It’s hard to believe that 3 months have gone by since I last wrote
an Alumni Association President’s message. The
annual DAU Acquisition Community Symposium – held on 14
April - has come and gone. This year’s theme: “The
Acquisition Workforce Challenge: Winning the War for
Talent” turned out to be a good one with over 500
attendees on the DAU Belvoir Campus. It certainly was
an exciting day and the one issue that came through
loud and clear was the need to make it easier for
qualified people to join the defense acquisition
profession – both in Government and industry.
Comments ranged from the need for user friendliness of
U.S. Government job sites, to the length of time for a
person to be brought on board once an application was
submitted. Quite often, rather than wait for the
hiring process to unfold, applicants take their talent
elsewhere. Having defined the issues, at this point
I’m not sure we have any answers. Hopefully,
streamlining the hiring process within Government is
the next step.
Some upcoming events that I will be participating in:
-
Presentation on 12 June of a $1000 scholarship to a
deserving recipient of the Bryant Alternative High
School. Bryant is a partner school of DAU and provides
an alternative educational opportunity for young people
who live in a disadvantaged environment. The
scholarship is to be used for College by the student
who meets the criteria established for award winners,
which includes maintaining a 2.8 grade point average
(out of 3.0).
-
The annual DAU Alumni Association Board of Directors
dinner on 18 June. Mr. Anderson, DAU’s President, is
invited. The dinner serves as an opportunity to
discuss what went right and what went wrong at the
recently completed symposium, and also is used to
discuss themes for next year’s symposium. Many of the
ideas for a theme for the next symposium were discussed
at a recent DAU Board of Visitors dinner held on 19
May; the DAUAA helped in sponsoring that dinner.
-
A hot topic forum to be held on 1 July 2009 from 1130 to
1300. Dr. Alexander Laufer, director of the Center for
Project Leadership at Columbia University and member of
the editorial review board for the Project Management
Journal, will present on many of the concepts from his
recent book, Breaking the Code of Project Management.
These concepts were developed from his research where
he found that many DoD, NASA and industry projects are
over-managed and under-led. We have also asked Dr.
Laufer to address the Gen X, Gen Y and Millennium Gen
phenomenon in relation to his research. His
presentation has been recommended by Mr. Terry Little,
a highly successful Air Force program manager (JADAM,
JASSM) and frequent guest lecturer in DAU courses.
The forum is open to all DAU staff, faculty and
students, defense industry professionals (Alumni
Association associates have highest priority), Office
of SecDef staff, and government acquisition employees.
For more info, go to the “What’s New” feature on the
DAUAA home page. I hope you can attend this no-cost
event on the DAU Belvoir Campus.
Well, that’s it for now. Keep well and have a safe summer.
Regards, Bill Bahnmaier, President, DAUAA
About Bill Bahnmaier, DAUAA President:
Bill Bahnmaier is a retired Marine and a former (retired)
instructor at the Defense Acquisition University (DAU). In
his last tour of duty as a Marine he was a major system PM –
the Marine Corps Assault Amphibian. Since retirement,
Bahnmaier works as an official volunteer at DAU and also is
a part time consultant and instructor on defense acquisition
matters. He and his wife Peggy reside in Alexandria, VA.
They have 9 nephews and nieces and 15 great nephews and
nieces.
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