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Biographical Sketches of Speakers
Robert Burton
Robert A. Burton is the Associate Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP) in the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. As the Associate Administrator, Mr. Burton is responsible for the direction and development of government-wide acquisition policies, regulations, and initiatives. He was appointed to this position in November 2001. Currently, Mr. Burton is heading OFPP until the Senate confirms a new Administrator. He previously served in this capacity from September 2003 to November 2004 during the absence of an OFPP Administrator. Prior to his appointment to OFPP, Mr. Burton served as the Senior Associate General Counsel (Acquisition) for the Defense Contract Management Agency. In this position, he negotiated the resolution of high-dollar cost disputes with major defense contractors. Earlier in his career, Mr. Burton served as an Associate General Counsel for the Defense Logistics Agency and as General Counsel of the Defense Energy Support Center. In these positions, he provided legal advice on a wide range of acquisition subjects and managed agency contract litigation and procurement fraud programs. He also served on the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council, which is responsible for implementing federal acquisition laws, regulations, and policies. Mr. Burton graduated magna cum laude from the College of William and Mary and received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He is a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute and the Senior Executive Fellows Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is also a 2006 Federal 100 Award winner and the recipient of the 2005 Executive Leadership in Acquisition Award presented by the Association for Federal Information Resources Management. Mr. Burton is active in the American Bar Association's Section of Public Contract Law and served as a member of the Section's governing Council. He is admitted to the Virginia and District of Columbia Bars.
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Sue Davaro
Sue Davaro is a Customer Service Director for the General Services Administration’s, Federal Acquisition Service, Mid-Atlantic Region. Sue has worked in this capacity for the past 9 years, after starting her career with GSA in the Human Resources Division. Sue holds an MBA from West Chester University and is highly motivated by developing great customer relationships and conducting training on GSA’s e-Tools and new program initiatives. Sue is happily married and the mom of two grown children. In her spare time, Sue likes to take long walks in the woods with her husband and puppy. Sue resides in Ardmore, PA.
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Lesley A. Field
Lesley A. Field is a policy analyst in the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), focusing on implementation of a variety of acquisition programs including acquisition workforce initiatives, strategic sourcing, purchase and travel card issues, and the acquisition of accessible technology through the implementation of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. At OFPP, she is responsible for implementing strategic sourcing policies, is the chair of the Section 508 Working Group, is responsible for developing and implementing OFPP’s Policy Letter 05-01 on the acquisition workforce and the new Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting (FAC-C) program, and works on emergency contracting policies. Lesley was recently selected for OMB’s Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. Prior to joining the staff of the Executive Office of the President, Lesley worked at the U.S. Department of Transportation as a contracting officer, program analyst, and procurement policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary. Lesley received her Bachelor of Science in Commerce from the University of Virginia in 1990, and her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Virginia Tech in 1998.
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David Gelatka
David Gelatka started working for SSA in 1976 in Philadelphia at the Mid Atlantic Payment Center. He came to the Lancaster Pa. office in 1978 as a bilingual (Spanish-English) claims representative. Gelatka specialized in Supplemental Security Income (S.S.I.) benefits, then went to the Lebanon Pa office and specialized in both Social Security and S.S.I. benefits. Gelatka returned to the Lancaster office in 2001 as the bilingual Social Security Technical Expert. In 2005 due to the Medicare Part D enrollment he then became the Lancaster Office Public Affairs Specialist. Mr. Gelatka did over 100 events in the Lancaster Area regarding Part D enrollment. In June 2006 he became the Public Affairs Specialist for the South Central Pa. geographic area.
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Carl Henn
Carl Henn is the NIH Acquisition Career Coordinator. His responsibilities include acquisition and project officer training, certification and warrants, and many other duties as assigned. Mr. Henn worked for ten years for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where he served as contracting officer and team leader and helped to develop NIH’s first paperless RFP. He has received the NIH Award of Merit, the NIH Director’s Award, and the HHS Exemplary Service Group Award. He also worked in contracts for the Navy, and has a Master’s of Public Administration from American University. He is the past president of the NIH Bicycle Commuter Club and current chair of the Rockville Community Garden Committee.
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Robin A. Herring
Robin Herring is an accountant at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. Mrs. Herring has worked at NIH for the past 17 years in the Office of Financial Management for the General Ledger Branch, CFO Activities Branch and Contracts Section of the Commercial Accounts Branch. She is currently a team leader in the Payables Section of the Commercial Accounts Branch.
