George Mason University Center for Government Contracting Appoints New Research Staff

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The Center for Government Contracting in the George Mason University School of Business has appointed seven new researchers to support ongoing and future Center projects.

The new researchers bring a diverse set of skills and backgrounds to the Center, and from the former Administrator of the General Services Administration and senior Capitol Hill staffers to defense pricing specialists and former contracting officers, the represent the broad government contracting community. The full listing of new hires is included below.

Jerry McGinn, Executive Director of the Center, noted, “I am honored to have such incredibly talented individuals join our team. I look forward to their contributions as we continue to grow our capabilities as the first university research center focused on addressing the important challenges facing the government contracting community today.”

As part of the Center’s mission to foster collaboration between government, industry, and academia, these appointees will conduct research, write, and lead Center initiatives on business, policy, regulatory, and other issues in government contracting.

Dedicated to excellence in research and teaching, the School of Business at George Mason University anticipates the rapid transformation of business and acts accordingly. Faculty academic expertise combined with real-world experience provides a bridge between theory and practice, implemented through both innovative academic programs and strategic business partnerships. Ranked annually among the top 100 undergraduate business school programs and part-time MBA programs by U.S. News & World Report, the School of Business is accredited in both business and accounting by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International.

Senior Fellows

Richard Beutel

Richard Beutel is an adjunct Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and founding Principal of Cyrrus Analytics. Cyrrus Analytics focuses upon complex challenges involving cloud acquisitions and the procurement of federal IT across the government. Beutel is the former lead acquisition and procurement policy counsel for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In that capacity, Beutel wrote and managed the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) which was signed into law as part of the FY2015 National Defense Authorization Act.

A nationally recognized expert in IT acquisition management and cloud policy, Beutel has 25 years of private sector experience and was the founder and co-managing director of the first Dell Government Relations Team.

Benjamin McMartin

Benjamin McMartin is managing partner of the Public Spend Forum, a Washington DC-based firm dedicated to enabling open government markets worldwide. He is a nationally recognized expert, speaker, and author in the intersection between federal procurement, intellectual property, emerging technology development, and non-traditional acquisition methodologies, who spent more than a decade developing some of the most unique procurement solutions for the Department of Defense.

McMartin previously served as Chief of the Acquisition Management Office for the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command–Ground Vehicle Systems Center, and prior to that, as a Procuring Contracting and Agreements Officer for the US Army Contracting Command–Warren. McMartin earned his J.D. from the University of Detroit-Mercy Law School and has been a member of the Michigan State Bar since 2008. He is twice the recipient of the Army Achievement Medal for Civilian Service, and a recipient of the Army Civilian Service Commendation Medal.

The Honorable Emily Murphy

Emily W. Murphy is a leading expert in government contracting and the business of government. Throughout her career, Emily has held multiple leadership roles in the federal government, including serving as Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration. In addition to her work at Mason, she provides strategic advice to government contractors, serves on the Boards of Advisors of SkillStorm and Vita Inclinata, and works with high growth companies as a coach with CEO Coaching International.

Fellows

Dolores Kuchina-Musina

Dolores Kuchina-Musina is a Director of Growth at the Boone Group, LLC, in Washington DC, and a doctoral candidate at Old Dominion University. She holds a graduate certificate in Public Procurement and Contract Management, is a Certified Federal Contract Manager, and has held numerous leadership positions in local non-profit organizations. Kuchina-Musina’s research interests include innovation policy, other transaction authorities, federal procurement reform, and decision-making models. Her previous work appears in the Journal of Public Procurement.

David Peeler
Colonel David Peeler, USAF retired, spent 26 years in the military financial arena and its directly linked functions of accounting, auditing, budgeting, costing, contracting, civil engineering, logistics, and program management. Peeler spent roughly half his military career in operational assignments and the other half in weapon systems acquisition and procurement positions. He was deputy director of Air Force Budget Investments in the Pentagon, where he directly oversaw Air Force Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) and procurement funds, as well as military family housing and military construction. In his last assignment, he oversaw an active budget of $255B and over $1T in weapon program cost estimates. Peeler holds two bachelors’ degrees and three masters’ across the fields of mathematics, economics, and national military strategy. He is an International Cost Estimating and Analysis Association Certified Cost Estimator/Analyst; and the editor of the Journal of Cost Analysis and Parametrics.

Research Associates

Olivia Letts

Olivia Letts is a research associate with the Center for Government Contracting at the School of Business in George Mason University. Her research interests include defense spending and management, emergent technology, U.S. military policy, and foreign policy. She is especially interested in the industrial supply chain’s link to national security, and in researching ways to improve efficacy and cost-effectiveness in the Department of Defense. Prior to working for the Center, Letts worked as an associate analyst for One Defense, a company that specializes in creating business strategies for innovative companies entering the defense market and government contracting spaces. Letts received a BA from the University of Florida, and an MA from Georgetown University. Her writing has been featured in Defense News, Army Magazine, The Cipher Brief, Sarasota Magazine, and the Georgetown Security Studies Review.

Anthony Vatterott
Anthony Vatterott’s work in government contracting involved set-aside contracts, veteran-owned vendor-supplier business development, multi-year capital asset allocations, and institutional healthcare construction for a wide range of federal agencies: the General Services Administration, Veterans Affairs (VA), Army Corps of Engineers, Food and Drug Administration. His research includes an analysis of which competing supply chains are truly firm-spanning; the prevalence of supply chain performance measures at various levels of supply chain integration; the implications of disruption for global supply chain innovation; strategic sustainability in airport operations; worker skills development, and the human interface with advanced analytics. Vatterott earned his PhD of Business Administration in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from University of Missouri–Saint Louis and received his MA in Procurement & Acquisitions Management, MBA, Master’s Certificate in Government Contracting from Webster University.