Central Virginia Chapter News June 2020 – Issue 1

Welcome!
We are very happy to introduce our first edition of the Central Virginia Chapter News Letter. We will use this platform to keep in touch and let you know what we will be exploring next. If you are not on our distro list and would like to be, please send an email to cdodsworth@technomics.net.

What’s covered in this issue?

  • Unveiling our Motto
  • Unveiling our Logo
  • International News
  • Upcoming events
  • Chapter Award Nominations
  • Member Spot Light

Unveiling our Motto

  • “We’re Statistically Significant”

  Unveiling our Logo

  • A special thank you to Chelsea Torres for bringing Nicole Robertson’s vision into reality

 International News

This is where we will keep you up to date with the International changes

  • CEBok 2.0 Beta is live and available for members until September 9, 2020! Go to iceaaonline.com/login to check it out.
  • sCEBok will roll out in early 2021!

Chapter Award Nominations

Recognize your fellow members

Know a member that goes above and beyond? Give them the ultimate shout out by nominating them for a Central Virginia Chapter Award! We need nominations for the following categories:

  • Junior Analyst
  • Technical Achievement
  • Service Award

Email your nominations and questions to Nicole Robertson (nrobertson@tecolote.com) close of business July 24, 2020.

Member Spotlight

Would you like to be our next Spotlight? Email cdodsworth@technomics.net to find out how.

Frederick Blanton

Fred remembers being one of the youngest in his group when his Estimating Mentor, George Salantai, first approached him about joining “SCEA.”

This makes him our longest standing member!

Fred was born in Fayetteville, Tennessee. He attended college at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri where he studied Business and German, with an emphasis in Math and Business Statistics.

After graduating, he started working for Boeing in 1984 in Contracts Administration before transitioning to Estimating.

He is thankful for the many mentors he had throughout his career. Eventually, he sat for and passed the original SCEA CCEA test at the 1998 Conference in Toronto, Canada. This was before ICEAA introduced the training sessions at the Workshop. Which meant all his prep work was facilitated by his awesome Estimating Mentors at Boeing.

After more local folks passed the exam, he was part of re-establishing the local SCEA chapter and became one of its board members. Eventually, Frank relocated with Boeing to the Potomac Region in 2005. After the relocation, he joined the Washington DC chapter because its close proximity to his new work locations.

He has attended multiple SCEA/ICEAA Workshops in the past to include trips to Toronto, Orlando, Denver (twice), Washington DC, and New Orleans (twice).

Recently, in 2018 and 2019, he helped to host a local ICEA event in the Boeing Longbridge facility located in Arlington, Virginia. In 2017, due to some family matters, Frank has relocated again, this time to the Staunton, Virginia area in the Shenandoah Valley. He signed up to join our Central Virginia Chapter several years ago when he started working in the “fringe” Boeing offices.

Fred has recently retired from Boeing and spends his time working as a freelancer. He has refocused his analytical skills to support other causes near and dear to him. He is also continuing his work as a State Representative for Virginia for the Sister Cities International, which he started in 2018.

Upcoming Events!

The following opportunities count towards your recertification! Find out more at https://www.iceaaonline.com/dls/.

  • Solving for Project Risk Management: Understanding the Critical Role of Uncertainty in Project Management
    • June 23, 2020* at 12:00pm EDT
    • *requires registration fee
  • Developing CERs to Estimate Commercial IaaS Costs for Federal IT Systems
    • July 1, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • CVA Chapter Meeting – July 2nd                                                                       
    • Look for the meeting invite with additional details
  • Storytelling for Cost Estimators
    • July 8, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • The Fact That Your Project is Agile is Not (Necessarily) a Cost Driver
    • July 15, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • Are you Smarter than an Algorithm?
    • July 22, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • A 3 Market, 10 Dimension Trade
    • July 29, 2020 at 12:00pm ED
  • Lessons Learned Implementing EVM on Government-led Delivery Efforts
    • August 5, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • The FlexFile Cookbook: Powerful Analysis via R
    • August 12, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • Advanced Data Analytics for Maintenance & Repair Reporting
    • August 19, 2020 at 12:00pm EDT
  • Improving Software Estimating Relations for Army Software Sustainment Data
    • August 26, 2020 at 12:00pm ED