About UPPCC

UPPCC Board of Examiners (BOE) Members

The responsibility of the UPPCC Board of Examiners is to collectively provide expertise for the consistent development of the UPPCC certification examinations and provide expertise in the evaluation of and decisions on matters relating to certification, recertification and revocation.

The BOE is composed of 18 total members split into two sub-committees, the CPPO Team and the CPPB Team led by the Chairman of the full BOE. The Chairman serves a dual role on the BOE as both a member of the BOE - CPPO Team and as Chairman of the BOE. The CPPO Team is responsible for test development activities relating only to the CPPO program only while the CPPB Team is reponsible for test development activities relating only to the CPPB program. CPPO Team members must at minimum be currently certified as a CPPO and CPPB Team members must at minimum be currently certified as a CPPB.

Each sub-committee is composed of 9 members; 2 members each recommended by NIGP and NASPO and appointed by the UPPCC Governing Board. Additional sub-committee members include one recommended member from each of the following collegial organizations and appointed by the UPPCC Governing Board; California Association of Public Purchasing Officers (CAPPO), Florida Association of Public Purchasing Officers (FAPPO), National Association for Educational Procurement (NAEP), and National Procurement Institute (NPI). One additional member representing the Canadian Federal Government is appointed by the Governing Council.

UPPCC Board of Examiner (BOE) members serve three-year terms and can serve a maximum of 3 consecutive terms. If you are currently UPPCC certified and want to review the service qualifications, please review the UPPCC Board of Examiners Position Description and the UPPCC Conflict of Interest & Confidentiality Statement for an in-depth description of this rewarding volunteer role and its various responsibilities. If you meet the qualifications and are sincerely passionate about promoting and enhancing your profession, please contact the current UPPCC Governing Board Chairman or the chief executive officer of the organization for which you are interested.

2010 UPPCC Board of Examiners (BOE) Members

Chair

Denise K. Finn, CPPO, C.P.M., CPPB
Associate Director, Purchasing Division
University of Kentucky
E-mail: denise.finn@uky.edu
Representing: NAEP
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 1st Term as Chair: 2010-2012
Serving 2nd Term as a Member: 2010-2012

Denise has over sixteen years purchasing experience in both the public and private sector, beginning her career as a raw materials buyer at ICI Superior Explosives. She is currently the Associate Director, Purchasing Division for the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky. Previously Denise served as the Director of Procurement and Contract Management for Yavapai Community College in Prescott, Arizona.

Denise has been actively involved in both local and national public purchasing associations; having chaired the Professional Development Committee and the Membership Committee for NAEP, served as a Director Elect on the NPI BOD, and was a founding member of the Grand Canyon Chapter of NIGP where she then served as both VP and President. Denise received a Business Administration/Accounting Degree from Cambrian College in Sudbury, Ontario Canada and earned the designations of A.P.P. and C.P.M. from ISM and the CPPB and CPPO from UPPCC.

Denise is honored to represent NAEP on the UPPCC Board of Examiners and have an opportunity to be part of the success of the UPPCC certification programs.

 

Members

Brenda Thielen Willard, CPPO, CPPB
Acquisitions Manager
State of Minnesota
E-mail: brenda.willard@state.mn.us
Representing: NASPO
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2008-2010

Brenda Thielen Willard is the Acquisitions Manager, Assistant Director for the State of Minnesota, Dept. of Administration, Materials Management Division. She has a BA in Business Management from Bethel University. She has work in purchasing for more than 27 years (20 years in the public sector and seven years in the private sector). She is responsible for managing the Purchase of goods, non-professional technical services, and construction.

She has been an active participant in NIGP and has served NIGP in many areas, including: Board Member, Vice President, President, Past President, and has served on several NIGP committees. She has also served as a Master NIGP Instructor.

Jane T. Benton, CPPO
Administrator
Arkansas Office of State Procurement
E-mail: jane.benton@dfa.arkansas.gov
Representing: NASPO
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

David Kinney, Sr., CPPO
Supervisor, Procurement Unit
State of New Jersey
E-mail: dk1047@mail2dave.com
Representing: NASPO
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 3rd Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

 

Gail Carter, CPPB
State Procurement Analyst
State Procurement Office
Oregon Deptartment of Administrative Services, State Svs Div
E-mail: gail.l.carter@state.or.us
Representing: NASPO
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

 

Jill Klaskin Press, CPPO
Assistant to the Director
Miami Dade County Dept. of Procurement
E-mail: jillpress@aol.com
Representing: NIGP
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 2nd Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

After 21 years of private sector purchasing experience, Jill began her employment with Miami-Dade County and has worked in the Department of Procurement Management (DPM) for the past 23 years, serving as Assistant to the Director for most of her career.

