SUSAN M. TAYLOR - HELPFUL ADVICE FOR VETERANS GETTING BACK INTO BUSINESS

Susan M. Taylor has been promoting small business growth for a long time, and she appreciates the hard work many small business owners put into their entrepreneurial endeavors. Running a business is not easy, and especially for owners who are members of the United States Armed Forces. Many individuals who serve in the armed forces and run businesses have to find a balance between the business and their commitment to serving. Even though members of the National Guard and Reserve might find it a bit easy, the events of 9/11 have made deployments both home and abroad more frequent for members of these two units.

When you are coming back from active tour and want to get back to business, it can sometimes feel like you are starting again. The concerns and decisions you made at the beginning have to be addressed when you get back, particularly if you decided to close shop while you served the country. In many cases, serving your country meant sacrificing the business for a while. As you attempt to resume operations, there are challenges to be expected.

At this time, there are various resources you can lean on the help guide the process. The Small Business Administration, through its website, has lots of material that can help you learn how to resume operations, including a checklist that you can follow immediately when you return from active duty. The Veterans Business Outreach Program (VBOP), under the SBA, also provides entrepreneurial training and mentoring to veterans who wish to run small businesses.

Susan M. Taylor likes to promote veteran-owned small businesses to bid for government contracts, having worked as Deputy Chief Procurement Officer at the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration.

SUSAN M. TAYLOR - THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS

In an increasingly competitive business environment, it is important that a business have effective leaders to show the way. Such leaders must be able to communicate effectively and motivate the team to achieve the organizational goals.

In her years of experience working in senior leadership at various government agencies, Susan M. Taylor knows that effective leaders can provide many benefits to an organization. The lack of good leaders can slow the growth of a company, and employees might lack direction and motivation to succeed. Good leaders set a vision and communicate it to employees.

Traditionally, leadership was focused on ensuring the organization delivered on time. However, with a changing business landscape, leaders have to ensure their businesses are agile, strong and dynamic to handle challenges. Businesses that adapt to shifts have strong leaders at the helm; people who stay on top of industry changes and are emotionally intelligent.

Good leaders know the importance of delegation. They identify the strengths of each employee and make full use of the talent in the building. Leaders are not expected to know everything, but rather know how to surround themselves with the right people for every role.

In order to lead their organizations to the promised land, top leaders in the organization may have to embody various roles. It’s often necessary to be involved in various capacities so that the leader can monitor progress. A good leader brings the best out of the workforce while motivating them to achieve their personal goals.

Susan M. Taylor is an accomplished professional with nearly three decades of experience in procurement. She’s previously worked at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), where her work was recognized with 5 major awards and performance bonuses.

Susan M. Taylor – Member Notre Dame Alumni Club

Susan M. Taylor – Member Notre Dame Alumni Club: Susan M. Taylor is a procurement expert who has spent 22 years in senior leadership roles as a procurement advisor to various agencies in federal government, including the Department of Defense. She has shown excellent leadership skills and uncanny ability to retain the procurement workforce by encouraging employees to seek higher education and thus create opportunities for upward mobility. She also provides her staff with regular training programs to provide them with opportunities for growth.

SUSAN M. TAYLOR - BEST PRACTICES IN MANAGING CONTRACTS

Effective contract management is crucial for companies that seek to maintain a competitive advantage in all areas of their operations. Organizations that have established a solid contract management framework are able to save millions of dollars and gain an advantage over their competition. Susan M. Taylor, an experienced executive, knows that good contract management practices are essential to the success of a business.

Good contract management works to ensure that the customer is satisfied with the commodity being procured. One way to ensure customers are happy is to gain their input through satisfaction surveys. These surveys help to capture the performance of the contractor and notify them when client expectations are not being met. Additionally, procurement officials and advisors can use the information to improve on future contract management.

Disputes are common when two unique entities work together under a contract. To ensure disputes don't negatively affect the flow of supplies, both parties are encouraged to develop a success plan with the aid of a neutral facilitator. The facilitator helps the parties to identify the shared objectives and seek peaceful means to resolve any issues that might arise after the contract has been implemented. The process results in parties developing an agreement that lays out the roadmap for success.

