Cocktails & Conversations:
Small Business Success in 2015

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3:00 p.m.	Networking and Cocktails
3:30 p.m.	Small Business Landscape Presentation Brian Haney VP, Customer Success Deltek
4:00 p.m.	Moderated Panel Discussion Panelists: Alba M. Alemán CEO Citizant Leon Barker CEO EZ Operations LLC Mehul Sanghani President Octo Consulting Group Moderator: Brigitta Scott Partner Baker Tilly
5:00 p.m.	Networking and Cocktails
6:00 p.m.	Event Concludes

Alba M. Alemán
CEO
Citizant

As CEO and co-founder, Alba M. Alemán provides Citizant’s leadership team with counsel on business development, corporate growth and ongoing quality initiatives.

Leon Barker
CEO
EZ Operations LLC

Leon Barker, CEO of EZ Operations LLC, is a licensed CPA in Virginia.  After getting his BS in Accounting from Weber State University he worked in industry as a GL Accountant, Inventory Analyst, and Staff Accountant.  He added to his eduction with an MBA from Utah State University and accepted a position with Ernst & Young working in Silicon Valley in the heat and after-math of the “dot-com” craze and the “dot-bomb” that followed.  As an auditor with Ernst & Young at that time, he gained valuable experience related to growth companies in a fast paced environment and the adjustments businesses take when the economy changes.  Since that time, he has worked for several different government contracting companies ranging from small fast growing companies (<$10 Million in Revenue) to large stable organizations (>$2 Billion in Revenue).  He has worked as an Internal Auditor, Accounting Manager, VP Controller, and CFO.  Recently, he founded EZ Operations LLC.  Its mission is to provide all of the back office support for small businesses, with a special focus on government contractors allowing them to focus on growing their business.

Brian Haney
VP, Customer Success
Deltek

As Vice President of Customer Success at Deltek, Brian Haney manages all aspects of the GovWin Client Services group.  Haney leads a team of Account Managers responsible for providing analytical research support, training, technical support, and proactive assistance to GovWin members. Prior to building and leading the Client Services team, Haney served as the Director of Research Operations for GovWin, managing research efforts for the opportunities and profiles product suites – including the collection, production and delivery of relevant technology market intelligence for the Federal, State and Local marketplace.

Mehul Sanghani
President
Octo Consulting Group

Mr. Sanghani is the Founder and President of Octo Consulting Group (Octo) – a nationally recognized and award winning technology solutions and management consulting firm located in Northern Virginia serving the Federal market. Octo specializes in providing agile software development, data visualization, cyber analytics, and management
consulting services for the classified U.S. intelligence community and the government health IT market. 

Since being founded in 2006, under Mr. Sanghani’s leadership, the firm has been recognized by numerous independent publications for its extraordinary growth and vision. Recognition includes being named the #23 fastest growing private business in the country by Inc. Magazine, receiving the 2012 Inc. Hire Power Award for job growth and creation, winning the 2011 Vanguard Award from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce as the #1 fastest growing small business in the Commonwealth of Virginia, being ranked the #2 business on the 2011 Washington Technology Magazine Fast 50 list of top Federal contractors, winning the prestigious 2012 Fairfax Chamber of Commerce award for GovCon Contractor of the Year Award, and winning the 2013 NVTC “Hot Ticket” Award for the Hottest Emerging Government Contractor. The small business that began operations just 7 years ago, has now swelled to over 225 employees and has fostered its growth with ZERO debt or outside investment of any kind under Sanghani’s leadership. This success has earned the firm an independently assessed financial stability / credit rating of 4A1 from Dun & Bradstreet; the highest afforded to ANY business (large or small) under $100M in size.

Brigitta Scott
Partner
Baker Tilly

Brigitta is a partner in Baker Tilly’s consulting services practice and has been with the firm since 2003. Brigitta specializes in providing various financial, accounting, internal audit, and compliance consulting services to government contracting clients. Her experience has spanned public accounting, private industry, and consulting services. 

With over 23 years of experience, Brigitta has extensive experience working with both domestic and international clients, including corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and closely held organizations.  She manages teams in compliance assessment, business process re-engineering, policy and procedure review and development, indirect rate calculations, forward pricing rate proposals, government and other audit support, cost allowability assessments, proposal pricing and support, internal audit, risk analysis and management.  Additionally, she assists management and leadership in evaluation of corporate governance, ethics programs, fraud investigations, compliance, and related internal reviews and leads teams on a variety of internal audits focused on identified compliance and operational risk areas. 

Brigitta has extensive working knowledge of Federal Acquisition Regulation, the Cost Accounting Standards, COSO Framework, financial modeling and analysis, and various financial systems.  Prior to joining Baker Tilly she successfully transitioned a company through an IPO and subsequent acquisition, working extensively with legal counsel through arbitrations and other legal processes. 

Brigitta is a member of a number of industry associations, including the Professional Services Council and the Greater Washington Society of Public Accountants.  She is a graduate of James Madison University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant.