All Directors/Officers are APMP members in good standing and affiliated with the Greater Midwest Chapter of APMP. Our 2021 Greater Midwest Chapter’s Board of Directors are:
Chair | Andrea Dunger, CF APMP
Andrea is a Senior Associate, Proposal Development for Vizient, Inc., an Irving, TX-based Group Purchasing Organization (GPO). Prior to this, she served as Proposal Manager for MedAssets Performance Management Solutions, Inc., which was acquired by Vizient in February, 2016. In total, she has more than 12 years’ experience in proposal management and proposal development. Andrea’s positions within the GMC board have included Vice Chair, Events Chair (4 years), and Events Committee (2 years).
Andrea earned her B.S. in Business Management from Southeast Missouri State University (Cape Girardeau MO), specializing in Office Systems Management. She attained her APMP Foundation Certification at the GMP Symposium in 2013. With the knowledge she has attained through APMP, she is viewed as a valuable addition not only to her team, but the company in general.
Vice Chair | Katherine Becchina, CF APMP
Kat is a proposal manager at an AEC firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. Like most people, Kat stumbled into the proposal industry nearly seven years ago and got her start printing and binding proposals for the company. With the help of great mentorship and support from APMP, she was quickly introduced to the opportunities and possibilities in the pursuit and marketing industry. After a few years of hard work and dedication, she now provides strategic sales and marketing support and leads capture teams on a range of proposals including multi-million dollar strategic pursuits.
Kat has served as the GMC Publications Chair for the last two years where she collaborated with other board and GMC members to release a quarterly newsletter for more than 700 readers. Prior to that, she served on the marketing committee for two years and presented at the 2019 GMC Symposium for the first time! Kat loves the value APMP brings to our industry and looks forward to serving the GMC again next year.
Treasurer | Alan Minnick, CF APMP
Alan is an Executive Director and Senior Proposal Manager at JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. He supports J.P. Morgan’s Commercial Banking sales force in responding to RFPS for treasury services opportunities for middle market businesses and state and local government units across the United Sates. Alan has 25+ years of experience in proposal management. During that time, Alan has implemented bid and proposal units in several organizations. He developed and put into practice proposal management methodologies, including opportunity screening and proposal management processes. Alan also has seven years of business development and product management experience in the in eGovernment services market.
Alan has served on the Board of the APMP Greater Midwest Chapter since 2008 and holds APMP Foundation Level Certification. He lives and works in Chicago, IL.
Secretary | Megan Kean
Megan has spent the past seven years in the A/E/C industry as a Proposal Coordinator. Currently, she works for Kiewit, focusing her strategic efforts in the energy markets across North America. Prior to joining the corporate world, Megan spent nearly eight years in higher ed as part of a communications and marketing team. It was there she was first introduced to the world of proposal… by writing RFPs.
Megan earned her B.A. in English, art, and journalism from Augustana University (Sioux Falls, SD), and her M.S. in Technical Communication from Missouri S&T (Rolla, MO). She achieved her Foundation Level Certification in 2017. Megan currently serves as secretary of the GMC Board, previously having served five years on the Events Committee for the Greater Midwest Chapter.
Membership Chair | Jen Roemer
Jen has seven years of experience with Element Fleet Management (Formally GE Capital Fleet Services) as a Senior Proposal Manager. Prior to this, she worked at GE Capital Fleet as a Digital Analyst. In these positions, she has developed strong project management skills, which has been useful as the GMC Membership Chair for the past three years. In this time, Jen has helped grow our chapter membership by 30%. Jen is also on the Steering Committee of Element’s Women’s Network in Hopkins, MN and involved in local nonprofit causes.
Mentorship Chair | Hayley Watkins, CP APMP, CCMP
Hayley is an APMP Certified proposal manager with Burns & McDonnell where she implements proposal best practices, manages a team of proposal coordinators, conducts strategy sessions, develops win strategies, and manages pursuits from capture to shortlist. Prior to her current position, she served as pursuit strategy specialist where she assisted with the development of new pursuit training modules, conducted training sessions, and assisted in the implementation of pursuit best practices company-wide.
Hayley has been an active member of APMP and the Greater Midwest Chapter since 2011. She is a frequent attendee and presenter at the APMP Annual Bid and Proposal Conference and GMC events. Hayley has served as the 2016 Publications Chair, 2017 Membership Chair, 2018 Vice Chair, 2019 Chair, and 2020 Mentorship Chair. Based in Kansas City, MO, Hayley looks forward to continuing delivering excellent value to our members by leading the Mentorship Program in 2021.
