as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of General Counsel in 1973, ending that tenure as Assistant to the Deputy General Counsel for Regulatory Review in 1978, where he drafted, reviewed, commented, and promulgated regulations based on statutory language and advised on the administration of federal contracts and grants.

Mr. Cervantes enlisted in the US Army and National Guard, serving in the 371st Airborne Support Battalion, 71st Airborne Brigade, Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas.

Mr. Denniston was appointed to the position of Director, Office of Small Business in October 1987. He is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army. He is active in the National Contract Management Association (NCMA) and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics
Association (AFCEA).

Mr. Denniston is a nationally recognized advocate for veteran entrepreneurs. In 1998 he was appointed to the Commission on Service Members and Veterans Transition Assistance, where he developed recommendations for enhancing and expanding support for veteran business owners. Many of those recommendations were incorporated into Public Law 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 and Public Law 108-183, the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003. Most recently, he established the Center for Veterans Enterprise, a VA organization dedicated to and providing support for veterans and service-disabled veterans interested in entrepreneurship.

On May 31, 2006, Ms. Lurita Doan took the Oath of Office to become the 18th Administrator of General Services. She is the first woman to serve as the chief executive of the U.S. General Services Administration. President George W. Bush nominated Mrs. Doan on April 6, 2006. The Senate confirmed her nomination on May 26.

Until July 2005, Mrs. Doan was the President, CEO and sole owner of a surveillance technology company she founded in 1990. Most recently, she served on the Presidential Search Committee to select Vassar College’s 10th president; the Steering Committee for the Women’s Majority Network founded by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole; and the Steering Committee for the soon-to-be-built Shakespeare Theatre Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Doan is actively involved in the business community through its participation in many trade associations, membership in business organizations and involvement in charitable community activities.

Mr. Elmore is responsible for comprehensive outreach to, and the
formulation, execution, and promotion of policies and programs of the Administration that provide assistance to small business concerns owned and controlled by veterans, small business concerns owned and controlled by service-disabled veterans and small business concerns owned and controlled by Reserve component members of the U.S. Military. Acts as an ombudsman for full consideration of veterans in all Administration programs.

Mr. Elmore has worked to increase veteran participation in Administration programs for the last 5 years, including lending, technical assistance and procurement.

Previous successful small business owner, and former principal in the St. Louis Veterans Service Center, providing free transition assistance, business training, job placement, housing, and myriad other services to thousands of veterans and families.

Mrs. Barbara J. English became the Defense Contract Management Agency’s Director, Small Business Utilization on May 18, 2002. In this position she is responsible for facilitating, monitoring and providing insight into the activities of prime contractors and contracting activities aimed at increasing the participation of small business concerns.

Barbara has an extensive career in government contracting starting as a contract specialist in 1975, with the Naval Surface Weapon Center, Dahlgren, Virginia where she procured and managed large dollar contracts for weapons systems support. In 1985, she accepted a position as Contracts Operations Branch Chief at DCMC Baltimore. From 1997 to early 2002, Mrs. English was co-Commander, DCMA Pacific, responsible for the contract management activities of 134 personnel in seven different countries.

Mr. Jan R. Frye was appointed as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition and Materiel Management, US Department of Veterans Affairs, on September 4, 2005. As the Deputy Assistant Secretary of one of the largest acquisition and materiel management programs in the Federal Government, he manages and oversees the development and implementation of policies and procedures for department-wide acquisition and logistics programs supporting all VA facilities. His responsibilities include management of VA’s National Acquisition Center in Hines, Illinois, and the Denver Distribution Center.

He is a retired US Army Colonel, where he served in senior acquisition and logistics positions. He served as the Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting, the senior acquisition executive, in Eighth US Army/US Forces Korea and in the US Army Military Surface Deployment & Distribution Command. He was the Deputy Principal Assistant Responsible for Contracting, US Army Corps of Engineers. He served as the commander of two Department of Defense acquisition commands in the United Kingdom and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He also served as the Deputy Commander, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois.

The first Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Services is John Garcia, a Vietnam veteran, who comes to the new department with experience in both public and private business. Secretary Garcia is the former Deputy Chief of Staff and Secretary of Economic Development under Governor Bruce King, and he has held numerous positions in the field of veterans’ services at state and national levels.