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Jeff Linden
Jeff Linden began his career with the NIH when he was appointed the NIH Business System Project Manager on November 10, 2005. He currently oversees the production operations of the NBS which consists of the Travel Management and General Ledger systems as well as the development of future tracks comprising acquisition, property, warehouse and financial management functionality. Mr. Linden earned his M.S. degree in Information System Management from the University of Texas at Arlington. Before coming to NIH, Mr. Linden worked for over 20 years in the commercial sector in a variety of IT leadership roles. As a Senior Manager for BearingPoint, he was responsible for running operations for HHS’ Unified Financial Management System supporting CDC and FDA. Prior to that, Mr. Linden was President of a small, woman-owned consulting business that specialized in Oracle business software implementations and worked with NIH and BearingPoint to deploy the Travel and General Ledger systems in 2003. Mr. Linden also served as Vice-President, IT Development for Motel6 and Red Roof Inns where he was responsible for all administrative systems and deployed both Oracle’s Financial Management Suite and PeopleSoft’s HR and Payroll systems.
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Paul D. McFarlane
Paul McFarlane began his Federal contracting career in March 1982 working for the US Navy Department (NAVSEA Command) at the David Taylor Naval Ship Research and Development Center in Carderock, Maryland. There, he worked with the Ship Acoustics Division, acquiring submarine silencing, ship propulsion, and hull sound deadening devices for nearly eight years. His work included Navy fleet indoctrination training and on-site visits to various ship equipment testing facilities and shipbuilding venues. In August 1989, Mr. McFarlane was hired to the Contract Management Branch of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), NIH to work with one of their two HIV/AIDS Research Contracts Sections. He spent nearly nine years negotiating and awarding major clinical trials contracts, making on-site visits to clinics, laboratories, and animal breeding facilities across the US as well as to venues in England and Australia. In July 1999, Mr. McFarlane was promoted to the position of Senior Contracting Officer for the Pre-Clinical Research Contracts Section of the NIAID, where he and a staff of 10 Specialists served nearly six years handling all pre-clinical contract efforts for the Institute. In June 2005 he was named Acting Chief, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research Contracts Branch, managing the work of 8 Specialists who shared the work of the largest of the NIAID scientific divisions with one other Contracts Branch. In May 2006 Mr. McFarlane was named Acting Chief, AIDS Research Contracts Branch where he and 8 Specialists exclusively handled the Division of AIDS R&D contract portfolio. Mr. McFarlane has broad experience in the development, solicitation, evaluation, negotiation, award, and administration of Biomedical R&D contracts within the US and abroad. He assumed his current position with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in late June of this year.
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Dr. James McMichael
Dr. McMichael is the Vice President of the Defense Acquisition University. DAU provides business and management training, performance support, continuous learning, and knowledge sharing products for the Defense Department’s acquisition, technology, and logistics community. His portfolio as Vice President includes curriculum development, on-line learning programs, research, learning technology, and the University library. Prior to his current assignment, Dr. McMichael was the Director of Acquisition Education, Training and Career Development for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics beginning in 1990. In that position he was the principal proponent for workforce management, and he formulated policies and programs to ensure the quality and professionalism of the workforce.
Dr McMichael entered the Senior Executive Service in October 1984. He served as the Technical Director of the Navy Personnel Research and Development Center in San Diego, California, from March 1987 to April 1990. Immediately preceding that, he was the special advisor for Manpower, Personnel and Training with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. In the private sector, Dr. McMichael served as the Chairman of Psychology Department at Long Island University where he taught for eight years. Dr. McMichael is a graduate of Princeton University and received his advanced degrees at the University of Delaware. He was a Fellow in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1982-83.
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Kesa Russell
Kesa Russell is currently the Project Manager for the PSC Strategic Sourcing program, which is responsible for implementing HHS-wide initiatives to leverage purchasing power and decrease the cost of procuring products and services. Prior to working at HHS, Kesa was a Consultant at American Management Systems, focused on Business Process Re-Engineering and Change Management projects in the Government sector. She was also an Assistant Treasurer at Bankers Trust Company. Kesa graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Florida A&M University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Maryland, College Park.
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Axel Wolff
Axel Wolff, MS, DVM, currently serves as Director, Division of Compliance Oversight, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At OLAW he has also served as a Senior Assurance officer. He is a Commissioned Officer in the US Public Health Service and has attained the rank of Captain. Prior to joining OLAW, Dr. Wolff was the director of the Veterinary Resources Program, NIH’s intramural biomedical research support program. He also directed NIH’s animal quarantine facility and served at the neurology institute. Dr. Wolff’s interest in unique research animals has involved him in work with armadillos, chimpanzees, and fruit bats as well as the more common species. He serves on the editorial board of Lab Animal and has published on various topics including primate enrichment and PHS Policy interpretation.
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Marc Weisman
Marc Weisman is the Senior Procurement Executive for the Department of Health and Human Services and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition Policy. His acquisition career goes back 23 years. A nice write up about his current priorities is in the Federal Times at http://www.federaltimes.com/index.php?S=1092751.
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Louis A. Chiarella
Louis A. (Lou) Chiarella is a Senior Attorney with the Procurement Law Division, Office of the General Counsel, US Government Accountability Office (GAO). Since joining GAO in 2001 he has handled a wide variety of bid protest matters brought by unsuccessful offerors to the procurement actions of agencies throughout the entire federal government. Additionally, from 2002-2004, Mr. Chiarella was appointed to the Contract Appeals Board for the Joint Committee of Congress on the Library, to resolve the contract disputes regarding the US Botanic Garden Conservatory renovation project.
