APEX Accelerator
at The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Huntsville / Madison County Chamber of Commerce
225 Church Street, Suite 319
Huntsville, AL 35801
256-824-6936
sbdc.uah.edu
Kris McBride, Procurement Advisor
Ms. Kris McBride has an extensive background serving our community and in the Defense Industry. Kris retired as a V.P. of SAIC where she served as Deputy Program Manager (DPM) for $1B Systems Engineering Services contracts with over a hundred project teams and more than 2000 fulltime equivalent personnel from SAIC and 150+ funded subcontracted companies delivering systems, software, hardware, network, and test engineering, transition support, fielding and user support, training support, configuration management, quality engineering, senior level program support. Kris has extensive experience in the software industry serving as an Executive Manager for Intergraph, as President of Sigmatech, a Small Disadvantaged Business. While at Intergraph, Kris managed several international projects and sales with the United Kingdom, Sweden, Singapore, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
Kris has a BA in Computer Science and Mathematics (double major) from The University of Tennessee, and a MS Computer Science, The University of Alabama in Huntsville. Kris has served in several leadership positions including Board of Directors Chair for the Huntsville/Madison County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Immediate Past President (Region) of the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA), President-Nominee of the Rotary Club of Madison, Alabama, and member of the Huntsville Committee of 100. Kris is committed to providing assistance and serving as a bridge between our small business community, prime contractors and government agencies.
Marc Jacobson, Procurement Advisor
Mr. Marc Jacobson has an extensive background serving our community and in the Defense Industry. He recently retired from serving as the City Administrator with the city of Madison, AL, has served in leadership roles with the Chambers of Commerce and several community and non-profit boards of directors. Marc retired as a V.P. of SAIC managing over 900 employees, subcontractors and small businesses, providing engineering support for Army systems at Redstone Arsenal, with a portfolio valued at $165M in revenue. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel having served for 25 years in the Active and Army Reserves. Marc is Chapter Executive Vice President – Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA), member/Past President – Rotary Club of Madison, board member/Past President – Better Business Bureau (BBB) of North Alabama and is a member of Committee 100. He has over 33 years working in government contracting.
Marc has a BS in Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a Master of Administrative Science (MAS) from Johns Hopkins University. He is a graduate of both Leadership Greater Huntsville and Leadership Alabama. Marc’s extensive experience managing programs from local, city and federal contracting. He is passionate about providing opportunities for growth in government contracting for our local small businesses and economy.
Daniel R. Farmer, Procurement Advisor
Daniel (Dan) R. Farmer has a career that spans over 42 years of service to both the U.S. Army and the Defense Industry. For 16 years, he served as President/COO for Technology Management and Training Group Inc. (TMT Group) and led corporate operations and supervised management staff and program directors for all technical and programmatic efforts for the Department of Defense, partnerships with academic institutions, and industry partners. Formerly, Dan has served with Intuitive Research Technology Corporation (INTUITIVE), an Inc. 500 Company, and System Dynamic International Incorporated (SDI) with responsibilities ranging from the Director of Program Management-Support Programs to Senior Program Analyst. Dan led the development of an emerging Program Support Directorate supporting the U.S. Army Aviation Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC), Program Executive Office (PEO) Aviation, and the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program office in the Missile Defense Agency (MDA).
Prior to entering industry, Dan spent 20 years in the U.S. Army as an Army Officer serving in both command and staff positions. Dan has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from the University of Maryland and is also a Graduate of Leadership Huntsville/Madison County, Masters Leadership Class.
Dr. Earl C. Johnson, Procurement Advisor
Dr. Earl Johnson has an extensive background in Government Contracting. Dr. Johnson retired from the Army Contracting Command as a Government Contracting Officer with over 30 years of contracting experience. A Government contracting portfolio that consist of multimillion dollar contracts for major weapon systems, as well as installation support services contracts. After retirement Dr. Johnson worked with a Defense contractor, supporting the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) as an Advanced Acquisition Analyst and Supervisor, responsible for reviewing contractual actions for compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), and MDA’s policies and procedures. Dr. Johnson’s extensive contracting experience includes a brief role as the Senior Contracts Manager for BCF Solutions, Inc., a major Government Program Management and Technical Services Contractor.
Dr. Johnson has a BA in Telecommunication, with a minor in Business Management from Alabama A&M University, BA in Religion from American Baptist College, a Master of Divinity from Samford University (Beeson Divinity School) and Doctor of Ministry from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Johnson has served as past Chair of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). A former Board Member of the United Way of Madison County. Dr. Johnson has served as pastor of several churches in both Tennessee and Alabama for over 30 years and is currently the Founding Pastor of Christ Community Church of Huntsville. For the past 22 years Dr. Johnson has served as an adjunct professor at Huntsville Bible College. Dr. Johnson is enthusiastic about working with Small Businesses and supplying information that could potentially benefit or enhance Government contracting relationships.