The Career Path for Proposal Professionals: Mentors, Accreditation, and More!

Registration now open—see below.

Proposal professionals at all levels are often uncertain how to make their way up the career ladder. At the same time, proposal center directors wonder how to help their employees grow.

Our panel of three experts will help you advance your career and the careers of your employees, by boosting your knowledge of the value mentorship, as well as the benefits of different APMP accreditation levels.

Who should attend? All proposal professionals interested in career advancement: coordinators, writers, managers, production staff, and proposal center directors. Plus all business development professionals interested in the proposal career ladder.

Our Dinner Series events kick off with networking and include a full‑service, sit‑down dinner. The March event will be held at:

Westin Tysons Corner
7801 Leesburg Pike
Falls Church, VA 22043
703-893-1340
Wednesday, March 21
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM

Your presenters include:

Peggy Dufour, Proposal Center Manager, Bechtel National, Inc.
Peggy is an executive with Bechtel National, Inc., a $6 billion company headquartered in Frederick, Maryland. She manages an active proposal and production center with a staff of graphic artists, writers, editors, coordinators, and managers, which she started in 2004 with an untrained staff when Bechtel moved its government headquarters to Maryland. She enjoys working on a broad range of proposals throughout the year with a wide array of teaming partners, and also enjoys training and mentoring new proposal professionals.

Before coming to Bechtel, Peggy managed her own proposal consulting firm, Capitol Assets, Inc., for 12 years, working for many customers in the D.C. area and across the country. Prior to that, she worked in government, holding positions in the White House, on two Presidential Commissions, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Earlier in her career, she worked at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center supporting leukemia/lymphoma research, which led to her service as a senior policy analyst on the first Presidential Commission on the HIV Epidemic.

She earned a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts Administration in a unique program that included a year in Columbia’s Law School and graduate School of Business.

Betsy Blakney, PPF.APMP, Senior Proposal Development Manager, Strategic Proposals Group, CACI, INC.-FEDERAL
With 16 years of experience managing, writing, and producing winning proposals, Betsy is a Senior Proposal Manager for CACI, INC.- FEDERAL. Betsy is an APMP Fellow, Accreditation Mentor, and the immediate past APMP CEO. Her association career path has included serving as the APMP COO, Board Secretary and Eastern Regional Representative.

She came up through the ranks as APMP- NCA President in 2003 and served as NCA Secretary/Treasurer from 2001-2002. She volunteered as 2010 APMP International Conference Co-chair and on the APMP Journal staff as Books Editor before becoming an Assistant Editor. She presented at the 2011 and 2010 International Conferences, at SPAC’s 2011 Great Proposal Cook-off, and at APMP-NCA’s 2008 Professional Day.

Betsy was a protégé in APMP’s original Mentoring Program. She got her first job as a Proposal Manager when the individual who was serving as Proposal Manager submitted a proposal to the USPS via FedEx and was summarily fired when the potential customer complained.

David M. Stearman, Senior Proposal Manager, L-3 MPRI
David has 13 years of experience in the Federal/DoD arena, beginning as a proposal editor and then working as a proposal coordinator before becoming a proposal manager. He has engaged in multiple mentoring relationships—from both sides—and is committed to passing on the gift by mentoring others.

Register now, lock in your place, and save money.

Online registration is open through the day before the event. Seating is limited, so we suggest you reserve your place now—and enjoy the savings.

APMP-NCA members: $75

Nonmembers: $85

All walk-ins on the day of the event: $95