HUBZone for the Holidays

D LETTER E FROM THE C EDITOR I

n February 2022, the Council launched the Trailblazer Magazine to an audience hungry for good-news HUBZone stories. This past year, we have gone to communities all over the United States to highlight more than 100 HUBZone trailblazers. These individuals shared their personal stories - both their trials and triumphs. It has been my honor to share just a small portion of their trailblazing stories. These people represent the heart of the HUBZone Program. Don’t forget the HUBZone Council for your end-of-year donations for efforts like these!

The December edition of the magazine is dedicated to “Remembering the trailblazers During the Holidays.” I wanted to recapture some of the themes that made the Trailblazing Magazine so memorable. And so, we continued the theme of the email campaign launched earlier this month “10 Days of Holiday Trailblazers.” This edition represents a compilation of Trailblazers I selected based on the same 10 themes below: Trailblazers Themes: Executive Director (1)

Capacity Builders (6)

White House Appointees (2)

Young Disrupters (7)

Transportation & Logistics (3)

Health & Science (8)

Fortune 500 (4)

College & Universities (9)

Defense (5)

Technology Companies (10)

In 2023, the Trailblazer Magazine will move to a quarterly publication with even more stories about the movers and shakers in our communities. Our next edition will include February’s historical event of National 8(a) Association and HUBZone Council’s Small Business Industry Awards Gala in New Orleans. Our first edition in the New Year will honor the Small Business nominees from each category.

We want everyone to get involved with future editions, so if you have a story to tell or just want to be a sponsor, we want to hear from you.

Enjoy the issue and have a safe and health holiday season!

Lily Milliner Vice Chair, HUBZone Council, Inc. & CEO, Build IT Up, LLC

MESSAGE FROM THE COUNCIL

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n behalf of the Board of Directors for the HUBZone Contractor’s National Council (HUBZone Council), I want to thank you for all your support in 2022. Here’s a special shoutout to the new members who joined our ranks this past year: we increased our membership by 12%.

The Council worked on several initiatives this past year to support the Biden Administration’s quest to level the playing field for small businesses. I have taken the liberty to name a few of those initiatives: • • • • • • • •

Launched a Digital Magazine Awarded 1st subcontract to optimize HUBZone participation Hosted the largest HUBZone Conference in the Organization’s history Assisted six of our members in securing their HUBZone Certification in record time as part of SBA’s Early Engagement program Assisted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in developing a strategy to increase HUBZone participation under the Super Fund Testified before the Maryland Public Utility Commission to Adopt HUBZone on the state Level and assisted with drafting legislation to leverage the HUBZone Program on the State Level • Hosted acquisition training in conjunction with GSA’s Category Management initiative for their construction and industrial products and services division in addition to the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Education • Supported 20+ Education & Outreach events throughout the year • Participated in four Hill testimonies and supported numerous legislative initiatives that led to the following legislative achievements: ◦ Spearheaded the PRICE Act, which was signed into law. It encourages interagency collaboration to utilize small business contractors. The Council’s advocacy team testified before the Senate on this topic. ◦ The House passed H.R. 7694, the Strengthening Subcontracting for Small Businesses Act of 2022, which expands the importance of subcontracting plan performance in agency evaluation of offerors and makes subcontracting plan performance a more important factor in winning future work. ◦ Secured $5M in funding for the HUBZone Program at the Small Business Administration in the House’s FY2023 Appropriations bill. This was an increase to $5M from the previous year’s $3M. ◦ The Senate Committee passed the Council-supported AGILE Procurement Act of 2022, which will increase opportunities for innovative small businesses that want to contract with the Federal Government.

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The Senate Committee passed the Council-supported Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise Act of 2021, which reauthorizes the Interagency Committee for Women’s Business Enterprise to help coordinate federal resources to encourage the formation, growth, and success of women-owned businesses.

Secured language under the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act to help safeguard small businesses, including Sec. 871 – Changes to the SBA Scorecard: Expands reporting requirements for the SBA.

As you can see from this list, we have had a very busy year – but our work is far from over. In the coming year, the Council intends to hit the ground running, starting with the Small Business Industry Awards Gala on February 15th in New Orleans. The Council is proud to partner with National 8(a) on this momentous event, and we hope to see you all there.

The Council is determined to be a catalyst for leveling the playing field for current and emerging HUBZone businesses. To that end, we encourage each member to take advantage of the exciting networking and educational opportunities that we have planned for 2023. So please, Save the Date for our Annual National HUBZone Conference on August 22-23, and don’t forget to consider the Council for your end of year donations. We could certainly use the help.

With all that said, I want to thank you again for all your support in 2022. We look forward to seeing out at the Gala in 2023, and again at the Annual National HUBZone Conference!

Happy New Year,

Shirley Bailey, Board Chair HUBZone Contractors National Council

The HUBZone Contractors National Council depends on the generosity and support of its Members and Sponsors, so please remember us for your end-of-year donations. We are always grateful for your support.

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20 22 FEATURE

FEATURE 08|Michelle Burnett, Executive Director, HUBZone Contractors National Council As the Executive Director of the Council, she embodies passion, fearlessness, and the drive needed to transform the HUBZone Program. Mrs. Burnett is truly the number one HUBZone Trailblazer of the year!

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2 DAY

4 DAY

WHITE HOUSE APPOINTEES 13| Dr. Dietra Trent Executive Director, White House Initiative on HBCUs

16| Farooq Mitha Director, Department of Defense Office of Small Business Programs

3 DAY

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS

20| Monica & Henry Perry

CEO & President, HME Inc.

21| Natalie Rosa

OSDBU, Department of Transportation

22| Mark Massicotte

President, L’Anse Manufacturing, Inc.

FORTUNE 500

25| Rita Brooks

Gilles Fouquart

Director of Business Development, L’Anse Manufacturing, Inc.

26| Diane Dempsey

Director, Small Business Corporate, SAIC

Director, Small Business Programs, BAE Systems, Inc. Intelligence & Security

27| Crystal Canja

29| Robyn Card

HBCU Program Manager, Partnership Development Office, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

Director, Small Business Relationships, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)

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DAYDEFENSE

32| Jimmy Smith

Director, Chair of OSDBU Council & Office of Small Business Programs, Department of Navy

33| Theresa Clark

Director, Office of Small Business Programs, Department of Defense

34| Ketan Shah

President, Intercontinental Construction Contracting Inc.

36| Leonard Holzworth President, International Program Group

37| Leandra Cain CEO, Hurricane Aerospace Solutions

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DAY YOUNG DISRUPTERS 52| Ed Emerson Delmock Technologies

53| Elizabeth Sullivan President, Madison Services Group

54| Angela Nguyen

Marketing Manager, HUBZone Contractors National Council

56| Timothy Wakefield CEO, Dead Calm Seas Marine Services

59| Gerald Jones Doctor of Medicine Program, Class of 2025

61| Santiago Salas-Oliva Associate Manager of Government & International Affairs, U.S. States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

TABLE

OF

64| Charlie Earth Ambassador, All Native Group, a division of Ho-Chunk, Inc.

CONTENTS

DAY CAPACITY BUILDERS

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41| Shirley Bailey CEO, Summit Federal Services, LLC

40| Morris Davis

45| Lily Milliner

President, M. Davis & Company, Inc.

CEO, Build-IT-Up

42| Rafif Jouejati

49| Mary Walks Over Ice

CEO, Co-Founder, & Visionary, P3 Solutions

COO, Native American Development Corporation

47| Lourdes Martin-Rosa

CEO, Government Business Solutions

HEALTH & SCIENCE

DAY

67| Santiago Almaraz

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Director, Office of Management Services, Indian Health Services, HHS

70| Mohammad (Sam) Elias CEO,RELI Group Inc.

72| Gwendolyn Miles

Small Business Specialist, HHS, CDC

73| Rob Purcell

DAY

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President, 22Vets, LLC

75| Dr. Michael O. Willis Social Health Equity Activist

78| Ben Skyles & John Ely CEO, ProSource360 and COO & President of Health Solutions, ERP International

80| Jenna Mykal Davis

Subcontract Manager, Sandia National Laboratories

82| Sabrina Thompson

Contracting Officer, Office of Acquisition & Grants Management, CMS

DAY

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COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES 101| Meena Krishan President/CEO, Inoventures, LLC

84| Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III

President of UMBC

90| Dr. Victor McCrary

Vice President for Research UDC, & Vice-Chair, National Science Board,

90| Dr. Tim Akers

Assistant Vice President, Research Innovation & Advocacy, Morgan State University, Member, National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee

92| Dr. Willie Sanders & Lamont Norwood

Professor, Department of CIS, Towson University & CEO, Strategic Government Solutions

94| Walter Cooper & Victor Holt Director, Career Education, Leadership Development Center, Tuskegee University & CEO, V-Tech Solutions

96| Dr. Lawrence Drake II Interim President, Bethune-Cookman University

97| Dr. Ike Ugboaja Associate Dean, Academic Services, Business Chair, Clinton College

98| Dr. Michael Stubblefield Vice Chancellor, Office of Research & Strategic Initiatives, Southern University and A&M College

99| Dr. Carla Williams Associate Professor of Medicine & Public Health & Interim Director of Howard University Cancer Center

102| Charles Robinson

Public Sector Leader IBM Quantum Team

104| Dr. Timothy Shilbach

110| Manisha Morris

CEO, Penacity, LLC. & AboutWeb, LLC

President, MSM Technology

107| Nicholas Koopalethes

112| Helleni Moon

CEO, Global Broadband Solutions

CEO, EIDOS Technologies

114| Andy Jabbour CEO, Cogent Solutions 117| Sam Yadav CEO, Quest Safety Products, Inc. 115| Dr. Celia Merzbacher 109| Glen Adam

Co-Founder, Gate 15

Executive Director, Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C)

20 22 FEATURE

BEATING THE ODDS

M

s. Burnett is our number one HUBZone Trailblazer. As the Executive Director of the Council, she embodies passion, fearlessness, and drive. Her HUBZone journey started more than a decade ago as a contractor for the HUBZone Program where she witnessed firsthand the value and impact of the program.

Keeping It 100 Ms. Burnett mentioned a pivotal conversation she had with a former contracting officer at SBA about some of the program regulations. Ms. Burnett was struggling to understand some of the regulations because in her mind they didn’t make sense and she says she will never forget what he said “I didn't say it made sense. I just said that is how the regulation is applied.” Those few words have led to a decade-long journey for her – of keeping it 100; that is, advocating for regulations that are straightforward and make sense to the HUBZone Business Community.

This Trailblazer is at the forefront of holding the Federal Government accountable for the social economic programs they have enacted. Whether advocating alongside her partners at the National Veteran Small Business Coalition (NVSBC) or Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP), Ms. Burnett keeps it real – collaborating with them to ensure every socio-economic category has a seat at the federal procurement table. She says, “It is more than meeting a federal goal it is about fulfilling the mission of these programs.

energetic teenager would sleep all day. Ms. Burnett’s parents trusted her; they knew something was really wrong. They didn’t stop seeking answers until the doctors found them.

With POTS, minor tasks such as getting out of bed can feel like a marathon but over the years, she has found ways to manage but not without difficulty.

For Ms. Burnett, this meant sometimes doing the seemingly impossible – slowing down her schedule to a normal pace, despite how urgent the deadline was, or doing the unthinkable - accepting help from her village.

In 2022, while attending the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) conference, she experienced a horrible episode due to a medication delay. Ms. Burnett said, “It was so amazing how our members did everything they could to help me. They were sending messages to check on me. I didn't feel like I was a burden, even though I was feeling extremely embarrassed at the time. I don’t like needing help, I like to be the one who gives it. I say all the time, ‘it is like they are family.’

When I need them, they are always there.”

Ms. Burnett doesn’t like talking about her health issues because it makes her feel weak.

She has slowly come to the realization that being different does not mean being deficient.

This humbling situation has allowed her to share, at an intimate level, her struggles while advocating for others who have similar battles.

Her transparency often gives people the comfort and hope to push into their new “normal” and live their best lives each day.

Beating the Odds This Trailblazer clearly has a couple of dozen cheerleaders (family, staff, Council members). She gives all the praise to her network of amazing supporters, including her grandmother, after whom she is named, or her younger brother, Chris. Ms. Burnett can’t remember a time when Chris wasn’t pushing her to succeed. He believed his big sister could do anything she put her mind to and so she did!

Ms. Burnett’s first leg in the journey to beat the odds was when she was 13. She was diagnosed with “Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).” The first sign that something was wrong was when the Michelle and her siblings. Starting from the right, Chris, Kira, Michelle, and Matt

20 22

From Anger to Contentment

to embrace these transformative lessons. These lessons are meant to lead us to our ultimate “New Normal.”

Being diagnosed with POTS can cause a lot of frustration, particularly to a child, who, at a young age, was already showing signs of being a budding Trailblazer. Ms. Burnett said, “Unfortunately, it took me a long time to stop being angry and feeling like ‘why me, this isn't fair.’ It wasn’t until I went on a trip with my dad, my brother, and my brother's friend to the Dominican Republic that I learned gratitude. I saw this little boy walking up a hill carrying water. He had one leg and was using a stick as a crutch. It hit me. I had absolutely nothing to complain about. This trip changed my entire view on my life and for the first time, I experienced what it was to be content. I stopped thinking of myself and literally wanted to help everyone. I had blamed my shortcomings on my inability to do things, but then I realized it just might be a little bit harder, or I might have to figure out a different way of doing it. That was my pivot point. We're so blessed here in the US. I'm so blessed to have so many amazing family and friends. That is why I now have a tattoo on my shoulder that says:

Obstacle Course: Figuring It Out

FEATURE

Michelle and some of the HUBZone Council's members and supporters in various events.

It has been often said that an obstacle course develops leadership, perseverance, teamwork, and rewiring one’s lifestyle. Ms. Burnett has developed all of these skills as she has navigated the various obstacles in her journey. Early in her career, Ms. Burnett was able to support SBA’s Strategic Plan on Disability Inclusion in Entrepreneurship. She interviewed stakeholders, documenting their stories and struggles. Ms. Burnett identified the many obstacles within the Federal Government that hinder millions of disabled citizens from pursuing their entrepreneurial

“Those that have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you unless you hold on to the pain through resentment.

Your past is your past! Nothing will change it . . . For your own sake, learn from it, and then let it go.”

That tattoo is a message to all entrepreneurs who have stumbled and failed. It is only a failure if they choose to live in the pain. Not letting go of the pain or not growing from it is the true failure. The challenge for each of us is Makayla repping HUBZone onesie.

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dreams. Her ability to listen and identify the obstacles has led to her success.

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Michelle with Madison Services Group, Inc. HUBZone Council's advocacy team. Starting from the left, Elizabeth Sullivan, Ann Sullivan, Eliza Joyner, Shirley Bailey, and Michelle Burnett

FEATURE

As Executive Director of the Council and the mom of two rambunctious toddlers, she knows first-hand what it means to leap tall buildings in a single bound. She gave birth to her last child just 2 weeks before the Annual National HUBZone conference. Ms. Burnett’s ability to successfully figure it out is a result of what she has learned while running her reallife obstacle course, teamwork, perseverance, and leadership.

supposed to be about and make sure that their acquisition strategy optimizes the program's impact. If a contract could be performed at the contractor’s facility, consider HUBZone, because this creates jobs in neighborhoods that need them the most.”

Michelle and her two daughters. Starting from the right, Mia, Michelle, and Makayla.

Championing HUBZone Equity This trailblazer cut her teeth on advocating for HUBZones in rural communities. Ms. Burnett’s role in supporting an adjustment in the algorithms as they related to non-metropolitan counties was a gamechanger. When SBA made the evaluation shift, 152 counties that were losing their HUBZone status were saved, and more than 300 new counties were added to the HUBZone map.

This effort gave Ms. Burnett a first-hand look at how advocacy can reshape a community.

Shirley Bailey (left), Michelle Burnett (middle), and Isabella Guzman SBA Administrator (right).

In 2023, she would love to see the government take contract performance location into consideration when developing their acquisition strategy. If the Federal Government’s intention is to ensure equity in these HUBZone communities, preferences need to be given to the businesses residing in the communities where the contract is being executed. Ms. Burnett said, “I want them to look at the roots of what this program is Michelle Burnett and HUBZone supporters.

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Dr. Trent was still in high school when President Jimmy Carter signed the first Executive Order establishing the White House Initiative on HBCUs. By the time Dr. Trent had been accepted into an HBCU (Hampton University), President Reagan’s Executive Order set into motion a government-wide effort to strengthen our nation’s HBCUs. I’m sure Dr. Trent’s praying grandmother, a teacher in rural Halifax Virginia, dreamed that her granddaughter would change the world, but I wonder if she thought it would be in her industry. The Biden Administration could not have appointed a more passionate Trailblazer to lead the transformation of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. A woman steeped in her

Photo Source: Dr. Trent

20 22 WHITE HOUSE APPOINTEES

Dr. Dietra Trent, Executive Director, White House Initiative on HBCUs, U.S. Department of Education

community – the churches, educators, and entrepreneurs. A humble Trailblazer, Dr. Trent will quickly state that she is not unique, but rather, is part of a legacy of HBCU graduates who continue to passionately promote these institutions. As I listen to her express how blessed she is with words like, “I get to do what I love each day; I’m spiritually led to do this work; I would do it for free that’s how much I love it; and I’m here for a purpose,” I was truly moved. My thoughts drifted to that quote by Mordecai to Queen Esther (or Hadassah), “And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

President Biden and his administration have made sure that Dr. Trent has the funding and influence to accelerate the advancement of educational equity, excellence, and economic opportunities for all HBCUs. Every day, this Trailblazer makes clear her intentions to make good on their promises to the HBCUs and the nation.

Backyard Talent Since 85% of all HBCUs reside in a HUBZone area, HUBZone businesses have an abundance of talent in their backyards. Dr. Trent believes with so much low-hanging fruit from HBCUs in their backyards, HUBZone businesses should be intentional about gathering this talent to win federal contracts.

Their ability to develop strong partnerships will lift all boats. She encourages the HBCUs and HUBZone businesses to lean in and find that common ground needed to develop new products and services for each of them to soar!

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Aggressive: Biden Administration’s Support of HBCUs The Biden Administration has delivered more than $6B in the last 18 months to the HBCU community. The President’s FY23 budget includes $450M for research at these universities, along with significant increases in Pell Grants and capacity building for HBCUs. Dr. Trent said, “for the first time in our nation’s history this Initiative has major support.” That commitment is demonstrated by: • President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s commitment to providing the resources needed to eliminate historic and systemic disparities.

•

•

The bipartisan HBCU PARTNERS Act (HBCUPropelling Agency Relationships Towards a New Era of Results for Students Act), which commits federal agencies with relevant grants and programs to develop plans on an annual basis to expand the participation of HBCUs in their agency activities and track their progress towards engagement-related goals.

Executive Order 14041 White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities day.

Elijah’s Story Elijah’s story helped me understand why Dr. Trent keeps turning over every rock and fiercely pushing the envelope to improve the nation’s educational system for the disenfranchised. I listen carefully to her story about a little African American boy name Elijah. Dr. Trent met him years ago at an elementary school in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Elijah lived with his eight older sisters and mother in one of the four public housing projects that fed the

Photo Source: Dr. Trent

overcrowded public-school Dr. Trent was attending that day.

As Elijah talked about his walk to school, Dr. Trent held back her tears, thinking about the drug paraphernalia and the possible yellow tape from a murder that children had to pass to arrive at class that day. Instead of letting the tears flow, she focused on Elijah’s beaming face and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Elijah told her proudly, “I want to be a fireman.” Dr. Trent encouraged him, but in her heart, she felt sad. She knew the statistics better than anyone: children living in these situations – war zones and in poverty – are not likely to do any better than their parents. This would be Elijah’s story unless she intentionally challenged the status quo.

“This is the most intentional team I have worked with. Everybody in this Department and White House wants to get it right for the HBCU community. Having an equity agenda that will make a huge impact on the lives so many people. I’m really proud to be affiliated with such an intentional administration. They are leveling the playing field bringing equity today not tomorrow.”

– Dr. Dietra Trent

resource-rich, intellectually, and economically.

Dr. Trent says, “HBCUs are owning their greatness, supplying the unique talents and perspectives needed to solve national and global problems. This is not a moment but a movement as HBCUs embrace their greatness and shout it from the rooftops. HBCUs are here to help every industry with embedded leadership skills.”

Everyday Heroes

Photo Source: Dr. Trent

It's Time: From “A Moment” to “A Movement” Dr. Trent decided that moment to be part of a movement. “I thought to myself you know my job from now on is to solve the education problem for Elijah. If I can fix it for Elijah, I can fix it for everybody else.” She had personally witnessed the impact of HBCUs on neighborhoods like this one. They provided the connections and leadership that could change his story as well as the stories of millions of others. That encounter with Elijah continues to fuel this Trailblazer’s passion for immediate change. She works daily with the Biden Administration and the thousands of stakeholders who understand that their educational accomplishments really matter to the millions of Elijahs out there.

Dr. Trent has millions of heroes, but the list starts with her mother and grandmother. They were the ones who taught her the value of having a relationship with God along with her moral values, including treating people with kindness. They did all of this by being her living examples. Her grandmother was the type of teacher who taught 365 days a year. If she wasn't in the traditional classroom, she was at the softball field, teaching at the church, or working with some organization that needed her passion for empowering young people. She made sure to take her trailblazing granddaughter with her. Then there are the 3 million schoolteachers in the United States who go to their classrooms everyday despite the hardships. They are committed to teaching the next generation of problem solvers. These teachers know that the future of the nation and the world rests in their hands. Heroes who are intentional, enduring the low pay, workload, crime, or even the global pandemic – they are the ones who keep showing up to empower our young people.

This Trailblazer is excited about the fact that HBCUs are finally getting the attention they deserve. For decades, they have been graduating thousands of leaders annually in every industry, raising the Gross National Income (GNI) for the US. The national statistics she provided, as they relate to African American HBCUs graduates, were simply staggering: 85% of the federal judges, 85% of PhDs, 70% physicians, 55% teachers and engineers – and that was just from her highlight reel. These institutions are critical to the nation’s economy. That is why the Biden Administration is investing in HBCUs – ensuring that the generations to come are Photo Source: Dr. Trent

selling gumballs is his constant reminder that our nation’s industrial base is wide and vast.

He personally understands the sacrifices that small business owners make and is committed to finding ways to open more doors for them at DoD. For Mr. Mitha, the HUBZone program is the best example of what happens

Farooq Mitha, Director of the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP)

This trailblazer started his small business adventure in Lakeland when he was 18 months old. Lakeland is between Orlando and Tampa, Florida, an area that includes multiple HUBZone Census Tracts. Mr. Mitha’s father had just started his journey to become a serial entrepreneur, but like most people launching startups, his father had to approach childcare creatively. That resulted in the father taking his son on his daily runs, handing out flyers, often at rest areas, promoting his first business, a motel. Mr. Mitha literally had a front seat watching his parents work more than 100 hours a week and barely surviving. Eventually, their hard work paid off and they thrived in their small business enterprises. Mr. Mitha saw the dedication it takes to be an entrepreneur – to start with nothing and go on to build something great.

His parents were able to eventually give back to the community that embraced them by creating jobs, including Mr. Mitha’s first business, which was selling candy from a gumball machine in the motel lobby. Those few bucks he made each week from that vending machine meant the world to him. Things were tough back then, but the money Mr. Mitha made

The COVID-19 pandemic proved, once again, the resilience of so many small businesses. For the last 2 years, small businesses’ agility has been tested, from supply chain issues to navigating unfair playing fields.

Their innovative processes, products, and services have been critical to building a strong industrial base. Mr. Mitha’s team is determined to find ways to be more inclusive in its strategic approach to vendor outreach. His staff is working on frameworks to better communicate stakeholders’ priorities. DoD is working on avenues to better communicate their shortterm and long-term needs so companies can take that information and appropriately tailor their business models. DoD’s report on the State of Competition in the Industrial Base makes it clear that the entire Department is committed to leveling the playing field for small businesses by identifying ways for DoD to increase competitiveness.

WHITE HOUSE APPOINTEES

Building a Strong Industrial Base

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Mr. Mitha is on a mission to modernize the National Defense Industrial Base with dynamic small business capabilities. He is looking for forward-thinking companies that can align their products and services to the DoD’s emerging needs. This may seem like a tall order to the HUBZone community, but Mr. Mitha has a history of making things happen. The last time he was at DoD, he helped establish accelerated payments to small business contractors – a move that President Obama implemented across the Federal Government as Quick Pay. HUBZone contractors then—and now—have benefited greatly from the accelerated payment schedule of 15 days. To this day, industry partners are singing his praises. This one change has affected the trajectory of thousands of small

“I’m looking for forward-thinking companies, which are able to align their products and services to the emerging needs of the DoD.” -Farooq Mitha

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businesses. The Council looks forward to what Mr. Mitha will do next!

Renaissance Man He cut his undergraduate teeth on the rigors of a pre-med curriculum, only to be drawn into public service, government policy, and politics.

Mr. Mitha stayed the course long enough to get his degree in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences before moving on to Law School. This renaissance man studied Arabic because of his interest in the politics of the Middle East and North Africa region, and the United States’ role in the region. He completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Jordan. At one point, he even considered a career in academia or a think tank. But that changed as his interest in business, politics, and policy grew. After this, he started his own law practice, and later, his own small business.

Mr. Mitha became a Middle East expert focused on the Levant at a time when the United States was entangled in the Iraq war and President Bush was calling nations such as Syria a part of the “axis of evil.” This context became Mr. Mitha’s clarion call for international policy, national security, and the need to bring better understanding across different cultures and communities. He had questions, and in the Mitha fashion, he sought answers to the hard questions, like: what are the regional implications of the Iraq war? How will this impact refugees in Jordan and Syria?

What are the prospects for economic reform in the region? Mr. Mitha has brought this same inquisitive nature to the Office of Small Business Programs.

This inquisitive nature is in Mr. Mitha’s DNA. His father has been volunteering with the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), which provides global humanitarian assistance at the grassroots level to ensure self sufficiency after a disaster. Mr. Mitha personally knows what it is like to be racially or ethnically profiled, but he also knows what a privilege it is to be part of an Administration that sees the value of diversity in every area. Mr. Mitha has been empowering minority and disadvantaged communities for a long time, including cofounding Emgage, an organization devoted to empowering Muslim communities Farooq A. Mitha, Director, Office of Small Business Programs, Department of Defense in America to create equitable, knowledgeable, and motivated citizens. He is living his wildest dream; he is creating a legacy where policies

and practices built today will hopefully be sustained from generation to generation. Small businesses are being given their fair shake – embraced for their diversity. Mr. Mitha wants to not only build capacities but to have a legacy of championing small business programs that ensure business sustainability.

Other Transactional Authority (OTA) Mr. Mitha started exploring the agility of OTAs towards the end of the Obama Administration. He particularly wanted to know how DoD could leverage these authorities to better develop and increase innovation and attract new entrants in their defense industry base. He remembers sitting down, some 6 or 7 years ago, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) folks to discuss how they used OTAs. At that time, they were gathering lessons learned for potentially adopting parts of their OTA process and procedures for other organizations within DoD.

Photo: Farooq Mitha

Currently, Mr. Mitha’s team is exploring ways to further increase new entrants, as indicated in DoD’s State of Competition within the Defense Industrial Base Acquisition and Sustainment Report of February 2022. His team is developing a strategy and process to attract new entrants to the defense marketplace by reducing barriers to entry to make their

“Mr. Mitha is always thinking about what he can do today to impact the future.”

–Farooq Mitha

programs better and faster while helping to infuse new capabilities and technologies into the defense innovation ecosystem.

Think Tank Tricks Up His Sleeve The good news for the HUBZone community is that Mr. Mitha still has some of those Think Tank skills up his sleeve. He is always thinking about what he can do today to impact the future. How to spur new technologies. He remembers when DARPA supported Moderna during the Obama Administration about developing a messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine. DoD funded that research, not knowing that it would be an answer to the COVID pandemic. What makes a trailblazer different is that they are willing to take leaps into the unknown for the sake of what they believe is a good idea.

Mr. Mitha’s team is developing frameworks to assist businesses in the speedy commercialization of their DoD innovations.

The Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are being reviewed to determine how they can be more advantageous to the small business community. Note: All this work by the program

office on the SBIR/STTR program won’t make a difference if the re-authorization doesn’t pass this year [so remember to lean in on your Congressional representatives]. Additionally, Mr. Mitha is strengthening the Mentor Protégé Program and Procurement Technical Assistance Program as important business development programs at DoD to enhance the supply chain and support innovative companies that need help in bolstering their readiness to do business with DoD.