She been an active participant in NIGP at both the Chapter and National levels since 1985 and was a founding member of the Greater Miami Chapter of NIGP and served as its President from 1996 to 1999 and as Immediate Past President from 2000 to 2004.

She has been instrumental in assisting DPM with receiving national recognition as the winner of several achievement awards from NACO, NPI and the NIGP Agency Accreditation, and most recently in 2006, the prestigious National Institute of Governmental Purchasing Pareto Award.

Over the years she has been appointed by the Miami Dade County Board of County Commissioners to serve on 4 different County Advisory Boards and has been active in the Miami community, serving by appointment, as an investigating member of a Grievance Committee for the Florida Bar Association from 2001 to 2004, and in 2005 she was appointed to a 3 year term by the Florida Supreme Court to serve on the Unlicensed Practice of Law Committee. She is a Board member for the American Heart Association; a member of the Board for Miami-Dade County's International Trade Consortium and has served on the Executive Board for Miami Douglas Gardens Nursing Home since 2000.

Her personal commitment to public procurement and dedication to the advancement of professionalism in the procurement arena has been strengthened by her appointment to the UPPCC Board of Examiners.

 

Denise "Deni" Baumer, CPPB, C.P.M.
Purchasing Manager
Delta Diablo Sanitation District
E-mail: dennib@ddsd.org
Representing: NIGP
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

 

John G. "Jack" Adger, CPPO, CPPB
Supervisor of Purchasing
Bossier Parish Schools
E-mail: jack.adger@bossierschools.org
Representing: NIGP
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

Jack is currently the Supervisor of Purchasing for Bossier Parish Schools in Louisiana. He is a 1984 graduate of Louisiana State University in Shreveport and has over 25 years experience in the Materials Management field. Prior to his current position, Jack served as the Purchasing Manager for the Caddo Parish Commission in Shreveport, La. He has attained both the Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) and the Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO) credentials from the UPPCC. Jack is a Past President of the North Louisiana Chapter of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP). He is currently the Vice Chairman of the NIGP Forum and Products Exposition Committee and is honored to serve on the UPPCC Board of Examiners. Jack and his wife, Sis, have three children and live on a small farm in northwest Louisiana.

Carmela Thornton, CPPO, CPPB
Assistant Director
Office of Administration
Division of Purchasing & Materials Mgmt
E-mail: carmela.thornton@oa.mo.gov
Representing: NIGP
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2011-2013

Carmela has over fifteen years purchasing experience in the public sector, beginning her career as a service buyer with the State of MO Purchasing. She is currently the Assistant Director, with the State of MO-Division of Purchasing and Materials Management.  Previously, Carmela served as the Assistant Bureau Chief for the Department of Health in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Carmela has been actively involved in both local and national public purchasing associations; having served as a board member on NIGP Board of Directors and as President of the Missouri Association of Public Purchasing, Inc. her local NIGP chapter.   Carmela received a B.S. degree in Marketing and MBA degree in Business Management from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO.

Carmela is honored to represent NIGP on the UPPCC Board of Examiners and have an opportunity to be part of the success of the UPPCC certification programs.

Dan Marran, CPPO, C.P.M.
Purchasing Manager
City of Sparks
E-mail: dmarran@cityofsparks.us
Representing: CAPPO
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 2nd Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

Dan Marran is the Purchasing Manager for the City of Sparks, NV, a full service City of more than 80,000 in Northern Nevada. Dan holds a BA from California State University, Northridge. He has ten years of public purchasing experience in municipal agencies in NV and CA as well as public school experience in a K-12 school district. He earned his C.P.M. in May of 2000 and his CPPO in January of 2007. Prior to his work in public procurement, he worked in private industry as a logistics and operations manager in the wholesale auto parts industry.

During his public procurement career, Dan has become a strong advocate for taking a new approach to customer service in government procurement. He has had the opportunity to speak on this and other subjects at conference events sponsored by the California Association of Public Purchasing Officers (CAPPO), the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO) and the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP).

