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Jim Garrettson Presents Deltek’s Kevin Plexico With 4th Consecutive Wash100 Award
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Jim Garrettson Presents Deltek’s Kevin Plexico With 4th Consecutive Wash100 Award

Kevin Plexico, senior vice president of information solutions at Deltek, recently received his 2023 Wash100 Award during a meeting with Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson.

For 10 years, the annual Wash100 Award has celebrated the government contracting industry’s most powerful individuals. To select its winners, the award puts the accomplishments of each nominee under a microscope to carefully select the most incredible leaders in the field.

This year, Plexico received his fourth consecutive Wash100 Award for his dedication to sharing his expertise with contractors to help them better connect with clients and navigate the complex public sector market. In his efforts, Plexico penned multiple pieces for EM’s GovCon Expert program and expanded Deltek’s work to share information with businesses pursuing federal opportunities. Click here to read his full profile.

While looking at past successes, the Wash100 Award also anticipates the future achievements of each executive.

Since his induction into the 2023 Wash100 class, Plexico has continued to offer his insights to federal contractors. In April, he published a new GovCon Expert article where he broke down portions President Biden’s fiscal year 2024 discretionary budget request and highlighted key takeaways for contractors.

Executive Mosaic looks forward to learning more from Kevin Plexico as the year unfolds.

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Gen. Paul Nakasone & Jen Easterly Share Thoughts on AI, Cybersecurity
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Gen. Paul Nakasone & Jen Easterly Share Thoughts on AI, Cybersecurity

Gen. Paul Nakasone, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, and Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, shared their views on the rise of artificial intelligence and emerging digital security threats, The Vanderbilt Hustler reported Sunday.

Nakasone, who is also director of the National Security Agency, highlighted the need to have safeguards in place when it comes to AI adoption.

“I think AI will be even more so than the smartphone. We have to figure out a way to have this incredible technology but also the safeguards that ensure that it doesn’t necessarily attack the foundations of our nation,” he told the publication in an interview.

Meanwhile, Easterly cited the need to initiate integrated conversations with industry and academia over AI.

Nakasone also discussed the threats posed by countries such as Russia, China and Iran on U.S. national security, while Easterly talked about ransomware threats.

“These threats are very real, not necessarily on the national security level, but if they affect people in their lives, then some of this is connected into the national security and critical security apparatus,” Easterly noted.

Nakasone and Easterly are both 2023 Wash100 Award recipients.

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NOAA Explores Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor Tech Via Joint Venture Partnerships Program
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NOAA Explores Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor Tech Via Joint Venture Partnerships Program

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Joint Venture Partnerships program is working with the commercial aerospace sector to demonstrate and evaluate the Hyperspectral Microwave Sensor technology over a period of two years.

The HyMS technology could enable data users to reduce uncertainties and gather better observation data in all-weather conditions by using high-spectral resolution in imaging and sounding microwave bands, NOAA said Thursday.

The office of system architecture and advanced planning within NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service is overseeing the Joint Venture Partnerships program.

“What we want to see is whether a hyperspectral microwave sensor could add additional information to resolve that mixed signal you get from the presence of water vapor, rain, ice particles in the atmosphere,” said Sid Boukabara, formerly the principal scientist for OSAAP.

“We realized that this technology could increase the performance of the soundings we are taking, and we saw the potential to improve Numerical Weather Prediction so our forecasts are more accurate not just for the next few days, but also what’s happening now,” Boukabara added.

Satellite company Spire is developing a HyMS technology through the Joint Venture Partnerships program and plans to demonstrate the tool by launching it into orbit in 2024.

The program also works with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center on HyMS tools originally developed for the space agency’s Earth science technology office.

NOAA said it is funding airborne, space-based and balloon-based demonstrations to assess the potential uses of the hyperspectral technology in support of its missions.

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14 New Members Appointed to SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee
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14 New Members Appointed to SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee welcomed 14 new members who will succeed representatives reaching the end of their four-year term.

The committee currently has two incumbent members, Applied Genetic Technologies Founder Sue Washer and BlocPower Founder and CEO Donnel Baird and three other non-voting representatives, SEC said Thursday.

