← GovDiscovery AI Podcast with Mike Shanley
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the Gov Discovery AI Podcast with Mike Shanley delivering actionable expert insight and AI enhanced business intelligence for Defense and State Department markets. Here's your host, Mike Shanley.
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B
Welcome to the Gov Discovery AI Podcast. I'm your host, Mike Shanley. My guest today is Howie Lind, President and Executive Director of isoa, the International Stability Operations Association. Howie served as a Washington D.C. rep for the Floor Government Group before this and previous to that served in the Departments of Defense and State, including in the Pentagon, in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, as the Deputy Director for the Iraq Project and Contracting Office. Known Howie for years now. Very excited to finally have you on the podcast. Thanks for being here today.
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C
Thank you, Mike. Glad to be here.
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B
Well, let's get right into it. I want to start with some high level thoughts. Being the president of a very important defense association, State Department association, you have a unique perspective on the market. So obviously a lot has happened in 2025. Of all that's happened, what do you see as the most important developments or changes that have affected ISOA members?
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C
Thanks, Mike. Yeah, certainly glad to be here and talk through this with you. This year, 2025, it's been a challenge, but I tell you, a lot of companies have really thriving and have figured out how to adjust to the new reality with the different contracting rules as well as the geopolitical shifts that have been taking place around the globe. Of course in southcom areas, southern South America, but also in the Middle east, lots going on there as well as Europe still with Ukraine. A lot of our companies are very much engaged over there as well as Indo Pacific. So there's still a lot happening. But yeah, keeping track of the contracting changes this year has been a challenge for companies and we've been right at the forefront of trying to help them with that at isoa. So with that. So back to you, Mike.
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B
Yeah, thank you. So what about on the acquisition side? Have you seen new opportunities or has it been mainly just your members relying on you all for guidance and clarity on what the priorities are of the new administration, both on the mission level but also on the how the process, the acquisition side of things?
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C
Well, absolutely. There's been all sorts of changes still ongoing. The federal acquisition regulations being rewritten right as we speak. The far we're going to have a speaker at the summit next month that I'll talk more about. But no, the companies, they've been attuned to what the changes have been and we've been helping them with those different contracting acquisitions, fewer large contracts. Idiqs which are the major contracts which a lot of our companies have relied on. There's a tamp down on those with the idea of smaller, more nimble contracts being let throughout the departments, the Department of War, State Department and others. So we've been keeping track of that. We have a great relationship with each of the agencies that we'll mention more about that later. But it's yeah, many companies for some, you know, it is severe challenge. Others they pivoted and they're able to smartly figure out their direction to go. So there's been quite a bit of success.
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B
So as we look forward to 2026 and we'll get into the summit in January in a minute here, what do you see as the big, biggest opportunities that, that have come out of the shift in the marketplace in 2025?
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C
I'd say just, just that as I described earlier, I mean these geopolitical events that are happening around the world in the Middle east, our companies are still engaged there and I'd say going into 2026 again, our summit is in January. We'll have conferences throughout the year. I'll go in more detail there. But these, you know, our, our companies are staying engaged and really keeping their ear to the ground on what the, the great opportunities are within departments of War and State. Former USAID companies have pivoted now that they know it's, it's gone into the State Department. And then a new, not a new agency but a relatively re engaged agency is the Development Finance Corporation, dfc. So we're, we've been keeping track and actually have a close contact with DFC to figure out what direction they're going in.
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B
Well, I know that's a question for a lot of organizations out there is how to best engage with and support DFC's mission. Howie, let's get into ISOA now obviously there's many associations out there, General govcon ones, defense contractor associations. Where do you see? Well, I'll share my perspective. I think one very unique thing that I'm excited to get into with you later on the show is ISO is overseas conferences. But where do you see ISOA fitting in as a. Into the market in your key value and differentiators as a trade association?
- [04:58]
C
Yeah, thanks for that, Mike. I tell you what, it's first off who we are. Who is isoa? We really are. We frame it. We stand at the intersection of government and the private sector, meaning we work to help both sides, both the government and private sector with their Missions and goals and we support our US Government as well as our allies around the world in challenging places. But around the world, every embassy, US Embassy, we have our companies working there. But our really I think what stands us apart is as you say, our overseas conferences. But we focus on really four key areas. We call them value streams, business intelligence, meaning helping companies understand what's happening, business wise networking. At our conferences we focus and we factor in quite a bit of networking time for each of our conferences. Government engagement, meaning our companies can meet and talk to key government officials at our conferences. And the visibility providing the opportunities for our companies to provide to exhibit corporate and personal visibility for their companies. So I guess it's, you know, I guess a different, another differentiator is that we, we're out there, we're our companies are you know, at the tip of the spear on the ground, canary, canary in the coal mine, all sorts of metaphors like that where they really see and hear what's happening firsthand and they're nimble and flexible and connected to the, to world situations.