Dan has been an active member of the California Association of Public Purchasing Officers (CAPPO) for 9 years and has served in various roles including Chapter Chair, Conference Committee Member and Board Member of the organization. Dan is proud to serve as CAPPO's designated representative to the UPPCC.

Colin P. Dawson, CPPB
Retired
Formerly with City of El Cajon
E-mail: colin@charter.net
Representing: CAPPO
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

Prior to his retirement in 2009, Colin Dawson was the Purchasing Agent for the City of El Cajon, California. Colin has over 36 years of government purchasing experience, including school, college, and municipal levels of government. Additionally, he worked for two years at a national hardware retailer as an internal systems auditor, with responsibility for evaluating and developing new procedures to streamline the purchasing and accounts payable operations of the corporation, to ensure correct vendor payments and higher profits.

Colin is a past member of NAPM (now called ISM), the California Association of Hospital Purchasing Agents (CAHPA) and the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO). He is a current member of the California Association of Public Purchasing Officers (CAPPO) and the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing (NIGP). He was a founding member of the North County Educational Purchasing Consortium (NCEPC). Between NCEPC, CASBO and CAPPO he has served as Vendor Show Chair for five conferences. His agency has been awarded the AEP in each of the past three years.

 

Wendy Geltch, CPPO, CPPB
Director of Purchasing
Polk State College
E-mail: wgeltch@polk.edu
Representing: FAPPO
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

Wendy earned her bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Human Resource Management from Barry University. She also has an associate's degree in Business Administration from PBCC. She graduated from Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska.

She holds seven professional procurement certifications; CPPO, CPPB, Lifetime C.P.M., Lifetime A.P.P., FCCM, FCPM and FCPA. She has instructed numerous procurement, contract administration, and certification seminars for FAPPO and as a Master Instructor for NIGP, in addition to presenting sessions at numerous annual conferences.

Wendy is also an active member of NIGP, FAPPO, NAEP, ISM, NPI, and is the current President of NAEP-Florida Region. She is the Immediate Past-President of the Cooperative of Purchasing Professionals (COPP -- comprised of the purchasing officials representing the 28 Florida community colleges). Wendy was the Charter President of the award-winning Mid-Florida Chapter of NIGP (2005-2006) and served FAPPO as President in 1993-1994, after "going through the chairs" for three years as Treasurer, Secretary, and Vice President.

Wendy received the Distinguished Service Award from FAPPO in 2001. Under Wendy's leadership, Polk State College earned NPI's Achievement of Excellence in Procurement for the past eight years. Additionally, she was selected as COPP's "Member of the Year" for 2009.

Wendy began her career in purchasing in 1975 working in the Purchasing Department for the Alaska Pipeline (Alyeska Pipeline Service Company). She previously was the Purchasing Manager for Seminole County and the Contract Manager for the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County. She currently holds the position of Director of Purchasing/Risk Manager for Polk State College.

 

Sally Long, CPPO, CPPB, FCCM
Purchasing Manager
Southwest Florida Interternational Airport
E-mail: sblong@flylcpa.com
Representing: FAPPO
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012 (began: 8/2009)

Sally Long is responsible for directing all Port Authority purchasing activities for Southwest Florida International Airport and Page Field General Aviation Airport.  She received her bachelor's degree in Business Management from Hodges University. She has attained the Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO), the Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) and the Florida Certified Contractor Manager (CPPB) credentials from the UPPCC and the State of Florida. Sally has a 20+ year background in governmental procurement and purchasing experience.  Prior to her position at the Port Authority, she served as the contracts manager for the City of Fort Myers.  She also worked as the Purchasing Director at G. Pierce Wood Memorial Hospital in Florida.

She is a current member of NIGP, FAPPO, the Airport Purchasing Group and GCAGPO. 

Alan Phillips, CPPB, CTPM
Director of Materials Management
Texas Southern University
E-mail: PhillipsA@TSU.EDU
Representing: NAEP
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

 

Pamela Kirkland, CPPO, CPPB
Purchasing Manager
City of Richardson
E-mail: pam.kirkland@cor.gov
Representing: NPI
Team Appointment: CPPO
Serving 2nd Term as a Member: 2010 - 2012

Pam's interest in municipal government began as she was hired as secretary to the City Attorney for the City of Sherman, Texas soon after graduation from college. From 1980 to 1984, she was employed by The University of Texas at Dallas in the Purchasing Department as Senior Buyer and after a short stint in the private sector as a sales representative for a small electronics firm in Dallas, Texas she began her career with the City of Richardson in 1985. Pam was hired as Senior Buyer and in November 1994 she was promoted to Assistant Purchasing Agent and in November 1996 was appointed to her current position as Purchasing Manager.