Monthly Webinar Series Co-Chair | Nichole L. Reber, CF APMP
Nichole is a Senior Proposal Coordinator for STV, a multi-national A/E firm. She also moonlights as a grants and proposal writer. Serving her second term as Webinar Chair, she has applied this experience into her day job, curating multi-media training seminars for the national marketing department. Decades of marketing and journalism experience inform her strategic and collaborative approach to proposals.
Nichole has lived around the world. She loves art, architecture, architects, Japanese culture, Hinduism, and having a good range of motion
Monthly Webinar Series Co-Chair | Sonali Oberg, CF APMP
Sonali is the Senior Proposal Writing Manager for Sidley Austin LLP, a global law firm. She is also a non-practicing lawyer who decided to build her legal credentials by specializing in proposals, especially in multi-national, large law firms. Writing is one of her passions, and she is lucky to have a job that combines her writing skills and knowledge of the law. She is a multiple writing-award winner and has published articles in several law review journals. She is a member of the Publications committee and looks forward to her new role as the co-chair of the Webinars committee.
Sonali has had the pleasure of being a Northerner, Southerner, and now a Midwesterner; and the Midwest seems to have won her heart. She loves Quentin Tarantino movies, baking with weird ingredients, and trivia night at the local pub (pre-COVID). She is also a sucker for a sad story and has adopted her multitude of cats from the local shelter. Currently, she is the mom of Frida and Cabernet.
Event Chair | Heidi Romero, CP APMP
Heidi joined BMO Harris Bank (then M&I Bank) in 2004 as a Treasury Management Sales Associate for Business customers and Inside Sales. From there she was promoted to a Sales Associate for the Commercial and Mid-Market client base. In 2010 she was promoted to Officer and moved into a Senior Implementation and Portfolio Management role during the M&I/Harris Bank acquisition working with large corporate customers through the merger. In April 2014, Heidi joined the Proposal/RFP Team as a US Proposal Manager for the bank. She was then promoted to Assistant Vice President in January 2016. She has been an active member of APMP since 2014 and achieved her Foundation Certification in 2015 and Practitioner Certification in 2018. Heidi works diligently to instill APMP’s best practices and her proposal passion in every opportunity which resonates through her team and the sales process. Heidi is based in Milwaukee, WI.
Heidi assisted on the GMC Events Committee for three years, the GMC Marketing Committee for one year, and currently serves as the 2020 Events Chair. She looks forward to continuing serving in 2021.
Local Engagement Co-Chair | Silke Cole, CP APMP
Silke is a Pursuit Strategy Manager at accounting and advisory firm Baker Tilly US, LLP. She enjoys bringing APMP members together through in-person and virtual meetups, providing opportunities to network and share industry insights. Silke previously served on the Greater Midwest Chapter Board of Directors as 2019 Secretary and 2020 Local Engagement Chair. She earned her Practitioner certification in 2021, Foundation certification in 2017 and was recognized with the 2018 Chapter Member of the Year award.
Silke came to proposal management from a 20-year career in film production, marketing and international distribution. Born in Germany, she is a graduate of Freie Universität Berlin with a Master of Arts in American Studies. She lives in the Milwaukee area with her husband, daughter and two cats. In her free time, she is actively involved in local nonprofit causes.
Local Engagement Co-Chair | Liz Megli, CF APMP
Elisabeth partners with companies to improve their responses to RFPs and other solicitations to win work and grow their business. In 2017, she founded Theme Strategic Proposals to help clients navigate the process and prepare compliant, responsive and persuasive proposals. Elisabeth writes and edits every proposal to be client-driven and enjoys coaching others on proposal best practices. Elisabeth has managed and prepared proposals submitted to 30 Fortune Top 100 companies throughout her career and to dozens of local, state and federal government entities.
She is an APMP certified proposal manager and is the former GMC Communications Chair.
Publications Chair | Kati Stutsman, CF APMP
Kati is a certified proposal specialist in the Architecture/Engineering field. She leads the development of priority and strategic proposals in the Great Lakes region, which includes Chicago, Indianapolis, and Detroit. Kati leverages her communications and journalism background to identify and articulate solutions that meet client needs. Past experience in marketing content development, photography, and graphic design all play a role in her approach to creating dynamic proposals. As a former newspaper editor, she understands how to best display content for readers’ best experience and retention. She is comfortable leading (issuing assignments to authors and adhering to editorial schedules) and creating (designing pages for publication), which will be a tremendous asset for producing our chapter newsletters.
