Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower interviews B2G marketing professional Sheri Ascencio.

Topics include:

• Ascencio’s background and introduction to B2G
• Based in San Diego, she needed to find peers and did so through Government Marketing University and the GMarkU Ideation group
• How Ideation relationship helped with research and more
• Ascencio’s mentor/mentee relationship with Amtower
• How she leveraged her network in her job search

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Guy Timberlake, chief executive visionary and co-founder of The GovCon Club joined host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center for a wide ranging conversation on government contracting.

Topics included:

• The good and not-so-good information sources for contractors and the predatory nature of some companies going after newbies;
• The use and abuse of RFIs;
• Vetting sources and people;
• The role of business development and how it has evolved;
• How some companies overcome their lack of visibility

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Molly Gimmel, CEO of Design to Delivery,  joined host Mark Amtower to discuss her new book, Master Your Mindset: How Women Leaders Step Up.

Topics include:

• Mastering mental chatter, negative thoughts;
• Overcoming feeling like an imposter;
• Maintaining integrity and gaining confidence;
• How to be more decisive; and
• Embodying servant leadership.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Joanne Woytek, program director of the NASA SEWP GWAC, joins host Mark Amtower to discuss the current and evolving status of GovCon’s most famous GWAC.

Topics include:

• SEWP topping $10B in obligated funds for FY21
• SEWPs ability to add OEMs to the contract in under a day, usually within an hour
• how the SEWP staff has operated remotely during the pandemic
• keys to SEWPs long-term success
• strategic goals for FY 22

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Matt Donovan, senior vice president and partner at the Merritt Group  joined host Mark Amtower for a wide ranging discussion on marketing issues facing government contractors.

Topics include:

• Creating the right messaging for various audiences;
• Venues for sharing the company brand message;
• The relationship nature of GovCon; and
• The explosion of digital channels and selecting the most useful.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Brian Chidester, Industry vice president – Worldwide Public Sector at Genesys, joined host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center for a wide-ranging conversation on government marketing.

Topics include :

• The mentor-protege program with Government Marketing University where both Chidester and Amtower are mentors;
• Chidester’s use of social media;
• How the Ukrainian situation may impact the U.S. tech market;
• The impact of the Customer Experience movement in GovCon;
• Trends in government contracting; and
• And a little bit about being a girl dad.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Larry Allen, president of Allen Federal Business Partners,  joined host Mark Amtower for a lively discussion regarding:

• The perpetual continuing resolution and how it impacts both feds and contractors;
• The problem companies have recruiting and retaining qualified personnel for contracts;
• The 2022 NDAA and eCommerce issues for both the General Services Administration and the Defense Department;
• The emergence of POLARIS;
• Issues around CIO-SP4; and
• The new GSA Services multiple award contract.

This week Mark Amtower’s co-author Mike Lisagor joined the man in black to kick off the 16th year of Amtower Off Center, with a discussion of their new book, How to Win in the Government Market.

Topics included:

• Why they wrote the book, and how they leveraged LinkedIn to promote it;
• How businesses can plan for growth;
• Why many small businesses do not graduate successfully;
• Why it is important to get feedback from the front lines; and
• Elements of a successful pursuit and bid.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Matt Mani of PwC joined host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center to discuss a new book he co-authored titled “Beyond Digital: How Great Leaders Transform Their Organizations and Shape Their Future.”

Topics discussed include:

• How smart companies no longer differentiate by products and services but more in how they operate and what they do;
• The revolution in demand changing the context in which companies operate;
• Seven leadership imperatives for transforming your organization; and
• Developing “privileged insights” into your customers’ basic problems, then leveraging these insights to help define solutions.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Kevin Cooley, CEO of Resource Management Concepts  joined host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center, for a discussion on how a small business in Southern Maryland evolved into a player in the Navy Research Development Test and Evaluation world.

Topics included

• Resource Management Concepts’ background,
• The uniqueness of the Naval Air Station Pax River community,
• The company’s focus on RDT&E with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and now the Naval Information Warfare Center, and
• The Resource Management Concept employee culture as a major differentiator.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Lee Frederiksen of Hinge Marketing joins host Mark Amtower to discuss what marketing tactics contractors should focus on in FY 2022.

Topics include:

• digital marketing transformation
• leveraging research to better understand prospect and customer needs
• SEO and other web site elements
• developing content that gets past the “short attention span” syndrome

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower was joined by NASA SEWP Program Manager Joanne Woytek for a discussion on what is happening with GovCon’s best GWAC.

Topics include:

• SEWP breaking $10 billion for FY 2021,
• Three strategic goals for 2022: Improving the data around supply chain, improving external communications, and launching a more user friendly web site, and
• Forming the SEWP Customer Odyssey Team to continuously improve the customer experience

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

Janet Waring, CEO of ArtForm Business Solutions, soon-to-be ArtForm Agency, joined host Mark Amtower on this week’s Amtower Off Center for a discussion on reaching your government audience and developing and sharing content.

Topics discussed include:

• Tips for content development
• Parsing your data for good topics
• Knowing not simply who the audience is, but where do they hang out online
• Making all of your content resident on your company web site, then share it using links back to the site, and
• Conducting audience research

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, host Mark Amtower was joined by Lisa Shea Mundt of The Pulse of GovCon for a discussion regarding issues facing small contractors.

Topics included:

• Market intelligence, including source for market intel;
• Contract info, including the myth that everyone needs a General Services Administration Schedule and the shrinking number of smalls winning business;
• Market trends including bundling contracts, Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification and more; and
• Tips and tactics smalls can use to grow.

Best listening experience is on Chrome, Firefox or Safari. Subscribe to Amtower Off Center’s audio interviews on Apple Podcasts or PodcastOne.

This week on Amtower Off Center, Michael LeJeune, partner and Federal Access program manager at RSM Federal, joined host Mark Amtower for a lively discussion of the biggest issues facing small contractors. Topics included:

• Problem areas, like coming into the market with little or no understanding, or worse with misconceptions about the market;
• Lack of knowledge regarding the procurement process;
• Tactics for learning and growing your small business; and
• teaming and partnering.