The advisory panel was established in 2016 to replace SEC’s Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. It is comprised of investors, advisers and entrepreneurs of small and marginalized businesses, including women- and minority-owned companies.

“I thank the new members for agreeing to serve on the Advisory Committee, which plays an important role in our work to facilitate capital formation for companies of every size,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said. “Small businesses employ nearly half of America’s workforce and make up more than 99 percent of America’s businesses. The investors, entrepreneurs, and advisors named today understand this well, and I am pleased the SEC will benefit from their perspective.”

The new SEC-appointed members are:

  • Wemimo Abbey – co-founder and CEO, Esusu
  • Stacey Bowers – professor, University of Denver Sturm College of Law; of counsel, 3Pillars Law
  • George Cook – co-founder and CEO, Honeycomb Credit
  • Vincent Cordero – partner, co-ceo and chief business officer, Mucho Mas Media
  • Marcia Dawood – venture partner, Mindshift Capital
  • Bart Dillashaw – founder, Enterprise Legal Studio
  • Herbert Drayton III – founder and managing partner, HI Mark Capital
  • Erica Duignan – founder and general partner, Reign Ventures
  • Diego Mariscal – CEO, founder and chief disabled officer, 2Gether-International
  • Laura Niklason – founder, president, and CEO, Humacyte
  • Davyeon Ross – co-founder and president, ShotTracker
  • Jasmin Sethi –  CEO and founder, Sethi Clarity Advisors
  • Aren Sharifi – attorney, Kutak Rock LLP
  • Dennis Sugino – founder, Kansa Advisory
Unanet Receives Customer Praise in Spring 2023 G2 Reports; Chris Crowder Quoted
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Unanet Receives Customer Praise in Spring 2023 G2 Reports; Chris Crowder Quoted

Project-based enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software provider Unanet has demonstrated its customer approval with high ratings in a recent report.

In the Spring 2023 G2 Reports, Unanet received positive reviews across numerous project-based ERP categories and won Best Overall Results for Mid-Market and Small Business, the Dulles, Virginia-based organization announced last week.

“Feedback from our customers is that we operate with the highest standards of innovation and customer service,” said Chris Crowder, executive vice president of GovCon at Unanet.

“These rankings reflect the growing desire among customers to move away from the status quo that is holding them back and instead choose Unanet’s modern, purpose-built solutions that let them do business on their terms,” Crowder said.

G2’s quarterly reports consider written customer reviews and company reach within select product categories. Unanet received the Users Love Us badge for its customer service and 12 additional badges for its GovCon and AE ERP offerings, including Easiest Setup Mid-Market, Most Implementable Mid-Market and High Performer in the Mid-Market Grid Report, among others.

Akshay Mahajan, Unanet’s executive vice president of AEC, said that the customer reviews show a preference for Unanet as a provider of business operations support. He said that the “most gratifying” aspects of the report were the Users Love Us badge win and the client reviews expressing that Unanet is easy to do business with.

“Innovation and providing the best customer support in the industry is how we’re enabling firms of all sizes to define success on their own terms,” said Mahajan.

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Po Shiue Appointed Space Systems Command Warfighter Integration Office Director
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Po Shiue Appointed Space Systems Command Warfighter Integration Office Director

The U.S. Space Systems Command has chosen Po Shiue from Amazon‘s Project Kuiper as director of its Warfighter Integration Office, according to a LinkedIn post published Thursday.

Shiue has more than 28 years of combined military service and defense industry experience.

He served in the U.S. Air Force in roles such as acquisition officer, crew commander of the Space-Based Infrared System and an Individual Mobilization Augmentee under the service branch’s reserve component.

His private sector career included time at TRW as systems engineer for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System and various positions over 21 years of service at Lockheed Martin.

The former USAF Space Forces director became part of the international business development team of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s global internet satellite deployment initiative, in late 2022.

Biden Administration Posts Updates on Small Manufacturing Business Investment Program
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Biden Administration Posts Updates on Small Manufacturing Business Investment Program

The Biden administration has provided updates on the American Rescue Plan’s State Small Business Credit Initiative, which aims to help states, territories and tribal governments secure funding to create small business investment programs, the Department of the Treasury said Thursday.