Publications Co-Chair | Alexa Ramsey, CP APMP
Alexa is a Marketing Strategist for Burns & McDonnell, specializing in the development of federal and private sector proposals to maximize revenue generation objectives for architecture, engineering and construction firms. She is a cross-functional partnership facilitator capable of executing qualification and proposal packages for small projects to multi-million dollar programs. Alexa has expertise in transcribing technical documentation to produce easily-absorbed and persuasive marketing materials and she is proficient in content and graphic creation.
Marketing Chair | Courtney Lamensky
Courtney’s experience spans the proposal and marketing spectrum. A New England native, her career started in the construction industry, where she managed proposals and other marketing functions for a billion-dollar company. Deciding to trade up the ocean for cornfields, Courtney recently relocated to the Midwest and now applies her proposal and marketing skills in an industry closely related to construction—engineering.
Courtney served as the GMC Marketing Chair in 2020 and is looking forward to continuing in this role in 2021. Outside of work, Courtney loves traveling, reading, camping, and refinishing furniture.
Communications Co-Chair | Bette Sturino, CP APMP
Bette has 15 years of proposal management experience and currently supports commercial, local government, and non-profit RFPs for BMO Financial Group’s Treasury & Payment Solutions team. Her experience includes proposal management, content development, and proposal center management. She enjoys mentoring new professionals and is passionate about APMP and the value our chapter delivers to proposal development professionals.
Bette earned her Foundation Certification in 2012 and Practitioner level in 2016. She has been serving on the GMC Board in varying roles since 2014 (Events Committee, Professional Development Chair, 2017 Vice Chair, 2018 Chapter Chair, and 2019-20 Communications Chair). Her strengths in planning and preparing content, coordinating resources, and meeting deadlines are assets she brings as the Communications Chair.
Bette has her BBA in Marketing from the University of WI-Milwaukee and resides in Arkansas with her husband and two Goldendoodles
Communications Co-Chair | Karen Hansel, CP APMP
Karen is a Senior Proposal Manager – RFP Lead for TEKsystems Global Services, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TEKsystems, Inc., part of the Allegis Group of companies. Prior to this, she had a Proposal Specialist role with Ultra Electronics Advanced Tactical Systems in Austin, Texas. She brings more than 17 years’ experience in business development lifecycle to include capture management, proposal management, and contract management processes across multiple industries. Her expertise is in the development and deployment of programs, procedures, and operations for large-scale projects while performing multiple tasks within a fast-paced, deadline-oriented working environment.
Karen earned her BS in Business Management from LeTourneau University, MBA from the University of Phoenix, Master of Aeronautic Science and Master of Science in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She attained APMP Foundation and Practitioner Certifications and is working on the Capture Practitioner exam to complete year end.
GMC Gives Back Chair | Heather Finch
Heather first encountered the acronym “RFP” when seeking ways to diversify funding sources for a human services company in 2012 and hasn’t looked back since. Since then, she’s moved on to lead proposal teams in both the commercial and government sectors, refining processes and developing efficiencies along the way.
Heather earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in creative writing and environmental studies from Western Michigan University, a graduate certificate in professional writing and communications from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee campus, and is currently pursuing a master’s in organizational management from Ashford University. She is the author of the Dear GMC monthly column, a regular speaker at APMP events, and was honored as the 2019 GMC Member of the Year.
College Outreach Co-Chair | Dena Stukenberg, CP APMP
Dena serves as the Divisional Vice President, Proposals & Enrollment for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). She has been with HCSC for more than 20 years and has held various roles within proposal development. She is currently responsible for oversight of all commercial proposal operations for HCSC’s five divisions (Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas), Open Enrollment support and meeting planning that support client and consultant events. Proposal operations include responding to RFPs and RFIs received from local and national consultants, brokers and accounts as well as content management for maintaining commonly used answers for proposal responses. Dena previously worked at HCSC’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Dental Network of America where she responded to dental RFPs for all HCSC divisions. She has been recognized as an industry leader in the proposal profession by her colleagues internally as well as through non-HCSC Blue Plans and APMP.
Dena holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Illinois State University and has her Practitioner Certification through APMP. She is actively involved with APMP and over the past few years was a mentor to other APMP colleagues and presented at numerous APMP events. She served as the 2020 GMC College Outreach Chair and looks forward to continuing this program in 2021.
College Outreach Co-Chair | Madeleine Redman, CF APMP
Maddie serves as a Unit Manager, Proposal Development, for Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC). Maddie has been with the HCSC Proposal Development department for more than six years. She is currently responsible for writing and editing proposals, as well as managing and mentoring other writers on the team.
