Hello AZNIGP Members-
It’s not only the weather that’s heating up – your AZNIGP Chapter is burning hot as we hit the month of May in full stride and in perfect rhythm. We are planning two exciting Live-Action events this month. The first is our 14th Annual Reverse Vendor Trade Show (RVTS) on May 12th at ASU West. A huge thank you to the over 30 public entities who signed up to attend and support this effort. This event would not be possible without your involvement. In addition to creating a venue where we can honor and celebrate the vital partnership we have with our supplier community, this event is one of our Chapter’s key revenue streams, helping fund professional development opportunities and scholarships throughout the year.
As the second largest event our Chapter conducts outside of the Regional Conference, the RVTS continues to grow in both scale and impact. And this year, under the leadership of Danielle Hartke and Victoria Wride and their dedicated committee, the bar has been raised yet again on this nationally recognized, signature Chapter event. With a fun travel theme and quality touches throughout including two carefully crafted educational break-out sessions, this year’s event will be a shining example of the exceptional, collaborative work delivered by our Chapter members.
The second Live-Action event is our Chapter Training Meeting held on May 19th at the ADOT Stack. Jeremiah Weiner and Heather Hodgman (Programs and Webinars Committee) have cooked up an amazing smorgasbord of intellectual treats. We are fortunate to have a presentation from three ASU professors who recently completed a two-year study on public procurement in Arizona. The report, titled Generating Value for the People of Arizona through Procurement led by Dr. Akheil Singla, includes insights from many of our state’s procurement leaders and culminates with 14 high-value recommendations. This report takes a comprehensive and scientific approach in evaluating the state of public procurement in Arizona. Please be sure to join us for this unique opportunity to gain insights and ideas as we learn what this report reveals about our profession. You do not want to miss this meeting!
I am also pleased to update you on our remaining Forum scholarships. We were not able to award four of our $1,000 Forum scholarships at our March Career Seminar, so we re-opened the application process resulting in the award of these remaining scholarships to the following members:
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Megan Adams, Department of Child Safety
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Bertha Arenas, Department of Child Safety
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Charles Born, Department of Health Services
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Haydee Melendez, Central Arizona Project
Congratulations to all of the above awardees. As a reminder, we maintain a separate budget to support general professional development scholarships that are not related to Forum. These scholarships can help pay for a wide array of professional development classes, seminars, certification preparation and testing, etc. Please contact Vice President
Diana Landeros for more information.
And good luck to the cadre of members who have been studying and preparing for their CPPB/CPPO/CPP testing. Special thanks to Maria Cerda, Central Arizona Project, for conducting these valuable work study sessions that have become an important factor in helping our members gain certification.
I also want to thank all of our members who participated in the recently conducted Pat’s Run in celebration of Pat Tillman’s sacrifice to our country. What a great way to honor and contribute to his everlasting legacy. Our Chapter is proud to be affiliated with this amazing foundation.
I hope some of our members took part in the recently held NIGP VCON. This is a conference that seems to sneak up on us every year and I admittedly have missed taking part, but I do not plan to miss it in the future. This conference is tailored for public procurement professionals, focusing on technology, AI automation, and cybersecurity. Now that’s some high value and timely content!
Finaly, I want to end by recognizing all of the members of our RVTS Committee who have been contributing their valuable time and energy over the past four months to make this a truly spectacular event:
Danielle Hartke, SPO, Victoria Wride, DCS; RaDeja Attaway, City of Tempe; Telma Bearden, CAP; Danielle Beasley, Valley Metro; Brian Garcia, City of Avondale; Melissa Gutierrez, DCS; Karie Ingles, CAP; Gwendelyn Irey, Maricopa County; Cecille Lewis, City of Tempe; Marisa Lucero, DCS; Bill Munch, VSIT; Elaine Ngai, City of Tempe; Alicia Ruiz, City of Tempe; Kim Truong, City of Tempe; and Adrianna Villela, Valley Metro.
I hope to see you at one or both of our Live-Action events scheduled this month. Take care everyone - keep doing great things for your organizations and communities and I will see you all soon… down one of those roads that leads to Procurement.
2026 AZNIGP President
Michael Greene, CPPO, C.P.M.