Secretary Garcia believes the new department will not only elevate the status of veterans and their families within state government, but will also provide greater opportunities, benefits, and services to the men and women who so unselfishly served our country.

Dr. Francis J. Harvey was sworn in as the 19th Secretary of the Army on November 19, 2004. Appointed by President George W. Bush, he has statutory responsibility for all matters relating to Army manpower, personnel, Reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications, and financial management.

Secretary Harvey is responsible for the Department of the Army’s annual budget and supplemental of $160 billion. He leads a work force of over one million active duty, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve Soldiers, 230,000 Department of the Army civilian employees and 280,000 contracted service personnel. He has stewardship over 15 million acres of land.

Secretary Harvey’s number one priority is the well being of Soldiers and their families. He has traveled extensively to visit Soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and at over 60 Army installations in the United States, Europe and Asia. He has focused extensively on improving housing, day care and other quality of life issues for the Army’s most important resource – its people. He has also focused on increasing the Army’s warfighting capabilities through several major initiatives, including increasing the size of the Operational Army; updating the Army’s leader development program to reflect requirements of the 21st Century security environment; linking the Army’s most important modernization program, the Future Combat Systems Program, with the Army Modular Force; and Army Business Transformation – an Army-wide effort to improve cycle time, gain efficiencies and free up additional financial resources for the warfighting side of the Army.

Prior to becoming the Secretary, Dr. Harvey spent much of his career with corporations that provided products and services to the federal government, particularly the Department of Defense. He has been involved in over 20 major defense programs and was a member of the Army Science Board in the late 1990s. Secretary Harvey also served for one year as a White House Fellow and assistant in the immediate office of the Secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, in the late 1970s.

Dr. Metters formulates all strategic planning activities and determines company policies to further the corporate goals and objectives. He develops marketing strategies and promotes business opportunities with the federal, state, and local government, as well as private industry. He is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Command, Control, and Communications (C3) systems, nuclear weapons risk assessment, systems analysis, linear programming, forecasting techniques, and Simulation and Modeling.

Dr. Metters, a retired (Reserved) Lieutenant Colonel, is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army Air Defense Missile Center, the Nuclear Weapons Warhead Assembly School, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Dr. Metters’ notable decorations include the Air Medal, three Bronze Stars, three Army Commendation medals, the Meritorious Service medal, and a Purple Heart, as well as numerous medals of commendation from the Republic of South Vietnam in 1968 during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Nicholson is the principal advocate for veterans in the U.S. government and directs the nation’s second largest Cabinet Department, responsible for a nationwide system of health care services, benefits programs, and national cemeteries for America’s veterans and dependents. VA employs approximately 230,000 people at hundreds of medical centers, clinics, nursing homes, benefits offices, and national cemeteries throughout the country. The VA budget for fiscal year 2005 is more than $70 billion, an amount greater than the budgets of 24 states combined.

Prior to his nomination, Mr. Nicholson served as U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, a position he held since 2001, where he became a well-known advocate in Rome for the elevation of human dignity, giving special emphasis to human trafficking, religious freedom, starvation and bio-tech food, HIV-AIDS, and international terrorism. He was knighted by Pope John Paul II in October 2003 for this work on these issues while representing the U.S. to the Vatican.

Mr. Nicholson is a 1961 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Mr. Nicholson served eight years on active duty as a paratrooper and Ranger-qualified Army officer, then 22 years in the Army Reserve, retiring with the rank of colonel. While serving in Vietnam, he earned the Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge, the Meritorious Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry and two Air Medals.

John served as an independent consultant for the GBO organization providing strategic guidance and assistance in growing the government business sector. Prior to working with the Siemens One team, John served as Regional Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration in the Southwest. During his six-year tenure he managed a team of 1,400 spanning five states that was responsible for procurement of goods and services for Federal agency customers as well as fleet management of 24,000 vehicles.