Photo: Farooq Mitha

person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

Henry and Monica Perry, President and CEO, HME, Inc.

The Perry’s trailblazing strength has been their ability to successfully balance professional and personal lives. They received the department of Homeland Security Small Business Achievement Award for outstanding support to the Center for Domestic Preparedness. This HUBZone company has consistently mitigated the impact of natural disasters by supporting many of FEMA’s surge requirements including facility maintenance, custodial services, fire safety, and contaminated waste disposal.

For years the Perry’s have mentored underserved companies (construction, logistics, transportation, maintenance, janitorial, and warehousing) sharing the various lessons learned to improve bottom-lines like outsourcing services such as HR, payroll, accounting in order to focus on core areas of competencies while remaining price competitive.

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Based in Tennessee, when it comes to southern hospitality (service, assistance, and charity), HME is the firm folks want to work with or for. They have a history of what we call “home spun services” that is services that are of extreme quality and worth the money.

These trailblazers live by two mottos “can’t do it — can’t stay here” & “Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle!” This philosophy is fundamental to their ability to provide exceptional support.

Additionally, the Perry’s passion for assisting underserved communities has led to their newest venture designing and developing affordable apartments for low-income senior citizens.

We asked the Perry’s why the future looks so bright for HUBZones, they said “abundance of will.” Mr. Perry then quoted a familiar Vince Lombardi “ The difference between a successful

Photo Source: Henry and Monica Perry award photo (Homeland Security in Washington, DC)

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Ms. Rosa helps them figure it out. Her message to small business owners is consistent, you can jump over your hurdles. You may have to study hard, ask for help, and cancel all the pity party invitations, but you can do it!

Natalie Rosa, Small Business Specialist, 8(a ) & HUBZone Program Advocate, OSDBU, U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)

Ms. Rosa is constantly listening and asking the tough questions. For instance, “Does our office have the data for this acquisition strategy? Have we been able to measure the impact of this decision on the people we are serving? Furthermore, does this align with the Biden Administration’s Executive Order to “Level the Playing Field?” What is refreshing to her is the leadership is asking the same questions. They stand ready to assess the possible consequences of their acquisition strategy.

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As a first-generation Cuban, Ms. Rosa is astutely aware that she has a responsibility to ensure that the playing field is being leveled for small businesses. When faced with phrases like “this is how it has always been done,” she reminds her colleagues that the business world is changing daily, and this might be a fantastic opportunity to try something different.

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Ms. Natalie Rosa will tell you her best days are the ones when she gets to assist what she calls her family “HUBZone Businesses & 8(a)s” do business at USDOT. This Millennial trailblazer lives by the slogan “Make It Happen.” Ms. Rosa has said, “if you're gonna cancel anything it has to be that statement it's never been done so I can't do it .” She lets business owners know you can do it, cancel those excuses.

Photo Source: Michelle Burnett

Small businesses are in Ms. Rosa’s blood, by her 18th birthday she was coordinating business matchmaking sessions for her mother’s business all over the United States. Getting first-hand experience on how to be decisive. On a final note, remember just because it has not been done before, does not mean it cannot be done now, that is our invitation to “Make It Happen”!

Photo Source: Natalie Rosa

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appropriate technology to a requirement. LMI determines the client’s pain points while using technology to design different scenarios, allowing for customized solutions.

Growing the Business

Mark Massicotte, President, Gilles Fouquart, Director of L’Anse Manufacturing, Inc. Business Development, L’Anse (LMI) Manufacturing, Inc. (LMI)

This trailblazing team has known each other for more than 30 years. They may tell you differently, but having spent some time with them, I believe the secret to their success is humor and deep respect for their team. LMI is a defense aerospace manufacturing company with a strong belief that rural communities have valuable untapped resources. These resources lie in the skills and talents of their potential workforce and the HUBZone contractors willing to give them an opportunity. LMI is creating these opportunities in well-paying, technologydriven manufacturing jobs.

LMI has a rightsizing approach to technology. In the last 30 years, Mr. Massicotte has experienced the benefits and drawbacks of IT solutions within the manufacturing industry.

He reminds his customers “we can either utilize technology or serve technology,” and LMI chooses to utilize it. They believe that part of their value is their ability to provide the

How to grow LMI? Mr. Massicotte said, “You're asking me to grow a company, I can't grow a company unless I grow a community, I can't grow a community unless I grow a person.” The individual performers are a catalyst to that growth. LMI builds their workforce, community outreach, and corporate infrastructure in the following ways: •

Workforce: Apprenticeship programs and ISO & AS9100 training [96% HUBZone participation].

•

Community outreach: Michigan Works, Wisconsin Procurement Institute, Northwest Michigan PTAC, GreenForces Coalition, Aerospace Industry Association of Michigan, and HUBZone Council.

•

Corporate infrastructure: Web-based systems, cybersecurity, and certifications such as CMMC. •

Recently, switching from an ERP system to a web-based system, giving remote workers a real-time view of products and services. The team makes quick and accurate updates. Any problems are escalated and tracked efficiently.

•

Embraced cybersecurity practices and early adopters of the CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) about 3 years ago. LMI saw that some of their systems might be vulnerable to security breaches. They took measures to mitigate any risk. This resulted in LMI being far ahead of most DoD small business contractors. Security is infused into all of their processes.

• Certifications like ISO 9001:2015 & AS9100 [International Aerospace quality management standard, which includes requirements for aviation, space, and defense industries].

Governor Gretchen Whitmer was in L’Anse on Aug. 18, 2021, as part of her U.P economic tour. L-r, Quentin Messer, Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO; Mark Massicotte, L’Anse Manufacturing; Governor Whitmer, Phil Knapp, L’Anse Manufacturing and Mary Myers, Lake Superior Community Partnership.

Prior to COVID, these trailblazers had invested in the rigorous training needed to become aerospace-certified. Upon certification, LMI obtained DoD contracts to provide critical aerospace parts to the government. During the pandemic, DoD sent an official letter to them identifying their workforce as essential and legally mandating staff to remain on the job.

LMI took extreme measures to protect their crew from COVID. When Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding came available, they were able to distribute extra funds to their workforce. Because they had invested in their workforce and infrastructure, LMI was ready for the pandemic.

Apprenticeship Program – Blue Collar STEM Recently, LMI was featured in the National Apprenticeship Week. This is an annual weeklong celebration geared toward raising awareness for apprenticeship-based training programs throughout Michigan and the country as a whole [see video]. LMI’s president, along with several conference participants, were featured. This apprenticeship program trains new practitioners of a trade through paid onthe-job training and related classroom instruction. The training takes place under the careful supervision of LMI’s seasoned and knowledgeable professionals. Apprentices – after receiving this impactful training – earn industry- and nationally-recognized credentials granted through the U.S. Department of Labor.

LMI has been able to build workforce capacity and sustainability through this program.

Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things Everyday LMI’s heroes are those who put others in front of themselves. Every one of the people at LMI have a trailblazing story of their own. They are heroes. Both Mr. Fouquart and Mr. Massicotte have the privilege of leading a group of creative people who strive to do the right

Taking Responsible Risks What differentiates LMI from the pack is that their trailblazers “own it.” Mr. Fouquart believes that when something goes wrong, the entire team needs to own it. Blame is neither an option nor a solution. It doesn’t matter if LMI was a subcontractor and was not assigned the task.

There is no time for finger-pointing; the customer needs a solution. LMI wants to be at the table contributing to the solution.

LMI is not afraid to tear everything up and start all over to get it right. That attitude has resulted in extremely loyal customers. They know that LMI will come up with a solution that works, probably because they often say “I don't always need to win, but I really don't like to lose.”

CEO Mark Massicotte on the shop floor of L’Anse Manufacturing in L’Anse, Michigan Photo Source: National Center for Economic Gardening

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Impact of COVID

thing. They're actually the heroes, because they do the work; without them, you don't need the leaders. Mr. Massicotte said, “I think if we all take that humble approach that we're not the most important thing in the room, it's everybody, that's allowed us to do what we do so much better. Our growth objectives are met by our heroes in every room. I'm extremely proud of my staff. I get to see them every day.

I'm just blessed. I get to actually interact with all these great ordinary people doing extraordinary things, pretty much every day.”

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Rita Brooks, Director, Small Business Programs Corporate at SAIC

As a HUBZone trailblazer, Ms. Brooks’ superpower is being a small business evangelist. She is the person that brings the good news about HUBZones’ capabilities to both the public and private sector. Her current role has allowed her to become a key influencer in advocating and disseminating information about SAIC. Known for her ability to connect the right HUBZones companies with the right products and services passionately providing the wisdom needed to promote their brands.

Advocating for small businesses for over 20 years, Ms. Brooks is quick to listen and assist businesses wherever she can. You may hear her say “you don’t know, what you don’t know.”

Reminding us of our special blind spots that may be keeping us from blazing our own trail.

Considered by many to be a honest knowledge broker, mentor, and coach; Ms. Brooks’ followers are continuously expanding her network of contract-ready small businesses.

Rita Brooks at the Annual HUBZone Golf Outing supporting the Council by selling mulligans.

Photo Source: HUBZone Council

HUBZones to ensure that they put their best foot forward. The foot that will in fact get them ultimately a contract. This often means that she has to have the hard conversations, the ones were pitches and materials are thoroughly critiqued. One of her favorite lines is “you only have one chance to make a first impression, so make sure your chance works for you.”

Ms. Brooks purpose driven approach requires the small business ecosystem to stop standing on the sidelines and start working in the field. As a trailblazer, she believes revival is here! She provides guidance and leadership in small business relations, diverse supplier sourcing, geo-political advocacy, and business development.

More than an influencer, she truly is a small business evangelist believing that when large businesses create partnerships leveraging the innovation, creativity, and expertise of small businesses the nation is truly strengthened. As a truth broker, she diligently works with

Gloria Larkin, the winner, Rita Brooks, Anna Hakobyan, and Diane Dempsey at the Pitch Competition, hosted by the Council.

Photo Source: HUBZone Council

Diane Dempsey, Director, Small Business Programs, BAE Systems, Inc., Intelligence and Security

Diane Dempsey’s trailblazing strength lies in her ability to take a panoramic view of the business industry including stakeholders, vendors, suppliers, investors, and buyers. By constantly analyzing industry trends to understand organizations’ selection and implementation practices has enabled Ms. Dempsey to guide small businesses and other small business liaisons.

When the Council first started, she was one of the first to see that the HUBZone program created meaningful jobs. Ms. Dempsey took this message back to other Prime Contractors

As a leader who leaves a path for others to follow, we have heard her say “business changes every day, shouldn’t we?” That is a clarion call for HUBZones to continue to elevate their thinking in areas of market size, global industry trends, share, innovation, demand, growth opportunities, industry revenue, and of course their future. For instance, Ms. Dempsey’s discussions around Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) and her understanding of regulations, politics, and industry enables her to guide industry conversations around cyber security and the vulnerabilities.

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and rallied the troops to support the Council’s annual national conference. Her vision of an infrastructure where HUBZones have a place at the Primes table is still growing. The Council last year at the height of COVID had more prime contractors participating in the match making sessions than ever before. Additionally, Ms. Dempsey has engaged the Council for internal HUBZone connector events.

As a trailblazer, Ms. Dempsey will remind people of what we at the Council call E3 (E to the third power). To Enchant – your customers, to Elevate – your services and products, and finally to Earn – your customers’ respect by providing fair prices, superior quality, and timely execution. This is the competitive landscape which builds a better world for others.

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This trailblazer has the rare ability to not only be fearless but to empathize with her portfolio. Whether she is working to open doors for HUBZone businesses or creating unique partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), it is obvious that she seeks to understand and truly cares about them.

For Ms. Canja, it is all about action – something that her father exemplified in his journey to become a US citizen. A US Navy recruitment sign at the bus depot in the Philippines was all her father needed to see to take immediate action. Going against the more traditional Filipino belief to leave everything to fate, his fearlessness led to a 20-year stint in the Navy and a life that instilled that same fearlessness in his children. To this day, Ms. Canja approaches partnership development and HBCU advocacy with a “whatever it takes” mentality! She knows there will be obstacles to cross, but Ms. Canja is willing to take that chance for the greater good of her community. Much like her father, this Guam-born trailblazer is more apprehensive of missed opportunities than failure.

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Crystal Canja, HBCU Program Manager, Partnership Development Office, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR), operated by Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., and sponsored by the National Cancer Institute

strong, risk-taking women who accelerated her career trajectory. The formidable Ms. Kathleen Hines and Ms. Marie Jatsko mentored Ms. Canja, from BAE Systems to Dell ServicesFederal Government, where she honed her negotiation skills through managing DoD subcontracts. After a brief hiatus from the workforce to care for family, Ms. Chireda Gaither at CSRA (now GDIT) provided Ms. Canja the opportunity to serve primarily as a Small Business Liaison Officer and mentor a then-recent HBCU graduate from Morgan State University. Ms. Wande Leintu at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) embraced Ms. Canja’s extroversion and channeled it into leading small business outreach for projects such as building the new Terminal A at Reagan National Airport (DCA).

Ms. Beverly Hayes at the FNLCR encouraged Ms. Canja to explore diversity and inclusion.

Ms. Teanna Jones at Deloitte supported Ms. Canja’s initiative to partner with HBCUs in federal health contracting opportunities.

Good for the Science Ms. Canja is not a scientist by any means, but what she is “empathic.” She is a great listener and truly believes that representation and diversity are good for science. She believes firmly that health equity has a large socioeconomic component and that all stakeholders could and should contribute to the design, research, and implementation – whether through HUBZone or HBCU contracts for clinical trials, or marketing campaigns in historically underrepresented neighborhoods.

At the height of COVID-19, when Black and Brown communities were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, it was strong community relationships that began breaking down the walls of government distrust. Good

We asked Ms. Canja who her guides and mentors were. She credits Photo Source: Crystal Canja

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partnerships (including HUBZones and HBCUs) go together with good science.

Forging a Different Relationship Ms. Canja believes that great strides can be made in health equity through HBCUs, HUBZones, and Industry collaboration.

Through the FNLCR, and with the full support of Dr. Vladimir Popov (Director, Partnership Development Office), that conversation can include clinical trials, biomedical research, academic training opportunities, and technical services unique to the FNLCR. Ms. Canja is on a mission to help her colleagues and the nation understand that we are all part of the same ecosystem; making room for everyone at the table makes for better science. Everyone has a contribution – scientific, economic, or both.

When Ms. Annette Owens Scarboro (Small Business Program Manager/HBCU Coordinator, NIH) approached Ms. Canja to ask how HBCUs and HUBZones could work together to drive value for NIH, this trailblazer was ready to respond. She suggested that, under FAR 52.219-9, HBCUs could subcontract to HUBZones to help NIH achieve their statutory HUBZone goals through second tier subcontracting. These types of relationshipsbuilt capacity, scalability, workforce infusion, economic development, and shared interdisciplinary subject matter expertise.

With about 80% of HBCUs residing in HUBZones, Ms. Canja thinks pairing the two makes good business sense. These academic institutions have a plethora of SMEs in various disciplines, as well as a diverse group of students, who would jump at the chance to gain real-world work experience. Ms. Canja suggests that HUBZones should find an HBCU partner that aligns with their company’s goals for both business and community. Once identified, HUBZones should be willing to put forth the time, patience, and resources needed to create a strong alliance to highlight key discriminators. The government and large primes are always looking for cohesive teams that give clients the services and products that will add value.

opportunities. Early this month, when Defense Health Agency (DHA) awarded $10B military medical research IDIQ contract to her previous employer, you could actually hear Ms. Canja smiling. All her hard efforts had resulted in an HBCU having a critical subcontractor role on one of the largest IDIQ vehicles to date. How did she do it? By reading every single line of the Request for Proposal (RFP) and discovering that HBCUs would be considered small businesses for this contract. That language was the game-changer she needed to bring the opportunity to a trusted HBCU partner. Over the course of 3 months, Ms. Canja was in constant communication with the HBCU and their HUBZone partner who assisted in the proposal process. The prime was so impressed with the HUBZone company’s responsiveness that they awarded the HUBZone with a first tier subcontracting spot on the same team. When it was time to propose a Health Equity story, it almost literally wrote itself. The good news for HBCUs and HUBZones is that when one does a great job, it increases opportunities for all. Ms. Canja has an innate belief that with a little creativity, a lot of grit, and a good sense of humor, great ideas can become an almost immediate reality. She doesn’t come from a mindset that there is a fixed pie, but one that believes in everyone chipping in to bake a bigger pie. Her final words were, “I believe whole-heartedly that bridging disadvantaged, underrepresented communities through HUBZones and HBCU collaborations is 100% the right thing to do. So, I don’t believe the naysayers.” The right partnerships always pay off!

Go Big Or Go Home Not surprisingly, this trailblazer would put her hat in the ring for some of the Federal Government’s biggest contracting

Photo: Crystal Canja

workspace while enabling and nurturing long-lasting relationships. Anyone who is interested in talking to the small business office is invited to attend these meetings.

Businesses return weekly, knowing that GDIT is constantly adding more content to their core presentation and inviting special guests like GDIT program managers, federal OSDBU leaders, and small business associations.

Robyn Card, Director of Small Business Relationships, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT)

Dr. Card believes it is about a company’s differentiators, their unique capabilities, different experiences, and connections that enable them to succeed. This Trailblazer gets businesses to focus on their story – or maybe we should say their “song” – so that each live performance gets a standing ovation.

Power Hour Power Hour was a virtual chat launched at the beginning of COVID by Dr. Card’s predecessor, Ms. Ludmilla Parnell, to connect GDIT with the small business community. Dr. Card will quickly admit that this weekly session is her favorite time of the week, and she is so grateful for Ms. Parnell’s legacy. The conversations her team has with the small business community help to level the contracting playing field at GDIT. These sessions are where success stories are shared and business relationships are forged.

When a small business asks, “do you have any subcontracting opportunities?” The answer is always “yes, GDIT has tons of subcontracting opportunities.” This question always leads to a deeper discussion. What do you provide? Who is your federal customer?

Do you have customer intimacy? This Trailblazer has created an ecosystem in which GDIT and businesses share lessons learned and best practices for business growth. Dr. Card’s team has often dispelled the myth that one size fits all while encouraging companies to customize their solutions and services to the needs of GDIT stakeholders. The “straight talk” approach has resulted in the organic growth of Power Hour attendance.

Great Capabilities Statements When HUBZone companies meet with Dr. Card’s team, they need to have the best “Why Us?” story that describes their capabilities, customized for the GDIT group they wish to support. She encourages them to first do their homework, such as researching current and expiring GDIT contracts on public information websites like the Federal Procurement Data System

The Power Hour may have started as a result of COVID but has become vital to small business growth at GDIT. Sessions like these are continuing to foster understanding of navigating the federal Photo Source: HUBZone Council

Great Reputation Having a great reputation within GDIT is very important to her team. This team has the reputation of only moving companies forward when they can support the specific mission of a GDIT group. Dr. Card’s team gets the greatest joy when they have a value proposition that allows them to make a referral and the small business becomes one of their subcontractors. Just like the research the HUBZone business does, GDIT stakeholders expect the small business team to pre-qualify companies before contacting their actual program personnel. Their good reputation has been built on making these great connections.

It is a Marathon Dr. Card said, “It’s a Marathon, not a Sprint.” She wishes to remind the HUBZone

Robyn Card at the 2021 VETS Conference in Florida Photo Source: HUBZone Council

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Photo Source: Robyn Card

business community to remain humble, patient, and tenacious in their approach to their targeted customer base. Their journey may have valleys, hills, and mountaintops, but if they continue to learn while staying on the trail they’ll surely win.

The small business federal industrial base has recently gotten smaller. It needs more companies that provide great services and products to support federal contracts. It is important that HUBZones build their infrastructure, expertise, talent, and relationships to meet these growing needs.

There is space for more HUBZone companies – because there are a whole lot of problems to be solved. Just like the pandemic redefined essential workers for the world, the HUBZone business community doing that for the nation.

This Trailblazer’s final words were, “Surround yourself with good people.

Don't be afraid to hire folks who are smarter than you. Because if you're leading them, that's just going to lift the team higher as well as the company, the community, and the nation.”

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(FPDS) to figure out what each groups sells and what gaps they have. The trajectory of a HUBZone’s growth is accelerated when the capabilities statement is targeted to the customer. What specifically can the HUBZone company provide to meet the need being presented in the Statement of Work that differentiates them from their competitors? When a company provides a value-added capabilities statement to GDIT’s Small Business team that is targeted to a specific opportunity or customer, the right connection and introduction can be made within the company.

Jimmy Smith, Director, Chair of OSDBU Council & Office of Small Business Programs, Department of Navy

As the chair, Mr. Smith is blazing a trail as a servant leader to the Federal OSDBU stakeholders. He has the critical task of ensuring that small business decisions enacted at the executive, legislative, and judicial levels are embraced by the OSDBU Council. He works with OSDBU leaders to assure that all reasonable and practicable opportunities for small business participation are identified and realized by providing the advocacy the public deserves. Fostering an environment where

As the ultimate trailblazer, Mr. Smith has taken that same military spirit to the nation’s small business community. He said, “small businesses’ most impressive weapons are their agility, innovation, and pricing. They need to continue to sharpen their pencils, pivot quickly and provide exceptional service.” Additionally, remember you will never get a second opportunity to fail, you must deliver. The government wants the goods and services at the right time and at the right level.

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everyone is of service, listening and helping to steer in the same direction; whereby translating the regulations to ultimately serve the citizens of this nation. As a HBCU graduate and a seasoned engineer he often reminds his colleagues, “we can’t sit around admiring the problem it is time to be of service for others.”

That commitment has been honed over his 30 years of civil service of helping warfighters come back safely.

For the Navy, COVID pandemic presented problems and opportunities for HUBZone businesses.

As the demand for support surged the HUBZones which were able to quickly ramp up to meet this increased volume did well. Mr. Smith hopes the takeaway for the HUBZone community is it is all about delivery; so, work together to increase population, capacity, while still keeping the cost down. Our government is strengthened when HUBZone businesses provide strategic advantages which benefit our warfighters.

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passionate, tenacious, and smart. This is probably why HUBZone businesses have a special place in her portfolio.

She tells the contracting officers (CO) all the time to remember HUBZone businesses impact communities around the nation.

A real trailblazer knows, to stand tall you need someone’s shoulders to support you.

Theresa Clark will quickly tell you her heroes are her older sisters. One is a hospice nurse, who loves her job despite the pay and paperwork. Her sister continues to make sure her patients transition with the dignity we all deserve. The other sister was the first person to tell Ms. Clark that she could do anything. She would say “set your goals and then go out and achieve them”. They are both hardworking,

DEFENSE

Theresa Clark, Director, Small Business Programs, Air Force District of Washington

They create jobs and help to revitalize neighborhoods. That is why when COs need support in conducting industry research, she counts on the Executive Director, Ms. Burnett to quickly provide a data driven HUBZone solutions to the Air Force. Building HUBZone Capacity is paramount to Ms. Clark.

Her role as a small business advocate has allowed her to collaborate with COs and industry partners to further increase the DoD industrial base. She is constantly working to level the procurement playing field, whether it is to champion market research within DoD or ensuring that small businesses create comprehensive capability statements. As the ultimate trailblazer, Ms. Clark is laser focused on uncovering skilled small business resources throughout the nation by advocating acquisition strategies that leverage appropriate vendors. Additionally, she makes sure that DoD obtains the right vendor with the right capabilities to meet the mission of our warfighters. In summary, Ms. Clark’s final words to the HUBZone community “is not to quit and there are lots of resources out there, use them [Small Business (af.mil)].”

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Racing to the Contract Finish Line

Ketah Shah, President, Intercontinental Construction Contracting. Inc. (ICC)

This trailblazer is best known for building a thriving HUBZone business while remaining the ultimate peacemaker. When we questioned Mr. Shah on how he was able to accomplish this feat, he told us about one of his heroes, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is considered one of the founding fathers of the Indian Republic. Mr. Patel was known for successfully integrating more than 550 princely states with the Indian union with great skill and masterful diplomacy. He later indicated that if his role model, Mr. Patel, could be a peacemaker facing such unbelievable challenges, then maybe he could exhibit that same behavior at ICC.

Empowering His Entire HUBZone Workforce & Family

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higher education – even graduate degrees.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Shah’s workforce was once again treated like family.

Salaries remained the same despite contractual work stoppages. Workers who were unable to work because of COVID were still paid their full salary. This trailblazer’s workforce was sheltered from the economic factors that many individuals within HUBZone communities experienced. Mr. Shah even extended similar grace to his subcontractors.

Several years ago, Mr. Shah received a contract with the U.S. Army for the West Point Military Academy. This contract would turn out to be one of his most difficult races. When ICC submitted the bid in August of that year, they would have had 8 months to deliver the kitchen renovations and install new equipment. The funding was delayed until early November, but the delivery date of March 31st remained fixed.

Rather than tell the client this was impossible (particularly because his staff had planned vacations in December and January), his team rose to the occasion. Mr. Shah knew that the typical lead time for the equipment the customer requested was 16 or more weeks. His team only had 23 weeks to deliver. He negotiated at a loss with a vendor who committed to a 12-week delivery period. His staff canceled their vacations and worked through Christmas and New Year’s to execute the contract. The task was finished on March 11th, much to the shock of the customer. The customer admitted that they never thought it could be done, but had to push for the Academy’s graduation. ICC received an Excellent CPARs rating and has had contracts

Mr. Shah strongly believes in the mission of the HUBZone Program.

Therefore, he thinks of program participants like family, always putting them first. Mr. Shah has built a living legacy paying back society for what his company and family have received. To that end, ICC has implemented an unusual employee benefits program. Their program includes generous educational benefits for both the employee and their entire family. ICC has established a family trust that provides scholarships to students for

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with this office for 24 consecutive years. This trailblazer will tell his fellow HUBZone leaders that racing to the finish line has major benefits.

The 3% HUBZone Goal Needs to be Intentional This trailblazer believes that federal agencies need to be intentional if they are to

finally meet their 3% HUBZone goal.

Otherwise, HUBZone communities will never see the significant change that the HUBZone Program was designed to accomplish. Mr. Shah thinks that maybe it is time for the White House to request that these agencies submit a HUBZone plan. A plan that, at a minimum, includes SMART goals – ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant to the business community, and Timely.

the Temple of Jerusalem. (Knights Templar) For service to Iraqi Christians in danger.

Leonard M. Holzworth, President/CEO, International Program Group (IPG)Washington

This trailblazer is all about the safety and security of our warfighters. Mr. Holzworth’s HUBZone company (International Program Group (IPG)) is known for making the impossible, possible. From having factory manufacture and ship materials for 5,000 portable and modular shelter Panels in less than a week to designing and implementing a patent for the Sustainable Range Shelter (SRS) for live-fire training, his team has never missed a deadline. I guess it doesn’t hurt that Mr. Holzworth can communicate his appreciation for jobs well done in at least five (5) different languages. He has been recognized at the highest levels of government more recently having a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol in his honor for his tireless Patriotism to the United States of America. If that wasn’t impressive enough, this trailblazer received the Order of Merit - Issued by Sovereign Military Order of

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When it comes to understanding the ethos of a nation, they call on this trailblazer to design and populate an entire community. One of their projects included the IPG Private Military Training Complex in the west coast mountains covering over 10,000-acres of desert. IPG was able to design and stand-up 480 buildings to recreate an Iraqi city. This effort allowed our troops to immerse themselves in the terrain, language, temperature, religions, customs, garments, food, shops, and people.

Most importantly, IPG hired 100s of Arab Americans to support the training of our troops, including Iraqi Role Players. Many of these employees lived in HUBZone communities. IPG brought Iraqi experts from all over the nation including translators, chefs, teachers, and guides to provide our troops with the tools and expertise needed to navigate the Iraq terrain. Then there were the teams for logistics, defense, housing, sanitation, healthcare, vehicles, demolition, and much more.

This simulated city provided the situational cultural awareness our troops needed to keep safe and secure. Simple things like how to eat local foods could mean the difference between making a friend or an enemy. What Mr. Holzworth remembers most about this experience is how the men and women rallied to ensure that our servicemen understood the possible pitfalls of their future Iraq deployments. He expressed both gratitude and sadness about IPG Advisor, LtGen Charles Pitman, USMC (Ret). which served on the IPG Board of Advisors. LtGen Pitman retired from the Marine Corps after thirty-eight years of service and recently passed away in 2020.

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This Aerospace Solutions provider has made the word “hurricane” something to smile about.

