Williams to keynote ninth annual Small Business Matchmaker

Keynote speaker George Williams is program manager of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) American Indian Procurement Technical Assistance Center (AIPTAC).

George Williams, program manager of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development (NCAIED) American Indian Procurement Technical Assistance Center (AIPTAC), will be the keynote speaker at the ninth annual Small Business Matchmaker on Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Jackson Center, 6001 Moquin Drive, Huntsville.

The event is hosted by The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), a specialty program of America’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network in Alabama. This event provides small businesses an opportunity to meet with over 60 representatives of federal, state and local government agencies and prime contractors. It begins at 7:15 a.m. with registration and breakfast, followed by the 8 a.m. keynote address and scheduled networking sessions beginning at 8:30 a.m. until noon.

Registration includes a continental breakfast buffet and snacks during session breaks.

Business Matchmaker sessions will begin after the address. The 12-minute sessions will provide small businesses the opportunity to discuss how they can meet the needs of agencies and prime contractors by providing detailed information concerning their capabilities during the event.

Williams will discuss the benefits of the U.S. Dept. of Defense’s 5 percent Indian Incentive Program. He has served as the manager of the highly successful Buy Native Procurement Matchmaking Expo at the National Center’s Reservation Economic Summit (RES) conferences since 2004, and has worked with hundreds of Native American businesses as well as procurement officials from the private and public sector from across the country.

A former employee of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in Marietta, Ga., Williams worked for over 16 years in the areas of procurement, subcontract management and aircraft manufacturing. He is a Level III Certified Contracting Assistance Specialist with the Association of Procurement Technical Assistance Centers (APTAC) and a Certified Supplier Diversity Professional with the Alliance of Supplier Diversity Professionals.

The UAH SBDC & PTAC serves Cullman, DeKalb, Jackson, Limestone, Madison, Marshall and Morgan counties. SBDCs are funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. For more information contact Magdaline.Braxton@uah.edu or call 256-824-6422.