2025 Western Region Conference
Our fourth annual 1½-day event was held at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel in Anaheim, California, with presentations on Thursday 6 November 2025, a reception at the Napoli Ristorante e Bar in Downtown Disney on Thursday evening, and continuing with a full day of presentations on Friday, 7 November. 77 attendees registered.
Pre-Conference: Effectively Communicating Your Value
Join Marisa and Kailey for an engaging resume workshop designed for proposal managers and business development professionals. Have you ever struggled to effectively articulate your role and accomplishments on your resume? In this session, you will learn how to craft a compelling resume that not only highlights your unique contributions but also aligns with your career goals. This workshop will guide you in building your personal brand and structuring an impactful resume tailored for various purposes. Beyond improving resumes, attendees will gain valuable insights into how to communicate your value effectively and tell your professional story.
Kailey Fascitelli, CF APMP
Kailey and Marisa in their roles as Technical Business Development Specialists, partner with leadership to create and implement strategic plans and drive internal investment decisions, manage winning proposal submissions, and develop customer relationships through marketing/messaging and event coordination. With their combined experience, they have submitted 1000+ proposals. They have been honored with Employee Recognition Awards for efforts in enhancing proposal management. They have had the privilege of presenting at APMP BPC, APMP CBDC, and APMP Western Chapter Conference. Marisa and Kailey earned their MBAs from the University of New Mexico.
Marisa Montes, CF APMP
How Our Customers are Using AI to Read Our Proposals
This informative/hands-on session is designed for proposal writers and managers who want to understand and adapt to the growing use of AI in government acquisition processes. Learn how government agencies are employing AI for compliance checks and evaluations to streamline procurement methods. We will explore practical techniques and prompts you can use to align your proposals with these AI-driven standards. Gain insights on how to craft compliant and compelling proposals that meet AI evaluation criteria, minimizing the risk of your submissions being flagged and maximizing your success rate in government procurement opportunities.
Steve Aberle
Steve is an AI researcher and technologist who helped pioneer modern language-model work—building some of the earliest production-grade LMs long before “GPT” became a household term. He later invented and patented the first domain-aware generative-AI platform for enterprises, proving that foundation models could be specialized safely for high-stakes use cases. A recognized authority on transforming unstructured data, Steve cut his teeth wrangling one of the world’s largest document collections at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Since then he has architected complex AI systems for commercial, aerospace, defence and intelligence organizations. He is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Scientist at Rohirrim.Future-Proof Your RFP Process: Embracing Change with Confidence
Explore strategies for adapting to the evolving landscape of response management, where AI and RFP software are becoming standard. Learn how to manage change effectively when implementing new technology, enhance collaboration across your organization, and streamline RFP responses. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to transform their response process for long-term success.
Maggie Garratt, CF APMP
Maggie, a Sales Response Manager at Loopio, is a proposal manager with over 10 years of experience in both the corporate and not-for-profit sectors. She's passionate about helping other proposal professionals reclaim meaningful work-life balance by driving efficiency through innovation. When not chasing deadlines or subject matter experts, you'll most likely find her chasing her two dogs instead.
Anya Macleod
Anya Macleod is a Principal Solution Consultant at Loopio. She advises Enterprise customers on pre-implementation change readiness, communication and adoption planning. Her approach is highly consultative and seeks to identify, mitigate—and if possible, avoid—the natural resistance that surfaces with technological change in organizations.Gaining Senior Executive Commitment and Investment for Your Team’s Success
In this session, discover how a proposal executive secured over $6M in team investment by gaining senior executive buy-in. Learn strategies to convince leaders to invest in strengthening your proposal team, prioritizing bid excellence, elevating proposal professionals, and enhancing team impact at the C-suite level. Actionable takeaways: scale and enhance proposal teams, influence senior leaders, and position your organization for success at the highest levels of your company. This blueprint helps leaders amplify their team's value and take their proposal team to the next level.
Erin Andersen, CF APMP
Erin is an award-winning proposal executive who drives results while uplifting people and enabling organizations’ successes. With 20+ years of government and commercial proposal experience, she has transformed teams and promoted the profession by consistently and effectively implementing proven proposal practices. Erin is the Vice President, Medicaid Proposal Development at Aetna, a CVS Health company and multi-billion-dollar enterprise. She was awarded APMP’s Women’s Virtual Summit Palm Award (2022), Best Content Creator: WinningTheBusiness.com Article (2021), Bid and Proposal Executive of the Year Top 3 finalist (2020), and 40 Under 40 Award (2017).Chart Your Course with the Career Strategies Group!
Discover effective career planning strategies with insights from our Career Strategies Group. Explore key topics such as securing a new job, achieving promotions, and mapping your professional development for both the short and long term. Consider opportunities like certification, hiring a career coach, engaging with your chapter, and stepping into mentoring roles, while also reflecting on your resume and LinkedIn presence. Let's collaborate to support each other's career growth.