Ms. Cain is a Trailblazer who wakes up each morning determined to make a difference for her staff, community, and clients. She experiences the daily benefits of the right “Hurricane,” and how it has transformed the HUBZone neighborhood in which she lives and works. For years, Hurricane has brought a thunderstorm of diversity to the Aviation Industry, with over 50% women managers.

Hurricane’s staff looks more like the United Nations, with every race, culture, and religion working toward the success of the company.

Ms. Cain remembers a pivotal moment in Hurricane’s growth: the day she went to the Kennedy Space Center and learned about the HUBZone program. When she reflects on the positive impact her HUBZone company has had locally and globally, she has this message to other CEOs. “Don’t ever quit. I think when you understand what it is, and that it’s personal,

Photo Source: Hurricane Aerospace Solutions

Principles Behind HUBZone Ms. Cain is not only a Trailblazer, but a passionate HUBZone Evangelist. When she learned about the HUBZone program that faithful day at the Center she started both searching for the right property for her company and sharing the good news with her fellow entrepreneurs – business owners who wanted to disrupt a neighborhood for the good of the nation. Companies like Hurricane are helping build the economic infrastructure of the US by creating sustainable jobs and skill sets that help people in distressed communities thrive.

Ms. Cain’s evangelist talents have extended to federal acquisition stakeholders. She has had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with small business liaison officers about the benefits of the program. Ms. Cain is often shocked at how unaware they are of the commitment HUBZone companies have to their communities and the economic impacts that just one federal contract award will have on the workforce. She dispels the notion that the HUBZone Program is merely a diversity program by educating decisionmakers on the value and the economic impact of the program.

DEFENSE

Leandra Cain, CEO, Hurricane Aerospace Solutions (Hurricane)

its purpose is a bigger purpose, that drives the business, not the HUBZone check in the box to win business. Not every person Hurricane hired has been a success but the ones that I have hired and change their lives whether they are still employed with us today or they moved on to other opportunities that is something that’s life-changing for me, because I know I’ve made a difference and the company made a difference.”

Trailblazers in Every HUBZone Community It is refreshing to know that one person can make a difference. Ms. Cain is grateful that her company is made up of dozens of these individuals. Just like her staff has learned from her, she is constantly learning from them. Her biggest lesson has been to not place any limits on what her staff can learn or accomplish. Ms. Cain has witnessed marvelous growth when all employees are part of the process, from high school interns to corporate executives, whether they have been in the aviation industry for decades or just hours.

One of her success stories includes a gentleman who started as a maintenance worker. He was eventually promoted to managing Hurricane’s warehouse. What was even more important about this “one” was that he told the owner that he was computer illiterate and was not smart enough to ever do even email. By the time he retired, he was truly computer literate. This gentleman had even learned how to use aviation software, including MilSpec packaging.

Photo Source: Hurricane Aerospace Solutions

As a DoD contractor, the pandemic was no time to panic. Ms. Cain was grateful that during the pandemic, Hurricane didn't have the heartburn or labor pains that some big businesses and medium businesses were experiencing. Hurricane was prepared for a smooth transition. They quickly put in place measures that would keep their staff working.

In less than 48 hours, Hurricane’s employees had the tools to continue working from home, from the hardware to the collaborative tools needed to support the mission.

When the decision was made for everyone to come back on-site, people walked into a state-of-art facility. Their workstations had multiple curved monitors, phones, and social distancing that gave everyone the tools to excel.

They were ready to go. It was like they had never left. Today, Hurricane has integrated onsite and remote work into a high-performance collaborative environment.

Photo Source: Hurricane Aerospace Solutions

Pandemic Didn’t Mean Panic When the global pandemic started, a lot of companies began to panic. They were cutting staff and resources. The only thing Ms. Cain could think about was how she could avoid disrupting her staff. Every day, she would think about her sister’s tenacity and their childhood in the small blue-collar community of Rochester, New York. They had both seen industries fall and rise again based on a spirit that “didn't give up.” During this time, our HUBZone Trailblazer made one of its most costly decisions: to increase employee benefits at a time when she couldn’t be sure business would be growing. Ms. Cain wanted to ensure that no family had to face any additional hardships.

Photo Source: Hurricane Aerospace Solutions

on social and economic determinants to assist their clients in mitigating these disparities.

Morris Davis, President, M. Davis & Company, Inc. (MDAC)

Mr. Davis leads a Philadelphia basedHUBZone company that has excelled in helping their clients in the federal, state, and private sectors provide quantitative and qualitative services through research and evaluation to some of the most disenfranchised people in America. Americans whose capacity has been hindered due to income, education, transportation, health, food, insurance, age, ability, housing, or language. MDAC’s processes and systems gather actionable data

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For MDAC, trailblazing means getting in the trenches, not being afraid of interacting with the respondents in order to gather meaningful data. For instance, they developed a management information system that integrated health risk assessments into the management and operational decisionmaking for multiple health plans. Over the years, MDAC’s way of critical thinking and data gathering has ignited the careers of their workforce to consider greater educational and employment opportunities. These future trailblazers were trained to gather, analyze, and create processes to determine impacts on underrepresented communities.

COVID did not slow them down, instead they supported the New York City Economic Development Corporation in their research and evaluation of the Pandemic Response Institute Latino and Indigenous/African American takeholders Focus Groups. MDAC sought input from community leaders to identify critical gaps/challenges in NYC’s public health system (both broadly and with respect to COVID-19), strengths to build upon, and potential roles the Pandemic Response Institute might play to support the needs of communities and community- based organizations across NYC.

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Ms. Shirley Bailey has been dubbed the Queen of Capacity Building. When she joined the Council much like all trailblazers, she pulled her chair up to the table and immediately started working. Over the past two decades, she has been able to build capacity at various levels. As both a HUBZone business owner and a very active member of the HUBZone Contractors National Council, Ms. Bailey, has been instrumental in advocating for and promoting the HUBZone Program for over twenty years.

As one of the most tenacious trailblazers the Council has ever encountered, Ms. Bailey, is most proud of the relationships she as forged.

Working closely with the Small Business Administration, both as a contractor to the HUBZone Program Office, and as the HUBZone Council Board Chair, Ms. Bailey, along with another Trailblazer, Ann Sullivan of Madison

(From the left to the right) Sam Le (SBA), Bruce Purdy (SBA), Lori Gillen (SBA), Michelle Burnett (HCNC), Antonio Doss, and Shirley Bailey (SFS)

CAPACITY BUILDERS

Shirley Bailey, CEO, Summit Federal Services, LLC (SFS)

Services Group, gained bipartisan Congressional support for improvements to the HUBZone Program. It was a long road, but with leadership, perseverance and dedication, significant legislative and regulatory improvements to the HUBZone Program were incorporated into the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. With Ms. Bailey at the helm, the HUBZone Council is determined to maximize the impact the HUBZone Program has on our nation’s most economically distressed communities.

Ms. Bailey’s father, a proud Marine, always told her that being a leader was not based on gender and that all things are possible if you have a strong work ethic, determination, a willingness to take risks, and most importantly servant-leadership. As CEO of Summit Federal Services, LLC, a rural based, HUBZone certified, Professional and Technical Management Services company, Ms. Bailey strives to embody these traits each and every day to positively impact the lives of her employees and the communities they live and work in.

Shirley Bailey, Jim Bailey (husband), Elaine Pepe (mother), and Frank Pepe (father)

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Winning

Rafif Jouejati, CEO, Co-founder and Visionary, P3 Solution

This trailblazer has spent a lifetime encouraging business owners, community leaders, and individuals to “better the future.”

Ms. Jouejati believes it is not enough to encourage these groups – you must be willing to assist them in discovering the truth and the tools to blaze their journey.

Catalyst Owning and operating a proposal development company for close to two decades has taught Ms. Jouejati, an American-born Syrian, what really matters when building capacity and sustainability for the journey. She will tell you that it takes every facet of communication, the first of which is being free.

That is, our ability to listen actively with our mind, body, and soul. What is the person saying? What are they not saying? Are they passionate? Do they have a story to tell? Is it

She would be the first to say, to win you must be willing to work hard to go after your dreams, push past the naysayers, and create a team of trusted partners. Partners that have the same ethos. When you lose, turn to each other for support and understanding. Failure is only a bad thing when you don't learn from it and take responsibility for your part. Leverage the input from every loss and eventually that “digital gold” will cascade, producing an avalanche of the right wins for your business and your community.

Ms. Jouejati has witnessed first-hand the impact of collaborative work environments.

Leaders who encourage their staff and are willing to lean on them and others for answers.

She has seen them make the hard “no bid” decisions when they don’t have a compelling story; to bid would waste valuable dollars and time. Leaders who live in the brave space. They are courageous in saying NO now, and this provides them the resources to say YES later in their journey. Those are the trailblazers Ms. Jouejati is honored to support. These leaders never fail; they have created an ecosystem that invests in people: the ones providing services and the ones receiving them.

Activism Ms. Jouejati will tell us all that activism is everybody's job. Whether you’re an international leader or a small business owner with one employee – yourself. It is everyone’s job to promote the truth; to intervene in technical, social, political, economic, or environmental reform; to be the one that ignites positive change in your workplace, community, and nation.

Photo from: https://www.museumofactivism.org/copy-ofsyria-6

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believable? Do they line up with your core values? The right answers to these questions led her to successfully help HUBZones and other socioeconomic businesses win contracts in the Federal and state and local space. Ms. Jouejati coaches her clients to go forward, succeed, and thrive, knowing they're not just winning a contract for the money but empowering their community with well-paid jobs. To this end, the second facet of communication is documentation. She works with companies to create what we call “digital gold,” compliant, clear, and compelling proposals.

She is a strong supporter of federal procurement activism, pushing for contract vehicles that level the playing field so that communities of color are included and wellrepresented. That is to say, companies that provide innovative technical solutions while championing diversity and inclusion. They understand that the solution to their next problem may be in Arab-Americans, Minority, Muslims, Atheists, or Immigrants waiting to be hired and eager to impart their knowledge and experience. More recently, Ms. Jouejati has taken her trailblazing to international issues and human rights. Communities need the tools to empower them economically, politically, and socially. At the start of the Syrian Revolution in 2011, she began campaigning for equality, justice, and freedom for Syrians. Last year, she launched the Museum of Activism with the first ever Syria exhibit in Germany.

The display of original artifacts from that wartorn country, including a Syrian perspective on the George Floyd events, encourages people of all walks of life to take action in the defense of human rights. Ms. Jouejati’s next project is “Women Rising” [showcasing women who have risen above their traditional upbringing and who must constantly help others overcome their cultural and ethnic biases].

Power to Unlearn When Ms. Jouejati first introduced the word “unlearn” in my interview with her, I was puzzled. She explained that our growth in business is often based on what we perceive as our truth. Then what happens is we base our proposals, business models, and team interactions on that truth. But the power to unlearn requires business leaders and their staff to dig deeper, doing the due diligence to weed out misinformation and disinformation.

What biases have led us to miss the mark?

What knowledge about a bid, an influencer, or even a competitor has shaped your journey

Photo from: https://www.museumofactivism.org/copy-ofsyria-6

improperly? The power of unlearning allows us to crush stereotypes, and that enables our teams to soar.

Start with the real truth as your foundation, discover it for yourself. The right foundation requires constant training. All of us are in a continuous learning mode, so let’s learn together and teach each other our “unlearning's.” Stay open to the possibility that there are new ways of doing things. We can unlearn negative behaviors; we can unlearn the knowledge that others want us to have and begin learning our truth. Lean into this evolutionary process. Don’t fight it; it is ongoing. Ms. Jouejati would ask our readers, once they understand this “power to unlearn,” to apply it to everything; create a better future for this generation and the next.

Photo from: https://www.museumofactivism.org/copy-of-syria-6

Lily Milliner, CEO, Build-IT-Up

Trailblazer Extraordinaire Speaking with Lily Milliner is like having a spiritual encounter. Her narrative reflects so much of what we all need to learn, and she tells her story with emotion and truth. Her journey has been filled with blessings and lessons learned that she has carried throughout her career. As a child, Lily was always a perfectionist, an “A” student who wanted to be a doctor – until she got to university. Suddenly, high grades became harder to come by, and she had to confront what would be among the most important lessons of her life: accepting the challenge of being uncomfortable. Lily says, “I learned that even when you’re not getting A’s, if you’re doing your best and pursuing your passion, you can’t let the grade affect whether or not you stay on course. When we’re perfectionists, we try to stay in a comfortable space. But I’ve learned the importance of ‘being you,’ even if it means you’re uncomfortable.

Actually, it’s okay to be uncomfortable.” And as Lily notes, getting uncomfortable may just turn up that excellence, that innovation, or that next solution that can benefit our society.

A Mentor and Teacher Who Says, “Be Your Best Self” Lily enjoys working with and teaching young people. She’s done that most of her life, and she

Lily embraces precisely that. This Trailblazer guides us; she explains, patiently and lovingly (because that’s who she is), that once you really start embracing your truth, you can be in uncomfortable rooms and overcome stereotypes and patterns of expected behavior. Lily cautions that in embracing our truth and being our best selves, we don’t need to look a certain way, dress a certain way, or be a certain way. “You can be whoever you want to be, and you can do it your way. Take risks, be yourselves, and rejoice in that. “

Life is a Smorgasbord “Do you go to the banquet and only try the franks and beans? No! Surprise yourself; try new things.” This is one of Lily’s mantras as she challenges young people to experience the wealth of different options that more available today than ever before. She is excited about the opportunities that STEM programs afford today’s youth, whether they want to go into aerospace, chemistry, or be a baker or an athlete.

Lily points out that virtually all professions have elements of math and physics. And “embracing different things allows you to decide what you enjoy doing.” This advice comes from real-world experience: Lily’s mother took her family to different Churches and other places of worship so the family could embrace differences, including diversity of thought. This Trailblazer makes the link to HBCUs and HUBZones – it’s all about community involvement and helping people to be their best selves. She says, “Lives are like ministries: find people you can help and walk with them. Take a moment to walk with them and see things like they do. Take that moment; it makes all the difference.”

Speaking Truth This Trailblazer notes that “Gen-Z” is dynamic – today’s youth have an incredible diversity of interests that point to their activism.

Whether it’s Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, or any human rights movement, our upand-coming trailblazers will “cancel you in a

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particularly enjoys collaborating with HBCUs as young talent emerges and joins the workforce.

This Trailblazer’s advice to young students and professionals on the rise is, “Show up in your greatness, and if it’s not evaluated the way other people evaluate it, that’s still fine. Don’t look at the world and how they’re evaluating you, ask if you are being your best self? Are you showing up in your greatness? Wake up each morning and embrace that.”

something magnificent happens when understanding takes place and allows us to go to another level. Our lives should be challenged by the people who walk with us.”

Empowerment

Photo Source: Lily Milliner

second if you’re not honest. Are you doing what you’re saying?” Lily comments that today’s younger generation has moved away from the old saying, “do as I say, not as I do.” As a mentor, coach, and teacher, Lily notes that young people are requesting Alignment – with a capital A – and that means being truthful to and with ourselves. It means pushing back and proving that actions speak louder than words. It means staying inquisitive and challenging those who won’t answer questions. And as this Trailblazer notes, “the best mentors are those who can say, ‘I don’t know – but I will help you find the answer.”

Lily admires this trait in young people, and encourages them to keep pushing back because, as she puts it, “We have an opportunity to shape society if we align ourselves.” And that applies to HBCUs, the job market, and HUBZones.

It Takes a Village of Champions Lily attributes her trailblazing success to “her village” – starting with her family, who never doubted her abilities. Her mom, dad, and sisters encouraged her to question – to be inquisitive – and to be her best self. This Trailblazer’s “village” has expanded to include other champions: dynamic women and men who have come into her life and ignite her. Lily’s village of champions is willing to walk alongside her for anything and everything. In keeping with the spirit of diversity, Lily says, “My village of champions goes across religious, ethnic, and cultural lines – and my champions check me; they push back.” She points out a challenge in our HBCU and HUBZone communities: our village isn’t diverse enough, and we can go along a path and not even know we’re wrong. She cautions, “Be inclusive and allow your village to push back. Communication is value – we need to be able to share perspectives because

This Trailblazer’s ongoing journey has led to empowerment: the ability to overcome doubt, the tendency to walk alongside youth who have been told, “No.” She advises us all to use our powers to find the good, to stand up for ourselves with dignity. She says, “If you are sent, it doesn’t matter if you don’t look or sound like them; you’re supposed to be there. Do what you need to do for your neighborhood without judgment. To have a say in something, you have to build something. If you haven’t helped build the relationship, you have no say in it.”

And that advice is perfect to further empower HBCUs and HUBZones: more people need to join the program so they can lean on the government to make sure we’re constantly pushing for more diversity, equity, and inclusion. This Trailblazer delivers an empowering message: “We can make progress if we come together, trust each other, do our part, and be accountable. There’s enough food on the table – which means working together to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be at the head of the table.”

As this Trailblazer has seen, everyone can get a seat at the table. She advises us to find our lane, bring our talents to the HUBZone Council, and volunteer to help others and build our communities. We must knock on as many politicians’ doors as possible to move our country to another level. Lily ends with this: “There is brilliance – acres of diamonds right here in our back yards. I’ve worked with so many shining stars whose lives have changed because they planted seeds. It matters to our communities; it matters to our Nation.”

Photo Source: Lily Milliner

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bleak, he would say “is it a fire? Is someone about to drown? Is someone about to die?” Her response would always be “NO.” At that moment, fear would be replaced with peace and this Trailblazer would continue on. Her daughters have followed in her footsteps, working first at GBS and later becoming Federal Government advocates.

Problem-Solving Lourdes Martin-Rosa, CEO, Government Business Solutions (GBS)

This Trailblazer’s family were Cuban refugees who arrived in this country with just the clothes on their backs. Her parents had faith that with hard work and a good education, they would go far. No matter how little they had, they always took the time to help others.

They would say, “do good and good will come unto you.” That philosophy has been Mrs. Martin-Rosa’s driving force as she has assisted small businesses across the nation. Whether their balance sheets are in the red or black, she is there to empower and give a caring hand to these entrepreneurs.

Family of Advocates Growing up, her family lived in what would have been labeled a HUBZone today. It was one of the poorest sections of Miami. Mrs. MartinRosa will tell you that her family quickly became experts in taking lemons and making lemonade. From education to employment disparity, they pushed on. She said, “I was blessed that I had very good teachers and guidance from my parents. My mother worked for the American Red Cross during the Vietnam era and my father worked in a shoe factory. He led the push to unionize the workers. They were both advocates. I think that's where I get my advocacy side from.”

One of Mrs. Martin-Rosa’s biggest advocates has been her firefighter husband. For more than 30 years, he has been her anchor.

When she took a business risk and it looked

Problem-solving is Mrs. Martin-Rosa’s secret power. From helping small businesses maximize their advertising dollars at the Miami Herald or designing women-owned small business events for American Express, she is always solving problems. Mrs. Martin-Rosa works with her clients by helping them to define the obstacle, then evaluate and select alternative solutions.

In the late 1990s, she helped a smalldisadvantaged minority travel business enter the federal sector. At the time, working with the Federal Government was very new to Mrs. Martin-Rosa. She approached this challenge like all the others she had faced: with research and relationship-building. Her company started meeting with the SBA offices in Miami to help the travel agency win business. By 1995, they had gone from $0 to $6M in federal travel revenue.

In 2009, for American Express, Mrs. Martin-Rosa created a program in which the company partnered with the US Small Business Administration to expose entrepreneurs to the $100B+ annual federal business opportunities.

This all began with a meeting in New York with their directors.

They wanted to know why the government was setting aside 23% to small businesses. She said, “I was basically educating them on the importance of small

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businesses to the national economy. The impact on foreign markets, and of course, the government's responsibility to at least minimize the hit. How 23% of federal contracting dollars were being mandated by Congress. I educated them. They asked me to champion what was later called the Victory In Procurement (VIP) Program. It was basically American Express launching events focused on all businesses (not just their cardholders) to educate them on the importance of growing their business with the Federal Government.”

Political Action She recalls the influence that Patricia Stout, the owner of Alamo Travel in San Antonio, TX, had on her advocacy. Ms. Stout was an amazing Mexican-American entrepreneur with a heavy Spanish accent who made sure her voice was heard. She helped Mrs. Martin-Rosa find her voice. Ms. Stout would say, “Get in there, talk to them. They're your congressional representatives.” She showed her that speaking to your congressional representatives can make a difference. That they're there for us, to serve!

Mrs. Martin-Rosa would always see her in Washington, DC, fighting for women’s rights in equality for pay and the women’s procurement program.

Mrs. Martin-Rosa has been on the frontline advocating for women-owned business legislation in both the House and the Senate.

She testified before Congress with Margot Dorfman, U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, and Tracey Pinson, Director of the Office of Small Business Programs, United States Army, to promote the establishment of a procurement program for women business owners. They navigated through the sea of stereotypical questions to fight for equality for women in government contracting.

During the Obama Administration, this Trailblazer, Mrs. Martin-Rosa, was asked to help form the Obama Small Business Task Force. She was part of the group that educated them in the different SBA programs. This effort resulted in one of her most treasured awards presented by President Obama’s cabinet.

(Valerie Jarrett, Michelle Lee, and Bibi Hidalgo).

Mentor Hall of Fame Mrs. Martin-Rosa is so grateful for all the mentors who have taken the time to share their golden nuggets with her; Carlson Wagonlit Travel taught her how to be a good

subcontractor while complying with the various Federal Government reporting requirements.

Some have passed away, like Kevin Boshears (DHS) and Tracey Pinson (Army), but they have left a legacy. Then there are the ones who continue to pour into her, like Patricia Stout (Alamo Travel & HUBZone Council Member), Antonio Doss (SBA), Donna Pebbles (SBA), Robert Boone (TSA), Melissa “Lisa” Jenkins (Treasury), Pamela Wilson (Treasury), Shirley Bailey (HUBZone Council), Michelle Burnett (HUBZone Council), Ann Sullivan (Madison Services Group), and Elizabeth Sullivan (Madison Services Group).

Debriefing This Trailblazer has learned that what you don’t know can and will hurt your bottom line.

She recalls having submitted a proposal to DHS thinking it was good, only to find out in the debriefing it was “the worst proposal ever.”

Those were Mrs. Martin-Rosa’s words, not DHS’s. They recommended that GBS personnel take some classes with their local Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) office.

The SBDC classes taught GBS how to write winning proposals for the Federal Government.

Mrs. Martin-Rosa personally took night courses in proposal writing, finance, and business development. A debriefing can be your golden ticket to future success, especially if you are an 8(a) company that has only received solesource contracts. GBS has since written more than 100 proposals. They have won over 25% and continue to increase their win rate by applying lessons learned from each debriefing.

Mary Walks Over Ice, Chief Operations Officer, Native American Development Corporation (NADC)

Mrs. Mary Walks Over Ice has always been personally connected to Trailblazers. As enrolled members of the Assiniboine (Nakoda tribe), Mary has had her father, Mr. Chuck Archambault, as her first personal Trailblazer.

He was one of the few Native American civil engineers employed by the government in the 1970s. Early in his career, Mr. Archambault took the ultimate risk and became an entrepreneur. His bold choice allowed Mary to experience the joys and challenges of small business ownership. Recently, she teamed with another Nakoda Trailblazer, her current boss, CEO Leonard Smith. Much like her father, Mr. Smith is a visionary.

Trailblazing is in the Blood This Trailblazer actually took a major detour in college. She said, “When you grow up spending your entire life working in your father’s small business, you think that is the last thing you want to study in college. I got my degree in microbiology, something concrete. When I came home, I found out I didn’t like being in a lab all by myself. I loved my community and needed to be doing something to help them. I couldn’t run from my destiny.” Much like her father, this Trailblazer interacts with her community every single day. It is evident in her laughter and smiles: “Community Capacity Building” is in her blood.

Mr. Archambault taught his trailblazing daughter that actions speak louder than words.

NADC has made a major impact in the Billings community. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they received the Indian Health Service Contract to open an urban Indian Health Care Clinic to service more than 10,000 Native Americans in Billings. The clinic has thrived, going from 16 to more than 60 employees in under 2 years. NADC recently purchased a large building in town with Ms. Mary’s assistance. The multi-level building will allow the Native American community to have something of their own. “Thank you for giving us a space” are the words Mrs. Walks Over Ice keeps hearing in the streets of Billings. When she hears those words, she can only smile, thinking of her now-87-year-old dad, whose sacrifices he made have allowed her to blaze a trail at NADC.

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Mrs. Walks Over Ice remembers going to Washington, DC with her father to support the Buy Indian Act. “We would pound on doors, trying to get regulations put in place.

There were no regulations back then for the Buy Indian Act. The two agencies serving Indian people weren’t doing it.” Things are a lot different these days because of Trailblazers like her father.

Native American Procurment Technical Assistance Centers (PTAC) There are only six Native American PTACs in the nation, and they provide subject matter experts on the laws and certifications specific to Native Businesses, cultures, and communities.

These PTACs help Native and non-Native firms successfully work together in Indian Country.

A few years ago, Mrs. Walks Over Ice led an initiative to increase the number of Native Owned Businesses that were HUBZonecertified. She worked with her fellow Native American PTACs leaders to launch this initiative nationwide. They provided training, workshops, and coaching to Native contractors, increasing the Native Owned HUBZone industrial base. They also worked with the SBA HUBZone program to unravel the red tape that is specific to businesses located on reservations, such as sovereignty waivers, bulk addresses, and tribal jurisdictions. All reservations are considered indefinite HUBZones. Post-

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pandemic environment has created an entire workforce that works remotely that could work perfectly for reservation communities.

The NADC PTAC intends to relaunch the initiative Photo Source: Mary Walks on Ice to certify companies to become HUBZone certified.

Business on the Reservation – Knowing the Rules Native American businesses that reside on reservations are part of sovereign nations that are highly regulated by the US government.

This Trailblazer works to make sure that everyone understands the regulations. On any given day, Mrs. Walks Over Ice might have to explain to a federal stakeholder why a Native American contractor can’t use his or her house for collateral, but has the backing of their Native American Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) Assistance Program, or why a contracting officer needs the Native-owned business to waive some rights and the implications. Ms. Walks Over Ice’s office serves as a trusted partner to the Native business community and explains the pros and cons of current clauses and regulations.

Mrs. Walks Over Ice said it best: “We like to share our knowledge, we like to share our culture, like everything, the democratic system is based on the Native American systems.

Entrepreneurism goes back before the first settlers arrived in North America. Native Americans created all of the trade routes. They were the first explorers; discovery and innovation is a way of life in Indian Country.

At NADC, we continue the legacy of our ancestors.”

Taking Our Power Back The Indian Country has thousands of documented examples of the atrocities that Native families and their ancestors suffered at the hands of the non-native governments.

Thus, trust does not come easily when conducting business on the reservation. Indian Country often hesitates when it comes to waiving any of rights or partnering with nonnatives.

There are generations who were victims of the Boarding School Act, and their memories are very much alive. This includes Mrs. Walks Over Ice’s father, Mr. Archambault.

Generations of Native Americans were taught to be ashamed of their clan system, ceremonies, language, and food. Even their hair was considered an abomination. They weren’t encouraged to be entrepreneurs, innovators, or disrupters. But despite the relentless persecution, their spirit persevered. Mrs. Mary Walks Over Ice said, “We did manage to hold on to our culture, which is phenomenal. The more I learn about our people, the more it is phenomenal that we held onto our tribes, our clan systems, our language, our ceremonies, and that's really what got us through.”

One of the things she likes most about working at NADC is how Mr. Smith makes sure that everything they do, say, or write comes from a place of positivity, a place that honors and respects the Native people and their journeys. Ms. Mary recalls working with grant writers who didn’t know the people. They didn’t know the language or culture, so their narratives were negative instead of positive.

Mr. Smith would not allow that kind of language in their proposals. He would only allow language like “this is the project we propose, and this is how we're going to do it. If we don’t win on that merit, then we just don’t win.”

The NADC team provides the education that enables the Native community to take back their power in a positive way. In this environment, communication is crucial to the Native community’s awareness and selfdetermination.

Photo Source: Mary Walks on Ice

Ed Emerson, Delmock Technologies

This twentysomething trailblazer is the quantum project coordinator for a Baltimore based HUBZone company (Delmock Technologies, Inc.). They were a subcontractor to Morgan State University one of the nation’s oldest Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This contract addressed ways to mitigate hyper-disparities in Quantum Literacy Education and Training for Historically Underrepresented Groups [https:/ /youtu.be/FUDmB8MQufE].

