POCONO MOUNTAINS CHAPTER - 09/14/2017
In September, the Pocono Mountains Chapter of AFCEA and the Tobyhanna Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) co-hosted a luncheon with Liz Miranda as the special guest speaker at Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania. She related to the capacity crowd the mission of the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command's Integrated Logistics Support Center, of which she is the director, and informed all present of the efficacy of the Army Materiel Command's Sustainable Readiness Model (SRM). She also discussed a recently instituted goal to reduce repair time by 50 percent as measured with various performance metrics.
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NORTH CAROLINA CHAPTER - 09/13/2017
John Fitzgerald, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's account chief technology officer for the Defense Department and Federal Enterprise Business, Americas, spoke at the September chapter luncheon. Fitzgerald gave an overview of modular data centers. He spoke in nonvendor-specific terms because multiple companies have capabilities in this field. Modular data centers are usually prefabricated units that are hyperscalable and portable. Portability, modularity and scalability are among their key benefits. The units are built with power, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and fire suppression, and are meant to be serviceable and manageable. Customized to meet customer needs, units can be built with thermal (Tempest standard) and ballistic shielding. Level 3 seismic standards are incorporated to allow for shipping by various methods, including shipboard, air freight, helicopter and truck. These mobility requirements also can be engineered into the final product to meet user needs. ... READ MORE
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MONTGOMERY CHAPTER - 08/30/2017
The chapter's Education Foundation hosted two events with Women in AFCEA in August to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and career choices for young men and women. The first event was a Diversity in STEM Educators Forum featuring Essye Miller, the Defense Department's deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity as the guest speaker. The breakfast was held at Embassy Suites in Montgomery, Alabama. Government, military, industry and community leaders and educators attended. At the event, Miller discussed the importance of diversity in STEM and the need to draw more diverse people into the field. The Education Foundation also held a High School Education Day, inviting more than 700 local high school students to the Air Force Information Technology Conference and escorting them around the vendor floor to learn about careers in information technology in the military and industry. As part of Education Day, there was also a special Women in ST ... READ MORE
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LEXINGTON-CONCORD CHAPTER - 08/30/2017
The chapter held its annual summer social in August at the DoubleTree hotel in Bedford, Massachusetts. David Hiltz, outgoing chapter president, introduced distinguished guests from government and industry as well as new Chapter President Pat Dagle and new AFCEA Regional Vice President Mary Ann Carlson. He then paid homage to Bud Vazquez, outgoing regional vice president, for his many years of outstanding service to AFCEA as both a past chapter president and regional vice president. Hiltz, who steps up to the board chairman role, highlighted the chapter's myriad achievements over the past year, including the number of scholarships awarded and AFCEA International awards received. These included Model Chapter of the Year, Model Young AFCEAN Chapter, Distinguished Achievement to the Education Community Award and the Young AFCEAN Chapter Program Award. In addition to these chapter awards, he noted that several individual members received awards, including: Kim Cranson, Emerging Leadershi ... READ MORE
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AUGUSTA-FORT GORDON CHAPTER - 08/29/2017
Col. Dan Mettling, USA, commander, 116th Military Intelligence Brigade, talked to chapter members about his organization's mission and technology requirements at the luncheon in August.
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MONTGOMERY CHAPTER - 08/29/2017
The chapter hosted its annual awards banquet in August to recognize the outstanding contributions of key members. The event took place at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel at the Convention Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and drew a full house of military, industry and government personnel. The following individuals were recognized with chapter-level awards: Tech. Sgt. Joshua Hinshaw, USAF, Young AFCEAN of the Year; Cynthia Crews, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Government AFCEAN of the Year; and Tija Brown, Copper River Information Technology, Industry AFCEAN of the Year. Additionally, the following individuals were recognized for their recent awards from AFCEA International: Master Sgt. Carlton Young, USAF, Meritorious Service and 40 Under 40 awards; Master Sgt. Brianna Oberg, USAF, 40 Under 40 Award; Tommy Pope, Sumaria Systems Inc., Meritorious Service Award; and Jason Frye, AFLCMC, Regional Distinguished Young AFCEAN of the Year. The chapter also was the recipien ... READ MORE
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JORDAN CHAPTER - 08/26/2017
His Royal Highness Prince Feisal Ibn Al Hussein on July 26 inaugurated the Jordan Chapter of AFCEA, the first chapter in the Middle East. The inauguration conference took place at King Hussein Business Park. During the conference, an agreement between Al Hussein Technical University, the Crown Prince Foundation and the Jordan Chapter was signed for cybersecurity education and training. The inauguration event began with a reception at King Hussein Club, attended by His Royal Highness Prince Omar Ibn Feisal Ibn Al Hussein. The conference ended with a gala dinner at the Grand Hayatt Hotel and was attended by the Minister of Information and Communications Technology and key officials from Parliament, the Jordan Armed Forces and the General Intelligence Department.
