Jayme Baumgardner, newly appointed Director of Consulting at Corner Alliance, joined Conroy Stout, MacKenna Hornyak, and Bonnie Callahan for an interview discussing what it takes to be a consultant and, more specifically, what it takes to be a consultant at Corner Alliance.

When it comes to AI, Corner Alliance is not content with acting as a passive spectator; we are on the field, actively shaping, adapting, and evolving with it. From this vantage point, we are thrilled to unveil our "AI, Government, and the Future" podcast. Hosted by none other than our very own CEO, Alan Pentz, this podcast promises to be a confluence of AI expertise, governmental insights, and rich discourse. Our podcast aims to nurture a space for meaningful conversations, where diverse voices – be it policymakers or industry leaders – can contribute to shaping the narrative.

The Trusted Advisor training is key to how Corner Alliance delivers, grows, and thrives with our clients. Trust relationships are vital to the way we support our clients to achieve their missions. Building trustworthiness in the professional environment, whether internally with colleagues or externally with clients and partners, is one of the greatest determinants of success.

Remote work has revolutionized the concept of work-life balance, offering individuals the freedom and flexibility to shape their own schedules according to their preferences and priorities. As demonstrated by Corner Alliance, the commitment to remote work and the provision of necessary support and tools further reinforces the positive impact it can have on work-life balance. Embracing remote work is a transformative path that empowers individuals to achieve a harmonious blend of their personal and professional lives.

Ann-Marie Proctor has a mission to collaborate with others to help them succeed. She started at Corner Alliance as an independent contractor and has worked her way up to the role of an Operations Specialist I. Over the past three years, Ann-Marie has received the Golden Duck recognition for her work at Corner Alliance. With the support of Corner Alliance, she has also become a SHRM-CP and a CMMI appraisal team member.

Successful Federal programs start with stakeholder engagement.

To ensure the efficient and effective implementation of strategic initiatives, government agencies need program management support they can trust.

Rick Tonetta’s personal mission is to help the Government deliver for the people. He is accomplishing this through his current work supporting NTIA’s Federal program officers, who are administering the grant program that was designed to assist communities with developing and improving their broadband infrastructure.

The key to success for agencies that support federal funding opportunities like grants and cooperative agreements is understanding the grants management process.

The Corner Alliance consulting approach is designed to engage stakeholders at every opportunity and maximize effectiveness to advance organizational goals. By gathering and incorporating feedback from internal and external stakeholders, our consultants are able to develop a strategic customer experience strategy and communications plan that is reflective of diverse perspectives while aligning with the mission, values, and goals of the sponsoring organization.

Latraniecesa (LJ) Wilson has a mission to encourage diversity of thought, create a culture of trust, and foster leadership in others. She has worked with Corner Alliance for a year as a Consultant I where she leads the outreach efforts of her team for a DHS S&T Alerts, Warnings, and Notifications project.

Agencies are often confronted with multiple challenges when transitioning solutions, as transition considerations are frequently secondary in the R&D process. Overcoming these challenges involves preparing ahead of time, leveraging the best and brightest, and constantly re-evaluating to stay ahead of potential roadblocks.

Agencies miss the mark on successful solutions when they do not integrate stakeholders into every step of the research and development (R&D) process. These steps include stakeholder needs collection, gap analysis and solution scouting, solution development, testing and validation, and transition to stakeholders.

Government science and technology organizations face intense pressure to deliver game changing research and development (R&D) results to their customers to maximize emerging technology capabilities while demonstrating return on investment (ROI). To meet this demand, government agencies are quick to elicit needs from stakeholder portfolios and translate those into tangible solutions. While this can lead to early wins, it also has unintended consequences to include partial or overlapping solutions.

Trends in format and brevity are reshaping the future of communications. This calls for new levels of strategic creativity where the research and development (R&D) findings of our clients must be simplified into concise, quick, and compelling stories that keep the viewer’s attention and build brand awareness.

Since March 2020, Congress has enacted six laws, including the CARES Act, to alleviate the public health and economic hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal agencies have expended almost two-thirds of the $4.7 trillion in allocated relief funds, providing grants and other financial aid for various projects — from rural broadband expansion to telemedicine.

Establishing these cooperative channels for information sharing and situational awareness equips both Federal partners and private sector stakeholders with actionable intelligence and access to cost-effective resources.

A predominantly remote model presents significant opportunities for both businesses and employees, especially in non-urban areas, but these benefits will be realized only if these communities are equipped with accessible, robust broadband internet.

This quick shift to the “work from home” model has further illuminated the need for critical investment in infrastructure to meet our nation’s surging demands for high-speed internet.