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As part of the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator, Mr. Emerson hosted the National Quantum Literacy Network’s first roundtable for youth thought-leaders from HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions on the future of quantum and the workforce impact [Delmock_1.mp4 (vimeo.com)]. His panel delved into the influence of the Media & Entertainment Industries on quantum literacy for both millennials and generation-Zers particularly “Flash” from the DC Comics Universe. They acknowledge the affect these industries have on the creativity and open mindedness of the young people currently entering the workforce.

Mr. Emerson is blazing an inclusive quantum trail which continues to encourage racial, economic, and generational diversity within the industry. Influencers arrived from as far as the Caribbean to attend his quantum roundtable. These historically underrepresented trailblazers come ready to explore the workforce possibilities as it leads them to mitigate health, technology, security, and science disparities in their perspective communities.

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Elizabeth Sullivan, President, Madison Services Group

What does it mean to be working with another trailblazer? Just ask Elizabeth Sullivan, President of Madison Services Group (MSGI), who started down a path only to find her destiny intersecting with her mother’s. Never has the African Proverb been so real – If we stand tall it is because we stand on the shoulders of many ancestors.

Lizzie, as she is fondly called, is a secondgeneration business owner who has taken the baton to run even further. This young disrupter has leveraged the great characteristics of the millennial generation to make MSGI even stronger. Whether she is challenging the statusquo or creating new policies for HUBZone businesses, the Council is grateful she is lobbying for us. Lizzie declared she would never work for her mom and initially chose the path

CAPACITY YOUNG DISRUPTORS BUILDERS

of education as a preschool teacher through Teach for America. Teaching in a Chicago childcare center located in a HUBZone, destiny would not leave her alone. She was constantly pulled out of the classroom to help the small business owner comply with federal regulations.

It was clear many of the issues prevalent in her classroom stemmed from Washington.

Thus, she realized she needed to return home and join her mother’s firm. Ann had broken many glass ceilings for women lobbyists so that she could soar. As COVID tried to decimate HUBZone businesses, they needed a staunch advocate in Congress. MSGI received calls from Congress for solutions that could help small businesses during a time of crisis. MSGI’s government contracting specialty allowed them to continue to help contractors through this unprecedented time.

Lizzie even went back to school at night to get a master’s degree to deepen her knowledge.

She is certainly not alone in her work. The women on Capitol Hill, from staffers to Members of Congress, help her lead the way for HUBZone businesses. Trailblazing led her back home!

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Angela Nguyen, Marketing Manager, HUBZone Contractors National Council & Board Member, HUBZone Council, Inc.

This young trailblazer is a master of IT improvisation. Ms. Nguyen is known for coming up with ways to enhance the Council’s media footprint. Whether she is designing Airtables to match HUBZone Companies with job seekers or creating frameworks for digital publications (like the 21 Days of HUBZones), Ms. Nguyen is quickly making her mark on the HUBZone Program with social media campaigns that educate the nation on its economic impact. She uses social media to demystify the program, often re-educating businesses, workers, and the government to set the record straight. Ms. Nguyen believes the HUBZone program is powerful: she has seen it change the lives of workers and the communities they work in.

In 2022, without any formal training, Ms. Nguyen singlehandedly transformed the look and feel of the monthly Trailblazer Magazine.

Her motto is, “Go Big or Go Home,” a belief that is reflected in each issue. Ms. Nguyen’s technical and creative expertise has often left our members speechless. Questions like, “how does she come up with these new layouts each month?“ Michelle Burnett, Executive Director of the Council, has said that Ms. Nguyen has an “improvement mindset,” and is constantly looking at ways to collaborate and bring more stakeholders to the table. Ms. Nguyen’s problem-solving skills and dedication have allowed the Council to build sustainable processes and systems despite the challenges of doing so.

180 Degree Turn: Moving from Surviving to Thriving Ms. Nguyen’s parents migrated from Vietnam to America, and the journey was steeped in challenges that they overcame. They launched a small business in 2003. Their dreams for their daughter included the path she was initially on, which was Pre-Med at Frostburg State University. By her junior year, Ms. Nguyen had realized that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

She felt stuck, and her passion was gone. She found herself at a crossroads: change her major? Or be complacent and stick it out? True

Michelle Burnett, Executive Director, HUBZone Council, Angela Nguyen, Marketing Manager, HUBZone Council, Lily Milliner, CEP, Build-IT-Up at the 2021 Live! Casino & Hotel Minority Outreach Fair

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to form, Ms. Nguyen chose to thrive, adding Human Resources to her degree along with an internship with the HUBZone Council.

She began pursuing creative technology careers, which culturally would have been seen as a hobby and therefore taboo. Ms. Nguyen can’t see herself doing just one thing, so she dove headfirst into the endless possibilities at the HUBZone Council. Her path has changed so much in the last 5 years, and she admits it would be difficult for her to envision life in 2030.

Bubbling Up Effort: Individuals, Companies, Communities, and the Nation One of Ms. Nguyen’s initial workforce initiatives was to increase employment opportunities for students residing in HUBZone areas. She wanted to: •

Identify ways that HUBZone businesses could change the trajectory of students within their particular communities through meaningful jobs.

•

Match students’ talents, whether they lived in rural or urban HUBZone communities, with national workforce needs.

Ms. Nguyen created a talent management system that HUBZone Council members could access. The system included student profiles, along with resumes and employment interest.

This system provided Council members a national workforce pipeline of prospective HUBZone students. Additionally, the students were able to beef up their resumes with handson experience, from Business Development to Quantum Literacy. Upon graduation, many students were able to land well-paying, fulltime positions using the experiences they had gained at the HUBZone businesses. Ms. Nguyen reminds the businesses using this system that “one hire can make a difference to the company, family, community, and the nation”.

Ms. Nguyen’s talent management system has become the gift that keeps giving, as HUBZone businesses struggled to deal with the impacts on their workforce of the COVID-19 pandemic. The product has increased businesses’ abilities to recruit a skilled workforce, particularly as remote work lessened the sting of the high gas prices. This system continues to offer our Council members and their prospective employees actionable workplace alternatives.

The ones who do that are my heroes”. Clearly, this young trailblazer is a champion for the historically disadvantaged. For her, silence and ignorance are not bliss. She has watched with zeal as her generation has chosen to kick some of America’s biggest elephants out of the room.

Elephants that had to go because of movements like MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and Stop Asian Hate to ensure the credibility of the Declaration of Independence: “…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Impact of IT: Changing the Workforce Ms. Nguyen’s generation is technologydependent. We are all reminded that their dependency has captured data that would have been lost decades ago. Individuals might have been gaslighted, questioning their own recollection of the facts, but now, these facts are globally available for all to see. IT advancements have opened doors in every industry, providing new skills and opportunities for the talented HUBZone workforce.

The impact of IT on the workforce has led to interdependency. Companies are beginning to realize that what some employees may lack in experience, they quickly make up in ingenuity, and ingenuity is harder to teach. This talent is what Ms. Nguyen and many of her peers bring to the workforce. She believes businesses that have been able to harness talents from all communities have created sustainable ecosystems that have been able to thrive, even during the pandemic.

The Elephant: Kicking It Out of the Room When I asked Ms. Nguyen, “who are your heroes?” I shouldn’t have been surprised when she replied, “they are people who go against the grain to stand-up for what is right, people not willing to go with the flow, but make waves.

Chrissy Marucci, Small Business Consultant & Vice President, Pepburn, LLC, and Angela Nguyen, Marketing Manager, HUBZone Council, at the 2020 HUBZone Industry Awards Gala Photo Source: HUBZone Contractors National Council

businesses in his community is “to get HUBZone certified, you don’t have to be able to dive like DCS, you can swim with the big fish right where you are.”

Phoenix: Rising from the Ashes

Timothy Wakefield, CEO, Dead Calm Seas Marine Services

Tito Ramirez Rivas has been quoted as saying, "It's another world, what the sea gives us. It's a paradise." This vision of “Paradise” drove Mr. Wakefield to continue to build his company, the Dead Calm Seas Marine Services (DCS), during the COVID pandemic. In the past 3 years, he has leveraged his military experience to create one of the industry’s safest and most reliable ecosystems for divers in the marine construction field. At 31 years old, Mr. Wakefield has experienced more grief than most HUBZone owners -- having friends departing this world too early, either by suicide or deployments. Thus, he is on a quest to live up to his potential by running a HUBZone business that matters.

Grieving the loss of his friend as well as an employer who would rather not take responsibility for the tragedy, Mr. Wakefield was left with just ashes. At this point, he decided that he would rise from the ashes and launch DCS. He was lucky enough to have a group of guys that believed in him and came with him on this journey. Mr. Wakefield said, “I didn't have a family to support and had some money to initially bankroll DCS.” It took DCS almost a full year before it made any money, with resources dwindling to nothing. But then they began to rise, and by the end of the first year, DCS had made almost $2M.

Swimming: Where You Are Ignorance is not bliss. Mr. Wakefield stumbled upon information about the HUBZone Program at a Veteran’s conference in Florida. To his amazement, DCS was in a HUBZone with the necessary 35% employment, but completely unaware of the advantages a HUBZone certification could offer. He believes that encounter and subsequent certification have opened doors for subcontracting and priming with the federal government. The message he gives Photo Source: DCS

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Much like the mythical phoenix, which rises from the ashes of its dead predecessor, DCS is the true story of a HUBZone business being birthed from the ashes, bringing hope to this Trailblazer. In 2019, Mr. Wakefield’s good friend became one of the many fatalities that occur each year in the commercial diving industry. This Trailblazer personally gave his friend CPR as the DMT (Diving Medical Technician) for close to 2 hours, doing everything possible, until his friend was pronounced dead at the hospital.

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pays their divers’ travel expenses while keeping strict safety protocols in place. Mr. Wakefield said, “my personal vendetta is to change the way the industry operates. I take care of the guys from the moment they step out their door, to the moment they walk back in.

They’re completely taken care of. They don't pay for food; they don't have to look for a place to live; their travel is taken care of; and their pay always comes on time. They’re family.”

DCS treats their clients as family, too, helping them do better. They look past the quick money, preferring to develop long-term, meaningful relationships. This Trailblazer really loves the work, and his loyal divers are helping him change the industry. This paradigm is gaining momentum: DCS is now beating out many of the big companies. The word is spreading – from the Caribbean to Guam. This year, DCS plans to open new shops across the country.

Photo Source: DCS

You Have a Choice: Change the Industry As Mr. Wakefield reflected on the events that led to DCS’s creation, he ensures that his divers never have to make a choice between employment and being a possible victim. He believes that, traditionally, the industry has not been concerned about the safety and well-being of the divers. This HUBZone company is on a mission to change that paradigm forever. DCS

Giants: Standing on Their Shoulders This Trailblazer constantly reminds us of the giants whose shoulders he is standing on, from his mom and dad, who modeled integrity and what it takes to always show up; a brother who showed him how to always have a fighting spirit; to his sister, who finished a master’s degree while battling a rare form of cancer at the Mayo Clinic. Mr. Wakefield’s family taught him how to keep pushing no matter how difficult the journey. Then there is his business mentor and one of the nicest people ever, Russell Matulich, the CEO of RTI Cables (Telcom’s & Data Centers), who has spent countless hours sharing his wisdom with this young disrupter while creating a business model that provides small businesses with a highly competitive market space to compete with the hyperscalers.

Mr. Wakefield calls Ann Smith of Marine Ventures International his subsea cable mom. She gave DCS their first contract, which became

Photo Source: DCS

up and go for a run, repeating positive affirmations until he actually believed his self-talk. Even when people were saying it was not going to work, that he was just wasting his money, his selftalk mattered more. To this day, he goes through this routine to help him get through life’s highs and lows.

Right People: Synchronized Swimming

Photo Source: DCS

the catalyst for more contracts. She knew the reputation the individual divers had in the industry and trusted that a company made up of such talent could successfully perform if given the opportunity. Mr. Wakefield said, “I owe her a lot because she believed in us, our talents, and DCS’s vision for the industry.”

Finally, this Trailblazer would be remiss if he did not include his old Master Chief and friend, Dennis Polly. This Master Chief has a personality that motivates people, drives them, and makes them want to come along for the ride. Mr. Polly fueled his passion for combat medicine and emergency medical care.

Mental Toughness: What You Say Matters Mr. Wakefield figured out that it is not enough to be physically tough – you must be mentally tough to handle the naysayers and challenges of running a business. His bootcamp experience barely touched the surface of the toughness required to run DCS. When he first started, he had to fight every day to convince himself that it would succeed. He would wake

Tyler Wiesen, Jeremy Healey, Kyle Gibbs, and Brock McCorkle have worked hard to make DCS successful.

Much like a synchronized swimming team, DCS has been able to move faster, soar higher, and grow stronger because of the talent and passion these young men bring to the table. They have never wavered in their commitment and provide the foundation that continues to expand DCS’s footprint. As a servant-leader, this Trailblazer is not afraid to say that the right people in the trenches have grown his business and not him.

Military Transition Assistance Programs: How the HUBZone Program Can Help Mr. Wakefield did have one final suggestion for the troops. That is, not to keep the HUBZone Program a secret. Military transition programs have a great opportunity to educate their existing workforce on the benefits of the HUBZone program, both to the individual and to the nation. Veterans make wonderful servant-leaders and business owners. They have the skills and experience needed to engage all stakeholders while delivering exceptional products and services within scope.

Starting from left: Tyler Wiesen, Jeremy Healy, Kyle Gibbs, & Brock McCorkle Photo Source: DCS

FNL Laboratory Exposure

Gerald Jones, Doctor of Medicine (MD) Program, Class of 2025

This Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) Trailblazer just finished an American Cancer Society (ACS)-funded internship with the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNL), where he collaborated with some of the nation’s finest scientists on cancer experimentation. As a child, Gerald Jones was groomed for greatness by his grandmother, a breast cancer survivor who sparked his interest in cancer research. She would say, “baby, you can do anything that you put your mind to, you are going to be a doctor as long as you believe that you're going to be a doctor.” She would then remind him of the Biblical verse in James 2:26 “...faith without works is dead” and then this woman of God would say “start working,” and he did!

Mr. Jones was also influenced by his high school chemistry teacher, who had emigrated to the United States after fleeing from Nigeria with nothing more than the clothes on his back.

He later launched a successful business, all the while making sure to emphasize to the public and his students that he didn’t do this on his own. The teacher would say, “there’s no such thing as a self-made man, there is always a village behind us.” Those pearls of wisdom are what keeps this HUBZone Trailblazer, Mr. Jones, grounded.

Leadership: Lessons & Experience Mr. Jones learned to not be afraid to ask for help. A request for help is a strength, not a weakness. He said, “there’s a myth about physicians, that because of their position they know everything. There is always something new to learn. You’re never going to know it all.”

He was grateful to have had a superb mentor at FNL in Dr. David Bell. When Mr. Jones didn’t understand something, Dr. Bell graciously walked him through it without judgment or shame. Mr. Jones learned the value of learning from his peers, no matter their level of training.

He said, “You can learn not only from your professor or scientists, but you can learn from others in the training pipeline.” The second lesson was that science is a collaborative endeavor. It is critical that the team communicate in order to facilitate the discovery process. Breakthroughs are stifled when folks become “lone wolves” in the research process.

Mr. Jones said, “You can’t do everything by yourself to move from theoretical to practical; others may have the tools you need for what you have in mind. We are all vital to the research process. Keep everybody in the know, ask everyone for their insights.”

It Takes a Village: Advocates and Influencers It took a village to design and implement a program that would allow talented students

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This Trailblazer, Gerald Jones, was the first medical student to participate in the FNL’s Academic Summer Trainees Program. He was able to explore another dimension of his medical education by working behind the scenes. He said, “what I enjoy most is the ability to go beyond what I learned in textbooks. To explore the process of obtaining information that eventually is put into textbooks, things like using computer clusters, visual molecular dynamics, structural predictions, simulations, biochemical structures, and cancer cell mutations.” His internship moved him from the theoretical to the experimental side of his education. This exposure kindled his interest further in autoimmunity, as well as in cancer research, and he is hoping to find a good balance between research and clinical duties.

like Mr. Jones to soar. It started with ACS providing the funding and infrastructure for four historically Black medical schools, including Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Howard University, Meharry Medical College, and Morehouse School of Medicine. Led by Dr. Ellie Daniels, ACS established a Diversity in Cancer Research (DICR) program, working with ACS stakeholders to help improve and accelerate diversity, equity, and inclusion in the cancer research field. Before starting the program, Dr. Daniels talked to all the universities to determine their interest level. She knew buy-in was critical to the success of the program. Their participation helped ACS design cohorts that reflected both the students’ and the faculties’ workload.

MSM leveraged their participation in DICR to launch an internship program through the Partnership Development Office (PDO) at FNL. Mr. Jones was joined by three other MSM students: two pursuing Master of Science in Biotechnology degrees and one Ph.D. candidate in Biological Sciences. The success of the program has led to FNL dissertation committee participation and discussions to continue projects into the school year. Dr. Daniels is continuously looking for more partners for the thousands of HBCU students dispersed throughout our nation. Champions like FNL’s Dr. Ethan Dmitrovsky, Dr. Vladimir Popov, and Ms. Crystal Canja, all of whom work tirelessly to provide MSM’s students with experiential learning activities.

MSM MSM has been producing talented medical and health professionals for almost half a century, with almost 800 students graduating yearly (90% of them are African American). Over 50% of the students are in MD programs like Mr. Jones; the others are dispersed in public health, health informatics, and biotechnology. MSM’s James W. Lillard, Master of Biotechnology Ph.D., MBA Senior program happens to be Associate Dean, Research, Innovation and Commercialization, MSM ranked #1, out of 155 similar programs, in the United States – ahead of Harvard and John Hopkins. Dr. Lillard has helped lead this extremely competitive ACS/FNL initiative, along with Dr. Brian Rivers, Director of the Cancer Health Equity Institute at MSM. The

demand for internships is

tremendous, but their availability is very low.

Every year, Dr. Lillard has hundreds of students eager to participate in similar programs – and they are all ready to roll up their sleeves and put their intellect to work. Dr. Lillard is hoping that much like FNL and ACS, HUBZone and 8a biotechnology and health informatics companies will be their next wave of collaborators.

ACS Championing cancer research for diverse students, Dr. Daniels is expanding the national cancer research opportunities at HBCU medical schools. She said, “Our idea was to dedicate funding to put a stake in the ground.

We do not want this to Dr. Elvan "Ellie" Daniels, be a moment –we want to create a Senior Vice President, movement.” In 2021, Extramural Discovery Research American Cancer ACS had a big idea to Society, Inc. increase diversity in the workforce while navigating the challenges of the Pandemic. With everything going online and the diversity numbers already being dismal, they acted fast. ACS started several programs. One of their largest was DICR, which includes talented students like Mr. Jones. He is part of their beta test group at MSM. This summer and for the next 10 years, ACS will be working with their academic partners to substantially increase the number of underrepresented minority college students on an annual basis exposed to the cancer research field. By 2024, DIRC hopes to have launched more than 100 new cancer research careers.

ACS is raising funds to enhance the student experience to support their participation networking with other students, writing manuscripts, and presenting their research at scientific conferences.

Santiago Salas-Olvia, Associate Manager of Government & International Affairs, United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC)

This Trailblazer believes one of his most sacred duties to the Chamber is to do the rigorous research needed to advance the Hispanic Business Community, now and in the future. This has often required Mr. Salas-Oliva to be the dissenting opinion on a seemingly popular issue. He often weighs proposed policies and regulations against the eventual impact they will or may have on the more than five generations of Hispanic entrepreneurs. Mr. Salas-Oliva takes this responsibility seriously and has often gained the support of his multigenerational colleagues in some of the most critical business initiatives. As a trusted advisor, he supports the Hispanic and HUBZone Business community with zeal.

Mr. Salas-Oliva’s hyphenated last name is his way of honoring his mother, whose family name is “Oliva.”

As a businesswoman, owning two businesses, one in marketing and the other selling predictive analysis to corporations in Mexico, she has faced many obstacles. He credits his ability to work the long game to the lessons learned from his mother.

The Chamber has determined that Latinos start businesses at three times the national rate, and Latinas start businesses at six times the national rate, yet they're often not met with the same opportunities as their Anglo counterparts for capitalization. With Hispanic businesses growing so fast, Mr. Salas-Oliva believes that capital investments and supplier readiness boot camps are critical to the economic future of the United States. He expressed a growing concern that this disparity in the Hispanic business community might lead to the relocation of various companies to other countries.

Therefore, he works with the government and corporate partners to identify any business obstacles within their community. USHCC has designed programs to increase capacity and sustainability for Hispanic businesses. For example, the USHCC holds supplier readiness boot camps to teach businesses how to get ready to work with big corporations by getting into their supply chains. Often these attendees have never scaled up their company, sold to federal clients; obtained free training resources, or established partnerships.

The USHCC works to integrate minorityowned businesses into the industrial base as prime contractors and subcontractors for the Federal Government and private sector. When

Photo Source: Santiago Salas-Oliva

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Supplier Readiness Bootcamps

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these suppliers are not ready to take on these efforts, the Chamber’s boot camps provide the technical training needed in areas like financial literacy, operational plans, business development, and even how to prepare customized capabilities statements. The USHCC’s hands-on support includes matchmaking sessions, where their staff sit down with members and corporations to personally determine how to plug businesses into the appropriate supply chains.

Not a Zero-Sum Approach His dad always wanted him to be a lawyer; he felt that his son was a great negotiator. The problem was that the young Salas-Oliva didn’t like the fact that someone always had to lose.

Mr. Salas-Oliva said, “I wanted my work to not be a zero-sum. I wanted what I accomplished to benefit entire communities, not just my client or one party.” Mr. Salas-Oliva doesn’t believe that for businesses to win, other businesses must lose. He believes there are enough problems in the world, and we need hardworking businesses to make it their business about solving them. This Trailblazer is always searching for opportunities where everyone wins. He works at creating a community where people see each other as peers – collaborators. “When the tide rises, all boats are lifted up. Our community benefits, not just one business benefits but the whole community, the families, the workforce, the schools, everyone.”

Exposure Can Lead to Empathy At just 25 years old, this Trailblazer is already perfectly fluent in three languages. At a very young age, Mr. Salas-Oliva understood that if he wanted to be in a position to help the less fortunate, he would have to expose himself to different social, economic, and cultural situations. After his second year of college in Mexico City, he decided it was time for a challenge. He left home, moving first to San Francisco, CA, and later to Washington, D.C. It was uncomfortable at first, but a necessary experience that gave him strength. Mr. SalasOliva said, “what frustrates me is to see how reckless we are and how little empathy we have for others. For me, thriving in uncomfortable situations strengthens my humility and empathy for others.”

Photo Source: Santiago Salas-Oliva

Mr. Salas-Oliva is determined to extend his international studies. He said, “I plan to go to Beijing to learn Mandarin and earn a Master’s degree. Although we have very different cultures, I do believe that there is value in learning about some of the models and processes they have implemented in their system. I want to understand how China, since 1950s, has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty. Most importantly, are there any lessons that can be applied to a democratic society?”

Immigration: Barriers to Growth This Trailblazer wonders if the U.S. will be able to retain and sustain its leadership in the technology industry due to current immigration laws. He said, “Erdal Arikan is an example of what this country lost out on. He was a Turkish graduate of the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was unable to get an academic appointment or funding for his work

Photo Source: Santiago Salas-Oliva

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in the U.S., so he returned to his home country.” In 2016, Arikan was accepted as the scientist who laid the foundation of 5G standards in the World. As a foreign citizen, Mr. Arikan would have had to find a U.S. employer interested enough in his project and ideas to go through the tumultuous sponsorship process that would have allowed him to stay.

Thinking Globally Mr. Salas-Oliva did notice an interesting trend: HUBZones and Hispanic businesses are thinking globally. Consumers are rewarding companies that care – the ones that use sustainable products that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits while protecting public health and the environment. Social media made it clear that being good for people in the United States at the expense of marginalizing communities abroad will no longer be tolerated. With the world getting smaller, we have to recognize that making a global impact can also be achieved by working locally.

Photo Source: Santiago Salas-Oliva

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Wakjexiskawinga “White Water Spirit” Charli Earth), Ambassador, All Native Group (ANG) a division of Ho-Chunk, Inc. (HCI)

Wakjexiskawinga “White Water Spirit” is only 20 years old and has already made a name for herself at the national level. I caught up with her at the 79th Annual Convention for the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) where she had just been elected as co-Vice President of the NCAI’s Youth Commission.

This trailblazer is a full-time student at Little Priest Tribal College which is located in her hometown of Winnebago, Nebraska. As an Ambassador for the All Native Group (ANG), Wakjexiskawinga does what she loves most, conserving our earth's natural resources while helping others to do the same.

Entrepreneurial Vision Our trailblazer’s dream is to one day have a recycling and compost residential pickup business; to have recycling machinery which actually spins the plastic and metals to create new materials. She also wants to have a water company which uses fully biodegradable containers instead of the traditional plastic bottles. This young disruptor stands ready to revolutionize the recycling industry.

Social Environmentalist This Ho-Chuck woman believes that her destiny was written at birth. Both her tribal and non-tribal names speak of the environment, “White Water Spirit” and “Charli Earth”. As an Ambassador for ANG she has been able to promote sustainable commercial recycling efforts on the reservation. She is so excited about being able to echo her “ancestors’ wisdom”. Ms. Earth said, “I want to be an advocate for the environment, because my last name is Earth, and ever since I was little, I just loved my last name. I truly felt like I was being called upon to be a voice for the environment and be a voice for Mother Earth, and our connection.”

Photo Source: Wakjexiskawinga

CAPACITY YOUNG DISRUPTORS BUILDERS

Ms. Earth’s approach to obtaining buy-in on the reservation begins by carefully listening to her stakeholders to understand their concerns.

Then she works on creating solutions that meet their mission of preserving the environment.

She said, “When pushback happens, I really do try to reflect on my actions, my words, what may have gone wrong, because sometimes I do think there's just a misunderstanding. But the end goal is always making them feel closer to the environment – to Mother Earth.”

Wakjexiskawinga, her thoughts about the gap between the elders and her generation, this was her thoughtful response:

Navigating Intergenerational Communications

“The younger voices are not heard much, but I do believe that if we start the conversation of historical trauma and the types of issues that have stemmed from that, it will open their minds, to the older voices. They can finally hear what we are thinking because we're the ones living in it. We all suffer from this trauma. I think that if our voices as the younger generation, step up to say, yes, we do need this healing as a community. We do need to heal together! We can't do this alone, that would be really powerful.

Ms. Earth learned the art of communication at a young age. She convinced her parents that she was ready for the much-needed rigors of a culturally challenging education outside of the reservation. They agreed to her solution which was to drive 2-hours a day to attend Fremont High School. She was the only native in the high school, her fellow students acted like she was a unicorn. When a few of the teachers clearly didn’t have a clue how to promote cultural sensitivity in the classroom it was up to her – to literally take these unenlightened teachers to school. On those rare occasions when they would say something that was clearly derogatory, Ms. Earth said, “I would have to give the facts instead of the fiction.”

The first step in creating a platform is to acknowledge the younger kids do have a right to say that, like they do deserve to put that out there. We do deserve to acknowledge that. I'm hoping that this platform would allow more listeners. The conversation of historical trauma is a conversation, that really needs to be. It is a tough topic, because we start digging into the awful things that have happened for the last seven (7) generations. It is hard to talk about and it's hard to go through. But I think that it would bring us more healing if we were to have these conversations. People can start understanding where the hurt and trauma comes from. We can start giving solutions and create healing mechanisms.”

Photo Source: Wakjexiskawinga

On the reservation, she is able to encourage young people and women to have a voice. A voice that is respectful to the tribe elders, but yet reflective of their views. Her position at HCI has allowed her to present and offer a youthful perspective on significant issues. Ms. Earth said, “I had to go and give a presentation to a Board, and 80% of them were elders. There was some really positive feedback – they were very supportive.”

I know that a lot of people are going to embrace my vision and what I'm trying to make happen in our community. I just have to keep staying confident in that.” When I asked

Photo Source: Wakjexiskawinga

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This Trailblazer has had two Mount Everest moments in his career. The first was when he assisted in the charge to establish the Buy Indian Act‘s final rule within the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The second was in March, when the Indian Health Services (IHS) enacted their final rule for the Buy Indian Act. These rules will eventually bring hundreds of millions of dollars to Native American communities, increasing both the Native-owned and HUBZone-owned industrial base.

Mount Everest or Bust – Buy Indian Act After chatting with Mr. Almaraz, I came to believe that climbing Mount Everest might have been a much easier feat. His Mount Everest moment was the Buy Indian Act. This law passed in 1910 but remained buried for over a century. As a young man, this Trailblazer had heard stories about the Buy Indian Act and how it would allow BIA and IHS to award federal contracts to Indian-owned businesses without using the standard competitive process. When he arrived at BIA in 2009, he made a conscious decision to start climbing that mountain. Four years later, on July 18, 2013, BIA reached the top of this mountain with the support of local, tribal, and national leaders. Finally, the Buy Indian Act had become more than a promise deferred.