It is equally important that procurement and finance officials involved in the process are aware of their roles and responsibilities. This helps to ensure that prompt payment is made and that individuals don’t overstep their mandate or abuse their positions, especially if large sums of finances are involved.
Susan M. Taylor has served in the Senior Executive Service (SES) as Deputy Chief Procurement Officer for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, leading 2,800 contracting officials nationwide in the award of billions of dollars in contracts annually to support veteran hospitals.

SUSAN M. TAYLOR - HOW TO GIVE A GOOD SPEECH

As a decorated senior executive in federal procurement and contracting, Susan M. Taylor is regularly invited to speak at conferences, forums and professional meetings nationwide. While it may come naturally for her to speak in front of large crowds, it takes a while to get used to giving good speeches. Professionals who aspire to be respected for their knowledge and skills can build a name for themselves by being good speakers.

Here’s how you can give inspirational speeches that leave everyone wanting to hear more.

Read from a script
Unless you can memorize everything you want to say, it’s a good idea to have a script to read from. Having a speech prepared enables you to stay on point and articulate the main issues clearly. And since you might not see any errors in your work, have a trusted friend, colleague or family member proofread your speech.

Short and simple

While you might want to elaborate on the key points in your speech, try not to go on and on about a particular subject. Prepare an interesting point that brings out the key theme and isn’t full of filler material.

Let your passion show

A lot of professionals would love to be in a position to address their peers on the big stage, so show you appreciate the opportunity by letting the audience see you are passionate about the subject. Sometimes, it doesn’t really matter what you say, but rather how you say it.

Susan M. Taylor is an executive leader in federal government procurement who works well with both acquisition and program management staff. She has 29 years of experience working in the federal government, 22 of which were in senior acquisition management positions in both DoD and civilian agencies.

The Evolution of the Department of Veterans Affairs

The Department of Veterans Affairs officially began in 1776. Created by the Continental Congress to provide pensions to soldiers in the Revolutionary War, the Department traces its roots back to the Plymouth Colony in 1636, and has provided American veterans with an ever-expanding package of benefits and health care services.

After the US Congress expanded and consolidated veterans’ services in 1924 and in 1928, President Herbert Hoover signed into law Executive Order 5398 in 1930 and promoted the Veterans Bureau to a federal administration. This created the Veterans Administration, which was an even more consolidated and expansive veterans’ benefits program. Smaller parts of the Veterans Bureau, such as the National Homes and the Pension Bureau, also joined the Administration. Brigadier General Frank T. Hines became the first Administrator of the modern Department of Veterans Affairs.

World War II brought many more soldiers to Veterans Affairs, with Congress passing laws providing veterans with more services, the most famous of which was the GI Bill, which allowed returning soldiers to attend college tuition-free and receive federal home loans. The VA administered the benefits from the GI Bill, signed into law on June 22, 1944. Scholars now argue that the GI Bill has affected the American way of life more than any law since the Homestead Act of 1862.

Susan M. Taylor is proud to be a part of the history of the Department of Veterans Affairs. She was the Deputy Chief Procurement Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, for four and a half years before she retired in November 2014.

How to Safely Store Your Civil War Artifacts

Creating a good environment to store your Civil War artifacts in is an important aspect of preserving your treasures. There are certain things that you need to be aware of when storing your artifacts because each artifact responds differently depending on the environment where it is kept. Paper and textile artifacts are especially sensitive to moisture and temperature changes. Paper and textile will physically respond to humidity and temperature change, thus affecting the condition and value of the artifact.

The wrong environmental conditions will have a negative effect on your artifact. Certain conditions may create harmful chemical reactions, encourage the growth of mold, and increase the activity and presence of insects in and around your artifacts. Visible signs of damage, including cockling, which is the distortion and rippling of paper, warping in book covers, for example, or foxing, which is when reddish-brown spots start to appear on textile and paper. Avoiding damages is simple.

There are a number of safe places to store your artifacts. You can store your artifacts under a bed as long as everything is kept covered and in a box. You could also store artifacts on high shelves in finished basements because finished basements have a more controlled temperature and humidity level. Do not use high shelves if they are placed alongside exterior concrete walls. If you have smaller boxes of artifacts, then you could keep those at the back of a bookshelf or in a closet that is built within interior walls.

Susan M. Taylor is a Civil War artifact and art collector.