From 1988 to 2001, Mr. Chiarella served as an active duty judge advocate with the US Army, culminating with his assignment as Associate Professor, Contract and Fiscal Law Department, Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) School, Charlottesville, Virginia. Prior assignments included Chief, Criminal Law Division and Chief, Administrative and Civil Law Division, Fort Carson, Colorado; Trial Attorney, Army Contract Appeals Division, Arlington, Virginia; Special Assistant US Attorney, US Attorney’s Office, Louisville, KY; and Magistrate Court Prosecutor, and Legal Assistance Attorney, Fort Knox, Kentucky. Since 2001 he has remained an adjunct (reserve) faculty member of the Contract and Fiscal Law Department at the Army JAG School.
Mr. Chiarella received his bachelors degree in political science from the University of Notre Dame (1985), his juris doctor from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo (1988), a masters degree in international affairs from the Catholic University of America (1996), and a masters of law degree from the Army JAG School (1997).
Mr. Chiarella is admitted to the New York and Ohio state bars. He is a member of both the Bid Protest and Competitive Sourcing subcommittees of the ABA Public Contract Law Section.
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Michael R. Mowatt, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Technology Development
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
US Department of Health and Human ServicesDr. Mowatt has served as Director of the Office of Technology Development (OTD) at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since December, 2001. He joined the Office in November, 1995 after post-doctoral training in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases, at NIAID and in the Laboratory of Molecular Parasitology at the Rockefeller University in New York City. He received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan in 1985 and his B.S. in Microbiology at the University of Notre Dame in 1980.
He has authored more than thirty original scientific papers, reviews, book chapters and book reviews in the disciplines of molecular and cellular biology, immunology and parasitology.
Dr. Mowatt currently directs a staff of twenty professionals in support of the research mission of NIAID. In addition to managing the intellectual property portfolio of NIAID, the OTD is responsible for negotiating and managing transactional agreements, including Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), which enable NIAID to operate successful research and R&D programs. He and his staff have negotiated a wide variety of agreements with NIAID partners that include universities, nongovernmental organizations, other US government agencies, and philanthropic organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as commercial concerns ranging from large pharmaceutical companies with bureaucracies that rival that of the US government to small biotechnology companies and everything in between.
In addition to the daily challenge of promoting and negotiating partnerships between the private sector and the NIAID, Dr. Mowatt’s other major challenge has been managing the growth and restructuring of his office to support the expanding needs of the NIAID’s biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research initiatives.
Electronic mail: mmowatt@niaid.nih.gov
Telephone: 301.496.2644
Fax: 301.402.7123[Top]
Richard A. Lambert
Richard A. Lambert was Counsel for Intellectual Property for the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) until his recent retirement. One of his primary clients was the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He provided advice to all elements of HHS on contractual and international rights in intellectual property, generally at the senior official level. Currently he is a consultant on intellectual property matters affecting Federal contracts, grants, CRADAs and other agreements. Mr. Lambert is experienced in all aspects of intellectual property law and policy, including patents, copyrights and trademarks as well as rights in databases and developments in internet law. Prior to coming to HHS in 1992, Mr. Lambert was Senior Patent Counsel and the Assistant for Waivers in the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for Patents at the U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters. Mr. Lambert is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is admitted to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
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Melanie Keller
Career Path
Melanie Keller has a nine-year career within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She began her career with the Food and Drug Administration and has been at the National Institutes of Health for the past six years. Her work experience has been in the human resources, administrative management and training & development fields. Melanie has an adept understanding of HR and government law, corporate learning and strategic planning and can very personably portray that information to employees and managers. She is often sought out by senior management to provide HR, administrative and training advisory services.Current Position
She currently works as the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Center located within the Office of Strategic Management Planning. In this role, Melanie manages the Training Center and oversees operations. She also provides oversight and guidance for all of the career development programs at the NIH. She is continually searching for innovative ways to improve her own performance as well as that of her staff and the intern community (80 people) at NIH. She is an accomplished trainer and has excellent facilitation skills, inter-personal skills and leadership abilities. She has presented many high-impact training sessions nationally. Melanie has created an NIH Training Collaborative Forum which has created a synergistic theme of “Partners in Learning” within the NIH community. She serves on the NIH Administrative Training Committee, NIH Ethics Advisory Committee where she provides advisory services on training policies and corporate learning strategy.Melanie holds a B.S. degree in Management Studies and Human Resource Management at the University of Maryland University College. She is also a Certified Training Generalist through Langevin Learning Services.
Professional Activities
Melanie has been an active member of IPMA-HR Montgomery County, MD Chapter since 1997 and has participated in chapter activities every year. She has served in many roles for the chapter and is currently the President on the Executive Board. She is also an active member of the American Society of Training & Development and the Training Officers Conference.[Top]