Our Annual Honors Program

Congratulations to our Chapter Honors Recipients for 2021!

The APMP Florida Sunshine Chapter initiated our Chapter Honors program in 2016 to publicly recognize chapter members who have raised the level of proposal professionalism, contributed to our organization and advanced the arts and sciences of our industry. In addition to acknowledging the accomplishments of our colleagues, the program also raises public awareness of the proposal profession within the business community at large.

Our Chapter Honors recognize members who have achieved advanced levels of APMP certification, certification in related disciplines (such as project and contract management), attainment of advanced academic degrees and contributions to our industry through formal presentations and proposal related publications. We are proud to announce that this year's Chapter Honors Class includes:

Wendy Aguilar of Tampa, FL, for achieving APMP Practitioner certification.

Leigh-Ann Dailey of Kingston Jamaica for achieving APMP Practitioner certification.

Carmel Lee of Florence, SC, for achieving both her PMI PMP and APMP Practitioner certifications.

Brina Shere, of St. Petersburg, FL for achieving APMP Practitioner certification.

Tiffany Travis of Apollo Beach, FL for achieving APMP Practitioner certification.

Rachel Thompson, of Jacksonville, FL for presenting the Ignite Talk, From Breaking News to Making Reviews at the 2021 APMP Bid & Proposal Con.

We would also like to congratulate Carmel Lee for being named the 2021 Mentor of the Year. Carmel has been VERY busy this year! She is a Sr. Proposal Developer for Companion Data Services. In addition to achieving her certifications she also found time to mentor her team’s new staff in APMP methodologies and get them started on their own certification paths. A native of South Africa, Carmel is a recently minted US Citizen.

Finally, it is with tremendous pleasure and with a great sense of gratitude for her service and leadership that we recognize Meghann Lewis as this year’s recipient of the Keller Award for Outstanding Chapter Service. Meghann has been a chapter officer for many years, serving as our chapter chair for the past six years. Under Meghan’s leadership the chapter membership has more than doubled, our recognition at global APMP events has flourished and the chapter received the coveted Stephen P. Shipley Award for Chapter of the Year. Meghann has the unique distinction of being a second generation proposal professional and is the founder of Vidar Consulting.

Please join the Board in congratulating this year’s awardees!

Have you or someone you know done something above and beyond for the chapter or APMP this year? If so, get prepared to let us know.

The Florida Chapter of APMP is pleased to have instituted a program of chapter awards and honors to recognize and encourage outstanding service by individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of the chapter, APMP and the proposal profession. See the 2019 winners. (Awards were not conducted in 2020.)

The program's far reaching goals benefit individual members, the chapter and APMP through increasing general public and employer awareness of APMP and the profession, encouraging membership participation at the chapter, regional and association levels by local chapter members, encourages participation at the advanced levels of certification and raising the bar for general professionalism among our membership. The Annual Honors are comprised of three named awards and a list of chapter honors.

The chapter's highest honor, The Keller Award for Chapter Service, will be presented to a member for extensive and outstanding commitment and contribution to the growth and reputation of the Florida Sunshine Chapter and to expanding the value of chapter participation to its members. The award is named in honor of charter chapter member Chuck Keller, CF APMP Fellow.

The Stourac Award for Chapter Outreach recognizes a member for significant contributions to the international APMP organization through outstanding service, volunteering, and mentoring within APMP raising the visibility of the Florida Sunshine Chapter within the association and the business community at large. The award is named in honor of charter chapter member, past chapter president, long time Southern Proposal Accents Conference (SPAC) committee chair, and advocate Amy Stourac, CF APMP.

The Mentor of the Year award will be presented to a member who has demonstrated significant contributions to the chapter membership through certification and professional mentoring to members of the chapter, in turn raising the professionalism of the membership.

The Professional Development Honors List will include members who have demonstrated a commitment to raising the standard of continuous individual professional development through significant professional or academic achievements. Attainment of APMP Practitioner or Professional Certifications, certifications in ancillary fields (PMP, CFCM, etc.) and successful completion of advanced academic study are available for recognition. Presentations to chapters, regional or international conferences and publications accepted by the APMP journal are also recognizable through the Honors List.

Nominations will be accepted through October 31. The next awards will be made in December 2022.

Please be sure your contact information and certification status are current in the APMP Membership database.

Why is the chapter initiating this program?
We're proud of our membership and feel there are members who deserve to be recognized; not just by our fellow members, but by their executive management, by the association and by the business community at large. When you are recognized, your name won't just be placed on a list and you won't just be receiving another certificate. We will be writing your designated executive management to thank and congratulate them for supporting you, your name will be published as part of a wide-reaching press release and we hope to have APMP share our winning membership with the rest of the association at Bid & Proposal Con. We also hope this will encourage you to continue on your professional development track — to achieve the next level of certification. We want to set a bar for the other chapters to strive toward.

Do I have to nominate myself to be listed on the Chapter Honors List?
No. Honor List recipients will not go through a formal nomination process but we do need you to keep your contact information, including your certification status, current on the APMP website. We will need to get specific contact information from you before December in order to complete our Honors List so you will be hearing from us between now and the first of December.

Why are Foundation Level Certifications not included in the Honors List?
This was a tough decision, but the chapter board determined that completing the Foundation Level certification examination is a keystone professional step and therefore is not eligible for recognition under this award. We are considering other ways to recognize our Foundation certified members, so be on the lookout.

Why are we recognizing certain other non-APMP certifications?
Certifications like the Project Management Professional and the Certified Federal Contract Manager are closely tied to the work we do as Proposal professionals. Attaining these certifications shows "above and beyond" significant additional commitment to the continuous professional development of our members and our profession.

I won't be getting my CP or CPP until after the end of the nomination period but before the end of the year. Do I miss out?
No. If you don't make the cutoff for the Honor's List this year, you'll be included in the following year's list. In fact this year's list is quite long because we're recognizing all our existing members with advanced certifications earned to date.

We're a virtual chapter and I don't know that many other members or what they've done. Can I nominate myself for one of the named awards?
Certainly, although we hope you will make an effort to reach out, get to know your fellow members and consider nominating someone else in addition to your self-nomination.