Golden will be team leader for law enforcement, homeland security and personal security marketing and products
A leading marketing expert, Marcie A. Golden, has joined SDB Partners, the company announced today. Ms. Golden has wide experience in working with American, European and Middle Eastern companies, both large and small, and introducing new high technology products at the Federal, State and Local level. Her focus at SDB Partners will be law enforcement, homeland security and personal security products and marketing.
Team Leader for Marketing, Marcie A. Golden
Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Golden has successfully introduced new technologies for homeland security and defense, including sales into large government organizations and law enforcement organizations.
She is experienced in working with national law enforcement organizations, supporting them at trade shows, conferences and in related market-related activities. In addition, Marcie is effective in working with security companies and security related trade groups. She was the lead marketing person for Elsag-Selex from Genoa, Italy (part of the Finmeccanica group) and helped Elsag earn its first large state contract in the United States. Elsag makes automated license plate reading equipment and, based on Marcie’s accomplishments, decided to create a U.S. manufacturing company to promote LPR in the United States. Elsag today owns more than 80 percent of the U.S. market for LPR systems.
Marcie’s knowledge of security technologies and her strong links to decision makers in government and law enforcement position her to help firms with exciting technology in these sectors.
Prior to her extensive work in the security sector, Ms. Golden was the lead marketing person for CBG Biotech, a start up company which designed and delivered solvent recyling systems into the hospital market. Marcie took the company from infancy to a strong market position. Today, the company owns more than 50% market share.
“It is a delight to bring Marcie to SDB Partners,” said Dr. Stephen Bryen, CEO of SDB Partners. “Marcie knows how to jump start business and create the vital connections to grow in this environment. Our entire team is pleased to have her on board.”
Mermoud, a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and the University of Paris, School of Political Science, brings his extensive government trade, financial and business background to SDB Partners.
During 2002-2009 Mermoud led an aggressive transaction-oriented team at the State Department and other U.S. government departments and agencies, facilitating an annual $20 billion in U.S. global commercial successes in areas including financial services, energy, technology, telecommunications, defense and security, and infrastructure. He advised U.S. and foreign companies on commercial transactions, privatizations, projects, tenders and investment opportunities.
J. Frank Mermoud, Former Senior Trade Official
Upon leaving the State Department, Mermoud joined TD International , a strategic investment advisory firm where he remains on the Board of Advisors.
In May, 2010 and 2011 Mermoud managed fund raising efforts and created and implemented a business development strategy for the Monument Capital Group . Monument Capital is an alternative asset management firm with a focus on the global security and defense sectors. Monument Capital Group’s Advisory Board that includes James A. Baker, III , former Secretary of State and former Secretary of Treasury; Frank C. Carlucci , Chairman Emeritus of The Carlyle Group and former Secretary of Defense; Mustafa V. Koç, Chairman of Koç Holding, Turkey’s largest conglomerate and one of Europe’s largest companies, and Thomas F. McLarty, III, former White House Chief of Staff, President of McLarty & Associates and former Chairman of Arkala Inc., the United States’ largest distributor of natural gas.
“I am very pleased that Frank Mermoud has joined SDB Partners,” said Dr. Stephen Bryen , CEO and President of SDB Partners. “Frank’s extensive knowledge of the international business community and his access and knowledge of the U.S. government and how to turn trade promotion into concrete business is a big plus for SDB Partners’ clients. There are very few people working in government that are financial and trade experts and who understand both the private and public sectors,” said Bryen. “There are even fewer with proven track records of success like Frank’s. We are privileged to have him on board.”
The SENTRI advanced gunshot detection system, that instantly sends a picture of the shooter to the police, has dramatic and proven results in cutting community gun violence as validated results in Illinois and California show. “An incredible bit of engineering” says National Geographic.
An advanced technology gunshot detection system called SENTRI has dramatic and proven results in cutting gang gun violence in communities according to validated results in Chicago, Illinois and Richmond,California.
