Candidates for the 2017-2018 WID Board of Directors and Officers
Candidates for the 2017-2018 WID Board of Directors and Officers
PRESIDENT
Ms. Katie Kasper
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office:To grow our Greater Ohio Valley Chapter’s membership of Women in Defense organization by providing an environment of professional development, recognition of achievements by the Greater Ohio Valley Chapter’s membership, and to provide networking opportunities with other Defense Industry members.
Katie has served as our Chapter of Women in Defense President for the past two years. Over the past two years our STEM Scholarship program awarded a total of eight scholarship for $2,000 each. We heard from Maj Gen Duke Richardson, PEO for Tankers, Maj Gen Amy Courter, President of WID National, and held eight networking opportunities to include a hugely successful mentoring luncheon. Prior to serving as President, Katie served as the Director of Programs for the first two years of our chapter.
Katie joined the US Air Force (AF) as an AFICA Acquisition Program Manager in November 2010 realizing her goal of serving her country. She brought to the AF 25 years of progressively responsible leadership experience in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
VICE PRESIDENT
Ms. Suzanne Sumner
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office:To build on the strong foundation and further increase recognition of the Greater Ohio Valley WID Chapter in our community. I am also interested in facilitating opportunities for our members which empower women to take on more responsible roles in the defense sector.
Suzanne is a former Air Force JAG and currently practices government contracts law at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister. Suzanne assists prime contractors, subcontractors and public buyers with issues related to their government contracts, from the pre-solicitation phase to contract close out. She provides advice on a wide variety of issues related to solicitations, contracts and subcontracts, including the interpretation of FAR and DFARS clause requirements; issues involving small businesses; issues involving technical data rights; and issues related to negotiating nondisclosure agreements, teaming agreements, and subcontract agreements. She also assists clients with preparing and submitting termination proposals and requests for equitable adjustment; conducts federal government contract compliance reviews, GSA Schedule audits and internal company investigations. In addition, she represents clients in arbitration disputes, bid protests, and in litigation of claims before federal courts and boards of contract appeals.
TREASURER
Ms. Valerie Aschinger
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To manage the Greater Ohio Valley WID financial resources effectively and efficiently. I am committed to managing the money honestly, responsibly, and professionally. Utilizing my prior experience as treasurer, I will continually strive to improve the processes in order to provide timely and accurate financial support. I will also rely on my audit background to safeguard and implement internal controls over the chapter funds. If elected, I look forward to the opportunity to serve this great organization in the defense industry.
Valerie began her career in the Student Career Enhancement Program (SCEP) in 2007. She graduated with her bachelor and master of business administration degrees in 2008 from the University of Dayton and accepted an Auditor position at Wright-Patterson AFB. She became an Audit Manager and deployed overseas to the AOR in 2012. Valerie is currently a facilitator in the Continuous Process Improvement Office with the Air Force Audit Agency at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio and is responsible for applying process improvement methodologies to eliminate waste and increase operational capabilities.
SECRETARY
Ms. Angela J. Busby-Blackburn
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To provide administrative leadership in support of the mission of the Greater Ohio Valley Chapter of Women in Defense.
Angela joined the United States Air Force (USAF) as a Contract Specialist in December 2015. Prior to the USAF, she obtained federal experience working in the Office of General Counsel for the Dayton Veterans Affairs and for U.S. Congress. She is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law (concentration: Intellectual Property) and Antioch University (Master in Management).
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR
Dr. Denise Brooks
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To use experience, education, and other community service and professional society membership activities, participation, and commitments to fully complete the requisite activities commensurate with the office of local WID membership director.
Dr. Brooks has many years of experience in military, government, and commercial industry as a human factors – behavioral scientist. She has both basic and applied research experience in physiology, cognitive psychology, and human factors and ergonomics. She has worked in most major types of industries (e.g., automotive, rubber and plastics, textiles, electronics, energy, food processing and so forth) and government entities such as the Department of Defense (Air Force, Army, and Navy), the Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and others. She served in the Air Force Guard and Reserves and supported Civil Air Patrol as additional duty. Her undergraduate degree is in experimental psychology and biological sciences, her Master's degree is in business management, and her PhD is in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Her medical training is from her Air Force training at Brooks AFB. She was awarded the Air Force Crystal of Excellence for her service as Community Chair for WPAFB environmental restoration. She has developed and delivered many training programs and has numerous publications.
PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR
Ms. Stephanie Partlow
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To perform the required duties of this office by coordinating and establishing programs that provide information and education to the members of WID.
Stephanie is currently Vice President of Operations at TruLogic Inc., a company she co-founded in 1998. Her background resides in electronic publishing applications, specifically with respect to Interactive Electronic Technical Manuals. In her role at TruLogic, Ms. Partlow is responsible for project management, product development, customer communication, and business development support as well as bid and proposal efforts. Prior to owning TruLogic, Stephanie worked as a programmer/analyst for RJO Enterprises. In that capacity, she was a programmer for the USAF on the JCALS system, as well as working the technical manual program for the C-130 aircraft. She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Wright State University in Management Information Systems.
COMMUNICATION DIRECTOR
Ms. Dyan McClamma
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To leverage the previous Communication Directors activities and process improvement efforts and grow the WID presence in our community by leveraging modern communication techniques.
Dyan is currently a Senior Business Advisor at the Greentree Group, an IT Consulting Company. Previous experience includes working as a Systems Engineer on a deployed ISR program, Civil service as both a Portfolio manager and Computer Scientist, and various duties as an active duty AF Communications Officer. Having worked on "both sides of the fence" in a variety of information technology support roles while active duty military, as a civil servant, as a DoD contractor and as a consultant has provided Dyan the opportunity to enhance her communications skills which will be helpful in performing the duties of Communications Director of WID.
SCHOLARSHIPS DIRECTOR
Ms. Kelsey Emory
Vision Statement for Carrying out Duties of the Office: To facilitate the awarding of STEM scholarships to deserving applicants. In doing so, I will work to advertise our scholarship through news articles and updating the HS email distribution list. Next I will ensure our scholarship form and evaluation form are accurate and applicable to our goal of awarding to the best STEM students. Additionally, I will facilitate a fair evaluation among the members of the Scholarship Committee and conduct Scholarship Committee meetings. Lastly, I will communicate lessons learned and decision points with the Board of Directors for their concurrence and advice.
Kelsey is currently a Contracting Officer at WPAFB in the Business Enterprise Systems office. She has worked at WPAFB for 3 years to include working in the F-22 office. She has been a member of WID for 1.5 years and served as the Scholarship Director for 2017 in which the organization awarded $8,000 in STEM scholarships. She holds bachelor’s degree in finance and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toledo.