2015 is over and, as we look back over another exciting year, I thought I might indulge in a rare shout-out to the people who make Apogee Consulting, Inc. happen.

First let me introduce Mark Sewall, who is the guy who keeps this website running and who makes sure the articles get published. Mark has two jobs that keep him busy. He spends most of his time working on projects for Event Special Effects, a group of talented (and crazy) people who develop special effects to support marketing efforts by various entities. Think Mythbusters but without the TV cameras and Kari Byron. On the side he runs Practical Brilliance, a boutique consultancy focused on helping small businesses with their IT, A/V, and related technology challenges.

Next meet Tom Schmitz. Tom is a 30+ year veteran of the aerospace/defense industry. Most of that time was spent at Hughes Aircraft/Raytheon in Finance, Estimating and Pricing functions. Toward the end of his successful career, Tom managed the Pricing/Estimating function for Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business segment—a $6 billion dollar entity that spit out literally hundreds of proposals each year. Tom is our SME in the areas of Estimating Systems, proposal preparation, and cost/price analysis. He recently completed an assignment supporting a mid-size defense contractor who was having trouble getting its government customer to accept the cost/price analyses it had performed. The problem was holding-up award of a major contract. Tom showed up on site with literally one day advance notice and, within a couple of weeks, the government customer was satisfied. Just as importantly, the contract was awarded. Tom has also worked Accounting System and organizational structure issues in past assignments.

A more recent addition to the ranks of Apogee Consulting, Inc. support staff is Ed Kasaba. Ed is another 30+ year veteran, but he split his time between the aerospace/defense industry (at companies such as Rockwell, Boeing, and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne) and the bio-pharmaceutical industry (at Amgen). Ed is our Purchasing System and Socioeconomic Reporting System SME. He also handles contract compliance and supply chain management issues. Ed has worked with companies—both large and small—in establishing their first Master Small Business plans. He also recently helped a start-up company prepare to start bidding on its first Federal contract, including working through registration issues for the various government databases and identifying key business practices changes necessary to comply with contract requirements.

One important differentiator between Apogee Consulting, Inc. and other boutique providers of contract compliance services is that our consultants are here because they want to be—and not because they have to be. Both Tom and Ed are retired and they enjoy their retirement. But they also enjoy helping other people and companies with the expertise they gained over their long and successful careers. They are consultants because they want to help, not because they need a paycheck.

Another point to consider: Because their Apogee Consulting work is a part-time thing, being fit in between home remodeling and leisurely vacations, our clients can be assured we are not looking for a long-term assignment. We are not looking to “milk” a project for maximum billable hours. Indeed, our policy is that we only bill clients for value-added hours; which means (for example) we don’t bill clients for travel time. We show up, we get the job done, and we leave. And that’s the way we like it.

In addition to the foregoing, our people are committed to transferring their knowledge and experience to our clients. We pride ourselves on making sure our clients know why and how, as well as what. We never have a problem explaining the regulatory drivers associated with what needs to be done.

So that’s the Apogee Consulting, Inc., team. Without them, all we would be is a website and a blog.