The SENTRI system can be mounted on telephone poles, buildings and is available in portable form. It can even work mounted on police cars and other vehicles.
SENTRI is in use around America such as in Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, Baltimore, Maryland, Charlotte, North Carolina and Wilmington, Delaware.
SENTRI is a neural-network based gunshot detection system with a 360 degree camera that zooms in on a shooter the moment a gun is fired. Immediately notifying police with a photo of the person firing the gun, SENTRI performs as a silent proactive witness.
SENTRI has proven results in dramatically reducing crime even in heavy crime areas and can positively reinforce the national Department of Justice sponsored Project Safe Neighborhoods program.
The FBI says “Gangs are expanding, evolving and posing an increasing threat to US communities nationwide. Many gangs are sophisticated criminal networks with members who are violent, distribute wholesale quantities of drugs, and develop and maintain close working relationships with members and associates of transnational criminal/drug trafficking organizations.”
***There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and OMG gang members comprising more than 33,000 gangs in the United States. Gang membership increased most significantly in the Northeast and Southeast regions, although the West and Great Lakes regions boast the highest number of gang members. Neighborhood-based gangs, hybrid gang members, and national-level gangs such as the Sureños are rapidly expanding in many jurisdictions. Many communities are also experiencing an increase in ethnic-based gangs such as African, Asian, Caribbean, and Eurasian gangs.
***Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90 percent in several others, according to NGIC analysis. Major cities and suburban areas experience the most gang-related violence. Local neighborhood-based gangs and drug crews continue to pose the most significant criminal threat in most communities. Aggressive recruitment of juveniles and immigrants, alliances and conflict between gangs, the release of incarcerated gang members from prison, advancements in technology and communication, and Mexican Drug Trafficking Organization (MDTO) involvement in drug distribution have resulted in gang expansion and violence in a number of jurisdictions.
The Justice Department created Project Safe Neighborhoods to try and deal with neighborhood related crime by greater citizen education and more vigorous prosecution of criminals. The program has had some success, but it could have far better results with better tools. SENTRI is a tool that meets the security needs of the community and has been proven to reduce gun-linked crime in bad neighborhoods.
In a special TV program done by National Geographic, SENTRI was shown installed in Richmond, California . A particular section of Richmond, known as the Easter Hills Housing Project, was a particularly high crime high gun incidence area, a place where the police would only go with substantial backup. With SENTRI installed, the crime rate plummeted and Easter Hills, now re-named Richmond Village, has become a safe area. As the Richmond police say, with SENTRI “we will get a face” and catch the felon. National Geographic called SENTRI “an incredible bit of engineering” and there has been no gun crime in the neighborhood since the system was installed.
SENTRI was part of Chicago’s “Operation Disruption” which focused on the placement of video cameras equipped with gunshot detection capability in downtown Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that during the first seven months of Operation Disruption serious crime in the areas was down 17%.
SENTRI achieves pro-actively exactly what is needed to cut down on gun crime and lets programs such as Project Safe Neighborhoods achieve its goals.
SENTRI’s technology is the most cost-effective approach to gunshot detection because it requires the fewest number of units to cover an area and can be combined with other linked technologies including automatic license plate readers (ALPR) and facial recognition. The SENTRI system is partnered with Elsag North America , America’s leading ALPR company and with FaceFirst® (Airborne Biometrics Group, Inc.) of Camarillo, California for face recognition. SENTRI can also be trained to “hear” shouts for help and can keep its cameras operating providing vital evidence for police and law enforcement.
Here is an opportunity for aerospace and defense companies to get a leg up on their competitors and impress the Defense Department with their smarts. A new Georgia-based company has invented and patented a Liquid Crystal Polymer antenna technology that is a leap forward in antenna design and promises to make major inroads in aerospace and defense applications and in commercial use.
The company is VerseQ and it has already won patents for its antenna system. A Liquid Crystal Polymer or LCP is a high performance, flexible RF materials that uses a single, multilayer platform both for the antenna and the RF circuitry. The result is that VersaQ is able to create dense, integrated solutions covering a wide range of operating conditions.
