DoD Mentor Protégé Summit Features Team Orlando, MS&T Leaders

Members of Team Orlando will be featured panel speakers at this year’s DoD Mentor Protégé Summit at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, March 27-30, in Orlando, Fla.

Randall Edney, director, Office of Small Business Programs for U.S. Army Contracting Command Orlando; Leslie Faircloth, deputy director for Small Business Programs at Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD),  Carol Ann Dykes Logue, co-Founder and director of the Central Florida Tech Grove; and Damion Bailey, deputy director of the Army Contracting Command Orlando Office of Small Business Programs will discuss, “What is Going on in the World of Simulation and Training in Central Florida?” The panel is March 29 from 3-4 p.m, and they wll also discuss ways that industry can do business with the organizations they represent.

The Mentor Protégé Summit is designed to reinforce small business supply chains and their ability to compete in a modernized defense industrial base through education, networking, and collaboration. It supports the Office of Small Business’ goal to provide practical opportunities for small businesses in the DoD industrial base to develop, competitively market and deliver innovative solutions.

“Now more than ever, Mentor-Protégé partnerships are increasing the viability of up-and-coming small business protégés by leveraging synergies and DoD market expertise of large business and mature small business mentors,” said Faircloth.  “As the DoD continues to stress the importance of increasing our nation’s Defense Industrial Base (DIB) and its critical capabilities, the DoD Mentor-Protégé program is one of the key tools to apply towards doing so.”

The summit equips the small business community with reliable resources and pragmatic strategies. It educates this community in developing mutually beneficial partnerships between experienced mentoring firms and small business protégés.

The four-day event includes workshops, general sessions, breakout sessions, hot topics, panels, key speakers, and networking sessions. Registration and additional information for the DoD 2023 Mentor Protégé Summit can be found at https://www.eventdex.com/DOD-MPP-Summit-2023/.