Mr. Almaraz soon set his sights on doing the same for IHS, as they had an even larger budget – more than $1.5B. He said, “I had a great support system, including staff and colleagues for the Buy Indian Act final rule. I also had tremendous support from my leadership; they were right there moving it forward. It was a challenge, but in the end, over 6 years later, the final rule was published and made effective on March 14, 2022. I have learned to keep climbing and not to count myself out. When the odds are against me, I remember where my strength and my support stem from. So, I make it a point to always acknowledge and recognize the staff, the Tribes, the people, and the colleagues who have assisted me along the way, and this includes Native-Owned businesses.”

This Trailblazer will now have the authority to circumvent traditional federal guidelines and set-aside opportunities for Native-owned businesses, which are often HUBZones. The road looks bright for Native-owned businesses working with IHS. Mr. Almaraz can already anticipate the avalanche of opportunities that will be generated by this Final Rule, not to mention the resources that will build and improve life in Indian Country. He also looks forward to the bringing to the community the dollars that will strengthen their ecosystem including education, innovation, health, and housing.

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Santiago Almaraz, Director, Office of Management Services, Indian Health Service, HHS

On June 7, 2013, the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, Kevin K. Washburn, announced that the Department of the Interior had a final rule for Indian Affairs to implement the Buy Indian Act of 1910 (25 U.S.C. 47, as amended).

Mr. Washburn said, “The publication of this final rule to implement the Buy Indian Act is a major accomplishment for the Administration and a win-win for both Indian Affairs and the American Indian and Alaska Native business community. The regulations will provide certainty for individually owned businesses, tribal enterprises, and Alaska Native corporations interested in selling their products to Indian Affairs. We expect this will help increase economic activity in tribal communities and provide greater employment opportunities where these businesses are located.”

This effort which began in 2016, quickly paid dividends. In FY20, they reached 3% and in FY22 they achieved 3.93% for contracts totaling more than $60M.

HUBZone Forecasting Works Mr. Almaraz created a process whereby his team added various HUBZone opportunities to IHS’s forecast in the first and second quarters of each fiscal year. The acquisition staff didn’t wait till the end of the year, somehow hoping that they would meet their goal – like so many other agencies do. Instead, these professionals conducted early market research to ensure that there would be enough HUBZone set asides to potentially exceed the annual target. When the end of a fiscal year rolled around, Mr. Almaraz would survey his staff to determine what items might be appropriate for the subsequent fiscal year. He said, “We're already gauging our forecast for the next fiscal year, and for those large dollar contracts we are tagging them for certain socio-economic groups.”

Photo Source: Santiago Almaraz

Exceeding the 3% HUBZone Goal When this Trailblazer arrived at IHS, their HUBZone numbers were less than 1 percent.

He said, “I was personally embarrassed; I was aware that all Indian reservations were automatically classified as HUBZones. This socioeconomic goal is tied directly to the wellbeing of the population IHS was mandated to support and we were not meeting our goals. It was horrible.”

Mr. Almaraz knew he had a great team; he just needed to make sure they had the tools and encouragement to exceed their goal. He immediately sought the support of Jonathan Ferguson (IHS Small Business Specialist) and Mr. Ken Truesdale (Acting Director, Division of Acquisition Policy). Mr. Ferguson had proven his commitment to advance equity with the Buy Indian Act and had garnered respect in Indian Country. Mr. Truesdale, with more than 40 years of acquisition experience, demonstrated his dedication to the IHS Mission and the Buy Indian Act initiative. Together, Mr. Almaraz, Mr. Ferguson, and Mr. Truesdale, along with many others, forged an alliance promoting HUBZone setasides within every NAICS code.

This Trailblazer implemented mandatory acquisition peer reviews to ensure that contracting officers and contract specialists perform their due diligence by increasing the socio-economic industrial base. Additionally, Mr. Almaraz’s team works to build the HUBZone & Native American industrial base by providing, at the request of successful and unsuccessful offerors, a meaningful post-award debriefing that elaborates on any significant weaknesses or deficiencies in the offeror’s proposal and a summary of the rationale for award. The post-award debrief instills confidence in the contracting process by affirming that proposals were treated fairly and provides offerors with feedback that may assist with improvements in proposals submitted on future IHS contract opportunities.

Importance of a Site Visit IHS is responsible for providing healthcare to reservations and villages that are often hundreds of miles from the nearest town. Thus, this Trailblazer wanted his entire team to know why their work was critical and how much it matters to the Indian Country. When Mr. Almaraz first came to IHS, his entire staff was non-Native. He said, “When I started to communicate the importance of the Buy Indian Act, I could see that they were enthusiastic to understand. In part of

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Photo Source: Santiago Almaraz

conducting annual acquisition management assessments and reviews, I invited my staff to participate in these site reviews to get a better understanding. This enables my staff to get an up-close and personal view of the locations in which IHS and Tribal healthcare facilities resided. This offered a view of reality where limited availability of housing, schools, stores, transportation, and technology. They suddenly understood the importance of the Buy Indian Act and the challenges Indian Country often faces.”

Listen – We Have a Voice As a member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, Mr. Almaraz is very proud of his heritage. But like many Native Americans, his family bears the scars of voices silenced. His uncle, as a baby, was adopted by a non-Native family that moved cross-country and away from his tribal roots. This move occurred well before the enactment of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), which prevented the arbitrary removal of Indian children from their homes by public and private agencies. Later in life, his uncle was able to finally identify and locate his family. Although many years were lost, the whole family is grateful to be reunited.

It is stories like these that ignite this Trailblazer. Mr. Almaraz said, “I experience and witness the struggles that occur when indigenous people don’t have a voice. I now hear more Indian Country intergenerational voices. Voices that are finally being heard and we are not who we have been categorized as.

It is now time to take back our story.”

Mr. Almaraz is using his voice every day to say how valuable Native-owned businesses are to the nation's economy. They bring innovation, create meaningful employment, foster social inclusion, and improve products & services. Perhaps even more importantly, Native-owned businesses now have an equal opportunity to enhance their communities and take bold steps to reverse the harm that was done to Indian Country.

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Mohammad (Sam) Elias, CEO, RELI Group Inc.

The cornerstone of this trailblazers’ success is family first. When he wanted to move from employee to employer, it was his wife who encouraged his journey. Years later, when Mr. Elias wanted to show his appreciation for her support with expensive gifts, she declined them. Instead, they took the money and developed a Veteran’s training program in their HUBZone community. This trailblazer’s journey has been built on having empathy, and teaching his children the power of humility, integrity, and mutual respect. These same values have spilled over into RELI’s workplace, creating a caring culture. Mr. Elias has often said, “money doesn't define me, what defines me is the difference I am making in somebody's life. Am I keeping my word? Is the world better?”

RELI is a very successful HUBZone company, but Mr. Elias will tell you the contracts didn’t happen right away. He encourages HUBZone businesses to play the long game, much like he did. First, build the client’s trust, find out their pain points, and offer real solutions. Be patient, stay engaged, celebrate the small wins, and don’t give up.

Doing Work That Matters Have you ever had Medicare tax deducted from your check? If your answer is yes, RELI has probably been working in the background to ensure that waste, fraud, and abuse did not occur. Mr. Elias has been supporting the Center

It is not just about the data, system, or the process. It’s also RELI’s ability to make sure that the programs they are developing are sustainable and benefit the American public in this generation and the next. The health and science work that this trailblazer does touches the entire nation. His team of project managers, software developers, and data analysts review claims, looking for ways to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse by achieving data interoperability. They maximize CMS’s data value, helping to support an ecosystem of better health equity for our nation.

Building HUBZone Confidence Building HUBZone confidence will sometimes need a push from Capitol Hill. That is exactly what Congressman Benny Thompson did when he challenged the Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) leadership to find innovative ways to meet their HUBZone goals.

That challenge resulted in TSA creating and awarding a HUBZone set-aside. This trailblazer has shown his gratitude by deploying a team that includes HUBZones committed to providing stellar service to TSA. Mr. Elias will tell you about the challenges of not only being a newcomer to the agency, but replacing a Fortune 500 company. You may not initially have all the glitz of the incumbent, but what you do have is the authenticity that comes with your HUBZone team’s willingness to listen, perform, and innovate. This trailblazer was willing to take all the steps needed to create a high-performance TSA team (the forming, storming, norming, and performing).

Failure was not an option – neither were shortcuts for this mission. As RELI completed each task successfully, trust started building.

RELI brought in whatever resources were needed. Their team understood that if the project was successful, profit would emerge, and it eventually did. The RELI team made it

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for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for years to make sure that US citizens 65 and older receive appropriate benefits, which are of critical importance to the 5+ million senior citizens living in poverty.

through the hiccups (those storming times), building confidence with their stakeholders and proving that something new can be the reboot an agency never knew they would like.

Zero Trust This trailblazer was an early adopter of the Zero Trust model, removing barriers that threatened information sharing between the government and the private sector. RELI has been helping to improve Cybersecurity for the Department of Health and Human Services (CDC & the Indian Health Services [his]) by executing Executive Order (EO) 14028 to drive adoption of Zero Trust Architecture as it relates to securing health information and mitigating data breaches. Mr. Elias has a team of subject matter experts (SMEs) who ensure compliance while securing and monitoring the systems as they roll out the 5 pillars of the Zero Trust framework.

RELI’s Zero Trust events for 2022 include: 1. hosting a National Symposium, which will gather thought leaders from around the nation to weigh in on Zero Trust best practices as they relate to implementing Biden’s EO 14028. This October’s event will include topics such as: Secure Cloud Services, Software Supply Chain Security Guidance, Stakeholder Engagement (Establishing a Cyber Safety Review Board), Modernization, and others; 2. Panel discussion on “The Impact of Zero-Trust on Federal Government and Why We Should Care?” at the HUBZone National Conference in August.

Mitigating Health and Workforce Disparities Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. believed in racial equity – people could make a difference in leveling the playing field in this nation.

Because of Dr. King’s example and the benefits this trailblazer received due to that struggle, Mr. Elias has made it his mission as a person of color to continue that dream as it pertains to health and workforce disparities. He is working with SMEs from HBCUs located in both Maryland (Morgan State University [MSU]) and Georgia (Morehouse College). Their support in the areas of health data analytics has made inroads in Health Equity in the regions.

Mr. Elias hopes to be able to deploy this regional research on a national scale.

Additionally, Mr. Elias has been able to increase diversity on his contracts by hiring and training entry level HUBZone university students (Jackson State University, Morehouse, & MSU). RELI provides the skills and opportunities to move them into mid-level technical and management positions. This practice has been critical to RELI’s growth and retention (their turnover rate is less than 8%)

Benefits of Similarly Situated RELI has been coaching HUBZones for years in areas of business development and compliance. So, it should not be a surprise that this trailblazer is a big fan of “SBA’s Similarly Situated” guidelines. They have been able to create formidable HUBZone teams to go after contracts that traditionally went to large primes. RELI’s ability to expand its HUBZone footprint in agencies that have not met their 3% goal has been accomplished by creating trusted partnerships with other small businesses. Mr. Elias’s philosophy of being better together has resulted in attracting boutique businesses that are formidable in their unique skillset. He often starts by bringing them in as subcontractors to determine how they fit. After that success, he works with them to develop workshares that are fair to the team as a whole.

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Gwendolyn Miles, HHS Small Business Specialist for CDC

For over a decade, she has been blazing a trail for HUBZone companies with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) by hosting HUBZone Access Forums and Capability Briefings with CORs, Primes and CO. Ms. Miles’ innovation approaches generate millions of dollars to HUBZone communities while garnering her multiple procurement and supplier diversity awards including Who’s Who in Black Atlanta.

The COVID pandemic has presented new challenges and opportunities for HUBZone companies wishing to support CDC. Ms. Miles works with small business contractors throughout the nation in their pursuit of CDC

related contracting opportunities. She has met this health crisis with the same resoluteness she exhibited during her 30-year span with the federal government.

Ms. Miles is a HUBZone program champion fully embracing the fact that increasing economic opportunities can help improve health factors in a community, which aligns with CDC’s overall public health mission. To that end, she is considered by many a 360degree small business advocate well-known for consistently promoting contract identification, investigation, investment, innovation, interest, implementation, and issue resolution.

Ms. Miles courageously advises CDC internal stakeholders on procurement strategies promoting the transition of small HUBZone contracts to larger HUBZone IDIQs while addressing proposed solicitations that involve bundling of contract requirements.

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Big Difference: Creating a Purpose-Driven Mission Rob Purcell, President, 22Vets, LLC

The company, 22Vets, is located in the historic Starline Factory. A century earlier, Starline was the hub for stimulating agricultural innovation with hundreds of patents for streamlining farm work. Today, it serves as a place that continues to stimulate the local economy – but this time, for healthy Veterans and their families. As HUBZone Company, 22Vets provides an opportunity to rebuild this once-agricultural community by providing jobs and suicide prevention assistance.

Thank You for Your Service: Moving from Lip Service When 22VETS says “thank you for your service” to a Veteran, it is much more than lip service for them. Years ago, this Trailblazer’s non-profit was struggling to receive donations.

They started brainstorming on ways to raise money. An idea to start a for-profit company to solve a national crisis was birthed: 22VETS, a HUBZone Technology Products and Services Business. These were services Mr. Purcell had built a career around, but this time with the sole purpose of investing the profits in suicide prevention and intervention. 22VETS became the biggest funder of the nonprofit (Veterans R&R). Mr. Purcell and his team loved the idea of having Veterans earn the resources needed instead of waiting for handouts.

22VETS’ mission has attracted clients and personnel from both the federal and private

Whether it is Veterans or kids, this Trailblazer is on a mission to make a difference. 22VETS began selling its products and services in August 2021 and has since generated more than $10M in net sales that has helped so many Veterans and HUBZone residents. The difference? Some of it lies in attracting highlevel people to their workforce and individuals who are ready to jump ship and join them in their mission. Mr. Purcell believes the pandemic has led these senior executives to rethink their employment options. He frequently hears comments like. “They are not just selling services to their clients but helping to save the life of a Veteran.” For his workforce and federal clients, this HUBZone Business is more than a check-box to a 3% goal; it is the difference the contracts make in the lives of military families.

Crisis Prevention: Solving a Problem 22VETS supports what Mr. Purcell calls the unknown Veteran stakeholder. There is a long list of Veterans who show up to their programs because the door is open. The Veterans who come up to their staff and say, “I'm on this planet right here today because of the programs you provided me.” That is why Mr. Purcell says, “if we fail, we fail all of them and that is not an option.”

They consider themselves being missiondriven with a Veteran focus. This includes programs like R&R Outdoors, DOG TAG Support Nation, and OWH. OWH is a great example of how Mr. Purcell’s team works with

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sectors. It seems when Mr. Purcell shares the company’s capabilities, along with the value-add of saving Veterans’ lives, they win. It has been difficult for the competition to beat them when they have no other differentiators. For instance, with the profits 22VETS made in 1 month from selling interactive whiteboards, the Veterans R&R program was able to feed and house 10 horses for a year through its lead Veteran program, Operation Wild Horse (OWH), not to mention the Veterans it helped.

Photo Source: Rob Purcell

managers, this Trailblazer has developed powerful programs that mix outdoor recreational activities to gain safe spaces, to dialogue about their personal challenges.

These are places where the conversation isn’t about empathy, but rather, one of similar circumstances – Veterans who have gone through the same situation, whether it is related to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or the other side of the spectrum, the guilt, because they never saw combat. The trauma they are left with is still very real and so is the devastation.

Mr. Purcell personally understands the pain the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land one can experience from seeing friends Management to rescue wild Mustangs. These deployed and not return while being left horses have been either chased by apex stateside. He calls this one predators or rounded up to be of his greatest regrets. killed. The Mustangs arrive at the That bothers him every farm traumatized, much like many single day, but the good of the Veterans. Together, they go news is he has the through a therapeutic process as capacity to remind part of a program that provides a himself that he served, safe community to build and he is still serving his significant Mustang/Human country. “I'm still serving bonds. This program has allowed my fellow Veterans, barriers to fall, communication to increasing their capacity enhance, trust to form, and most to live long and prosper, importantly, healing to begin for Photo Source: Rob Purcell but most importantly, providing both the Veterans and the wild them with what they call a ‘Post Service Mustangs. Last year, Robert Redford produced Purpose.’” a documentary called “the Mustangs,” which featured the great work that OWH is As a military police Veteran, his creed states accomplishing for our Veterans. that he will “Assist, Protect and Defend my fellow soldiers and their Families” and for From Pain to Gain him, that creed is for life. Mr. Purcell believes that is his mission, that is his calling. Yes, To understand this Trailblazer even further, there are times it has been overwhelming for you need only ask him what his favorite quote this Trailblazer, but when he has doubts, he is. Mr. Purcell will say, "Everything is possible looks in the mirror and remembers whose son - even the impossible" by Mary Poppins. In he is. Then, Mr. Purcell marches on! that same spirit, he launched 22VETS many years ago to stop the 22 Veteran suicides that occur daily. He knew this would be an arduous task, but coming from a family of Veterans, it was something he had to do. Mr. Purcell said, “As a Veteran, I think the story for me is that the ‘pain’ of being in combat versus not being deployed is the same pain, we all sign up to make a difference. That pain can cause similar emotional and psychological problems if not recognized and treated.”

Mr. Purcell’s programs have served thousands of military families and Veterans by creating companies that mitigate the pain and suffering our Veterans experience, whether or not they served in combat. Through the help of their nonprofit volunteers and program

Photo Source: Rob Purcell

Dr. Michael O. Willis, Social Health Equity Activist

It is impossible to put a label on a true trailblazer. Just ask Dr. Willis what his title is.

He told me he is a social health equity activist. I said no, “what is your job title?” He repeated, “SOCIAL HEALTH EQUITY ACTIVIST.” He noted that while job titles are important, they often only describe what you do or the level you have attained. They do not describe who you are or your character. Growing up in West Baltimore and an alumnus of Morgan State University, this Trailblazer has had a remarkable professional career and is recognized internationally for his expertise in healthcare, organizational development, and information technology. He has held executive positions in several of the most prominent technology and healthcare organizations in the world. His global leadership roles with IBM earned him the reputation of a strategic thinker, problem solver, and results-oriented executive. An Executive Vice President with the prestigious Franklin Covey Company, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The AmeriHealth Mercy Family of Companies, and currently Group Vice President & Business Information Officer at Kaiser Permanente are just blips on his resume.

Who is this Trailblazer? A Mission Focused on Health Equity Dr. Willis describes a social health equity activist as one who campaigns to address

His path of enlightenment and giving back was furthered strengthened when Dr. Willis was a teenager. Dr. John E. Maupin Jr., former President of Meharry Medical College and The Morehouse School of Medicine, became his lifelong mentor and friend. Dr. Maupin walked alongside him, constantly providing the guidance and, most importantly, the support to help this Trailblazer excel and uncover purpose and meaning in his life. Some of the most important learnings and impactful work for Dr. Willis have come from his association with Stedman Graham, a best-selling author, speaker, and businessman whose work centers on Identity Leadership. Dr. Willis and Mr. Graham have partnered on initiatives for more than 20 years in communities, K-12 educational systems, HBCUs, and corporations to drive change.

This Trailblazer is committed to replicating this assistance for HBCUs and HUBZone businesses. He is currently working with one of his longtime friends, Mohammad 'Sam' Elias (CEO, RELI Group), on an HUBZone initiative to promote Centers of Health Excellence at HBCUs.

Leadership and Accountability Begins at Home Dr. Willis’ sense of giving back and working with underserved populations is rooted in his childhood. His parents had a tremendous impact on his character and the path his life has taken. Dr. Willis’ mother, who recently passed at the age of 101, was a vessel of wisdom and faith. His mother’s early life was characterized by tremendous discrimination and segregation, poverty, the Great Depression,

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historical and contemporary injustices, social determinants of health, as well as population and community health inequities. His work is focused on ensuring that everyone has a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Dr. Willis’ advocacy also centers on ensuring that no one is disadvantaged from reaching their potential because of social position or socially determined circumstances. His view of health is holistic, a definition that includes economic, environmental, educational, technological, and social development.“When you have good health, you have hope; when you have hope, you have everything” is a statement that Dr. Willis often recites, and it encapsulates the importance of this work.

his day was worse. Bracing to hear the bad news he listened intently. His father said, “For some reason I made you feel that you could not come to me, and I am so sorry for that.He said, Son, I'm your father and no matter what you do in your life, no matter what you might need, you can always come to me”. He also said, “if I ever forget what it is like to be you or see things from your perspective, remind [me].”

Marvel Willis, Dr. Michael Willis’ mother. Photo Source: Dr. Willis

and a World War. Her experiences gave her uncanny wisdom, herculean strength, and a heart full of compassion and love – all of which she gave to her son. She felt that love was the most important word in the dictionary. She taught him that love of self and love for others were the great motivators for positive change and equality in the world.

Dr. Willis’ father, a baggage clerk for the B&O railroad, gave him the mindset to dream and the tools to make those dreams a reality.

His father was a self-taught concert-level violinist, scratch golfer, champion tennis player, and master carpenter. He was a man of faith and an avid reader who taught his son that you can learn anything, do anything, and be anything. When Dr. Willis was 12 years old, he had the following encounter with his father that would shape his life forever: Dr. Willis flushed a dixie cup down the toilet in his house. When the water began to flow out of the toilet onto the floor, he decided to do what most 12-year-old boys would do. He ran out of the house as fast as he could and stayed out until the streetlights came on. That was the signal for neighborhood children to go home. As he walked around the corner, he saw his father sitting on their front steps. His father suggested that they go around the corner and get a snow-cone. As they stopped to sit down on a little wall that led back to their home, this would be the place where his father would teach him an invaluable lesson. His father said to him: “This has been a tough day for you. You made a mistake; you did something wrong.

You need to be accountable for what you did.”

Our trailblazer felt ashamed, but as he looked at his father, he saw tears streaming down his face. His father at that moment admitted that

Dr. Willis said his father’s words gave him some lifelong principles. While the experience was between a father and son, he began to understand, over the years, that his father was demonstrating the true principles of leadership. His father was teaching about accountability. He was also teaching Dr. Willis that as a father or leader, you need to understand the fears, aspirations, and hear the unspoken words of those under your care. He was showing him that it is ultimately about others. His father passed away less than 6 months later, on December 31, which was Dr. Willis’ 13th birthday. The funeral possession was several blocks long, based on who he was as a person and not his title or position.

What Is Your Life's Blueprint?

Dr. Willis will be the first to say, “always expect some type of life lessons from an HBCU professor.” He was enrolled in an MBA program and the finance professor started with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech, “Blueprint for Life.” This speech became his framework for the partnerships he has forged with HBCUs and the HUBZone Business community.

Whether he is working with young or old, Dr. Willis believes a good plan must include

Reginald Willis, Dr. Michael Willis’s father. Photo Source: Dr. Willis

dignity, self-worth, purpose, education, and good moral values. He first verifies that the individual’s personal blueprint aligns with MLK’s speech.

“I want to suggest some of the things that should begin your life's blueprint. Number one in your life's blueprint should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness. Don't allow anybody to make you feel that you're nobody. Always feel that you count. Always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance. Secondly, in your life's blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor.You're going to be deciding as the days, as the years unfold what you will do in life — what your life's work will be. Set out to do it well.”

HUBZone Relevance HUBZone and HBCU partnerships are more relevant than ever as they cultivate their ability to harness the expertise and knowledge of all participants. These partnerships have been critically important in changing our nation’s landscape in the areas of research, social change, and economic and community development. HBCUs' graduation rates in STEM programs, medical fields, engineering, and the social sciences have been significant factors in improving health and overall quality of life throughout the country. Dr. Willis stated that HBCU partnerships can provide additional benefits such as: • Corporations, Federal Contractors, and Business Owners—Access to a pipeline of recently educated and trained individuals ready to assist them in achieving their respective missions.

• Community Benefit—85% of the HBCUs are in HUBZone communities where social and economic development is needed most.

• Economic Development—Increase jobs, educational, and training opportunities while leveraging resources and expertise to promote growth and prosperity.

• Accelerating Business Ownership and Entrepreneurship — Ability to promote entrepreneurship via campus degrees or certificate programs.

• Subject Matter Expertise — Ready resources to research, collect, deliver, and teach computer literacy, financial family planning, job searches, and career development, etc.

Discover and Cultivate: Unlocking Potential The nation needs the expertise of HUBZone businesses and HBCUs to unlock the potential that resides in every community to allow us to achieve bigger dreams. These partnerships create a high-performance ecosystem based on inclusion rather than the exclusionary methods seen in the past. As a Trailblazer, Dr. Willis is optimistic about the future. He stated, “we must be mindful that achieving health equity is a sizable goal that demands an unwavering commitment; and change will demand a collaboration and a community of partnerships at the national and local level.”

In closing, this Trailblazer is more convinced than ever that his parents had it right. Maybe to improve health equity, we need more wisdom, accountability, leadership, and love.

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Ben Skyles, CEO & President, ProSource360

John Ely, COO & President, Health Solutions, ERP International

Many believe the highest form of trailblazing is a Joint Venture (JV). This is when two or more trailblazers are able to trust each other enough to pool their resources for the purpose of gaining additional contracts. A HUBZone JV takes on a special significance because that trust often benefits multiple communities. ERP International and ProSource360 have successfully achieved that level of trust, and it has taken on the form of a JV named ERProsource360. Both Mr. Skyles and Mr. Ely will admit they had to kiss a lot of frogs before they found the right company to settle down with, but in the end, the joy they have been able to bring to HUBZone communities in West Virginia has been worth it.

Both trailblazers come from military families. Their military fathers instilled in them a deep sense of commitment, adaptability, tenacity, and integrity. After serving in the military, Mr. Skyles’ father started his own business. Watching his father operate the business became the catalyst for Mr. Skyles to establish ProSource360. He said, “I wouldn't be who I am today. He absolutely was a trailblazer. I watched him leave his job, take the risk of starting his company. I watched him build it on some foundational principles of leadership in service.”

Aligning Dual Purposes The impact these trailblazers are having globally, because they choose to work together, will have a domino effect on our generation and the ones to come. Their JV supports the medical needs of DoD and VA, active military dependents, and Veterans while creating jobs and services within HUBZone communities.

Mr. Skyles is energized every time he has a meeting with his Morgantown staff. His employees make it clear how much they appreciate the logistical work they do for the Army Medical Services. He said, “these folks love their jobs and aren’t afraid to tell everyone, many of them have been on the same contract for more than 10 years. My employees talk about how this contract has been the best thing that ever happened to them. This work is so powerful from the standpoint we get to bring needed jobs to rural HUBZone communities while ensuring the readiness of our Army medical forces with the supplies and materials needed in military installations in places like Germany, Korea, Japan, Hawaii, Texas, New York, Utah, and California.”

Creating Jobs Where They Are Needed Most The Army did it right. This Morgantown contract operates in a HUBZone-centric area, where the JV is able to have billable resources who actually live in the community. These trailblazers have been able to create and sustain high-paying jobs in rural HUBZone communities, where they're needed most. The

Ben Skyles and his team at WVU football game.

Photo Source: HUBZone Council

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JV’s employees often travel half the world, where they roll up their sleeves and accomplish the physical labor to support our medical troops.

Swim Out So Far in the Ocean You Can't Go Back Both Mr. Skyles and Mr. Ely’s approach to turning back is the same: “they are too far out in the ocean to go back.” When times get extremely difficult, they press on, knowing that failure is not an option. They have two families to support: their DoD clients and HUBZone workforce.

Before these companies joined forces, they often experienced what it is like to be in the ocean by yourself with no land in sight.

ERProsource360 reminds them that there may be days that they are in the ocean, but they are not alone. Each trailblazer is there to ensure that the other gets to shore safely. That’s the power of a mature JV.

Joint Venture: Listen to What They Say, But Watch What They Do Actions speak louder than words. Mr. Ely was very cautious about being part of another JV. He had become weary from his company’s previous failed attempts. It seemed to him that his company kept giving and all the other companies kept taking. Mr. Ely was coming to the end of his patience, but Mr. Melvin Petty, his company’s CEO & Managing Partner, thought ProSource360 was worth it. With that push, Mr. Ely started watching very carefully how Mr. Skyles’s team interacted with clients and its workforce. He was then convinced that they had the same ethos. When Mr. Ely thinks back on those earlier failed JVs, he has to admit there were signs. When asked what advice he would give his younger self, Mr. Ely said, “watch carefully what the other company is doing. How they treat their workforce, their clients, and even their competitors; make sure you are reading the entire room.”