VersaQ is open for investment and licensing its technology.
In visualizing the product, keep in mind that these antenna are actually flexible and conformal and are electronically, not mechanically, steered. They are very lightweight.
An important application that will benefit significantly from the VersaQ LCP system are unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs. Today’s UAV reconnaissance systems incorporate large bubble radomes for ground radars and satellite communications. The radomes can be replaced by a VersaQ LCP system fitting the aerodynamic profile of the UAV instead of the UAV platform being designed to meet the size and shape requirements of the payload.
A conformally mounted antenna array reduces drag by reducing protrusions into the airstream and is much lighter than the traditional, standard antennas they replace. This means the UAV can fly further or carry a larger payload.
VersaQ uses a packaging process that places active and passive electronics close to the antenna elements, which assures a higher degree of integration thereby also reducing size, weight and overall complexity.
UAV applications include synethetic apearture radars, ground moving target indicator radars, satellite communications, airborne early warning and control (AEWC) and airborne data relay.
Like UAVs, manned and unmanned helicopters also can take advantage of VersaQ’s antenna system. Among other applications where a conformal antenna on a helicopter will be beneficial and eliminate the need for radomes, are brownout radars, IFF, ASW and Anti-Surface warfare systems, C4ISR, surveillance, smuggling and interdiction scanning and SAR (search and rescue) applications.
VersaQ will improve helicopter efficiency and agility, speed and range, and reduce weight.
Nick Fuhrman of SDB Partners is shepherding the introduction of the VersaQ system to the aerospace community. He is the former Director of the Georgia Center for Innovation in Aerospace and in that capacity built key technology partnerships between the private sector and the US Air Force and with NASA. He can be heard on the audio portion of this Technology and Security episode. Nick is joined on the broadcast by the Chief Technology Officer of VersaQ, Chad Peterson. Himself an electrical engineer (M.S.E.E.) graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chad specializes in the design of high frequency antennas and packages based on LCP and RXP. Previously, Chad worked for the Army Research Laboratory on automated measurement systems.
Nick Furhrman (nick@sdb-partners.com) of SDB Partners is in charge of the VersaQ opportunity. To discuss this opportunity contact Nick or visit the SDB Partners web site.
You often hear complaints from companies trying to sell to Federal government agencies. Usually the problem starts with the request for proposal (RFP) or the request for quotation (RFQ), where the requirements are spelled out. It is not unusual to find that the requirements have been written against a product known to the government department or agency. For an “outsider” wanting to enter into the competition, this can create a barrier to participation. How did it happen? What is going on? How can you turn frustration into positive action?
Companies with experience in marketing to the government have been working, often for years, influencing their potential customer. If they have done a good job, the customer defines his needs based on what he has learned from the company’s sales force. It is hard, sometimes not even possible, to challenge these definitions or to introduce new ideas into the equation. For the new comer, this is a real barrier to entry.
There are quite a few others. As Michael Marks of Intelligent Decision Partners, an advisory marketing guidance company, explains -you have to get in front of the customer well before he reaches the stage of putting out an RFP, RFQ or a Broad Area announcement (BAA).
Intelligent Decision Partners (IDP)is a compact, efficient organization that is aligned with and works with SDB Partners. IDP combines many skills, but perhaps the most important is its ability to ferret out the right customers in the Federal space, engage the customer in extensive dialogue, and then recommend to their clients on whether there is, or is not, an opportunity for them.
There are plenty of barriers to entry. For a foreign company entering the US market, there is the general problem of competing against domestic competitors. In today’s environment where budgets are being cut back, there is political pressure to generate domestic jobs and stimulate the economy. This, of course, creates a psychological and practical predisposition by government departments to buy goods from US producers. As Marks points out in his Technology and Security broadcast (click on the link above), sometimes the best “play” for a foreign company is to team with an American firm. While it may not be as profitable as going it alone, there is a better chance to win the business.
