Speakers & Biographies (December 7, 2022)

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Daryll “Shane” Mahaffy

Lead Business Opportunity Specialist, Wisconsin District Office, U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

Shane Mahaffy joined SBA’s Wisconsin District Office as its Lead Business Opportunity Specialist in July 2015.  Previously, he worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a procurement contracting officer.  He served as a team lead and supervisory contracting specialist for procuring services, equipment, and supplies for facilities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. He maintains a Level III Federal Acquisition Certification.

Shane began his contracting career in 2004 with the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) – Milwaukee administering contracts for defense contractors throughout Wisconsin.

He received Bachelor’s of Science in Business Management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering 2005. He is a Navy veteran. 

Tim Connelly

Principal, Tim Connelly Law PLLC

Tim Connelly is an experienced government contract lawyer serving the legal needs of large, medium and small businesses in all areas of federal, state, and local government contracts. He helps businesses with all aspects of negotiation, administration and compliance typically associated with government business agreements of all kinds. He uses his extensive background in government contract law and administrative law to provide his clients creative, cost-effective and practical approaches to the most important legal opportunities and challenges.

Tim retired from the U.S. Army in 2007 after serving 20 years on active duty as a Judge Advocate. While in the Army, Tim handled government contract cases before the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and various federal and state courts and administrative bodies. He also counseled government clients in a wide variety of government contract and administrative law matters.

Tim is past president of the Twin Cities Chapter of the National Contract Management Association and a member of the Public Contract Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Tim was selected as Veteran Small Business Champion by the Small Business Administration in 2014 and was selected to serve on Minnesota’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force representing the interests of Veteran business owners in Minnesota State contracting programs.

Tim is a frequent lecturer in all areas of government contract law and compliance, and represents Veterans pro bono in appeals of denials of claims for disability benefits before the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Tim and his wife Leslie have three grown children and live in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Jean Marie Thiel

President and CEO, Belonger Corporation, Inc.

Jean Marie Thiel owns and operates a specialty trades Mechanical Contracting Company including all HVAC/R aptitudes, waste-water, plumbing, and medical gas, and also providing services in Construction Management, Facility Management, and Energy Based Performance Contracting. Experience in construction and services industry going on 33 years, specializing in federal agency procurement emphasis on contract compliance with joint venturing and mentoring opportunities. Ms. Thiel founded Belonger Corporation, a mechanical and plumbing firm in March 2000.

William (Bill) Deringer

Global Business Development Manager, Electric Power Generation (EPG) Caterpillar Defense

Bill Deringer serves as the Global Business Development Manager, Electric Power Generation (EPG) Caterpillar Defense within Caterpillar’s Industrial Power Systems Division. In this role, Bill has led the Caterpillar Defense Business Development efforts for over 6 years to discover, define and implement strategies to grow EPG sales to emerging government requirements development and acquisition processes.

Prior to Caterpillar, Bill was the (13 Year) VP and COO of Kipper Tool Company. Under Bill’s leadership, Kipper Tool Company is most wellknown as the Small Women Owned Business that supplied over 900,000 standard tools system to the US Military and maintaining top ten sales and service to the General Services Administration during his tenure.

Before his defense industry career, Bill served in the United States Army for over 23 years as a Quartermaster Chief Warrant Officer. Working with OSD and DLA, Bill developed his expertise on the system acquisition and sustainment reform within the Government and DOD. He has studied and successfully executed the full spectrum of funding, documenting, acquisition, and sustainment needs of the government from the user to the highest levels of policy and process.

Bill graduated from Norwich University, VT University with a Bachelor of Arts in history, and advanced studies in military force structure and acquisition from the Army Management Staff College, Fort Belvoir, VA. Bill is a US Army Quartermaster Foundation Board member, as well as an active member and has held various roles with-in the U.S. Army (USA) Warrant Officer Association, USA Quartermaster Association, USA Ordnance Association & Association of the United States Army (AUSA).

Sara Redford

Vice President of Procurement, WPS Health Solutions

WPS Health Solutions and our family of health insurance brands serve millions of Americans at home and abroad every day active-duty personnel and military veterans; seniors; businesses and their employees; and individuals and families in Wisconsin and beyond. For more than 70 years, we’ve remained focused on value, choice, protection, and exceptional customer service. We deliver these with an uncompromising commitment to the highest ethical standards.

Kevin Lovell

Director and Senior Program Manager, Xator Corporation

Lieutenant Colonel Kevin J. Lovell is a 1995 graduate of Marquette University where he studied Mechanical Engineering and Military Science in the ROTC program. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Engineers in the US Army in May 1995 and started his career at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Over his 21-year career, Kevin served in staff and leadership positions in engineer units and positions in the 1^st Infantry Division in Germany and Bosnia, the US Army Europe Headquarters, the 3^rd Infantry Division in the US, the 92^nd Engineer Battalion in the US, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan, and the 4^th Infantry Division in the US and Iraq. He established the Installation and Engineering Analyst position in the Army’s Office of Business Transformation at the Army’s headquarters in the Pentagon and served in the US Army Corps of Engineers in New York, Afghanistan, Korea, and Omaha. 

In 2013, Lt. Col. Lovell was given the best assignment a Chicagoan Army Engineer can hope to fill  – he served as the Deputy Commander for the Chicago District of the US Army Corps of Engineers until his retirement in 2016.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University and a Master of Science in Management from the University of Maryland. He is a graduate of the US Army’s Command and General Staff, the US Army Engineer Basic and Advanced Courses, the US Army Air Assault School, and the US Army Airborne School. His awards and decorations include three Bronze Star Medals, Six Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Staff Identification Badge, the Afghanistan and Iraq Service medals with campaign stars, and the NATO Service ribbon.

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