Melvin Petty (on the left) and Ben Skyles (on the right) Photo Source: Ben Skyles

Rural America Too: Put All of America to Work Mr. Skyles believes that too many politicians are misinformed about the HUBZone program’s mission. This workforce program benefits rural Americans too. In West Virginia, ERProsource360 is building workforce capacity and sustainability in rural areas. There are thousands of rural HUBZone areas in America.

Our country’s political leaders need to join forces to advocate for job creation and sustainability in every one of them. The ERProsource360 employees aren’t unique – there are millions of rural Americans who would appreciate work, too.

There’s Enough Food on the Table These trailblazers hope that more businesses will join forces with their HUBZone counterparts to empower these communities.

ProSource360 has been able to leverage their larger partner, ERP International, to submit Requests for Information (RFIs) and Sole Source responses to win contracts. This team believes there are so many problems in the world that need to be solved, from logistics to diseases. There is room at the table for HUBZone companies that are tenacious and want to make a difference. Finally, we all know that complex problems need a team of solution providers. Our trailblazers will tell you - and have proven - that HUBZone JVs can offer the right technical depth to solve those complex problems. Let's make HUBZones the vendors of choice.

Collaborative Partners

Jenna Mykal Davis, Subcontract Manager, Sandia National Laboratories

Ms. Davis is a Trailblazer, whether at Sandia or in challenging policies at the Albuquerque Board of Education. She is truly a force to be reckoned with. Ms. Davis will quickly tell you that her independent spirit and diplomacy were a result of her parents’ happy marriage and instruction. For more than three decades, they and other family members have been the best examples of what it means to be supportive, courageous, caring, and independent people.

Her grandmother would say, “take care of yourself first. You cannot give to other people until you are fully whole. Your cup has to be full. When your cup is overflowing, then you can go out and give to others.” Those words continue to energize Ms. Davis to support HUBZone Businesses.

This Trailblazer mentioned in the interview how these skills were tested when she was visiting a friend in Dubai and a conflict arose.

She found herself stranded in this foreign country during Ramadan. The first thing this Trailblazer did was assess her resources and execute a plan to continue her 10-day trip. No, she didn’t call home for a lifeline. Instead, she proceeded to find a hotel that could accommodate her while she did everything she had planned to do as a single, non-Muslim woman, while respecting the Ramadan observances. Her ability to remain resilient and flexible while navigating the most difficult situations continues to make her a powerhouse in the small business community.

With over 50% of New Mexico’s communities being designated as HUBZone, Ms. Davis takes every opportunity to educate Sandia’s engineers on the impact HUBZone contracts have on their communities. She is committed to helping the laboratory exceed their 3% goal by educating and helping her internal stakeholders understand the expertise HUBZone companies can offer Sandia. Ms. Davis makes sure that her engineers realize that HUBZone contracts impact impoverished communities. They bring meaningful employment, increase property value, and attract other businesses.

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In FY22, almost 80% of Sandia’s contracts went to small businesses. As a contracting officer, this Trailblazer believes in creating collaborative partnerships by promoting competition. She has the responsibility of executing contracts that ensure that Sandia staff receive the best products and services while practicing meaningful corporate social responsibility.

Sandia is Open for Business If you’re a HUBZone company that offers products or services that the Laboratory buys, Ms. Davis wants you to know that Sandia is open for business.

HUBZone contracts are the number-one priority at Sandia.

They work diligently to meet the 3% goal by aggressively using the 10% HUBZone Price Preference Adjustment on every award.

Sandia’s HUBZone buyers have a streamlined process that decreases paperwork when the appropriate parameters are met.

There are plenty of opportunities, and despite what people may say, Sandia puts requirements on the street for competition all the time. Ms. Davis wants HUBZone businesses to know, if you’re struggling to get the attention of the big boys at DoD, consider going after a contract with Sandia. An excellent CPAR from Sandia goes a long way to opening doors in the DoD arena. Furthermore, if you don’t win, Ms. Davis is always delighted to give you some informal tips on how to make your submission better the next time. She believes that failure is just another opportunity to receive feedback for a future win.

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In Their Footsteps Ms. Davis has a lot of heroes, most of them women. It started close to home with her grandmother, who early on, instilled positive values similar to those of national influencers like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), a political disruptor for young people, women, and her party. Ms. Davis said, “I admire any woman out there who's independent. Who uses their voice and power for good. The ones that aren't afraid to speak their minds. The ones that have opinions, I admire them.”

Ms. Davis shared a story about a fascinating woman she met at a barbecue whose story has influenced her to this day.

“I met this really wonderful 80-something year-old Italian woman. She had gotten married at 18 years old to a very traditional Italian man. He made it clear that her role in the marriage was to be a mother to his children and to keep house. She was not allowed to get an education or a job. That was something that always really bothered her.

She decided to start taking night classes without his permission and would sneak out every night to take her classes. She did her homework while he was at work. It took her a long time but eventually she received her Ph.D. Then came the recession and her husband lost his job and couldn’t find another. This is when she went to work as a Ph.D. scientist at Los Alamos Laboratories. She told me how preparing when the doors are closed takes unwavering faith in tomorrow.”

Her story reminds us that anything is possible if we start and stay on course.

The Power of Two

wanted to be there to give her the extra help she needed.

Her sister has taught her how to be an advocate for others, which sparked her passion in serving small businesses from underserved communities.

Overcoming the Stereotype Ms. Davis’s roots are a mix of Spanish, Mexican, Anglo, and Native American. When asked where the last name Davis came from, she will tell you about the childhood discrimination her US-born parents faced in their communities. How they made the hard decision to give their daughters the Anglo grandfather’s name, along with first names that would be hard to stereotype, to escape the hardships they experienced.

Ms. Davis makes it uncomfortable for prejudging to take place in her community.

Whether it is taking on the Albuquerque School Districts on segregated yearbooks or contract disparity, she is leading the charge. She is making sure her generation will have the freedom to choose a name without judgment.

HUBZone Businesses Look Out for the Entire Community Ms. Davis is an extraordinary advocate for the HUBZone program. She encourages her colleagues to talk to the business owners to learn about the impact they are having on their community. She reminds how awarding contracts to HUBZone businesses is reducing unemployment rates and increasing capital investments within our economically distressed communities.

When asked, who is your hero, Ms. Davis responded, her twin sister, Elena. Elena’s presence shows up in all the work this Trailblazer has accomplished. Ms. Davis has always been close to her sister. By the time they were 6 years old, it was clear that Ms. Davis had assumed the role of protector, as her sister was born with Down’s Syndrome. Her parents made the decision to put them in separate schools because they could see that Ms. Davis wasn't living her own life. When the separation first occurred, Ms. Davis would have stomachaches at school because she was so worried about what was happening with her sister. She Check out Ms. Davis in Action: In the KO Corner 2022 National HUBZone Conference

Sabrina Thompson, Office of Acquisition & Grants Management CMS Contracting Officer

Sabrina Thompson is currently using her trailblazing talents as the Contracting Officer (CO) for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The Council understands that several years ago, the HUBZone business community asked Anita Allen the Small Business Specialist at CMS how they could partner with her to open up more IT opportunities at CMS. This partnering led to HUBZones responding to CMS’s Sources Sought announcements with increased frequency and better quality.

The responses revealed that HUBZone companies were building a dearth of skills in the areas of Health Analytics. A case was made

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to Ms. Thompson and her team that those small businesses particularly HUBZones could successfully accomplish these tasks. The word on the street was that “Ms. Thompson and her team seized the opportunity to level the playing field for the small businesses at CMS.” Thus, the acquisition process for Data Analytics Supporting Healthcare (DASH) was born.

The HUBZone community considers her role as an influencer key to crafting an innovative acquisition strategy which clearly supported the utilization of small businesses.

CMS conducted a phased advisory evaluation format which included relevant experience along with multiple video challenges.

HUBZones felt that the acquisition process was handled in such a way that the CMS clients would be assured of receiving exceptional services from all awardees while still providing equity to HUBZone vendors.

In 2022, DASH a $500 million BPA to use agile delivery services to improve the quality of care at CMS was awarded to 10 businesses.

More importantly, Ms. Thompson’s team selected six HUBZones (Analytica Esimplicity, Index Analytic, Next Phase Solutions and Services, SparkSoft and RELI Group) in accordance with the solicitation based on GSA’s schedules socioeconomic status of HUBZone.

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Impact of the HUBZone Designation

Trailblazing is a Choice It is the decision to take the path that certainly will be uncomfortable. At 12 years old, President Freeman Hrabowski III decided to march in the Birmingham Children’s Crusade with Martin Luther King, Jr., knowing the possible consequences: jail, water hoses, beatings, and attack dogs. He went anyway.

This courageous act resulted in a 5-day jail stay that would shape his entire trailblazing journey. For the last three decades, Dr. Hrabowski has been among the most successful university presidents in the nation. His team is disrupting the world’s view of HUBZones and Minority Serving Institutions with successes like winning the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (2021 Regional, 2020 Regional, and 2017 National Champs); 2021 defeat of Yale University to win the American Mock Trial Association National Championship; receiving nation’s highest level of research performance (Research 1) and in 2021 Forbes’ Magazine ranked them among the nation’s top 50 public universities. UMBC is showing this country that you don't have to be rich to be the very best. What a powerful lesson! President Hrabowski said, “the American story—that’s what UMBC is, a formidable brain-trust.”

“There is the creation of jobs and a culture that allows people to fail, to risk, to learn, and to succeed the next time.”

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Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, President of UMBC

Companies were suddenly attracted to UMBC because of its HUBZone status. The fact that these companies could get additional access to federal contracts along with UMBC’s cybersecurity, govtech, and biotech expertise was alluring. President Hrabowski was quick to give an example of this symbiotic relationship with Delali Dzirasa, CEO of Fearless, a graduate of UMBC, and a HUBZone Council member. He birthed his business in the Research Park and subsequently expanded his mission to influence the next generation of entrepreneurs. Today, UMBC continues to attract students locally, nationally, and internationally. Their enrollees include first-time offenders and students from more than 100 countries. This diverse, multicultural student body is eager to learn and more than willing to innovate as it disrupts the old way of doing things.

In the 1990s, UMBC had to dispel two major community concerns. The first was that biotech meant that germs and viruses would be released into their communities. The second was that growth would lead to traffic congestion in their neighborhoods.

Fortunately, UMBC had elected officials advocating for them, and those officials quickly dispelled the myths. Today, the community is thriving – and remains grateful for the revitalization and the thousands of jobs UMBC has brought to the community. Clearly, the Congressional HUBZone frame workers envisioned such results.

President Hrabowski stated, “we're in a HUBZone that builds on this notion that we need to give access to people who might not have had access before, all of this fits into the vision of UMBC as a minority serving institution with students from all over … who have been underrepresented in such areas as cybersecurity and biotechnology.”

Entrepreneurship In 2006, UMBC received a grant from the Kauffman Foundation to build entrepreneurship programs. This grant quickly became a catalyst for teaching students how to be entrepreneurs. President Hrabowski said this ignited the following shift in his focus: “It taught me that the university should be working to help some people get jobs, but it

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should also be working to help some people create jobs, and this is what I had to learn as a middle-class kid out of Birmingham that is not just about getting a job it's about creating regions where you are creating jobs and we've been doing that now… it makes such a difference and that's the lesson for the country.

We've got to prepare more people to be entrepreneurs and a part of that work and being an entrepreneur is that we have to make sure that we allow people to fail, I know this as a mathematician working with a lot of scientists sometimes you learn more from the failure than from the easy success …resilience you get knocked down we all do and you get back up and you learn from those mistakes ... this has led to our creating a number of these companies in the Research Park. This is a lesson that you only learn through experience otherwise all you think about is finding the people who can quite frankly fill the jobs...There is the creation of jobs and a culture that allows people to fail, to risk, to learn, and to succeed the next time. That's been the lesson I've learned over the past 30 years.”

Nerdy Campus The number of minority graduates in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) from UMBC is staggering. At UMBC, depending on your age, nerdy is either “cool” or “chill.” The Urban Dictionary agrees, calling it unbelievably attractive – the new sexy. The Meyerhoff Scholars’ Program has helped prepare minority students for academic careers in the STEM disciplines. President Hrabowski, faculty, and students have worked hard to live up to that narrative. UMBC is the leading producer of talent for the National Security Agency (NSA) – as a matter of fact, more than 1,200 of their graduates currently work there. UMBC graduates hail from major organizations: a few notables include Drs. Kizzmekia Corbett, COVID-19 vaccine leader; former Surgeon General, Jerome Adams; Ralph Semmel, Director of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; and James Clements, President of Clemson University.

UMBC students are serious about their education – they’ve proven it. Whether it is winning a national cyber defense competition or beating Yale at the mock trials, these students have proven that they can excel in ethics and philosophy; they also excel in technology. Said best by President Hrabowski, “we need the country to feel good about having

some nerdiness because when we look at the competition from China to Russia, we have to have kids that want to be really good, really high achieving and excited about this work...What I tell my students all the time, we are preparing you to change the world! Every time you help one person you’re changing the world, every time you help one child learn to read or to love mathematics the world changes.”

Relationships, Partnerships & Commission.

As chair of President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans, President Hrabowski said, “it can’t just be one sector that we talk about; it's not just education or the public sector it's how you connect private and public sectors together to build a pipeline to create the jobs to build the economy”. UMBC has forged relationships with strategic partners with a view of how the university educates AfricanAmericans and others to be their best. Those partnerships are critical as graduates refine their skills, seek professional jobs, and launch their careers.

It is very important for the business community, universities, and schools to have multi-level partnerships. One of UMBC’s most enlightened business partners is Northrop Grumman (NG). NG hires about 100 UMBC students annually in technology areas. NG also mentors young entrepreneurs and helps them build cybersecurity companies – and helps them bring in customers. NG also works with UMBC at the elementary- and middle-school levels to build a continuous pipeline for math and science. NG supports UMBC’s Center for Women in IT to attract women into technology areas. Finally, NG has been a strategic partner in building the economy in their corridor.

Maryland’s Governor and legislature work together with UMBC to promote its educational mission, such as Maryland Institute for Computing along with the first apprenticeshiplevel cybersecurity program in the nation.

In June 2022, President Hrabowski will be leaving UMBC to start the next chapter of his journey. We are grateful to him and wish him all the best. Having just reviewed his book, “The Empowered University: Shared Leadership, Culture Change, and Academic Success,” the Council can’t wait to see what trail he blazes next.

Blue Collar STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)

It is a Wonderful Life.

Dr. McCrary has been a blue-collar STEM advocate for years. He is quick to cite statistical evidence of blue-collar occupations that require STEM skills. These are workers with high school, vocational training, or 2year degrees – people who represent over 10% of the US job market and over 50% of the STEM labor force according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.

Dr. McCrary has urged the National Science Board (NSB) and Congress to invest in

The first time I met this trailblazer, I knew there was something special about him. Dr. McCrary seemed genuinely interested in what everyone had to say. It didn’t matter whether it was a building security guard, a student, or a CEO, this trailblazer was listening. Just recently, I found out how he stays so energized. He told me he loves movies, particularly the old ones. His favorite movie is the 1946 version of “It is a Wonderful Life,” in which Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey.

George runs the Bailey Brothers Building and Loan, which provides money for the ordinary person to move out of the slums to home

Dr. Victor McCrary with two New STEM Deans for Engineering and Science Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary

Dr. Victor McCrary, Vice President for Research, University of District Columbia, & Vice Chair, National Science Board

“If you think about our nation's HBCUs like UDC, we are the nation's capital only public HBCU. We offer opportunities that many of our students wouldn't have in other institutions. I was born and raised in DC, so when I went to Howard, a lot of my colleagues started their undergraduate education at UDC because it was affordable, and they opened the doors for those for many of my colleagues and many of the residents of the District of Columbia. I can say the same for HBCUs that are across the country. They have opened their doors, caring for their communities. I see us, like I said, I'm George Bailey, I don't do it for the money, I'm out here to make a difference. My purpose is to change lives, to uplift, to elevate, and empower the next generation, even folks in my generation. I've been blessed with so many gifts that it is up to me to share those gifts with everybody. What better place to do it than at a HBCU, and more importantly, at the University of the District of Columbia, which is located in a HUBZone.”

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ownership. Mr. Bailey wasn't making a lot of money; he did what he did to change people’s lives. The family in Bedford Falls who didn't have a chance, George gave them an opportunity. Dr. McCrary compared the work the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) has been doing to the Bailey’s Brothers Building and Loan.

programs that focus on this segment of the STEM workforce.

For instance, Macomb County Community College outside of Detroit has more than 50,000 students. The college has a program teaching the next generation of transmission and automobile mechanics as part of a curriculum that includes how to use sophisticated scientific equipment to diagnose Victor McCrary, PhD Vice President for Research Office of University Research automobile problems. These are University of the District of Columbia STEM-based skills that don't Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary necessarily require a bachelor’s degree. complex problems that impact every industry.

As stated previously, The National Center Codebreaking will most likely be at the top of for Science and Engineering Statistics and the the list, resulting in new types of security NSF are taking a second look at this algorithms and a host of problems for our workforce, which now represents nearly half workforce to solve. Thus, the future of the IT of the STEM jobs (19 million skilled technical and Manufacturing workforce may be in the workers). The Skilled Technical Workforce hands of academic leaders like the ones at (‘Blue Collar STEM) represents a cross-section UDC – the individuals who spend countless of America in terms of demographic parity, hours ensuring that the STEM workforce is these are often people without degrees but ready for whatever comes their way. who have certifications in this area and contribute to our economy. They're helping us The National Aeronautics and Space keep our overall science and engineering Administration awarded UDC $3 million to ecosystem vibrant and innovative. establish a Center for Advanced Manufacturing in Space Technology & Applied The Departments of Energy and Defense Research with a focus on research, have laboratories, facilities, and bases where investigating advanced manufacturing they can only hire U.S. citizens. The US techniques and their application in space Navy’s base in Norfolk is one of the world’s exploration technology. They will conduct largest bases, and the blue-collar STEM/ nanotechnology research in nano-scale skilled technical workforce is critical to its electronics for next-generation computers, operations. The base needs welders and metal additive manufacturing, and nanoelectricians for the new generation of materials-based energy systems. They will be submarines and other vessels. DoD is already devising new techniques and processes that concerned that, as the older workforce retires, will be used in machine shops across the there may not be enough workers with these country. This effort is being led by Dr. JiaJun skills to fill the demand.

Xu in UDC’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.]

Future of IT and Manufacturing In partnership with Morgan State University’s Dr. Timothy Akers, UDC’s Dr. Marilyn Hamilton, Dean of UDC’s Community College, is leading their 2-year degree program in Quantum Information Systems (QIS) to be launched in 2023. UDC is developing a curriculum to upskill workers who will be able to go into the quantum area.

They will be dealing with extremely fast computers that use algorithms to solve

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded UDC $8.7 million to create a consortium aimed at identifying and educating individuals from underrepresented backgrounds in public health, informatics, and data science. This effort is being led by Dr. Mashonda Smith, Dean of UDC’s Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning division.

and the first standardized language for electronic books with high school students creating the prototype. In 2000, the Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Norman Mineta, awarded Dr. McCrary the Department’s Gold Medal award as a corecipient for developing electronic book standards.

Victor Rex McCrary Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary

Dorothy “Juanita” Williams Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary

Yes, You Can Dr. McCrary has a long list of heroes who have impacted his trailblazing journey. He started with his military father and very much his mother (his #1 hero!!!), who were unable to live on the military base because interracial marriages were illegal then. Then quickly moved to his siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, who swept floors, served food, changed IV bags, and cleaned the toilets.

Those aunts and uncles said of him, “He was going to be the one to make a difference.”

They were the workers who fueled his advocacy for blue-collar STEM. Then there was Dr. Dean Collins, his former boss at the High-Performance Computing Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, who encouraged Dr. McCrary, a chemist, to pursue electronic book standards as an area of focus.

This led to him running the first electronic national book conference of industry leaders

Dr. McCrary has spent his entire life with family, friends, mentors, and allies, all reminding him, “Yes – You Can.” When President Obama appointed him to the NSB, it was one of his proudest moments. (President Obama is also one of Dr. McCrary’s heroes, too!) To be thrust into the limelight as a national changemaker by one of the ultimate transformational trailblazers was Dr. McCrary’s greatest honor.

Partnerships – Making Them Now Dr. McCrary urges HUBZone businesses to embrace the talent within their neighborhoods. The President of UDC, Ronald Mason’s mantra, is, “talent is equally distributed everywhere but access is not” and HUBZone businesses have an excellent opportunity to provide that access.

Sethuraman Panchunathan, Innovation is National Science everywhere, from the Director, Foundation Appalachian Photo Source: Dr. Victor Mountains to the McCrary Louisiana Bayous. It is not just in Silicon Valley, Austin, or Boston – it is in the thousands of HUBZone communities across our nation.

In March 2022, NSF’s Director Sethuraman Panchanathan (another of Dr. McCrary’s heroes!) put together a new directorate supporting critical partnerships between industry and academia that will lead toward major workforce development. NSF believes that this directorate, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), “will

Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary

Dr. Victor McCrary, fourth one from the left in. National Science Board 2016-2022 Photo Source: Dr. Victor McCrary

accelerate the development of new technologies and products that improve Americans' way of life, grow the economy, and create new jobs, and strengthen and sustain U.S. competitiveness. TIP will establish regional "innovation engines" throughout the U.S. These innovation engines will advance use-inspired research, entrepreneurship, and workforce development to nurture and accelerate regional industries, ushering in a transformational revolution of business and economic growth regionally and nationally that strengthens bottom-up, middle-out growth in industries and communities across America.”

with an extra credit question in order for them to get a passing grade. The question was ‘What’ was the name of the woman who sweeps the learning laboratories? The students couldn’t understand why that was important. He said, ‘it's important because you're going to be serving all types of patients.

If they are just bodies to you without names, you really cannot fulfill your oath as a physician.’

Just like NSF, we as a country need to pull all our intellectual resources from every community to face what Dr. McCrary views as a Sputnik 2 moment in our country’s history.

Our foreign competitors are extremely fierce, and, in some areas, the U.S. has fallen critically behind them. It is time to make sure everyone (black, white, brown, yellow, red) is at the workforce table. Diversity is this nation’s greatest asset over foreign competition, but first, we must overcome the fact that many of us are different. If we can live with that, NSF’s newest Directorate will thrive.

Final Thoughts

One of Dr. McCrary’s best stories about relationships comes from the medical industry; it went like this.

A Doctor gave his medical students a test

He reminds us of the importance of transformative relationships. To this point, one of his favorite books is “Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty” by Harvey Mackay.

Just like George Bailey in “It is a Wonderful Life” was able to build a whole housing development for the least of those in his community with passion and a shoestring budget, HUBZones have that same grit in their profession. HUBZone businesses have been placed in communities that are hungry, and it is time to unlock that talent before it atrophies.

As Dr. McCrary always says, “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu!” Get involved now with your local HBCUs and HUBZones!!

parents would never accept charity. Dr. Akers believes there are all types of hunger -physical, spiritual, and intellectual -- and he is on a quest to ensure that historically underrepresented communities are at the table, feasting on all that our nation has to offer, including Quantum Literacy.

Dr. Timothy Akers, Assistant Vice President for Research Innovation and Advocacy, Morgan State University, Member, National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee

This trailblazer has gone from surviving to thriving, having almost drowned three times before he was even 16 years old. The last time was in the “Big Flood of 77” in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. He was holding his 1-year-old nephew tightly, but the river was about to consume them. His brotherin-law and brother reached out firmly and pulled them to safety as the hillside gave way to fast-moving flood waters. This was probably the first foreshadowing of the impact Dr. Akers would have on the HUBZone program.

HUBZone Businesses reaching out to help, often having to hold tightly onto that young person who needs to make it or that older person who may need a few people to drag them to economic safety.

To understand fully Dr. Akers’ passion for the underserved, we need to take you further back. This trailblazer was one of 8 children whose coal-mining father lost the full use of his left arm in a coal truck crash. Dr. Akers grew up in the heart of Appalachia, which is now designated a rural HUBZone. He remembers that work was scarce, and his family had to move more than a dozen times while the father worked any construction job he could get. Dr. Akers lived in abject poverty, up and down “hollers” in rural Appalachia, where most people were poor, yet would show how much they cared by anonymously leaving boxes of food on their porch. They knew fully that his

When Dr. Akers heard that the HUBZone program was about workforce development, he was a natural advocate. At Morgan, he found kindred spirits - businesses where diversity, equity, and inclusion were part of their ethos, not a check box on an application form. These relationships provided the foundation for Dr. Akers’ National Quantum inclusion mission, ensuring that the underserved were significantly represented in all aspects of the industry.

Quantum Artificial Intelligence Nascent Taxonomies Dr. Timothy Akers and Dr. Kevin Peters

To this end, Dr. Akers launched the “National Quantum Literacy Network (NQLN)”, having been told by senior administrators and researchers that NSF would never fund his research because he didn’t have a PhD in Quantum Physics. Refusing to listen to the naysayers, Dr. Akers pulled together a team of HUBZones, Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs), and other HBCUs to tackle the quantum literacy issue with folks like Drs. Denise Baken and Kevin Peters. They helped lead the charge that resulted in Morgan receiving an NSF Phase-1 award of more than $911,000 for a Quantum Literacy prototype.

What the naysayers didn’t know was that Dr. Akers had survived multiple drownings for a greater purpose. Dr. Akers’ trailblazing journey is not about receiving credit, but about the legacy he creates for the next generation.

The motto he lives by is, “if not us, then who,

COLLEGE CAPACITY& UNIVERSITIES BUILDERS

Accelerating the Quantum Literacy Workforce

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and if not now, then when?”

Manufacturing -- Quantum Leapfrogging Quantum Manufacturing is a nascent industry in which HUBZone businesses can still build, assemble, fix, modify, and ship products.

HUBZone businesses need to think about supplying the products of the future, which include technologies and components for quantum computers, quantum lasers, quantum sensors, and quantum networks, among others.

This is exactly the direction the National HUBZone Council and the HUBZone manufacturers can move in because these new industries will allow them to leapfrog forward into cutting-edge STEM and non-STEM research. Dr. Akers believes that if HUBZones don't do it now, they're going to be left holding onto the shirttail of larger manufacturers.

Driving the Economic Engine Workforce development is not something that is “loosey-goosey;” it is the core driver of our nation’s economic engine. When the United States fails to invest in its workforce, particularly in blue-collar STEM, the economic index, communities, and families suffer. A Quantum Literate workforce development ensures that technicians, journeymen, and others are trained to meet the demand now and in the future.

believes none of this would have occurred without leaders who were champions promoting the inclusion needed to build strong teams.

Dr. Akers’ foundation in interdisciplinary themes has been a catalyst for many of the programs and projects he has supported or undertaken (from AIDS research to aerospace proposals to his theory of epidemiological criminology and now quantum literacy). The teams that excelled were the ones that valued their differences, leveraging divergent thought to accelerate innovation. This was not just STEM, but non-STEM as well. The NQLN is a High-Performance Innovation Team made up of industry leaders from HUBZones, MBE, HBCUs, Federal Laboratories, Non-Profits, and large businesses, all sitting at the table to support hyper-disparity in Quantum Literacy.

Dr. Akers believes NSF has figured out, with their new directorate (Technology, Innovation and Partnerships), that supporting critical partnerships among industry and academia will lead toward major workforce development for the 2nd quantum revolution. He asked me to draw a 5-pointed star, each point representing Minority Serving Institutions, Major Universities, MBEs, Major Companies, and Federal Agencies working collaboratively with Quantum Literacy at the center. Now can you imagine the brightness of that star, with millions of high-performance teams working around the nation? This is the mission of the National Quantum Literacy Network.