The State Small Business Credit Initiative and Rebuilding the U.S. Manufacturing Base report revealed that the Treasury Department had approved 52 applications for SSBCI totaling over $8 billion in allocations and states had begun providing lending and investment opportunities to small businesses.

Wally Adeyemo, deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, said small manufacturing businesses play a vital role in the U.S. economy and the SSBCI is “helping unlock the potential of entrepreneurs across the manufacturing sector.”

Passed in 2021, the American Rescue Plan reauthorized the $10 billion SSBCI program to expand access to small business capital and invest in job-creating opportunities.

Vice President Kamala Harris is set to discuss the new SSBCI report during a visit to a small manufacturing company in Virginia, which is among the state recipients of the investment.

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DOD Co-Funds Institute to Dissect Relationship Between Brain Functions & AI Development; Bindu Nair Quoted
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DOD Co-Funds Institute to Dissect Relationship Between Brain Functions & AI Development; Bindu Nair Quoted

In partnership with the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense has co-funded the creation of a new addition to the former’s National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes initiative.

The $10 million award will support the institute’s team, which is dedicated to progressing unified research in artificial and natural intelligence, in studying brain functions and trustworthy AI development, the DOD announced on Friday.

Bindu Nair, director of the Basic Research Office in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said that the growing understanding of AI has “transformed the fields of biology and neuroscience” while knowledge surrounding cognition in nature has contributed to progress in the AI field.

“Continued advancement in these areas holds the potential to deliver significant economic impact and further improvements in quality of life,” she added.

A multi-university team led by Columbia University was selected from 15 proposals to receive the funds. In total, the award will amount to approximately $20 million over five years. The institute’s researchers will study the intersection of advancements in neural, biological and cognitive processes and models and mechanisms used in AI development.

The NSF institutes program is intended to drive long-term, high-reward research regarding various AI-related themes, such as next-generation cybersecurity, climate-smart agriculture and forestry, trustworthy AI and AI-augmented learning. This award falls under the program’s DOD-sponsored focus area, which centers the neural and cognitive foundations of AI.

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NSF Invests $140M in 7 New National AI Research Institutes; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted
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NSF Invests $140M in 7 New National AI Research Institutes; Sethuraman Panchanathan Quoted

The National Science Foundation is investing $140 million in the development of seven new National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes, which will help the federal government advance its understanding of AI technology’s risks and opportunities.

NSF said Thursday the AI institutes will focus on several AI research areas, including promoting ethical and trustworthy AI technologies, developing novel cybersecurity approaches, enhancing education and public health, providing a better understanding of the human brain and addressing climate change.

The investment effort is part of the Biden administration’s new actions to promote responsible AI innovation in the U.S. while protecting citizens’ rights and safety.

The institutes will be led by the University of Maryland; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Columbia University; Carnegie Mellon University; the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; and the University at Buffalo.

“The National AI Research Institutes are a critical component of our Nation’s AI innovation, infrastructure, technology, education, and partnerships ecosystem,” said Sethuraman Panchanathan, director of NSF.

The investment includes support from several federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.

IBM is also co-funding the initiative.

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David McKeown Says DOD Is Seeking Deeper Insights Into Commercial Cloud Infrastructure
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David McKeown Says DOD Is Seeking Deeper Insights Into Commercial Cloud Infrastructure

David McKeown, acting principal deputy chief information officer at the Department of Defense, said the Pentagon plans to take additional measures—including red teaming and network monitoring—to check the security of commercial cloud environments that host military data, Defense One reported Thursday.

“We’ve had some incidents recently that have shown that we probably need to shore [up] some visibility issues where maybe we do some outside-in looks at the clouds that they built for us,” the 2023 Wash100 awardee said.

In addition to continuous monitoring and reporting by cloud service providers, McKeown wants to “take a deeper look from a red-team perspective inside” their perimeter.

The planned active defense will also involve scanning IP addresses to identify vulnerabilities in various systems.

“We could just do external scans of that and see what’s exposed to the internet. And if it’s vulnerable, and if we find something vulnerable, we would of course, tell them and have them get on that right away. And we would do the same thing on our side of the cloud,” McKeown explained.

A 2023 National Defense Authorization Act provision requires that all defense cloud contracts include provisions allowing DOD to conduct threat assessments for cloud infrastructure housing classified data.

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