Strategic Goals/Objectives
a Living Document as of: 31 December 2014
Note: NCS has recruited 57new Membersin 2014. At present, NCS has a total of 235Members. The makeup of the Membership is as follows:
MS&T Company 119
Government/Academia/Not-for-profit 28
Non-MS&T Company 41
Practitioners 38
Students 9
Total 235
Objective 1—Expand M&S Technology & Applications
- Support knowledge transfer
- Support collaboration
- Support diversification
6 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste presented a keynote address to a number of fire chiefs from across the U.S. The event was hosted by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). In addition to the presentation, NCS partnered with UCF/IST to showcase their fire fighters command & control simulation that was a prominent part of the partnership booth at I/ITSEC 2013.
9 Apr, Galeynn Mihelc, Performance Specialist at Valencia College invited Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste to tour the new Collaborative Design Center at the West Campus. The space is ideal for Companies/Organizations to conduct offsite strategic planning and team building sessions.
9 Apr, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste gave a presentation at a Modeling, Simulation & Training Industry Round Table event hosted by Valencia College, West Campus at their newly opened Collaborative Design Center. Valencia College is exploring the possibility of establishing a 4-year degree program in Simulation.
13 Apr, George Cheros gave a presentation at SpringSim 2014, a conference hosted by the Society for Modeling and Simulation International (SCS), at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. The purpose of the presentation was to highlight the benefits of collaboration between industry, government and academia. The history and accomplishments of Team Orlando were presented as a prime case study. The audience consisted of Modeling and Simulation professionals and academics from all over the world.
28 Apr, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste gave the keynote address to kick-off Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) Simulation Summit. This initiative was a result of OCPS SuperintendantBarbara Jenkins participation in the One Orlando Summit and visit to I/ITSEC 2013. She is interested in exploring ways to better leverage the MS&T Industry in Central Florida to further the education of Orange County students at both the Middle and High School levels.
6 Nov, George Cheros appeared at “It’s a high tech world” – a panel discussion with British Consul General David Prodger to discuss British American collaboration in Science, Technology and Research. Other panelists included Dr. Thomas O’Neal, UCF Office of Research & Commercialization; Richard Daley, Founder, Pentaho Corporation; Aziz Patel, Founder/COO, Freshorize; Dr. Jonathan Kibble, Assistant Dean, UCF College of Medicine; Michael Schiffhauer, VP International Trade, EFI. The event was held at the Lewis Auditorium at UCF’s School of Medicine at Lake Nona.
Objective 2—Support M&S Education, Awareness & Public Policy Development
- Support education/academic programs
- Communication & outreach
- Participate in Government affairs
- Sponsor events, conferences & meetings
17 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste, George Cheros and several other community leaders met with Congressman John Mica to discuss 2014 legislative priorities in support of the MS&T cluster in Central Florida. Other participants included:
Dr. Dan Holsenbeck, VP University Relations, UCF
BG (Ret) Steven Seay, Seay Business Solutions, LLC
Jim Craig, VP Lockheed Martin
Michael Macedonia, UCF
Waymon Armstrong, President/CEO Engineering Computer Simulations (ECS)
Shari Sandifer, Chair Orlando, Inc.
CAPT (Ret) Bill Reuter, R-Squared Solutions, LLC
Mary Trier, President/CEO Capital Communications
21 Jan, NCS hosted a round table event in partnership with alliantgroup focused on R&D tax credits. Those tax credits may not be extended in 2014 so NCS Member companies should be aware of credits they may qualify for in 2013 and also in prior years.
21 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in the Orange County Mayor’s Economic Summit.
21 Jan, the Orlando Sentinel carried a front page article written by Richard Burnett that addressed the threat of future rounds of BRAC and community efforts to solve the Team Orlando office space shortfall in the Research Park. Reliance on 200,000 sq ft of leased office spaceremains Team Orlando’s most critical BRAC vulnerability.
23 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste attended a Tiger Bay Club luncheon event focused on the political climate in Florida as we move into 2014.
27 Jan, Paul Owens, Orlando Sentinel Opinion editor asked for an interview with Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste to follow up on the Orlando Sentinel front page article written by Richard Burnett and released on Tuesday, 21 Jan 2014. The article was published on 3 Feb and was supportive of community efforts to approach the Legislature with a funding request to acquire additional office space to eliminate Team Orlando’s most critical BRAC vulnerability and set the stage for additional MS&T Industry growth in Central Florida.
28 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with Tommy Boroughs, Chris Brockman, and Glenn Adams from Holland & Knight, Attorneys at Law. This is follow-up to Gen (Ret) Baptiste’s BRAC brief to the Central Florida Bar Association. Holland & Knight are not members of NCS but are showing an interest to learn more about the Industry and our community BRAC mitigation efforts. Holland & Knight has since joined NCS.