Creating High-Performance Innovation Teams This process begins with leaving no child behind. Dr. Akers failed both 5th and 6th grades and was told he was “stupid” despite his ability to create things with his hands. Dr. Akers’ high school was a vocational trade school in electrical wiring and electronics. He eventually entered the U.S. Air Force, where he specialized in nuclear weapons security and was pushed to high performance. During his service, he used his technical skills to excel, and after going to Community Colleges, received BS and MS degrees and attended Law School. Dr. Akers eventually received a joint Doctorate in Natural Resources and Urban Studies. He

1300 middle and high school students at the 2019 Quantum Literacy in Quantum Age at Morgan State University

Lamont Norwood, Board

Member, Pass IT On CEO of Strategic Government Solutions

This trailblazer used his initial failures to blaze a trail for others to follow. Pass IT On is located in a HUBZone community in the heart of Baltimore City. It has one big vision: providing technology education to all. Dr. Sanders truly believes that race, class, or socioeconomic status – or whether people view you as a celebrity or a bum – should not impact your technology literacy, let alone a career in IT. Dr. Sanders is the middle child of five, and was expected to be the next IT Whiz Kid. His hardworking single-parent mother was counting on it. She had struggled, working three jobs to make sure that her children could succeed. With her son’s 3.6 GPA and acceptance to college, that vision was about to become a reality. But that reality changed when Dr. Sanders’ journey was almost derailed because of the disparities in technology education in his public high school. He showed up eager to learn but ill-prepared for what he would be facing. Dr. Sanders quickly fell behind, unable to keep up with the rest of the students or connect with his professors. Each semester became more difficult and Dr. Sanders started to believe he couldn’t do it – so he dropped out of college.

Thank goodness, his mom did not give up.

She started working to build back his confidence. When he attended Towson University in 1998, they only offered a Computer Science degree anchored in programming. His mother suggested that there might be other technology areas in which he might excel. Eventually, she connected him

Exposure Is Critical Dr. Sanders’ first certification landed him a job at the IRS as an IT federal contractor. As he met more and more black and brown people in the field, he discovered that his journey wasn't unique.

Other people had gone through the same struggles. Did they have a mom like his? This is when the vision for Pass IT On came into focus. What if he could

Lamont Norwood (on the left), Willie Sanders (middleleft) and volunteers at Lansdowne Middle School

educate and mentor people to break that crazy cycle so they too could enjoy a 6-figure income?

How could Dr. Sanders help them stay on the trail without the detours?

He decided to create an organization that would expose people in different ways to information technology. He is now a professor in the Computer & Information Sciences Department at Towson University in Towson, Maryland – the very school he had dropped out of because of his IT exposure. Along the way, he asked his Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother Lamont Norwood to join his Board of Directors. That act exposed him to the HUBZone Council and the work we are doing around the country.

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Dr. Willie Sanders, Founder & Executive Director, Pass IT On, and Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Computer & Information Sciences Towson University

with a program that introduced him to a different type of computer technology. It was called computer networking. Dr. Sanders had always been a hands-on learner: breaking stuff and putting it back together was his passion.

When they introduced him to computer networks and hardware, something clicked. A key was turned, changing the whole trajectory of his life. He had suddenly found his niche.

He recalls telling his mother, “this is somewhere I could fit into, information technology.” Dr. Sanders has been studying those pathways ever since, from independent studies and certifications all the way to his Doctorate of Science (D.Sc.).

Mr. Norwood’s story was a little different.

He finished at Towson University but ended up frustrated and took the only job he could get, which was reading gas and electric meters in the City of Baltimore. This trailblazer’s journey changed with a chance meeting with his uncle in the middle of the day. The discussion led to him sharing his job quest, and his uncle immediately connected him to a federal employer. That exposure resulted in Mr. Norwood working for the Defense Department as a Contracting Specialist.

Bartering Makes a Difference Dr. Sanders has figured out a workaround to the funding challenges of Pass IT On. He developed an arrangement with another association, the Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training (MCVET). In exchange for facility space and equipment, Pass IT On became MCVET’s IT Service provider. Dr. Sanders and his team provide the necessary services to keep MCVET operational 24/7.

Instead of trying to tackle the IT literacy problem alone, Pass IT On partners with other organizations who are serving similar populations (homeless, disadvantaged youth, underemployed, career changers), bartering to leverage their talents.

Feeding a Non-Profit A federal retired National Program Manager for Direct Procurement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Norwood has one major regret from those days: that he could never get his agency to reach the 3% HUBZone goal, no matter how hard he pushed. He is still passionate about the HUBZone Program and found a great ally in Dr. Sanders. COVID hit the funding for Pass IT On hard. Their donors dried up, but not the IT training demand. The Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act provides stateadministered training contracts, which measure success by job placements. These trailblazers noticed that very few employers are willing to hire their at-risk graduates.

Therefore, Pass IT On will be launching Pay IT Forward as a for-profit HUBZone Business in order to hire these individuals. This HUBZone company will create the IT employment opportunities these untapped resources deserve.

Importance of Shadowing Pass IT On has three main programs: Youth Technical Training, Workforce Development, and Empowerment Fellowship. These programs are bringing IT literacy to the DMV area, from integrating music mix and mastering software in Public Schools to infusing technology into the Parks and Recreation Departments. Dr. Sanders, a classically trained opera singer, has made sure that it is more than STEM: it is STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). Pass IT On provides hands-on training that allows students to shadow the mentors, teachers, and coaches.

Vinod Akunuri, a recent graduate of the 32week intensive Empowerment Fellowship Program, is now a trainer in Pass IT On’s Community Literacy Program. Mr. Akunuri considers Pass IT On a life-changing experience; he is part of a bigger family. It is clear that this young disrupter is about to influence the next generation of savants, having just graduated from Towson University with a major in Information Technology and a minor in Applied Adults Disabilities Studies. He has become part of the next generation of Pass IT On advocates.

To find out more about how you can support Pass IT On click here [Donate | passitonmd].

Game Changer: Student Internship Program (SIP)

Tuskegee University’s faculty and students have been major influencers. When people hear the name Tuskegee, they think of at least a few of the following major accomplishments, but there are far more.

• Originator and producer of the famous "Tuskegee Airmen," in partnership with the U.S. Army Air Corps.

• The offspring of two American giants, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver.

• Number one producer of AfricanAmerican aerospace science engineers in the nation.

• The only historically black college or university in the nation designated as the location for National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care.

One hundred forty-one years later, nothing has changed. Just ask Victor Holt the CEO of V-Tech Solutions (V-Tech) how Tuskegee is changing the HBCU/HUBZone business model with his company. When V-Tech needed to hire 100 employees for a Department of Education call center, it was the Tuskegee students that answered the call, literally. This simple start has grown to a broad array of partnerships with Tuskegee that range from both STEM and NonSTEM internships to full-time employment VTech a certified HUBZone company.

When three socially conscious organizations (Tuskegee, V-Tech, and ICF International Inc. (ICF)) collaborate, it is not surprising that an innovative Student Internship Program (SIP) will emerge. Soon after Mr. Cooper and Mr. Holt started working together, they discovered they had a prime contractor in common. It was ICF. This prime contractor wanted to develop a meaningful relationship with Tuskegee which has led to this HUBZone company working with Tuskegee to design and implement SIP. Students are being recruited for ongoing contracts, right now V-Tech is awaiting a contract decision that would provide employment opportunities for a dozen life science and social science students. What they accomplished with SIP this summer has spawned numerous innovations. Students and faculty are looking forward to launching the second cohort for next year.

Legacy and Beyond The work that his team is accomplishing is grounded in both the HBCU and Airforce community. In 1969 a former Tuskegee Airman Clarence “Lucky” Lester and three U.S. Department of Defense analysts founded the Inner-City Fund (now known as ICF) to finance minority-owned businesses while V-Tech CEO is also Airforce minority veteran. Mr. Holt wanted to do more to highlight this brotherhood. Their next team project will be capturing this rich legacy on video to be released in the Fall. Mr. Holt said, “I’m excited

COLLEGE CAPACITY& UNIVERSITIES BUILDERS

Walter Cooper, Director Career Education, Leadership Development Center, Tuskegee University

Tuskegee is known to provide opportunities predominantly for their students graduating in the STEM disciplines but V-Tech plans to expand this scope. Mr. Cooper believes that the relationship that Tuskegee is forging with V-Tech Victor Holt, CEO, V-Tech will be a game changer for all its Solutions stakeholders. Students in Tuskegee’s College of Arts and Science, Allied Health, and Social Work will now have more opportunities to engage in experiential learning activities. Mr. Cooper said, “I’m very excited. I think these types of opportunities, exposures and collaborations will certainly change the trajectory for many of our students. This is fantastic.”

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that V-Tech is part of this rich history. We are still working on the story: legacy, creating legacy, and beyond. We want students and alumni to be part of this video. Our team is capture pivotal events throughout history. For instance, during the civil rights movement the Tuskegee Airmen were the ones that were flying all of the newsreels to New York everyday by 4pm so the world could see the injustices that was occurring in Alabama and in Mississippi.”

Photo Source: Walter Cooper

Dream Job

adjustments to provide the talented students that the workforce needs.

Mr. Cooper is a non-traditional educator whose path has included being in the Air Force, working as a corporate project manager, and owning a business. But now he gets to live his dream. Everything he has been through and done has led up to this moment. Where else could he wake up each morning knowing that the work he is doing is building on a worldclass legacy. Mr. Cooper said, “I’m honored to be a cast member in Tuskegee’s trailblazing story, bridging the gap between HUBZone companies, alumni, current students, and staff. Helping our students fulfill their life goals and aspirations while meeting the needs of our industry partners. Tuskegee provides the world with the type of talent that is truly workforce ready.”

Tuskegee has built an ecosystem that benefits all their stakeholders. Their partners have been willing to invest in the nurturing and development of Tuskegee’s students. Tuskegee builds lasting relationships with their industry partners creating breeding grounds for innovation and growth for all stakeholders. Mr. Cooper has a superb partnership with V-Tech, he believes it is probably because they are grounded in some of the phrases that Mr. Holt constantly shares, which is “Go Where There is No Path and Blaze a Trail”; “FACE: Focus, Accountability, Commitment, and Execution”; and finally, “When they say no. I say that's just for today. Don't worry about it. The answer WILL CHANGE”.

Co-Create

Run to Tuskegee University

Any HUBZone company that wishes to work with Mr. Cooper’s team should be ready for the co-creation journey. Their gifted staff and students expect everyone to get in the trenches in order to solve problems. We want both our students as well as corporate partners to be involved in the evaluation and assessment of engagement success. That's how Tuskegee is able to continue to make the necessary

If you are a HUBZone business owner and have the right ethos, it is time to run toward Tuskegee University! This HBCU has an iconic legacy, they have proven how to soar in the most difficult times. Tuskegee is synonymous with excellence. It is instilled in all of their students. Mr. Cooper said,

Photo Source: Walter Cooper

“When companies are looking for talented innovative thought-provoking individuals, I think of a true Tuskegee woman or a true Tuskegee gentleman. They are enterprising – they are confident in their uniqueness – they are comfortable in sharing their voice”

learning opportunities.

Availability Support: Fall, Spring 2024, Summer

Program 2: Knowledge of Work (Know)

Dr. Lawrence Drake II, Interim President, Bethune-Cookman University Email Address: drakel@cookman.edu

Population Type: Undergraduate & Graduate

Why partner with my HBCU?

Goals: Adult learners are the fastest growing category of learners in this country. BethuneCookman treats it as a lifestyle not an event with programs which leverage each students’ talents.

This university is about creating a path to support and increase lifelong learning for adults.

The number one reason any enterprise would want to partner with Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) is because of the talent pool that is necessary for 21st century workforce growth. Every institution and every company needs skilled talent, and our university is committed to preparing students for the needs of the market. In fact, central to BethuneCookman’s mission is to develop students with the skills and competencies that are necessary for today and tomorrow. If you have an interest in partnering with B-CU to help you develop not only the profiles for the talent that you’re trying to hire, then our university is ready to partner and grow with your company.

What are the programs which could benefit most from a partnership with a HUBZone company?

Program 1: Master in Business Science Artificial Intelligence and Technology (MBSAT) Population Type: Graduate Goals: Building the kinds of competencies and skills that will transcend the traditional MBA programs. Bethune-Cookman’s program includes all of the STEM and business-related curriculum with experiential

Availability Support: Fall, Spring 2024, Summer

What does your ideal Business Partnership look like?

An ideal business partnership is one where we are collaborating on outcomes for both the institution and the partner. All stakeholders have clear metrics for what success looks like for both parties. We all agree to mutually invest in the students to bring about those outcomes. If you are looking to make an impact in the areas of lifelong learning this is the university, you should consider partnering with.

COLLEGE CAPACITY& UNIVERSITIES BUILDERS

program. Individuals can earn credentials while they work in the industry. Their current and past experience helps Bethune-Cookman’s students finish their degrees. This program provides upskilling opportunities. B-CU works to develop a co-curriculum with the students which considers the occupational skills they employ at work. This university gives students credit for the work they are doing on the job without having to sit in a classroom, study, and then take an examination. Students are able to move quickly toward credentials such as microcertification, macro badging, or moving towards degrees (undergraduate and graduate).

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Availability Support: Fall and Spring

Program 2: Business Program (Entrepreneurial Programs)

Goals: To leverage Clinton College’s programs in Management and Finance in order to produce entrepreneurial leaders. Leaders that are capable of creating fundable business plans and sustainable companies.

Clinton College wants to partner with organizations that can provide paid internships working along C-suite executives to meet these needs.

Dr. Ike Ugboaja, Associate Dean of Academic Services, Business Chair, Clinton College Email Address: iugboaja@clintoncollege.edu

Why partner with my HBCU? We make sure our students are competitive from an educational and skill perspective. We consider our students to be the cream of the crop. We offer our students a work program which gives them valuable experience while mitigating the usual financial educational debt.

Clinton College has a business Advisory Council that includes leaders from the community leveraging their Charlotte location, a banking and financial hub.

What are the programs which could benefit most from a partnership with a HUBZone company?

Program 1: Nursing Program /Nursing Related Services Population Type: Undergraduate, Faculty Goals: Increase globally the number of highly skilled minority nurses. These nurses would their technical and hand-on expertise to provide exemplary care to their stakeholders.

Clinton College wants to partner with organizations that can provide paid internships to meet these needs.

Availability Support: Fall and Spring

What does your ideal Business Partnership look like?

Ideal partnership understands the risk and rewards of coaching and sponsoring our gifted students. Companies willing to collaborate with students and our scholarly faculty to make things happen.

These Sponsors are willing to ask questions and listen for the answers. Partners are committed to employing a variety of approaches to foster Clinton’s visions of developing an ecosystem of leaders capable of thriving within a global exchange.relationships that will be needed to support the work of the college.

COLLEGE CAPACITY& UNIVERSITIES BUILDERS

Population Type: Undergraduate and Faculty

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What are the programs which could benefit most from a partnership with a HUBZone company?

Program 1: Co-Create your own Team: If

This includes Business Development, Capital Formation, Innovation, Technology Transfer and Technology Assistance support.

Population Type: Undergraduate, Graduate, Faculty

Dr. Michael Stubblefield, Vice Chancellor, Office of Research & Strategic Initiatives, Southern University and A&M College Email Address: MICHAEL_STUBBLEFIELD@subr.edu

Why partner with my HBCU?

Goals: Develop a pipeline of business partners to work with us.

Availability Support: Fall, Spring, Summer

Program 2: Federal Opportunities Program Population Type: Undergraduate, Graduate, Faculty

Southern University resides in a HUBZone and encourages small businesses to obtain this certification. As a small business our university can expand your reach by accessing faculty subject matter experts, students, and facilities.

Our faculty and students are always thinking about how to solve problems.

Goals: Expand the type of research and service projects our faculty and students can work on.

We can be the extra arm to your company when it comes to responding to opportunities whether federal, state, or private. When we go after contracts, we are about technology transfer and innovation. We are the secret source to help you win contracts.

Louisiana recently passed an SBIR incentive program to encourage innovation within the state. Southern stands ready to work with small businesses to fully take advantage of these types of strategies as it relates to our STEM curriculum and access to laboratory facilities and space.

We are all about expanding our footprint in land, air, and space. Our HBCU Goes Global program emphasizes small business relationships in communities abroad, including Africa. By targeting specific industries, we plan to leverage the State’s STEP program which provides funding to support small business trade trips.

Additionally, we have partnered with NASA and Boeing Corporation as one of their esteemed Protégés. We would like to work with the private sector in creating a small business manufacturing initiative.

Availability Support: Fall, Spring, Summer

What does your ideal Business Partnership look like?

COLLEGE CAPACITY& UNIVERSITIES BUILDERS

there are 3 or 4 companies that come together, Southern, including our Louisiana Small Business Center, will work with them to develop a winning solution.

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Dr. Carla Williams, Associate Professor of Medicine & Public Health & Interim Director of the Howard University Cancer Center

Howard University is in a HUBZone that continues to produce trailblazers in every industry including Dr. Carla Williams. These visionaries help people see their ideas, find ways to communicate them so others can understand. She encourages people to live in a “brave space.” The space where no one else may see your product or service. Dr. Williams believes that trailblazers are driven by curiosity. The art of discovery, finding out not only what we don't know but how to use that knowledge to make a difference. Ultimately, we're all trying to leave something behind that's going to help someone you know that comes

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behind us. As the keynote speaker for Women in Science, Dr. Williams discussed allyship in science and strategies for advancement reminding registrants to embrace the journey and trust the process. She applies her clinical psychology background to equip scientists and community health advocates with the skills to maximize the impact of collaborative research.

Dr. Williams says, “communicating it in a language that all your stakeholders understand is paramount.”

As health sciences research leader, she has seen the community engagement process playout in various ways from products, services, and ideas not ready for release, to the world not ready to receive them. Everyone receives information differently, one of the jobs of a collaborative trailblazer is their ability look at a product or service from different perspectives and determine which metrics are valuable and those which don’t align.

If leaders can't get people to see their vision, then they won’t find people willing to invest in its potential impacts. This was evident during COVID as the country focused on issues of health disparities and health equity affecting African Americans and underrepresented or socially marginalized communities including HUBZones.

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Meena Krishnan, President and CEO, Inoventures, LLC

Ms. Krishan has continued to be a trailblazer in the midst of great sorrow, when others would have given up, she continued on.

She used the unspeakable tragedy of losing her entire family in a car accident to eventually forge ahead. It wasn’t easy but her pain was transformed into purpose.

Her passion has helped other women leaders reach their fullest potential. Often engaging professional women by speaking in forums such as the Women in Technology and NCMA Panels where her story is shared, so others go after their dreams without waiting.

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she advocates for other professional women by contributing to important policies on the Board of Women in Public Policy (WIPP) and Women Business Collaborative.

She has expanded her reach to assisting young girls being forced into marriage before they even reach puberty to become trailblazers.

She embraced the challenge and built Inoventures into the successful Public Health technology firm it is today. She found a greater purpose when she started supporting the HUBZone Program. The mission of creating employment opportunities for the underutilized was something Ms. Krishan was passionate about. This clearly aligned with her value statement, “Technology is well used when it empowers people.” She thought to herself, “what better example than to become certified as a HUBZone Company.” Over the years, this has become one of the pieces that would bring healing from her lost, leaving a legacy for her family.

Ms. Krishan has taken on the unique role of being a “trailblazer midwife.” She is known for aiding and producing other women trailblazers.

She motivates women in her company to dream big and go after goals. A tangible record of that is reflected by 60% of her Project Teams having women leaders.

Michelle Burnett and Meena Krishan

As part of Women In Board group, Ms. Krishan helps other women to make a difference in Corporate Boards. Additionally,

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Securing the Future: Harnessing the Potential of Emerging Technologies while Mitigating Security Risks (house.gov)

Being the Only One

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Mr. Robinson is often the only African American at the quantum table. He will tell you that being the only one never feels good, especially knowing that the U.S. desperately needs industry representatives reflecting the nation’s demographics. He is working with HBCUs to ensure diversity in the quantum workforce. Mr. Robinson reminds the students he mentors to take risks. Quantum is still a nascent area and therefore, fear is the enemy of your progress within it.

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Education Charles Robinson, Public Sector Leader IBM Quantum Team; IBM

This trailblazer’s mom was truly a virtuous woman who made his journey even sweeter.

For 35 years, Charles Robinson’s mother worked at Ford Electronics as a blue-collar STEM worker. Mr. Robinson credits her with laying the foundation for him, especially all those “Bring Your Kids to Work” events. At 4 years old, he witnessed his mom operating lithography machines – the ones that created the computer chips – and he was hooked. That experience propelled him into the STEM field.

Congressional Testimony Recently, more than 50 years later, Mr. Robinson gave testimony to the House's Subcommittee for Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, & Innovation. He testified on steps being taken in the Quantum arena that will be “Securing the Future: Harnessing the Potential of Emerging Technologies While Mitigating Security Risks”.

Subcommittee Chairwoman Yvette Clarke asked some pointed questions of our Trailblazer, particularly this one: “As quantum-resistant cryptography becomes available it is important that both the government and technology companies be prepared to implement it into their existing systems. Mr. Robinson what steps have you seen the federal government or and private sector take to prepare themselves for this transition [click on this link to hear his answer and much more]”

A few years before attending Abraham Lincoln High School, the Brown vs. Board of Education had mandated desegregation in that Philadelphia district. Mr. Robinson wanted to play on their winning football team, so he chose to take the hour-long trip each morning to be on time for practice. He wasn’t sure he would receive a football scholarship, so he developed Plan B: join the ROTC at his high school for 3 years. In the meantime, he deftly juggled sports and academics, or so he thought. He succeeded enough that in the final quarter, the “Hail Mary pass for an A or B grade” allowed him not to have to repeat the class. This worked really well until he was 1 point from a pass / fail grade.

The teacher failed him, providing Mr. Robinson with one of the best lessons of his life. The lesson was to do the best you can, which in his

Charles Robinson testified before House Cybersecurity, Critical Infrastructure, & Innovation subcommittee for IBM Photo Source: Lily Milliner

The Challenge

Charles Robinson testified before House Cybersecurity, Critical Infrastructure, & Innovation subcommittee for IBM Photo Source: Lily Milliner

case resulted in an “A” the second time around.

But he has also learned that also risk getting a “C” grade in something meaningful is very different than getting an “A’ in something that doesn't make a difference. Take the risk!

Create A Culture Mr. Robinson is living “In Truth and Service” his alma mater’s motto (Howard University). A catalyst for change, even as the COVID pandemic continued, Mr. Robinson masked up and headed to the Annual BEYA conference in Washington, DC, because the students who were attending needed his inspiration. He believes our words have the power to energize, and he wanted to plant seeds in the next generation of STEM workers to help them learn the difference between artificial and real constraints. Reminding the HBCU students that we are in the post-civil rights era, more opportunities now exist. Just stay motivated and don’t quit. He says, “I’m just passing on what grandpa Charlie and grandma Gladys gave to me, encouragement.”

This trailblazer is passionate about creating a culture of science, technology, engineering, and math in the African American community.

His desire is to make this area cool. He has joined numerous grassroots efforts supporting programs all over the nation to help teach young people C programming, artificial intelligence, gaming, networks, fuzzy logic, quantum, and algorithms to enforce that culture that STEM can be just as much fun as basketball, football, or dance. He aspired to create the technology that would transform the world. What he has learned along the way is that you may not be the person who creates the technology that will change the world, but you can inspire the person who will.

Mr. Robinson applied to Graduate School at Johns Hopkins with a 2.9 GPA and 172 credits. He had an interview with the Dean of the Engineering Program, Dr. Dexter Daniels.

Dr. Daniels told him he would have to take the GRE before he would be able to determine whether or not to admit him. Mr. Robinson was in his early 40s and had an employer who was willing to pay for the education, but standardized tests were not his strength. At that moment, his sales background kicked in and he suggested an alternative. So he said, “if you give me the opportunity to take any two classes over the summer and you can pick whatever classes you want and if I get two “As” will you let me in the program?” and Dr. Daniels agreed. Mr. Robinson end up getting two “As” – one in Advanced Mathematics for engineers and the other in Digital Signal Processing. After he was admitted to Johns Hopkins, the GRE requirement was waived for all students. Mr. Robinson had leveled the playing field. With that one successfully delivered sales pitch, he had created equity in the acceptance structure.

HBCU led University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) For the last six years, Mr. Robinson has been working with stakeholders to socialize the idea of the Defense Department creating a HBCU led UARC. His colleague Dr. Harris and several others have been advocating for this type of UARC for close to 30 years. This week the Air Force and the Defense Department announced a plan to create a 15th university affiliated research center, or UARC. The new center will be the first to be associated with an historically Black college or university and will also be the first UARC associated with the Air Force.

This is an example of a hard-fought victory. If you get rejected, push through it.

Mr. Robinson has been rejected more than most, but he has succeeded more than most.

When you get rejected, you build more resilience to try again. Mr. Robinson reminds us all: “if you want to do something badly enough and for the right reasons, don’t give up; a door will open, just like it did with the HBCU led UARC.”

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Dr. Schilbach spent his childhood in the remote areas of Alaska being raised by his mother who was a traveling nurse providing the only access to medical care for several villages across the region. Left alone for long periods of time, this precocious child quickly learned that spending time with bears didn’t make for a good pastime, but electronics and aviation did.

His technology journey began by necessity, given how geographically isolated he was from others, being able to press the limit of his ham radio was not only “fun” but a requirement, so he took the initiative to learn everything he could to master it. You see, ham radios can be used to communicate via everything from Morse code to voice, but more importantly for this curious Trailblazer the real value was its ability for digital transmission.

Photo Source: Dr. Schilbach

At the age of 17, when other kids were planning their transportation to prom, Dr. Schilbach was preparing to get on a bus to an Army bootcamp. This event is a chilling reminder to the world that an epic failure can lead to future success. Dr. Schilbach has been driven by this event to help others, particularly the disenfranchised, to live their best lives.

When Penacity, his Service Disabled VeteranOwned Small Business acquired AboutWeb (HUBZone) as a wholly owned subsidiary, one of the major attractions was AboutWeb’s community and workforce accolades. In the last few years, they have won the Cybersecurity Diversity Trailblazer Award (Cybersecurity Association of Maryland) along with Corporate Citizen of the Year Award (National HUBZone Council).

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Dr. Timothy Schilbach, CEO, Penacity, LLC, & AboutWeb, LLC

Just before his 16th birthday, he found various radio frequencies and signals that intrigued him, leading to a computer containing flight simulation "games”. Excited by his other passion as a young pilot, he dug further only later realizing he had come upon a previously unknown back door to a nearby US military installation’s server. Military officials wasted no time in finding the source of this intrusion. When they discovered that they had been hacked by this youthful offender, they offered him two options. Go to prison or join the military where he could put those skills to good use.

Workforce Development

unfilled cybersecurity positions exist. Dr. Schilbach currently works with both the State of Maryland and DoD to try to leverage several existing programs. He believes programs like the following need to be scaled up immediately to meet the current IT and Cyber workforce crisis.

Dr. Schilbach’s company has provided free IT training for close to 100 HUBZone individuals. Penacity’s goal has been to offer IT training to inner city and minority people who would not normally have access to this type of training. For many, this training has piqued their interest enough to pursue white- or blue-collar STEM careers. Dr. Schilbach advocates for the State of Maryland nationally and internationally, encouraging programs and legislation to support IT workforce development. He mentioned that there is legislation currently in the MD State Legislature that could potentially unlock a billion dollars to support Maryland’s efforts. It would give organizations, including HUBZone companies, the resources to procure training for their Photo Source: Dr. Schilbach in-house workforce.

• Certified Apprenticeship Program (MD): extensive program that provides funding This CEO is committed to having an elite IT for training, coaching, and placement of workforce and spends close to 500K a year to interns within the industry keep them upskilled, from continuing education to international certifications. This • SkillBridge Program (DoD): For service Trailblazer jokes that his company is probably members about to transition out of the 1% from being a .org. Dr. Schilbach spends military, DoD will pay their salary and most of his profits on workforce development. benefits while they participate in The company hires people who are driven by SkillBridge. This opportunity may last up to the work – individuals who are interested in the final 180 days of service while they work really helping people; the ones that share his for one of DoD’s industry partners at no ethos. Dr Schilbach said, cost.

“I think we care more and more about the While serving on the board of directors, Dr. work and getting a whole bunch of likeSchilbach is working with the Cyber minded people to solve cool problems Association of Maryland (CAMI) to create a together. That's just my opinion.” central SkillBridge clearing house so that all businesses may gain access to these He believes in the collective wisdom of his tremendous resources instead of competing staff. To that end, the company has virtual with one another. This gives all businesses of happy hours and a Slack system (open & all sizes access where they would not normally private channels) to facilitate open have been afforded the opportunity in the past communications between the entire workforce due to size or economic disadvantages. despite their contracts or locations.