Heather Kirkpatrick, CP APMP, CAP APMP
Heather is a trailblazing Business Development Executive with over 25 years of experience in proposal strategy, capture management, and growth initiatives across both nonprofit and corporate sectors. As Past Chair of the APMP Western Chapter and former VP of Business Development at SMA, Inc., she now leads the Career Strategies Group, championing growth, professional development, and community engagement. Known for her collaborative leadership and strategic insight, Heather has earned APMP’s “40 Under 40” award and holds multiple APMP certifications. She continues to shape the profession through initiatives like the Capture Adventure Series and her commitment to elevating business development excellence.
MK VanDerPool, CF APMP
MK has navigated several career transitions over her 25+ year journey, from corporate roles to government contracting to entrepreneurship. Along the way, she’s learned that change is rarely a straight line—but always an opportunity to grow. As a cohost for the Western Chapter’s new Career Strategies Group, she helps others approach career pivots with curiosity, confidence, and practical strategies. MK is passionate about lifelong learning, sharing stories, and reminding people that it’s never too late to redefine what success looks like. Her perspective blends real-world experience with encouragement for anyone standing at a crossroads in their career. She co-created the Career Strategies Group in June 2025, and participated in BPC 2022 Panel, “New Industry, Who Dis?”HumanGPT: Writing Technical Content Because Your SMEs Can't (or Won't)
Proposal professionals often face delays and frustrations when waiting for SMEs to provide technical content, leading to disconnected proposals that confuse clients. Gain strategies and tips that leverage investigative journalism skills, AI technologies, and curiosity to draft technically accurate project descriptions, bios, and more without relying on SMEs. Transform your approach to technical content and ensure alignment with win themes.
Tobin Spratte, CP APMP
Tobin has being been translating technical content for lay audiences since journalism school—most recently for engineers and scientists at Haley & Aldrich. Prior to that, he managed proposals at Arizona State University. Working alongside experts, he has crafted proposals on myriad topics, including environmental remediation, semiconductor materials, bee pollen for tracking terrorist cells, and the search for extraterrestrial life. He is the current Western Chapter Chair and was one of APMP’s 40 Under 40 in 2020.
Allison Jenney, CF APMP
Allison has spent ten years contributing to pursuits and proposals for multidisciplinary teams within the AEC industry, and is the Strategic Growth Manager at Costin Public Outreach Group. Her career began working with civil and structural engineers focused on highway and bridge projects. Since then, she has collaborated with tunneling, rail, geotechnical, water/wastewater, ports, transportation planning, advisory, aviation, and public outreach SMEs to craft content and deliver bids throughout all phases of the project lifecycle from inception through to operation. She is the current Western Chapter Secretary and was one of APMP’s 40 Under 40 in 2022.Understanding Your Competition: Lessons from the Avengers
In a competitive proposal environment, knowing your rivals is just as important as showcasing your own strengths. This session introduces persona building through the lens of Marvel characters to gain a better understanding of your competitors and the strategies you should employ to win. Whether you’re facing an incumbent with name recognition or a flashy newcomer with questionable follow-through, this session will equip you with a tool for your team to understand the overall strategy for a proposal and actionable tactics to take home.
Callie Kent, CF APMP
Callie is a proposal writing professional with seven years of experience managing strategic proposals for both the private and public sector. She joined Bradford at Linea Solutions in 2023. She lives in San Diego with her husband, two dogs, one cat, and too many books to count.
Bradford Hodgson
Bradford is Director of Proposals for the consulting firm, Linea Solutions, where he has developed RFP responses for large, public IT initiatives for more than a decade. He lives in Santa Monica, still writes his own bios, and now entirely avoids the use of em dashes.From Bland to Grand: Make WINNING Orals Faster
Learn how to transform lackluster oral presentations into polished, winning masterpieces in this hands-on workshop. Discover proven techniques and tools to streamline development, enhance collaboration, and create compelling visuals and narratives that win over evaluators, faster and with less stress. Whether you're new to orals or looking to refine your process, this session will empower you to deliver standout presentations every time.
Mike Parkinson, CPP APMP Fellow
Mike is an internationally recognized communication and presentation expert, best-selling author, and professional trainer. Mike’s keynotes, training, books, and tools (www.Build-a-Graphic.com) help companies succeed while saving money and time.Demonstrate Your Value Beyond Win Rate
Proposal professionals often focus solely on submission outcomes, but showcasing broader value to the organization is essential. By tracking and reporting metrics such as down selection, project types, complexity, and productivity, you can illustrate your influence on decision-making and justify resource allocation. Move beyond simple win/loss reporting—metrics matter, and effective measurement is key to demonstrating your impact.