Tammy Rimes, MPA, Author, Keynote Speaker and Consultant
Tammy served as the former purchasing agent for the City of San Diego, the ninth largest city in the nation, and as emergency operations chief during the 2007 Witch Creek Fires and Mt. Soledad Landslide which both destroyed homes, neighborhoods and city facilities. She centralized all purchasing and contracting operations, performed a business process review, implemented the first environmentally preferred purchasing polices, and streamlined warehouse operations. During all five years of her purchasing management, her team was awarded the Achievement in Excellence in Procurement, and Rimes won the Carlton N. Parker Award for Outstanding Service, the most prestigious award presented by the National Procurement Institute (NPI).

Now, as executive director of the National Cooperative Procurement Partners, North America’s premier association for cooperative procurement, she gives keynote presentations at national and regional conferences, and shares with government agencies and those suppliers who sell to government strategies to help them succeed. Prior to government, Tammy worked for several Fortune 1000 companies, including airlines, retail and water and utility industries, owned a family winery, Hacienda de las Rosas, and authored Drink Fine Wine…Ride Fine Horses – Leading the Life of Your Dreams. She has a B.S. in Computer Science from Florida International University and Masters in Public Administration from National University in California.

Richard Pennington, J.D., LL.M. (Government Procurement Law)
From 2013 to 2018, Richard Pennington was general counsel to NASPO ValuePoint. Previously, he served of counsel to the Denver office of McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP, where he advised clients on federal, state and local government procurement. Pennington is the former director of the Division of Finance and Procurement, Colorado Department of Personnel & Administration. He previously served as state purchasing director after working for the Colorado Attorney General as procurement and construction litigation counsel.

Pennington is a retired Air Force Colonel and judge advocate who started his career as a B-52 pilot and later became a judge advocate specializing in federal procurement. He has a Master of Laws degree in government procurement law from The George Washington University. Pennington is co-author of Legal Aspects of Public Procurement, 3rd Ed. (Routledge, 2020). He is the 2020 recipient of NIGP’s Distinguished Service Award. Pennington continues to volunteer and teach for NIGP: The Institute for Public Procurement.

Tim Hay, Government Procurement and Supply Chain Professional
Tim Hay is a proven public procurement professional with more than 20 years of public procurement experience and another six years of private procurement experience in a manufacturing environment. He is currently a business account manager for the Periscope Holdings covering the State of Oregon.

Previously, Hay was a senior contracts specialist for Marion County Oregon focusing on information technology procurement. Hay was the cooperative development director for a large government purchasing cooperative. He oversaw all the cooperative activities of more than $12 billion in annual spend, helping states successfully manage all segments of the procurement process. In his role, he provided guidance and coaching to team members from across the nation, managed projects to ensure timely and accurate completion, and learned many of the individual state processes. He also established many of the internal processes that supported the growth and success of the cooperative. During his role at the State of Oregon, Hay led many high-profile procurements including information technology, travel services and services. Hay also held a short term at FEMA, assisting them with supply chain management in the COVID-19 crisis.

Prior to his role in public procurement, Hay worked for a global snowboard manufacturer where he conducted international procurement and logistics. Throughout his career, Hay has earned many awards for his accomplishments.

Victor Leamer
With more than 30 years of public procurement experience at the county, state department, and state-wide levels, Victor Leamer is currently the senior buyer with Spokane County in Washington. Victor earned a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism from Western Washington University (Bellingham, Washington) in 1985 and the Certified Professional Public Buyer (CPPB) designation in 2009. Victor teaches developing and managing requests for proposals (in-person/online) and the core certificate, Foundations in Strategy and Policy, for NIGP (virtual) and has presented NIGP webinars on protests, evaluating responsiveness in bids and contract price adjustments. Leamer also serves on NIGP's Content Management Committee (formerly Knowledge Management Committee) since 2015 and is a founding member/former vice president of the Alaska/Hawaii Governmental Procurement Association NIGP Chapter.