OTHER TRANSACTION AUTHORITIES (OTAS)

Kim Wegner

Lead Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton (Industry)

Kim Wegner is an accomplished strategic marketing professional who develops integrated programs designed to effectively position clients in the defense industry in order to generate awareness and engagement opportunities. Currently, Ms. Wegner is a Lead Associate for Booz Allen Hamilton where she has supported the U.S. Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC)’s Force Projection Technology (FPT) clients for the last seven years as a Project Officer. Additionally, she is an active member of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Michigan Chapter. In 2015, she was elected to the NDIA Michigan Chapter’s Board of Directors, where she was held the Communications Chair position until 2020. She has also held the position of Chapter Vice President and most recently, Chapter President.

Dr. Tom Bagwell

Professor of Program Management, Defense Acquisition University (Government)

Dr. Bagwell currently serves as a Professor of Program Management and executive coach for the Defense Acquisition University (Government). He is a former member of the Army’s Senior Executive Service. Dr. Bagwell worked for 37+ years with the Army in a variety of program management and engineering positions. His last assignment was as the Deputy Program Executive Officer for PEO Ground Combat Systems.

Colonel (Ret.) Warren Sponsler

Chief Operations Officer, The National Advanced Mobility Consortium (Industry)

In this leadership position with the NAMC team, Warren is responsible for enabling NAMC to achieve its mission to foster member-driven innovations that ensure efficiency, effectiveness, and victory for the US Military. NAMC connects innovative technology solutions from the consortium’s approximately 500 members to meet critical US Department of Defense needs in advanced ground mobility and enabling capabilities. Warren retired as a Colonel in the US Army in 2022 after serving more than 26 years on active duty with his last positions as the Deputy Director and Chief of Staff of the Next Generation Combat Vehicles Cross Functional Team (NGCV CFT), Army Futures Command.

Michael Gray

Senior Vice President (SVP) for Business Development, Navistar Defense (Industry)

Mike has more than 30 years of Defense-related experience over a wide range of programs. Since joining Navistar Defense in 2020, he has worked on several cornerstone programs for the company in the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command community, international tactical vehicle community, and commercial manufacturing community, including Common Tactical Truck (CTT), Canadian Forces Logistics Vehicle Modernization (LVM), Water Bison, Tactical Fuel Distribution Systems (TFDS), and JLTV Trailer Contract Manufacturing.

Before Navistar Defense, Michael had worked with SAIC since 2006 where he held roles as the Senior Director, VP of Business Development Program Manager, Division Manager, and Account Manager

Michael retired from the US Army as an Acquisition Professional, with assignments on PM Stryker BCT, and Future Combat Systems (FCS), where he held operational positions at the Brigade through Platoon level, and the Commissioned, Warrant Officer, and NCO levels.

Traci Webb

Business Development Manager, GS Engineering (Industry)

Traci Webb serves as the Business Development Manager for GS Engineering, a full-service engineering services supplier, where she oversees their defense business portfolio. In this role, she relies on previous experience as an Army Civilian with CCDC GVSC's Product Integration Facility, where she gained hands-on experience in DoD vehicle engineering, as well as acquisition, systems engineering, and program management. At GS Engineering, Traci is responsible for business relationship development, sales forecasting and targets to achieve strategic goals, and proposal activities, as well as leading program teams. Her experience and relationships within the defense industrial base help to forge strong partnerships with clients and provide novel solutions to their engineering needs.

In 2023, Traci was elected to the National Advanced Mobility Consortium's (NAMC) Board of Directors, where she serves also as a member of the nominating committee.

Elizabeth Wearn

Chief of the Research and Development (R&D) Services Branch, Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA) (Government)

Ms. Elizabeth Wearn serves as the Chief of the Research and Development (R&D) Services Branch at Army Contracting Command – Detroit Arsenal (ACC-DTA). In this capacity, she leads five teams which span across multiple missions, to include: Other Transaction Agreements (OTA) and non-FAR based acquisitions; emerging R&D technologies and laboratory support for Ground Vehicle System Center (GVSC); and TACOM Strategic Services Solutions (TS3). She also provides direct support to the Acquisition Services Division which falls under the Combat and Services Contracting Directorate at ACC-DTA.

Kristine Kassekert

Director, Other Transaction Learning, Defense Acquisition University (Government)

Ms. Kassekert is the Learning Director for Other Transaction Authority (OTA) at DAU. She deployed the OTA Credential and is responsible for DAU's OTA offerings, including Neg-OTA-tion 101, the 2-day OTA Simulation, and the webinars OTA Today, OT Counsel Corner and the OT Huddle. Prior to joining DAU Ms. Kassekert supported Marine Corps Systems Command and the largest OTA production award that the Navy had approved as of 2021. She is an attorney by trade with more than 20 years of experience successfully supporting private industry and Government clients.