Domestic companies, as well as international ones, probably can benefit from understanding how the customer perceives them, and whether he is willing to go with an outside company he may not know well or trust fully. In large dollar competitions there is often a formal “ranking” system where the government assesses the technology offered, the price for the product, estimates the life cycle costs, and evaluates past performance. While past performance can, of course, include commercial success, the government usually is interested in how the company worked with the government buyer and government customer in order to predict future performance. Even in competitions where the criteria for selection are not so well defined, there is often an unstated but none the less real tendency for the buyer to go with the “known” and “safe” provider. In addition, government customers, just like private sector ones, often tend to favor stable companies that have been around for a while. Despite the fact such attitudes stifle innovative young firms, decision-makers feel more secure going with the proven older company, one they are accustomed to doing business with, so they can avoid taking any risk. That is why, very often, there are protests because the government pays more then the losing competitor’s offer.
Intelligent Decision Partners main service is to figure out if the government buyer (whether singular or plural) already has a fixed attitude or if the buyer is open to listen to a new approach, or to the benefits of working with a new company. Armed with real and timely information like this, any company that wants to do business with the government has significantly improved the chance for success.
It is a non-trivial task to get hold of this kind of close-up information. Trying to engage a government procurement officer, who is bound by many non-disclosure rules and regulations, is extraordinarily difficult and probably won’t work. Actually you have to reach back to the actual users, seek out their opinions, and follow the leads they are willing to give you. There are very few companies capable of doing this type of work; and even fewer that bring back actionable information.
Figuring out how to engage the customer is, of course, only the first step -but a crucial one to win in government competitions or to convince a government agency to adopt your product or technology.
IDP is a superb intelligence gathering organization that may fit the needs of international and domestic companies looking to enter the U.S. Federal market. Michael Marks has thirty years experience as a senior Washington DC-based executive including important positions with the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), the President’s Office of Science and Technology, and as a policy advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology. His partner,Jordan Berliner, was a senior executive with several Fortune 500 and mid-cap companies including Abbot Laboratories, Applied Biosystems, Cygnus Therapeutic Systems and Fisher Scientific. He was a Director with Ernst and Young and helped them build a human intelligence feedback system. Dr. Maria Velez de Berliner is a risk analyst with a specialization in Latin America where she focuses on security and counter-terrorism.
Sponsor: SDB Partners LLC (www.sdb-partners.com) “Powerful Access to Hard Markets”
Waterfall Security Solutions, located at Rosh Ha`Ayin in Israel (about 15 minutes from Tel Aviv) is a security company that has a patented security solution for critical infrastructure such as power plants, water suppliers, refineries, utilities and other industrial and military systems that need strong protection from electronic intrusions.
The Waterfall solution is a unidirectional security gateway and data diodes for process control systems, SCADA systems, remote monitoring and segregated networks. When implemented it enables secure and real time data transfer from critical networks to external/business networks.
The key technology is a fiber-optic air gap that prevents any possibility of an intruder being able to cross over into the protected computer/controller system. Already deployed in around 40% of U.S. conventional and nuclear power plants, the Waterfall technology, when combined with strong internal computer and personnel security procedures, offers extremely strong protection.
The company was founding by Lior Frenkel, a specialist with over fifteen years of large scale software and hardware research development. In 2001 Lior co-founded Gita Technologies Ltd., a high end security research and development company serving the
Lior Frenkel
defense and military markets. In 2005 the Waterfall Product line was spun off from the parent company and Waterfall Security Solutions was established. The company now operates world wide. A U.S. subsidiary provides marketing and technical support to customers.
Waterfall says that its security gateways include inherent integration with existing infrastructure, for example with OSIsoft PI, GE Proficy iHistorian, OPC, Modbus, DNP3 and numerous other SCADA and industrial applications and protocols.
In the U.S. Waterfall Security Solutions can be reached at (212) 714-6058. The company website is www.waterfallsecurity.com
For more information contact Waterfall Security Solutions or call SDB-Partners at 1-202-507-9086
Bryen's Blog News 