Pam is active in various local, state and national purchasing organizations. She is the immediate Past President of the National Purchasing Institute and has been an active participant in the state legislative process through her past presidency of the Texas Purchasing Management Association (now the Texas Public Purchasing Association), and through her board of director's position on the Texas Municipal League. She is a charter member and Past President of the Public Purchasing Association of North Central Texas and served on the Board of Directors for the North Texas Regional Certification Agency and former member of the Advisory Council of the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governments. Active memberships include the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, DFW Metroplex Chapter of NIGP, the Collin & Tarrant County Governmental Purchasing Programs.

Pam is a strong proponent of professional development and received the Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) certification in November of 1994 and the Certified Public Purchasing Officer (CPPO) certification in 1998. Other accomplishments include the "Member of the Year" in 1991 and 2000 for the Public Purchasing Association of North Central Texas and "Membership Activities Person of the Year" from the National Association of Purchasing Management in 2001. Pam also is a 2005 graduate of Leadership Richardson.

Pam is a graduate of Van Alstyne High School, Grayson County Junior College and Texas A & M - Commerce with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She has a nineteen-year-old daughter, Lindsey, who is a sophomore at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Pam has lived in Richardson for the past twenty-four years and enjoys gardening, cooking and all that is good in life.

 

Mark Neihart, CPPB
Director of Purchasing
City of Tucson
E-mail: mark.neihart@tucsonaz.gov
Representing: NPI
Team Appointment: CPPB
Serving 1st Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

Mark A. Neihart currently serves as the Director of Procurement for the City of Tucson, Arizona. Mark has over 20 years of government procurement experience at the City of Tucson and the State of Arizona. Prior to this, he held professional positions at Motorola, Ernst & Young and Bank of America. Mark is a Lifetime Certified Purchasing Manager, a Certified Professional Public Buyer, a Certified Public Manager, a Lifetime Certified Accredited Purchasing Practitioner and holds degrees from the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. Mark has served multiple years as a Board Director for the National Purchasing Institute, as well as on the Institute's Finance, Membership and Nominating Committees. He currently serves on the Institute's Executive Committee as Second Vice President. In his personal life, he has been married for 23 years to Susan, has two children ages 16 and 13, is a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and enjoys riding his motorcycles, alpine skiing and fitness training.

 

International Advisors

Ms. Elene Fromanger, CPPO, CPPB
Senior Advisor
Treasury Board of Canada, Secretariat
Procurement, Materiel Management and Real Property Comunity Management Office |
E-mail: Elene.Fromanger@tbs-sct.gc.ca
Representing: Canadian Federal Government
Team Assignment: CPPO/CPPB
Serving 2nd Term as a Member: 2008 - 2010

Elene Fromanger was recently appointed the Senior Advisor in the Procurement Materiel Management and Real Property Community Office in the Treasury Board Secretariat after working in the Acquisitions Branch of Public Works Government Services Canada for the second time in her career. Prior to her return to the federal government Elene worked with the City of Winnipeg and served as the Director of Purchasing for the Province of Saskatchewan. Her career has taken her across Canada working in administration, materiel, and purchasing for three levels of government.

Elene, a Certified Professional Public Buyer and a Certified Public Purchasing Officer, has served as the International Advisor to the Board of Examiners with the Universal Public Purchasing Certification Council (UPPCC) since 2004. She serves as the Professional Development Chair on the board of the Materiel Management Institute of Canada. She has also been an active member of the Purchasing Management Association of Canada in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan and remains an active member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasers since 1993.

Elene played a very active role in the development of the new Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) Standard on the Competency of the Federal Procurement and Materiel Management Community and the accompanying Certification program and serves on its Review Panel.

As a trainer with the Canadian federal government and NIGP and as a text reviewer for NIGP's new educational program she provided input in the development and delivery of a number of their new courses leading to the first degree program in Public Procurement in North America. She has also worked with the UPPCC to update the Body of Knowledge for public procurement professionals and the enhancement of their certification program to achieve internationally recognized third party ANSI (American National Standards Institute) accreditation.