Happy Holidays to you and your families. It is a pleasure to serve as your Chapter President and follow in the great footprints of Richard “Doc” Klodnicki. I would like to thank Doc for mentoring me over the past two years and helping prepare me to assume the NDIA-RMC President duties. I’d also like to congratulate Doc for being awarded the NDIA Gold Medal by NDIA President and CEO, General (USAF, Ret) Hawk Carlisle, and for his election to the NDIA National Board of Directors.
On 1 October, your newly elected Board of Directors started their term. At the bottom left of this newsletter, you can see the names of our Board of Directors and the companies they work for. On behalf of all the members of the Rocky Mountain Chapter, I would like to thank each of the Directors for volunteering their time to serve the NDIA, and the Rocky Mountain Chapter, and their companies for providing them the time and flexibility to support NDIA. On the bottom right of this page you can see the Chapter Officers and Committee leaders (Vice Presidents). A special thank you for these individuals for taking on additional responsibilities for the Chapter.
In November, we have held and/or supported four events. During a two-day period (1-2 Nov), we held a luncheon featuring General (USAF, Ret) Ron Fogleman, Former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. General Fogleman spoke on the significance of the General James V. Hartinger Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Military Space Mission. The following evening we held our annual NDIA-RMC Ball. During this blacktie event, your Rocky Mountain Chapter awarded the 2018 General Hartinger Award to its 2018 receiptent, Air Force Chief of Staff, General David Goldfein. During the Ball, we also recognized Patriot Award winners from Air Force Space Command, NORAD/NORTHCOM, SMDC/ARSTRAT, Ft. Carson, and the US Air Force Academy.
The Chapter also supported NDIA Space Division with their annual Executive Forum accompanied by an ice-breaker, with both events held around the Ball timeframe. A special congratulations to our Vice President for Events, Rayetta Lantzy; our 2018 Ball Chairman, Greg Schiller; our 2018 Ball Vice Chairman, Henry Baird; Vice President for Awards, Joe Kahoe; Director Emeritus, Steve Stadler; and all of the Directors who volunteered to make the NDIA Ball and General Fogleman luncheon so successful. Congratulations also to the 2018 Executive Forum Chair, Brig Gen (USAF, Ret) Cary Chun; 2018 Executive Forum Vice Chair, Dr. Tom Walker; and NDIA Space Division’s Vice President, Rocky Mountain Region, Brig Gen (USAF, Ret) Russ Anarde, for the tremendously productive discussions they facilitated between Air Force leadership and industry executives.
In December, the Chapter held its annual membership meeting in conjunction with our annual holiday party. This year, your NDIA-RMC partnered with Lance P. Sijan Chapter of AFA, the AFCEA-RM, and AIAA-RM for its holiday party. This partnership allowed each of our organizations to hold a joint holiday party and leverage the time of leaders from AFSPC, NORAD/NORTHCOM, SMDC/ARSTRAT, Fort Carson, and the U.S. Air Force Academy… these military leaders could celebrate the holiday’s with industry during one event, instead of four.
Finally, I would like to highlight the support your NDIA-RMC is providing to the 50
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Space Wing at Schriever AFB, CO. During a visit with the 50
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Space Wing Commander, Brig Gen (s) Jennifer Grant, we asked how the NDIA-RMC could best support the 50
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Space Wing and Brig Gen(s) Grant quickly said they had a need for STEM activities for the kids at Schriever AFB and asked if that was support the NDIA-RMC could provide. My response was an emphatic, absolutely! Our Workforce Development Committee, formerly led by Michael Pennica, and now led by Tom Taylor, have been providing STEM support to schools and other organizations for years. Michael and Tom have supported area schools participating in the PongSat experiments and STEM Science Fairs. During this last three months, members of the NDIA-RMC have visited Schriever AFB twice and met with leadership at the 50
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Mission Support Group, the 50
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Force Support Squadron, and the Child Development Center. We are continuing our preparations to support the kids at Schriever AFB and hope to start working with them in the near future.
We appreciate the incredible support our NDIA-RMC members provide. If you’d like to volunteer on one of our committees or support an event, please send an email to
kevin.mortensen@baesystems.com
and share where your interests align with our STEM initiatives.
