Potomac Officers Club

Joe Kopfman joined AMERICAN SYSTEMS in 1978 and currently serves as executive vice president of contracts and administration and chief compliance officer.

In these roles, he leads the company’s ethics program and manages the contracts, legal, purchasing, pricing, Mergers and Acquisition, security, facilities, and general administration support departments within the company.

The 35-year company veteran also serves as the the chairman of AMERICAN SYSTEMS’ ethics committee, a position he has held since 2006.

Kopfman is a member of the Executive Advisory Council of the National Contracts Management Association and is active in the Professional Services Council.

He earned a B.S. degree in Accounting from Radford University.

Government contracting news media company Executive Mosaic traces its origins to 2002, when EM Publisher and President Jim Garrettson sought to form an executive fabric to benefit the Washington area business community.

More than a decade later, the Potomac Officers Club still provides “headline speakers on headline topics” to Washington area execs, with a heavy bent towards innovation and business trends, regularly throughout the year.

Corporate executives attend the POC luncheons and breakfasts to share their expertise and receive guidance on issues surrounding the GovCon sector such as regulations, technology and financial matters.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore addressed POC in its first year of existence and former Lockheed Martin Chairman Norm Augustine spoke the following year, representing two early examples of POC’s diverse approach to providing members headline speakers.

As of the POC’s 10th anniversary in April 2012, nearly 1,000 GovCon executives count themselves as members.

For POC’s most recent event in Falls Church, Va. Jan. 24, attendees heard directly from a government customer in the form of Mark Borkowski, assistant commissioner for the office of technology and acquisition at Customs and Border Protection.

Borkowski, a career public servant, discussed the relationship between technology and mission outcomes and budget issues in the government.

The 23-year Air Force veteran also described some technologies of interest to CBP and which ones could have future potential.

Tiffanny Gates, Blackbird Technologies

Tiffanny Gates is the vice president for cyber strategies at Blackbird Technologies, a position she has held since December 2010.

In this position, Gates focuses on developing future programs in the company’s cyber and advanced technologies business areas.

Before joining Blackbird, Gates served as vice president of strategy and business development for ManTech International‘s mission, cyber and technologies solutions group. She also was the group’s lead cyber strategy officer and coordinated on investor relations and outreach, while also participating in acquisition efforts.

Prior to that role, Gates served in ManTech’s security and mission assurance group in the positions of vice president, chief technology officer and deputy chief of the cyber sector.

Gates joined ManTech upon the company’s acquisition of Emerging Technologies Group. At ETG, she served as president and chief executive officer for more than five years. The company said she had a successful track record of growth and recognition in the computer forensics and analysis community and successful coordination of global operations.

Before becoming president and CEO, Gates served as ETG’s corporate vice president and chief operations officer to federal government customers, including the Defense Department.

Prior to joining ETG, Gates was a consultant to a national security/information assurance team for the commander of the Naval Security Group, a now-inactive intelligence organization within the Navy. She also supported construction of C4ISR architectures for a program involving information operations and maritime cryptologic architecture.

Gates also worked with the National Security Agency as a technical analyst, specializing in counterintelligence threats from information technology.

Prior to starting her civilian career, Gates served in the Navy for seven years as a cryptologic officer.

Gates graduated from the Naval Academy.

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, Inmarsat

Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch is senior vice president for government policy, strategy and outreach for Inmarsat‘s U.S. government services business unit.

Cowen-Hirsch shapes Inmarsat’s strategic direction and policy relating to government and leads the government outreach and advocacy program. She shapes the program’s execution and government focused capabilities.

Cowen-Hirsch, a 20-year veteran of the defense and aerospace industry, also has spent part of her career in the public sector as a member of the Senior Executive Service of the Defense Department.

At the Defense Information Systems Agency, she served as program executive officer for satellite communications, teleport and services. In this capacity, she was responsible for acquiring capabilities that included responsive, cost-effective, mission-oriented and customer-focused SATCOM services.

Additional SES positions Cowen-Hirsch has served in include vice component acquisition executive, where she held management responsibility for the acquisition oversight and horizontal integration of DISA’s products, services, and programs.

As director of the Defense Spectrum Office, her responsibilities included developing national security spectrum strategic plans and policy, and national and international negotiation of defense spectrum issues.

Cowen-Hirsch received an Exemplary Service Medal for her service with the Defense Department.

Cowen-Hirsch is a rated experimental flight test engineer and was the first female civilian mission commander for the Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft mission.

Cowen-Hirsch received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Kentucky and completed post-graduate studies in engineering management at the University of Dayton. She is also a graduate of the University of Tennessee Space Institute Experimental Flight Test Program, the Defense Department’s Acquisition Management Program and the Cambridge Senior Executive Leadership Program.

Stuart Young, URS Federal

As general counsel for URS Federal Services, Stuart Young has led the company’s legal function since 1999.

Young advises the company on government contracting and corporate law issues. He also provides legal support in the areas of labor and employment law, compliance, export control and intellectual property.

He supervises all company litigation, manages outside counsel and serves the secretary function for URS Federal Services, its subsidiaries and joint ventures.

Between 1992 and 1999, Young served as corporate counsel at DynCorp International. At DynCorp, he drafted teaming agreements, non-disclosure agreements, joint venture agreements and contract and subcontract documents. He litigated and advised in areas concerning bid protests, lawsuits, contract disputes and arbitrations.

Young was admitted under orders from the Government Accountability Office and the General Services Administration‘s Board of Contract Appeals and served as first chair at bid protest hearings. Stuart was involved in issues of international law, including negotiating contracts with foreign governments, foreign registration and tax issues. Stuart also provided legal support relating to the areas of intellectual property, ethics, Service Contract Act and other Labor Department and human resources.

Between 1984 and 1992, Young worked at the GSA. As the agency’s senior assistant general counsel, he handled bid protests filed against Federal Supply Service and other organizations acquiring personal property and services. He also handled contract formation, contract administration, cost and pricing issues, and procurement issues relating to the agency’s Multiple Award Schedules.

At GSA, Young also litigated bid protests as first chair at the GAO and the GSBCA for major procurements. He has also litigated contract appeals before the GSBCA and provided of counsel support to the Justice Department.

After graduating law school, Young gained admission to practice law in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. He also opened up his own practice, handling personal injury and criminal cases.

Young graduated from the University of Rochester in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He also earned a Juris Doctorate with Honors from George Washington University in 1982.