28 Jan, Mike Hodge from Cisco travelled from VA to meet with Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros. Cisco considers the simulation industry a prime target for their IT solutions and wants to understand better what NCS does in support of the MS&T Membership. Paul Forsberg, the local Cisco representative also attended the meeting and Cisco has since joined NCS.
29 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with Phil Turner from Windstream, the 4th largest telecommunications company in America. Phil was a referral from Col (Ret) David Smith and was interested to learn more about the MS&T Industry in Central Florida with an eye toward possible Membership.
30 Jan, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in a panel discussion at the Citrus Club hosted by the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). The panel was focused on prominent & emerging industries in Central Florida.Leaders from Construction (Beatty, Balfour), Tourism & Hospitality (Nassal Company) and MS&T (NCS) participated.
3 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in the Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) Conference Call which brought together the three Co-chairs President John Hitt, UCF; President Bernie Machen, UF; and President Judy Genshaft, USF for a number of issue updates. Gen (Ret) Baptiste provided a brief description of the MS&T Industry cluster, its economic impact across the High Tech Corridor and the challenges posed by potential future rounds of BRAC.
4 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste met with Brandon Hueber, an Attorney with GreenbergTaurig. Prior to completing his law degree, Brandon was an advance trip planner for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and later Secretary Gates. With that DoD experience, he is interested in knowing more about NCS, the MS&T Industry and other Defense Industry activity in Central Florida. He is also interested in potential NCS Membership for the Law Firm.
4 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with Eric Ushkowitz and others from the Orange County Mayor’s office staff. The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the value of Mayor Jacobs attending a portion of ITEC 2014
(20 – 22 May 2014). The Mayor is considering a trip to the Netherlands during that same time frame and would consider also attempting to stop by ITEC in Germany.
5 Feb, NCS in partnership with Edwards Financial Services hosted a round table event focused on an economic outlook for 2014. Jason Edwards, Chief Economist and Managing Partner discussed his predictions for both the domestic and international markets.
5 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste attended a joint Board of Directors meeting of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority and the Canaveral Port Authority. This was a historic first for the two Boards to meet and discuss issues jointly.
10 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in the M&S Leadership Caucus in Virginia Beach, VA. Congressman Randy Forbes, VA and Congressman Bobby Scott, VAjoined members from the MS&T Industry. Gen (Ret) Baptiste also moderated a panel of lobbyists who discussed how to work issues on Capitol Hill.
11 Feb, George Cheros spoke in support of Space Florida at the FAA Scoping Meeting in New Smyrna Beach. The purpose of the Scoping Meeting was for FAA to gather inputs to prepare the Shiloh Environmental Impact Statement. The FAA representatives stated that the crowd of over 500 concerned citizens was the largest crowd at any of the Scoping Meetings being held across the country for private space launch facility analysis. George appeared on behalf of NCS and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council and spoke of the potential economic impact of developing the proposed site.
11 Feb, while in D.C., Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste had a follow-up meeting with Cisco Executives. Cindy DeCarlo and Mike Hodge were interested in finding ways for NCS to assist them with access to the MS&T Industry in Central Florida. Cisco has recently joined NCS and Gen (Ret) Baptiste outlined a number of ways for them to plug into Team Orlando and Industry customers in Central Florida.
11-13 Feb, Congressman John Mica organized meetings for Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste, NCS; BG (Ret) Steve Seay, Seay Business Solutions; and Waymon Armstrong, ECS to speak with Industry and a number of Members and staffers in the House and the Senate.
Offices/Individuals engaged included:
Ryan Crumpler, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Staffer
Senator Bill Nelson, Cathy Haverstock, Military Legislative Assistant and
Amanda Figueroa, Defense Fellow
Congressman Rodney Frelinghausen, Vice Chairman HASC
Congressman Mike Turner, Member HASC, and one of his staff
Congressman Mike McCaul, Lynn McCormack, Legislative Fellow
Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, Ryan Canfield, Senior Legislative Assistant
Congressman Rich Nugent, Barry Smith, Military Legislative Assistant
Due to the severe winter storm that hit the East Coast on Wed, 12 Feb, appointments with Senator Rubio, Congressman Bridenstine, HASC and their staffers scheduled for Thurs, 13 Feb had to be cancelled.
18 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with Bill Mitchell, CEO at ETC. A referral from John Danielle, he is interested to know more about NCS with an eye toward Membership. He is also interested in participating in a future NCS-Team Orlando Industry Capability Day.
18 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with CAPT Wes Naylor, XO @ NAWC TSD. He is engaging Industry leaders to examine ways to improve communications with the Navy Command.
19 Feb, Lt Gen Burt Field, A3/5, USAF visited the Research Park for a Team Orlando brief and round table discussion with Government/Academia/ Industry leaders. His visit was on the margins of the AFA Symposium held annually in Orlando.
20 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste attended a Tiger Bay Club luncheon featuring Congressman Tom Rooney, House Armed Services Committee.
20 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with COL (Ret) Mike Flanagan and other CACI Executives. A new NCS Member, COL (Ret) Flanagan wants out of town CACI Executives to understand more about how NCS supports the MS&T Industry in Central Florida.