As someone who stumbled upon the proposal career path shortly after graduating from college, Maddie is passionate about “spreading the word” to current college students and recent college graduates about the proposal career path that is available to them—especially to fellow Liberal Arts majors who have strong writing and organizational skills, but might be struggling to find a career path where they can best use those skills. Maddie served on the 2020 APMP College Outreach Project team.
Maddie holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Politics and Government and Spanish from Illinois State University. She also holds a Foundation Level Certification through APMP.
Certification Study Groups Co-chair | Lindsay Lange, CP APMP
Lindsay is a Proposal Coordinator II at Election Systems & Software in Omaha, Nebraska and has more than five years of experience in the industry. After becoming APMP certified in May 2019 (Foundation) and October 2020 (Practitioner), Lindsay made it her mission to help others pursue their own path of certification. A military wife, she continually searches for the elusive work-life balance while trying to build her family and career. She values faith, family, friends, and her beloved football.
Certification Study Groups Co-chair | Kaitlin Kousaie, CP APMP
Kaitlin is a Senior Proposal Coordinator at Election Systems & Software in Omaha, Nebraska. Prior to joining ES&S, she was an RFP Specialist at EnvisionRx Options in Twinsburg, Ohio. Kaitlin has over eight years of experience in the industry. After receiving the APMP-Foundation Level Certification in May 2019 and the APMP-Practitioner Level Certification in October 2020, Kaitlin has enjoyed sharing her experience and helping others achieve certification.
Kaitlin graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. She currently lives in Omaha, Nebraska and enjoys reading, traveling and spending time with her family and two golden retrievers.
Book Club Chair | Karin Olson Held, CP APMP
Karin is a proposal manager with Noridian Healthcare Solutions, LLC in Fargo, N.D. With 16 years of experience in federal, state, and nonprofit proposals, she currently works in the health care industry. Her experience includes proposal management, writing and editing, and internal process development. Karin enjoys mentoring new proposal professionals on her team and implementing industry best practices. She enjoys being involved with APMP, and served as the Greater Midwest Chapter Board of Directors as Book Club Chair in 2020. She was also recognized as a member of the 2020 APMP 40 Under 40. Outside of work, Karin loves to read, knit, and camp with her family.
Consultants Virtual Networking Group Chair | Caryn Kent Dean, CP APMP, MLIS
Caryn began her first job as a Proposal Professional in 1997. Over the years she has worked on IT products and services, Professional Services and Consulting RFPs for corporate and public sector clients around the globe.
Caryn achieved her APMP Foundation Certification in 2016 and Practitioner Certification in 2019. In 2018, Caryn founded Once Upon an RFP, where they transform clients’ proposal stories to win the best business and make a bigger impact. You’ll now find Caryn enjoying her work with clients, as well as the creative and intellectual challenges of business ownership. In September 2019, Caryn was awarded the GMC 2019 Chapter Member of the Year award. She was nominated for her work in developing the new Consultants Virtual Networking Group that will connect proposal consultants with their peers and provide relevant programs and support.
Caryn earned her B.A., Classics and B.S., Anthropology, Cum Laude, at Loyola University Chicago. She is an alum of Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center. She completed her Master of Library and Information Science at Rosary College (now Dominican University).
Webmaster Co-Chair | Bruce Farrell
Bruce is a Proposal Manager at Plante Moran and he has been working in business communications and development for 20 years. At Plante Moran, he is responsible for developing proposals and presentations for the management consulting practice. He presents at conferences across the country on the topic of print and presentation design. He is based in Southfield, MI. This is his seventh year serving on the GMC Board. He has also served as a member of APMP International’s Board of Directors, co-chaired its Chapter Liaison Committee, and led the APMP Membership Committee.
Webmaster Co-Chair | Stacey Duwe, CP APMP
Stacey is a Senior Business Program Manager for Microsoft’s Proposal Center of Excellence (PCoE) where she manages a global team of proposal professionals who partner with worldwide public sector and commercial sellers on complex, strategic cloud and modern work deals. Stacey serves as key member of PCoE leadership team, driving processes, and facilitating a collaborative team environment so that all team members are empowered and equipped to deliver on their projects. Prior to joining Microsoft, Stacey ran her own consulting firm, Write Fit Solutions, and managed a national proposal team for USI Insurance (formerly Wells Fargo Insurance).
Stacey earned her BA in English and women’s studies from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH, is APMP certified (Foundation and Practitioner), and was recognized in the inaugural class of APMP 40 Under 40. She is also an active APMP member and has served on the Greater Midwest Chapter Board of Directors since 2017 as the Publications Chair, Secretary (2018), Vice Chair (2019), Chapter President (2020), and Co-Webmaster (2021).
2021 Committee Members
Becky Petty, CP APMP