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NORTH CAROLINA CHAPTER - 08/19/2017
The chapter presented 11 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grants to local educators at its August luncheon. Recipients had the opportunity to describe their projects to attendees. Recipients are Lynn Albers, FIRST Robotics team, Pender High School; Jared Pinkson, FIRST Robotics team, Vanstory Hills; Alison Hurley, Sphero robotics, Pine Forest High School; Michelle Quinn, Chromebooks for online demonstrations, Stoney Point Elementary School; Cynthia Chisholm, 3-D printing, Cleveland Community College and Cleveland Early College High School; Rodney Cobb, FIRST Robotics team, Eastover-Central Elementary School of Arts; Kelly Osornio, Science Olympiad team, Rockfish Elementary School; Rachel Andress, Sphere robotics, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics; Joe LoBuglio, FIRST Robotics team, Howard Hall Elementary; Natasha McKoy, Sphere robotics, Lillian Black Elementary; and Jenni Clark, Sphero robotics. Robotics got heavy emphasis at the high school and ... READ MORE
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ALAMO CHAPTER - 08/17/2017
The chapter held a Young AFCEAN social in August at the Alamo Beer Company in downtown San Antonio. It is the first official program event since Vice President of Young AFCEA Charlie Weissenborn took the board of directors position. "I want to take the strong program we have and build it into an environment where our [Young AFCEANs] can make lasting connections, develop themselves personally and professionally as well as seeing the value in belonging to professional organizations," he said. The event was an intimate one, with about 15 people in attendance, as well as mentors on hand for networking. The event generated two new members. Weissenborn explained that peer mentorship is just as vital as senior-level mentorship, and that is one of the goals of both the Young AFCEAN program and monthly socials. The chapter's Young AFCEANs will be hosting monthly luncheons on the third Thursday of every month as well as their upcoming Mentor Protégé Night.
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MONTGOMERY CHAPTER - 08/16/2017
In August, the chapter hosted a luncheon featuring guest speaker Arthur G. "A.G" Hatcher, director, cyber capabilities and compliance, Office of Information Dominance and Chief Information Officer, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force at the Arrowhead Country Club, Montgomery, Alabama. He spoke to a full house of military, industry and government personnel on mission, challenges and opportunities. He opened by discussing an overview of the nine major areas he is responsible for including IT budget reporting, IT system compliance, contracting, innovation and more. He then went on to discuss the challenges, such as the need to modernize on a limited budget and the need to be more agile. Finally, Hatcher talked about the opportunities industry and government have to improve, for example finding ways to simplify cybersecurity implementation without compromising the rigor of system security. The luncheon also served as an opportunity for the chapter to recognize some outstanding achi ... READ MORE
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ALAMO CHAPTER - 08/15/2017
In August, Austin-based Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) Director and Project Manager Zach Walker spoke candidly on the processes they've been using the past year at the chapter's Lunch, Learn, Network event. "In the last 15 months we have a total of 45 pilot contracts, $100M of capital, start-ups, traditionals and others that do actual prototypes... those companies together have raised money and given us technology and talent that we just would not have had access to. Walker discussed Defense Deparment problems and gave an example of why cybersecurity is needed among aircraft. "There is an obscene amount of ways to get in whether it be a lazy operator or another operator that doesn't realize some extracurricular activities could end up compromising what they're doing." To combat cybersecurity issues on aircraft, DIUx hires hackers to work through some of these issues. However, as Walker explained, the company simply just does not have enough of them out there to do this ... READ MORE
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