Ms. Pualani has played a major role in helping Northrop Grumman gain local and national recognition over the years for their participation in and advocacy of minority business programs. She is an active member of many national organizations such as the NAACP, Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs, National Association of Women Business Owners, The National Center for American Indian Development and other local and national trade associations. In 2006 The Network Journal named Ms. Pualani one of the Twenty Five Influential Black Women in Business.

He has held a wide variety of command and executive staff assignments at Army medical units, facilities and headquarters organizations.

Major General Schoomaker graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1970, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant as a Distinguished Military Graduate, and awarded a Bachelor of Science degree. He received his medical degree from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1975 and completed his Ph.D. in Human Genetics in 1979.

He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Hematology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in both Internal Medicine and Hematology.

GSA is a centralized federal procurement and property management agency created by Congress to improve government efficiency and help federal agencies better serve the public. As GSA’s Heartland Regional Administrator, Brad oversees a budget of more than $760 million and directs a workforce of 1,014 associates that acquires office space, equipment, supplies, telecommunications and information technology for federal workers located in 400 government-owned and leased buildings in communities throughout Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. In fact, Brad is one of the Midwest’s largest landlords and property managers, with more than 20 million square feet of space in his charge.

GSA is on the cutting edge of maximizing efficiency through the use of innovative technology and privatizing Government services and product procurement. GSA prides itself in being an effective steward of the American Taxpayer by operating like private industry in providing the best service to the Federal workforce for the best value. To further emphasize GSA’s similarity to the private sector it is important to note that GSA is largely self-funded through lease payments and service and sales proceeds and commissions.

As a professional staff member for the Subcommittee, Devon deals with all aspects of legislation regarding veterans’ education, employment, home loans, small business, vocational rehabilitation, financial issues, and transition programs.

Joe joined the staff of the SBA’s Office of Advocacy in March 1998. Before joining Advocacy, Joe served on the staff of the full House Committee on Small Business for 17 years. While with the committee, he had a wide range of responsibilities, including SBA oversight and budget activities, and he served as liaison between the agency’s authorizing and appropriations chairmen. Joe worked on most small business legislation from 1978 to 1995, and was the Committee’s expert on veterans and disaster assistance issues. Before serving with the committee, Joe worked for SBA disaster operations.

Mr. Southern has been extremely instrumental in the development of the VetBiz Vendor Information Pages (VIP)…the online Veterans Business Retrieval System. Additionally, Mr. Southern developed the nationwide rollout for the “General Dynamics Veteran Appreciation Program” in April 2003. More than 300 Veteran Business owners met with key General Dynamics procurement and buying representatives across the nation. He is also an Air Force veteran with 24 years of service to our nation.

SMA (Ret.) Tilley previously served as the Command Sergeant Major of 1st Battalion, 10th Cavalry, 194th Separate Armor Brigade, 1st Armored Division, United States Army Space and Missile Defense Command, and United States Central Command.

His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with V Device, Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Vietnam Service Medal and Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Overseas Service Ribbon (2), NCO Professional Development Ribbon (4), Drill Sergeant’s Badge, Parachutist’s Badge and the Army Staff Identification Badge.

In retirement, SMA (Ret.) Tilley continues his advocacy of the men and women in uniform. He is Vice President for Military Programs, Oak Gove Technology, Inc., while also providing consulting services for Raytheon, General Dynamics, Flanagan Consulting, and IBM.

He also co-chairs American Freedom Foundation, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to raise the national awareness of the sacrifices our troops and their families endure. Proceeds from the foundation are used to enhance educational opportunities and the general welfare of families and service members who have served during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He has served as consultant on legislative affairs to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and served at various times on the VA Readjustment Advisory Committee, the Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Veterans Employment & Training, the President’s Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities Subcommittee on Disabled Veterans, the Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Entrepreneurship at the Small Business Administration, and numerous other advocacy posts in veterans affairs.

Bruce Williams has more than 20 years of experience with IBM in technical, sales and management positions. Mr. Williams experience includes international business management experience, having served as Services Sector VP for SMB, General Manager of ITS in Asia Pacific and Global GM ITS. During his tenure in marketing positions, he gained extensive experience and knowledge of the small and medium business market. His business interests center on building organizational efficiencies and capabilities, developing business strategies, marketing and delivering services, and establishing strategic customer relationships.