DHS S&T SBIR Workshop
DHS S&T SBIR WORKSHOP
Friday, June 23, 2023
Workshop Moderated by Jenny C. Servo, Ph.D.
8:30 am to 9:00 am:
Registration
9:00 am to 9:10 am:
Welcome
Dusty Lang, DHS SBIR Program Director
9:10 am to 9:25 am:
Looking Ahead
Wallicia Scott, Principal Director, OIC
9:25 am to 9:55 am:
Cross-Agency Awards and Sequential Phase II Awards
Carl Hebron, Director, SBIR/STTR Programs Office, Department of Energy
View Presentation
Elden W. Hawkes, Jr., M.S., Partnership an Innovation Specialist, SBA
View Presentation
Dusty Lang, DHS SBIR Program Director
Jenny C. Servo, Ph.D., as Moderator
9:55 am to 10:00 am:
BREAK
10:00 am to 11:00 am:
11:00 am to 11:30 am:
How GSA is Helping to Bridge the “Valley of Death”
Jerry R. (Rodney) Couick, Ph.D., SBIR/STTR Advisor, GSA Office of Assisted Acquisition Services
11:30 am to 1:00 pm:
LUNCH
1:00 pm to 1:45 pm:
Equity Investment and the SBIR Program
Morgan Higgins, Blue Delta Capital Partners
*presentation available upon request from the small business
1:45 pm to 2:15 pm:
2:15 pm to 2:30 pm:
Operations Experimentation (OpEx) Program
Christopher Polacco, Coordinator
*presentation available upon request from the small business
2:30 pm to 3:00 pm:
First Responder Panel
Paul McDonagh, Portfolio Manager, First Responder Resource Group
Evan McCann, Corporal, Canine Training Officer, University of Maryland
Jenny C. Servo, Ph.D., as Moderator
Presenters
Dusty Lang assumed the role of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Director in 2019. She has worked extensively with the DHS SBIR program, administered by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate (S&T), having joined the program team in 2016. In 2018, Ms. Lang served as the Program Manager for the S&T Broad Agency Announcement and Prize Competition programs before coming back to the DHS SBIR program as Director in 2019.
Prior to joining DHS S&T, Ms. Lang began her career working at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station at the Hazardous Materials Warehouse. After subsequent positions in the Information Resource Management Office and PMA-207, in 2006 she moved to the Naval Air Systems Command SBIR office. During her time in the NAVAIR SBIR office, she served as the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Lead, with a brief intermission, from 2015-2016, as the Department of the Navy STTR/STP Program Manager.
Elden Hawkes serves as the Partnership and Innovation Specialist, a role that supports the advancement of the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/ STTR) programs. His primary duties include managing the agency’s Federal and State Technology (FAST) Partnership Program. Other duties include outreach efforts targeting Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and SBIR Road Tours.
Prior to SBA, Elden spent seven years with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) where he helped grow the USDA’s SBIR program as its program specialist and program manager. He holds a degree in Environmental Science/Marine Science and a Master’s in Food and Agricultural Science, both from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Dr. Servo is the founder and president of Dawnbreaker. She has written extensively on the topic of innovation with articles appearing in The Futurist, Entrepreneurial Excellence, and Innovation in the Work Place. Dr. Servo is also the senior author on the books that are used with our clients including Business Planning for Scientists and Engineers; Knock Their Socks Off: Making Winning Presentations to Investors; and Indicators of Commercial Potential.
Chuck Brooks is a globally recognized thought leader and evangelist for Cybersecurity and Emerging Technologies. LinkedIn named Chuck as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn”. He was named by Thompson Reuters as a “Top 50 Global Influencer in Risk, Compliance,” and by IFSEC as the “#2 Global Cybersecurity Influencer” in 2018. He is also a Cybersecurity Expert for “The Network” at the Washington Post, Visiting Editor at Homeland Security Today, and a Contributor to FORBES.
The First Responder Portfolio Manager oversees the DHS engagement and support to our national first responder community; Fire, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Law Enforcement, Emergency Managers, Public Safety Communications and Render Safe Operations (RedOps – Bomb Squads). Responder engagement is accomplished through the First Responder Resource Group (FRRG) where responders can provide information on capability needs facing the responder community. DHS documents these gaps for consideration of DHS initiated solution development.
Paul is a former member and Co-Chair of the FRRG. Paul has over 39 years of service with the Seattle Police Department and is a former Assistant Chief of the Seattle Police Departments’ Homeland Security Bureau. Paul worked as a Patrol Officer, Special Weapons and Tactics Member & Team Leader, was a Precinct Commander, and Commander of the Violent Crimes and Criminal Intelligence Section.
David Metzger is a retired partner of Arnold & Porter. He has dedicated a large part of his practice to the issue of SBIR data rights and made a deep and lasting impression on the SBIR program and the success of many companies. David Metzger is widely known for his work on the SBIR program – over the course of his career, he has presented more than 160 times on this subject. His familiarity with SBIR goes back to his experience on Capitol Hill as an Administrative Assistant to a U.S. Representative and as Staff Director to the House Subcommittee on Energy, Environment, Safety and Research, and as the Small Business Administration (SBA) Director of Innovation and Procurement Policy. Today, he continues to support the SBIR community through tutorials on SBIR Data Rights that are freely made available on SBIR.gov, and continues to be a genuine champion of small business!
Ms. Higgins joined Blue Delta as a Principal in 2019. She has been very actively involved Blue Delta Portfolio Companies, as well as sourcing new investment opportunities. Blue Delta Capital Partners provides minority equity and partners with founders to help grow their businesses. They have a particular focus on providing value beyond capital including tuck-in M&A ideas, talent, strategy, pipeline opportunities and more. Prior to Blue Delta, Ms. Higgins was an Executive Director at JPMC and one of the GovCon industry’s most prominent and successful commercial bankers, leading the banks efforts, locally and nationally, for the sector. Ms. Higgins holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from James Madison University.
Dr Rodney Couick is GSA’s Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Program Advisor to the office of Assisted Acquisition Services (AAS). He provides SBIR/STTR subject matter and policy guidance expertise to AAS personnel supporting SBIR/STTR contracts nationwide. Couick has guided the GSA/AAS team to award over 94 SBIR Phase III contracts with a combined ceiling of approximately $ 10 billion. He is widely recognized as an expert on GSA’s SBIR/STTR Program and is an AAS enterprise leader in providing SBIR/STTR acquisition support to federal agencies. Couick won a Small Business Technology Council Champion of Small Business Commercialization Award in 2018 and the Small Business Administration Tibbetts Award in 2020 in recognition of his SBIR/STTR accomplishments.
Wallicia R. Tapscott assumed the role of acting Principal Director for the Office of Innovation and Collaboration (OIC) for the Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate in June 2019 As a respected leader with over 39 years of accounting, business operations, contract administration, and program management experience, she has served in various capacities in management in the public and private sectors to include the telecommunications industry and government contracting. She has an extensive leadership experience exercising strong decision authority leading change to effectively deliver tools and capabilities to DHS components as well as internal S&T customers to address current and future needs of the Homeland Security Enterprise.
Event information
The DHS Workshop will take place in the Main Auditorium of the GSA & DHS Building in Washington D.C. on June 23, 2023. Please click below for directions, parking, accommodations, and other important information for the event.
Contact
If you wish to discuss this in greater detail please contact Dusty Lang of DHS at stsbir.program@hq.dhs.gov or 202-254-7000
You can also feel free to contact Jenny Servo of Dawnbreaker at jcservo@dawnbreaker.com or 202-254-8764