21 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste provided an update to the Congress of Regional Leaders on actions taken by the MODTF and the MS&T Blue Ribbon Commission since the Leaders’ last quarterly meeting.
24 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in a Business Force Insider’s luncheon event featuring Congressman Dan Webster.
24 Feb, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros visited the ETC facility on Alafaya Trail to view their Advanced Disaster Management Simulator. ETC has indicated they plan to join NCS and would be a perfect site to take an Executive Vice President for Support Services and Chief Industrial Engineer from Disney West who plan to visit UCF/IST and NCS during the week of 3 Mar. Disney is interested to learn more about the Simulation cluster in Central Florida and see examples of simulation for training they may be able to leverage for training employees in their theme parks.
26 Feb, Jacob Stewart, President/CEO Central Florida Partnership asked Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste to participate in a Regional Fellowship Luncheon with other selected civic leaders. This provided an opportunity to make a broad cross section of community leaders more aware of the M&S Industry and the challenges we face with BRAC on the horizon. Participants included:
Anthony T. Coley, Host and Regional President BB&T
Andrae Bailey, Central Florida Commission on Homelessness
Aaron Gorovitz, Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A.
Ava L. Parker, Florida Polytechnic University
Debbie Harvey, Ron Jon Surf Shop
Chris Rolle, Jr., BB&T
Laura M. Boisvert, Duke Energy
Michael Kidd, Orlando REGIONAL Realtor Association
Jacob Stuart, Central Florida Partnership
Mark R. Freid, Think Creative, Inc.
Scott Merrit, Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando
Mark P. Wylie, Association Builders & Contractors, Inc.
26 Feb, George Cheros represented NCS and the MS&T industry at the Manufacturing Executive Roundtable Meeting hosted by the United States Department of Commerce Manufacturing Council’s Innovation Subcommittee. The Manufacturing Council serves as the principal private sector advisory committee to Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker, on the United States manufacturing sector. The Manufacturing Council is charged with ensuring regular communication between the federal government and the manufacturing sector, advising the Secretary of Commerce on government policies and programs that affect United States manufacturing.
4 Mar, C.T. Hsu, President/CEO, C.T. Hsu & Associates, P.A. hosted a Round Table discussion with Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and Randy Berridge, President/CEO, FHTCC to discuss the possibility of hosting the Taiwan Defense Minister here in Orlando. The objective would be to showcase high tech opportunity in Central Florida to include the MS&T cluster.
7 Mar, NCS partnered with SunTrust Bank, Holland & Knight, P.A. and McGladrey to host an event with Industry focused on economic projections for the simulation industry in the current budget environment. Panelists also covered R&D tax credit opportunities and company valuation methodologies for companies interested in selling and/or acquiring equity.
11 Mar, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and Jim Shifflet, Leidos met with Congressman Mica to discuss a concept for Army Mission Command simulations. The idea would be to embed the simulation in the Army’s Mission Command System which would allow commanders to run “what if” simulations while deployed and conducting operations. The value would be to run a number of different scenarios through the simulation before Mission Type Orders are sent to subordinate units conducting training or real world combat operations. Next steps will be to draft language for inclusion in the FY15 National Defense Authorization and Appropriation Bills and provide the Congressman with talking points to engage selected leadership in the Army and OSD. There already exists a Joint Requirements Oversight Committee (JROC) requirement for such a simulation capability but it has not yet reached the appropriate level of priority across the Army.
11 Mar, George Cheros attended an Open House at the new Carley building in the Research Park.
12 Mar, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste was the guest speaker at the March Navy League Luncheon event. His remarks covered the status of the MS&T Industry in the current tough budget environment and what the MODTF is doing to mitigate the threat to NSA Orlando of future rounds of BRAC.
13 Mar, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste participated in the Central Florida Partnership hosted Regional Leadership Forum. The purpose of the event was to review progress on a number of Regional priorities to include efforts to protect, grow and enhance the MS&T Industry in Central Florida.
19 Mar, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste presented the keynote address at the East Orlando Chamber luncheon event.
20 Mar, Lt Gen (ret) Baptiste met with Jeff Decker, a Partner with the Baker Hostetler Law Firm to discuss the Baker-Hostetler, Central Florida Partnership “Trip to D.C.”. Baker Hostetler is the event sponsor for the planned civic leader trip to D.C. on 7-8 May 2014. The focus of the entire trip is the MS&T cluster in Central Florida, its importance to a more diversified Florida economy and the threat posed by future rounds of BRAC.
21 Mar, Lt Gen (Ret) Baptiste and George Cheros met with individuals from UCF, the Central Florida Research Park and Cushman & Wakefield to review a range of options to solve the Team Orlando office space shortfall in the Research Park. The objective was to arrive at a consensus way ahead in anticipation of an appropriation from the Florida Legislature to begin acquisition of additional infrastructure.