IT Workforce Crisis

Judging a Book by its Cover

Dr. Schilbach mentioned that U.S. Cyber Command plans on doubling its cyber workforce before the end of the decade. He is puzzled on how this will be accomplished without some major changes in the workforce training and development. Right now, Bloomberg is reporting that more than 600K

This Trailblazer believes there is a hidden, untapped IT workforce. The challenge is that historically, the industry has judged the book by its cover. Decision makers are spending time on the wrong indicators, like the education, economic, racial, culture, social, or geographic status of the potential resource. To

Photo Source: Dr. Schilbach

be clear, Dr. Schilbach is convinced that many of the blue- and white-collar STEM positions do not need degrees or the other historic indicators. What they need is tenacious individuals who are willing to do the hard work of applying themselves. He has seen people with economic and educational disadvantages excel more in these fields than people who are extremely privileged. HUBZone businesses, more than any group, realize that you can't measure productivity and intelligence by historical indicators. Your highest producer in your organization may come from the worst zip code. They just need us to proactively level the playing field for them.

flow-down requirements will dramatically shrink the HUBZone DoD industrial base. He is working with advocacy groups to identify ways to mitigate this loss but cautions any company planning on doing business with DoD to understand all the ramifications plus the flow-downs to your subcontractors and vendors (anyone in the direct business supply chain. i.e., accounting, logistics, and even your recruiters).

Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Burden As a member of the National Guard and the CISO for various federal and private contracts, Dr. Schilbach is one of the strongest national advocates for protecting our nation from domestic and international cybersecurity threats. This is why Penacity began the CMMC process so early, becoming the 18th company to receive its CMMC L2 certification from DIBCAC and 3PAO from the CMMC Accreditation Board. The final cost for this endeavor was over 200K and included outside auditors and infrastructure. This investment was below average since Penacity’s core service already included most of the infrastructure indicated under CMMC. Dr. Schilbach predicts that the financial burden for CMMC and the

Photo Source: Dr. Schilbach

Mining Diamonds Nicholas Koopalethes, CEO, Global Broadband Solutions (GBS)

Trailblazing has taken Mr. Koopalethes from Antarctica to the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific, inventing several critical patents along the way. Since 1998, his company has been providing expertise to the federal government for the development, installation, maintenance, and administration of undersea cable systems. 99% of all internet traffic is carried by submarine fiber optic cable systems on the bottom of the ocean and are responsible for most of the rapid communications for the Internet, banking, cell phones, and research.

He explained that satellites transport a very small percentage of our telecommunication traffic because of the time required for the information to travel from earth to the satellite and back -72,000 km round trip. Even moving at the speed of light, satellite communication takes much longer than transporting that same information over submarine cables which are much shorter. Fiber optic cables have revolutionized telecommunications by delivering vast amounts of information at near real-time speed.

More than 450 cable systems exist under our oceans connecting more than 1.3 million kilometers of cables in service globally. Many have been designed, constructed, protected, and maintained by companies like GBS. These systems comprise critical infrastructure for the communities and nations they serve.

GBS is used to going deep-sea diving, so digging on land has not been a challenge. They are proud of the work they have done on behalf of the HUBZone Program. Mr. Koopalethes is excited about the opportunity to mine for diamonds each and every day. The terrain may look rough to the outsider, but underneath those communities, there are valuable gems if companies keep digging. Just like any great gemologist, the GBS team keeps mining-uncovering the talent within their community.

They see diamonds that might be overlooked; they are on a mission to help diverse communities sparkle.

Cable Ships installing a submarine cable for a GBS Project Photo Source: GBS

Family First This trailblazer considers himself honored to be part of a group that puts family first. As he reflected on the previous Trailblazer issues, Mr. Koopalethes said he saw a common theme: “Family First.” He defined the family ecosystem as comprising both the biological and business families. That this family ecosystem has

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The National Science Foundation engaged GBS through a HUBZone contract to accomplish trailblazing work designing a cable system connecting US research stations in Antarctica to New Zealand and Australia. This “SMART” (Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications) cable system will have embedded sensors to transmit information about the undersea environment, including temperature, pressure, and seismic movement.

This project will provide scientists with enough bandwidth to upload Terabytes of data almost instantaneously and have services like video conferencing allowing them to engage and collaborate with others around the world.

allowed his business to thrive during tough times. He told countless stories of his employees taking the lead when he had to do something like take his daughter to a play, or as heart-wrenching as caring for his wife who was terminally ill. All of Mr. Koopalethes’ family was there to support him, with lines like, “What would Nick do?”

As he talked further about his HUBZone family, he explained, “I am your brother, and you are my sister.” Mr. Koopalethes says he was created to make a difference in the community. His faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior has allowed him to build a business with that ethos firmly at the center.

He doesn’t do it perfectly, but he keeps trying; that’s why he considers all employees heroes.

They support GBS in both the good and hard times.

When GBS has a client kick-off meeting, it invariably starts with everyone introducing themselves. This trailblazer waits until all his staff has been introduced, then he says “I want you to know, as a CEO, I work for these people, because if they’re successful you will be successful. My job is to help them to be successful.”

Best Character Your Best Character is not exhibited when things are great; it comes out during adversity.

This trailblazer’s character has been tested as an individual and as a company. He looks back at some of the easier tests - like, for example, when an employee made a mistake that cost the company thousands of dollars. These tests required counseling and a recalibration to not stifle the employee but to ensure that it didn’t happen again. The loss of revenue stung, but paled in comparison to the time the company was owed almost a half-million dollars.

The Government delayed payment for almost 2 years because it was completing an internal audit of its contracting practices.

During this time, Mr. Koopalethes and his partner’s character were truly tested on how to meet payroll and pay suppliers. They could have decreased salaries, or not paid vendors in a timely fashion. But instead, they paid everyone. They went into their personal savings – not because they had to, but because the company would face significant cashflow challenges. They did it because they understood that the best character is greater than good character (legal thing).

Attendees at the Brad Yowell, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Co-Owner Nick Koopathales, CEO, Bruce Morris, Vice President and Co-Owner

It was a hardship, but Mr. Koopalethes and his partner both agreed that best character was far more important than good character. They trusted GBS would be given what was due, and eventually that occurred. He believes GBS came out as a better company. Their employees and suppliers now had proof, that what the owners had been preaching, they were willing to put into action. As a trailblazer, Mr. Koopalethes took the road less traveled, and that has made all the difference in their brand.

Tide Rises Mr. Koopalethes wanted to remind the federal government that the HUBZone acronym means historically underutilized business zones. These are businesses that raise the tide for not only their community but the entire nation. Your decision helps not only the companies who are in the HUBZone, but the people who live in the HUBZone. That action will impact the service industry that supports the HUBZone. The nation will be able to dip into the resource pool of very creative minds and help to improve the economy, innovation, and health. Therefore, this trailblazer has three final words of wisdom for our readers: Council, Create, and Collaborate!

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Council: Join the HUBZone Council by giving your time and resources to advocate for more HUBZone contracts to level the playing field. Our voices are stronger together.

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Create: Create well-paying jobs in historically underutilized neighborhoods.

Find ways to identify, train, build, and sustain the HUBZone workforce.

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Collaborate: Work with other HUBZone Businesses that have your same ethos.

Freely share best practices. When other HUBZones excel, the door opens wide for more HUBZone companies.

became certified in 2003. This CEO has leveraged his degrees in Management Information Systems and Divinity to promote social and technology justice. Additionally, as a retired military Warrant Officer and SDVOSB, he has hosted dozens of advocacy events to assist local underserved veterans in their quest to receive the veteran benefits they are entitled to.

This trailblazer is constantly on the move “driving technology into the future.” When we caught up with Mr. Adams, he wanted us to tell his fellow HUBZone Business owners that there will be valleys but push through them to the mountaintops. Find your own trail and persevere. So, it was not surprising that just before COVID hit, Cogent Solutions received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency HUBZone Business of the Year Award for outstanding accomplishments by a contractor, called the “Administrators Award.”

An early adopter, Mr. Adams quickly saw the merits of the HUBZone program and

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Glen Adams, CEO, Cogent Solutions

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When it comes to increasing the HUBZone technology workforce within the Cogent ranks, Mr. Adams will tell you, “Failure is not an Option.” Whether it is a college student who needs financial support while working their way through college or a middle-aged singleparent with three jobs, Cogent has stepped in, providing the training, employment, and mentoring needed for them to soar. Cogent was indeed an answer to their prayers.

Mr. Adams believes that being a trailblazer is making sure that the path behind him is not scorching the earth but instead fertilizing the ground for new HUBzone businesses that follow behind him. He picked up the torch from John J. Wright, the son of slaves. An early social justice advocate “resolving that he must first prepare to help foster this movement”; starting the first high school for black students in Spotsylvania County, Virginia in 1913. Today Cogent is keeping the movement alive fostering technology in this community.

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and that truly save time. Don’t waste money on subpar tools.

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If you have the opportunity to take part in Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, say YES! Then create time in your schedule to be completely engaged in all the knowledge they will share.

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Be slow to hire and fast to fire if the employee is not adding the right value to your company.

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It is okay to live by US President Theodore Roosevelt’s quote, “to walk softly and carry a big stick,” especially if you are a woman.

Remember, the former President of the United States did it, so you’re in great company.

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Find your tribe. Being an entrepreneur does not need to be a solo journey. Keep searching until you find the association or group that appreciates your quirkiness and watch how you will soar.

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Get a debriefing for everything, whether you win or lose. Find out where you missed the mark. If someone had a better solution, don’t waste any time getting mad – just get better. Sometimes our most valuable lessons come with a loss.

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Finding balance keeps you energized. Take the time to enjoy the other aspects of life.

Add something different – what else are you passionate about? This trailblazer has added animal rescue to her joy list, from saving dogs to rescuing wild mustangs.

This trailblazer is all about protecting our warfighters on the ground. She loves knowing that the work her company does makes a difference each and every day by protecting the data that goes over the networks. Furthermore, the icing on the cake is the amazing gratitude she receives from her HUBZone employees when she shows up in places like Fort Rucker, Alabama. Ms. Morris considers it a special privilege to make such a difference in and out of the military. She is also grateful for the support MSM has received from folks like Ms. Diane Dempsey (Director, Small Business Programs, Intelligence & Security, BAE Systems, Inc.) and Ms. Michelle Burnett (Executive Director, HUBZone Council).

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Manisha Morris, President, MSM Technology, LLC

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Lessons-Learned Along the Way •

Be satisfied with slow, consistent growth, knowing that your integrity and ethics have not been compromised – make peace with it.

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Take the time to set up your infrastructure; get the tools you need now. Look for tools that offer scalability, that are easy to use,

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building a workforce that leaves no one behind.

HUBZone Authenticity Ms. Morris likes to remind her colleagues that this program is for companies that genuinely want to help historically underrepresented communities. It is not a program to take advantage of the disadvantaged, but one committed to providing meaningful opportunities to their communities. HUBZone companies are on a mission to make this nation a better place by

This trailblazer feels that if a company gets certified as a HUBZone its leadership has a responsibility to assist these people. Doing the right thing means that leaders must design and implement an infrastructure that supports the hiring, retaining, and promotion of a HUBZone workforce by building in-house skillsets. Ms. Morris believes there are so many smart people in these HUBZone communities and many of them want to become terrific federal government contractors if given the opportunity.

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Helleni Moon, CEO, EIDOS Technologies

Ms. Moon’s trail began in an orphanage in El Salvador and moved quickly to a loving home in the United States. She was adopted by an activist family – two Washington, DC attorneys who were lobbyists on the Hill. Ms. Moon’s adopted mother was also a trailblazer: she was fluent in five languages, and she too had been adopted from a foreign country, Greece. Her family encouraged academic excellence which led to this trailblazer often being the only Latina Senior IT Subject Matter Expert in in the room. In June of 2015, Ms. Moon took the plunge in forming EIDOS Technologies. Over the company’s existence, EIDOS Technologies has provided Database and Cyber Security support services for various federal agencies such as the IRS, Department of Navy, HUD, and the Army to name a few.

Pacing Yourself One of the most valuable lessons Ms. Moon has learned in building her Database Management business is to pace herself.

Getting the 8(a) certification is something that a lot of small businesses push to do. The 9 years in the life of an 8(a) seems like a lot of time, but it can go very quickly. She urges companies to spend the time before becoming certified to target specific customers. It is critical to build the right federal client base. This will require you to do extensive research to understand your target’s entire ecosystem – from stakeholders to acquisition planning and budgets, and everything else in between.

Ms. Moon’s mother and father navigated as best they could in a community that was not particularly known for being inclusive. Ms. Moon’s parents had seen how minorities were treated in their neighborhood and vowed to not let their daughter experience that trauma. They both did everything they could to raise a strong and powerful daughter. Early on, Ms. Moon’s parents enrolled her in rigorous English classes. They were determined to eliminate any Spanish influence in her speech that would hinder her from thriving in her new community. Ms. Moon’s parents sought to protect her the only way they knew how, which was to allow the world to assume she was Greek.

As a Latina Trailblazer raised by Anglo parents, Ms. Moon’s story is full of love, marked with the challenges that you encounter when you leave your heritage behind. As a child, she had a front-row seat to what some call assimilation, beginning with her mother discouraging her from speaking in her native tongue (Spanish). As a fair-skinned Hispanic her neighbors assumed her adoptive parents were her biological ones. However, other El Salvadorians recognized her heritage and would immediately start speaking with her in Spanish.

She learned, as a child, that being bilingual carried a certain stigma. When she came to America, her parents hired the best English tutors. Within 6 months of her arrival, she was fluent in English and had lost most of her Spanish accent. Throughout her childhood, her mother would always correct her pronunciations of words, her parents would say “Don't you know; don't say that; dress this way or that color is too much.” To this day, Ms. Moon struggles with trying to get back to her roots and learn Spanish. She understands her parents’ choices: it was a different time in our nation, and she hopes those times have changed. She hopes that today, our nation is one of inclusion rather than assimilation.

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Challenges of Assimilation

Her family provided some valuable lessons regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ms. Moon has faced the truth that you can have a loving family that struggles with inclusion. In her parents’ case, they chose to advocate conformity and assimilation rather than individual authenticity and diversity as it related to her El Salvadorian ancestry. That all changed when Ms. Moon was in horrific car accident in high school, which led to a loss of her left leg.

“As a teenager, I thought my life was completely over after the accident. I overheard my dad crying in the next room. He said, no boys are going to want to marry her, at that moment, I was not going to let this define me. I was going to be courageous.”

When the doctors suggested traditional prosthetics, which were clunky and unwieldy, Ms. Moons parents spared no expense scouring the nation to find a prosthetic limb that would be the perfect fit for their daughter. Without fail, her parents were able to locate a state-ofthe-art prosthetic leg and within two months of her accident Ms. Moon was trying out for the tennis team. These days, Ms. Moon doesn't care who sees her legs. Just the other day, she was at an Urgent Care clinic, wearing a cute pair of shorts and showed off her bionic leg.

Despite their struggles to embrace certain aspects of Ms. Moons life her parents, in the end her parents became her biggest advocate.

What Can You Do Ms. Moon thinks people sometimes get so consumed in everyday life that they don't really understand that there are a lot of people out there who are struggling. No matter which station you are at in life, there is always something you can do to improve your situation or someone else’s. Her journey has included racial, gender, physical, and mental health challenges along the way. When she first started in the IT industry, there were very few women, she had to get comfortable with being the only one in the room and making sure her voice was heard.

Her mentorship approach reflects those experiences of being simultaneously vulnerable and courageous. It includes both the mountains and the valleys, and the negative weights she has left along the way. How she was able to turn negatives into positives. She told me,

“I hate it when people are so negative.

When they say, ‘I can't do this.’ My response is, “so what can you do?” That is the moment they start thinking differently. That the moment they realize how powerful they can be. They can do it; they just need to begin.”

It is Okay to Ask for Help This Trailblazer has made a habit of connecting with people and programs that will support her personal and professional growth.

One such program was Scaling4Growth, provided by the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity. Ms. Moon was able to forge lasting relationships with individuals who have since become her trusted advisors and advocates. They discuss strategies, services, products, and often, the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur.

Ms. Moon shared one of those low moments in the Scaling4Growth program: it was when one of the participants committed suicide. The suicide of a colleague spurred her to stop, think, and realize how critical it is for us to take care of our mental health. This is when she made the decision to reengage her mental health team. She said, “I reached out to my doctor, and I got on my meds. Now I know I'm the best I can be. You can't take everything on, as I have gotten older and wiser, I realize it's okay to ask for help.”

Final Words This Trailblazer will tell anybody who will listen that she has been very fortunate. She was adopted into a good family. Her mother said early on that it was okay to be strong, believe in yourself, and market yourself with phrases like, “you can do whatever you want. It may be hard, but you know nothing comes easy in life.

As long as you believe in yourself you can do great things.”

After decades of living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Ms. Moon’s mother passed away. That was before Ms. Moon had launched EIDOS. Ms. Moon’s mother’s struggle has led her to believe that people are a lot stronger than they think. They are a lot more capable than they give themselves credit. Then they can even imagine! Her mother never let MS stop her from being her best and left a great legacy for her family, and most of all, EIDOS Technologies.

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Andy Jabbour, Co-Founder, Gate 15

If Scott Peck was writing “The Road Less Travelled” today, he would be blown away with what Mr. Jabbour has accomplished thus far.

Scott Peck would have had to write an additional chapter devoted to this trailblazer, who is navigating three frontiers simultaneously. This Lebanese-PalestinianAmerican became a triple threat when he decided to start separate businesses focusing on Homeland Security Risk Management, Faith-Based Protection, and Cannabis Security.

Faith-Based Mr. Jabbour’s stint in the United States Army fueled his passion for making a difference on a global scale. As an Army officer with deployments to Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan under his belt, he transitioned into the private sector, initially supporting the Department of Homeland Security. From there, he launched the Gate 15 Company, Faith-Based Information Sharing & Analysis Organization (FB-ISAO), and Cannabis ISAO. “For I Was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me...Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

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A trailblazer who puts GOD, family, and country first, Mr. Jabbour is most proud of the work he is doing with his non profit organization. FB-ISAO is a national network of faith based organizations and associations that have been informed and equipped to prevent, protect against, mitigate, respond to, and recover from incidents arising from all hazards.

The organization seeks to ensure the resilience and continuity of important community assets.

Given that there are more than 400,000 houses of worship in the United States, Mr. Jabbour is determined to create a space where leaders share threat information in a secure, collaborative environment. To this end, his team has actually cold called hundreds of faith-based organizations to engage them in this mission of safety and security.

With the recent bomb threats directed at more than a dozen Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), Mr. Jabbour’s team is working on roadshows targeting faith based organizations in the historically underrepresented communities and HBCUs. Mr. Jabbour will be providing informational sessions covering threat levels and best practices for mitigating hostile events.

A true believer in stakeholder participation, the FB-ISAO held its first community meeting in February 2022. At that meeting, members heard about the Top Five Threats for 2022 while participating in an immersive session on the use of collaborative workspace.

It Takes a Village Mr. Jabbour is all about expanding the village with more organizations willing to share information and resources to make our nation’s worship centers safe. He believes that no matter what your faith is, you should be able to worship without threats, intimidation, or abuse. His team is building a network where information is shared seamlessly across the nation, alerting our leaders about potential bad actors. It is critical that this intelligence be gathered and dispersed in real-time to analyze and mitigate potential threats. The pandemic has accelerated the number of threats and violence nationwide. Houses of worship are being defaced and vandalized, “from California to the New York Island.” Staff and members are being harassed, abused, assaulted, and even killed. FB-ISAO is about creating real time faith-based digital neighborhood watches to stop the violence.

— MATTHEW 25:40

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Quantum & Technology Heroes

Dr. Celia Merzbacher, Executive Director, Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C)

The quantum journey for humankind began more than 100 years ago and our understanding is constantly evolving to keep pace with the global demand. This trailblazer’s career started in material science research for the Department of the Navy. There, Dr. Merzbacher researched nanoscience and the ability to control materials at the scale of atoms. Her research was part of the evolution of leading-edge research from nanotechnology to the emerging area of quantum technology.

As the science matured, so did the applications – from lasers to networks for securely transmitting quantum information. Today, the possibilities seem endless.

To harness commercial possibilities, the QED-C, managed by SRI International, was established with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the Federal strategy for advancing quantum information science and as called for by the National Quantum Initiative Act enacted in 2018. Dr. Merzbacher has spent the last 3 years working with U.S. stakeholders to advance the practical use of quantum discoveries. As QED-C’s leader, she supports the mission to enable and grow a robust commercial quantum-based industry and associated supply chain in the United States.

The consortium comprises stakeholders from government, industry, and academia who work together to identify gaps in technology, standards, and workforce while addressing those differences through collaboration.

Typical Quantum Employee: Does Not Exist Now that quantum is becoming more practical, the U.S. needs to be building a workforce that can support the various innovations, including for artificial intelligence, drug development, cybersecurity, financial modeling, traffic optimization, weather forecasting, and others. Dr. Merzbacher has both good and bad news as it relates to the U.S. workforce status. The good news first!

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Good News: There is not a typical quantum employee. Quantum can and will appear in almost every industry, from jobs that will require a high school diploma with supplemental quantum training to positions that will need individuals with science or technology postgraduate degrees.

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Bad News: The United States does not currently have in its pipeline enough

QED-C Plenary Event, June 2022 Photo Source: Dr. Celia Merzbacher

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When we asked Dr. Merzbacher, “who were your heroes?” her list began with her father.

He was a quantum physicist. He taught her how to appreciate the science. Then there was the physicist Robert Norton Noyce, “the Mayor of Silicon Valley” and co-founder of Intel Corporation. She was inspired by his passion for education and collaboration among competitors to accelerate technology progress.

Finally, she has admiration for HUBZone entrepreneurs: the risk-takers, the people out there taking this quantum field forward, removing barriers to grow the quantum economy and ensure a robust talent pool while building their communities.

quantum workers to meet demands. The U.S. will need folks who cover the full spectrum of the workforce. Diversity will be a plus –within the various social, ethnic, gender, and sexual orientation areas and in terms of skills. Who is needed?

Individuals who embrace the opportunities and challenges that quantum will bring to their industry.

In 2020, QED-C conducted an industry survey on what companies thought their workforce would look like in the next few years.

Their answers showed that they would be looking for people in the business, sales, and support side, along with the legal, R&D, and inhouse product development. These companies felt that a variety of disciplines would be needed because quantum systems include a lot of components: laser technicians, quantum specialists, engineers, and software developers, to name a few.

This trailblazer is confident that the opportunities will be endless for individuals who are willing to do the work to be part of the quantum trail. Dr. Merzbacher thinks it is really important for students and those who are thinking about shifting and pivoting into this area to appreciate that they do not have to go back and start all over in the Physics department. They can work in the area they are specializing in now and obtain a little bit of quantum education on top of that. This extra “push” will enable them to be highly qualified for a whole range of jobs. She stressed that whether they're in the business or the technical side, getting a little bit of quantum knowledge in addition to other training is the way to go. It won’t take a whole lot of extra training to be well-positioned to get a job with any number or type of firms.

The U.S. has big gaps between the demand and the supply, so it's really a sellers’ market.

This is great news for HUBZones and the communities they serve: the quantum field is opportunity-rich. It is a great time for businesses and people who perhaps don’t fit the national STEM norms; that is, don’t look or think the same as everyone else in the STEM field. It is time to think—QUANTUM!

Attendees at the QED-C Workshop on Cryogenic Technology for QIST Photo credit: Madison Cebuhar

Making Connections: Sustainable Bridges QED-C has been creating quantum bridges between the government, business, and academic communities. They facilitate discussions and collaboration that would lead to the advancement and development of quantum products and services in multiple U.S. industries. QED-C implements programs to help their industry members, especially the small companies and startups, advance quantum discoveries.

Dr. Merzbacher gets particularly excited to be part of creating trusted partnerships, resulting in commercial products and services.

To ignite more of this partnering, QED-C launched a program called “Quantum Marketplace.” Monthly webinars highlight QED-C member companies that offer a range of quantum technology and services. Technology providers and users give presentations; then engage the audience in a panel discussion to share expert views on the state of the art and emerging applications and markets with both non-members and members. These webinars are a great tool for HUBZone businesses looking to learn more about where quantum is going QED-C | Quantum Marketplace - QED-C (quantumconsortium.org).

either helping to produce a lifesaving drug or contributing to that process. Additionally, Quest helps workers protect themselves while they're removing contamination from these environmental sites.

Dealing with the COVID Demand

Sam Yadav, CEO, Quest Safety Products, Inc (QUEST)

Mr. Yadav started his trailblazing journey almost 25 years ago with his life partner, his wife. They have been married close to 40 years and save a lot of time by knowing what each other is going to say. A match truly made in Heaven, both having MBAs. His wife has a financial background with an accounting degree and Law School, while Mr. Yadav’s degree is in marketing.

Mr. Yadav also had the best father-in-law ever: When this trailblazer started his business, he had the full support of his spouse as well as that of her father. He handed him a blank check because he wanted to support their journey.

Mr. Yadav commented that his father-in-law’s heart was bigger than any check one could write. Though he recently passed away, his legacy lives on in the support Quest has been able to give the HUBZone communities.

There was so much demand on the supply chain that it was difficult to get products that Quest normally has available. Fortunately, Quest had a wonderful relationship with its manufacturers. This trailblazer belongs to a buying group called the Affiliated Distributors (AD), which helps strengthen the supply chain for independent distributor companies like Quest. Quest was able to supply their pharmaceutical customers, helping them make sure that they could keep producing their lifesaving drugs.

Building a MultiMillion Dollar Facility This trailblazer was convinced to join the HUBZone program by several of his customers.

They suggested that the move from a nonHUBZone area to a HUBZone might be a winwin for the community and Quest. As Mr. Yadav considered the 35% employee requirement and the impact on economic development, the program became more attractive.

Workers Protect Themselves Mr. Yadav’s company, Quest Safety Products (Quest), helps people protect themselves and their customers. This protection has become much more important in the age of COVID-19, especially for customers like pharmaceutical manufacturers and utilities & environmental remediation sites.

By helping these workers, Quest is actually

QUEST Sales Team Photo Source: QUEST

Over the last 4 years, Quest has doubled in size because its customers appreciated the fact that Quest is giving back to the HUBZone

TECHNOLOGY CAPACITY COMPANIES BUILDERS

Some might say that this trailblazer is helping to keep the lights on because Quest is assisting the people in the field to make sure that our utilities are working properly.

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community. When customers come to the facility, they see the excitement in the group of people Quest has attracted. This has become more than selling products; it is almost like a ministry. By taking care of their customers, Quest is actually building legacy and helping the community around them by creating economic stability and job opportunities.

Quest grew so much that they needed a new facility. Six acres of land later and an investment of $5.5M, Mr. Yadav had the infrastructure needed to expand his business while remaining in the HUBZone Program.

Helping Others – Helps Yourself One of the best decisions Mr. Yadav ever made was giving a HUBZone young student (Kam Utter) a second chance. During Mr. Utter’s first interview, he completely bombed.

Mr. Utter was so nervous he could barely speak.

On the second try, Mr. Utter was still a bit nervous but he asked some really great questions. Mr. Yadav could tell Mr. Utter had potential; the intern loved to learn. He kept meticulous notes and was tenacious – he wouldn’t stop until he got it right.

After a few years went by, and Mr. Utter’s internship was over. He went off to get a master’s degree in Psychology. Midway through his degree, Mr. Utter called Mr. Yadav and asked if he could buy him a drink and chat. Mr. Utter wanted to come back. He was not enjoying school and needed time to figure out what he did like. Mr. Utter asked if he could come back to Quest and be Mr. Yadav’s intern once again. He said the right thing: “I’ll work on any project if you let me come back.”

Mr. Yadav had several projects that were on his “wish I had time to do list.” Mr. Utter chose the item that would allow Quest to sell its goods and services on Amazon. He spent the next several months figuring out how to sell Quest products on Amazon. Mr. Utter eventually increased Quest’s online sales to $700,000 a month. At the beginning of the year, Amazon asked Quest to be part of a group made up of the top 250 businesses on Amazon. Mr. Utter graduated with his MBA 2 weeks ago. - The "Forever Intern" who launched Quest on several e commerce platforms and is very close to having a $10,000,000 division for Quest in less than 40 months is becoming a trailblazer too!

Mr. Utter (left) and Mr. Yadav (right).

Photo Source: Sam Yadav

Quest -- A Recent Award Winner •

2021 --"Top Intern Supervisor of the Year" for the State of Indiana

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2021 -- NMSDC Corporate Plus Member

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2020 --"Best Internship Program in Indiana" by the Independent Colleges of Indiana

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2018 -- AstraZeneca Supplier of the Year

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2018 -- HUBZone Council Champion award winner

Early Congratulations --- Quest Safety Products will be Celebrating 25 years in business on July 1st.

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Calling All

Supporters We want you to get involved. We have advertisement space that fits everyone’s budget, from congratulating one of our many trailblazers to showcasing a company’s related products and services. Please email angela@hubzonecouncil.org for consideration.