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B
That's one thing I've always appreciated about ISO in addition to the, the access to government, the overseas conferences. It's just your understanding that we're, we're here for business, we're here to support a mission. But the attendees, the sponsors are business. And I've always felt that you Howie and your team really have that a strong understanding of that and create a really nice platform for networking and making those important connections with that. Let's get into the summit. Can you talk about the annual summit that's coming up in January?
- [06:57]
C
Sure, absolutely. And also as I pivot to that, let me just kind of describe who our members are. Just for people that might not be familiar with isoa, we cover all industries that are involved in overseas operations for our supporting our government, logistics, security, maintenance base, support infrastructure, health services are a few, there's, there's more but those are the primary ones as well as aviation transportation areas, our major contractors, major primes. Of course we have several big large companies, medium sized but 70% of our companies are small businesses. So to our, to our summit we, this is our annual event we hold every year in, in Washington D.C. area either Arlington or Washington D.C. where they've been and it really is a culmination of the year's events where we've had the conferences overseas. We're bringing companies and government together for this annual event. We've got a great lineup of speakers and panels and topics set up for. It's January 12th 13th and 14th. It'll be at the Willard Hotel in downtown Washington. And actually we've got the first keynote. Leadoff speaker will be, his name is Dale Marks. He's at the Pentagon. He's a senior official there, Undersecretary for Acquisition and Sustainment, which is a key area for us. We also have two congressmen. One is Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina speaking, and the other is Congressman Rich McCormick from Georgia, both as speakers. In addition, we have John Teneglia is who's the defense procurement contracting acquisition policy lead. But also we'll have many other government and contractor speakers on the different panels as the signups are underway now that we were postponed from early November due to the government shutdown. So this is our in January. It's going to happen and we're very excited about it. One other aspect let me just throw out with your company being in the AI field too, we're having a special panel. It's made up, it's called the Washington Post Intelligence Council, which actually I'm a member of. But it's going to focus on the tech revolution coming to D.C. basically we're calling it the Silicon Valley comes to D.C. with the Defense tech revolution underway to describe not just AI, but all other aspects of innovation happening within the Department of War and with diplomatic areas too. So with that, let me turn it back over to you. Go ahead, Mike.
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B
Will that be a panel, Howie? Will that be a panel at the summit or is that a separate event?
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C
That'll be a panel at the summit, yes.
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B
Yeah, I know that's a great lineup of speakers. I imagine it's one challenge, I know with most associations and the industrial base has been just establishing new relationships or re establishing relationships with the Department of War this year. So it's always impressive to get that seniority of speakers from leadership there for a multitude of reasons, including the trillion dollar budget. There are a lot of new entrants, new defense tech companies, new partners getting into the DoD space. Some may be coming to the ISOA January conference as their first DC Defense event. What's your advice for a first timer coming to the ISOA summit? Given the market, given ISOA's value proposition and all that, how should they prep? What should they expect to get out of three days in?
- [10:21]
C
Yeah, great question, Mike. And actually I look forward to meeting these new companies every time. Everybody, one of our conferences, I, I, when I meet people there, I say have you been to one before? And a lot of times it's the answer is no. And so I really say the same thing as I'm about to say now is well, be ready, be prepared to meet and talk with key companies in your, in your space, in your field. But you know, just, just be ready to engage in person there. As I said, there's a lot of networking time. Bring business cards. I mean it's kind of old school, but it's really matters because they're, that's the way you stay connected with people. We have a, what we call a business matchmaking session at every one of our conferences, which is very advantageous. Our companies love it. They can basically tell their story. It's a like speed dating, if you're familiar with that vernacular. But it's, you basically go around the room, sit at move tables every 10 minutes, talk to the different large companies as well as government officials there. Bring your elevator speech. Make sure you got a 32nd run on what you do. That's what the, the other large companies and government officials want to hear. What, what is it that you sell? And I guess one, one aspect of thing not, not to do is to say, oh, you just do everything. Nobody does everything. Okay, so really focus, hone in on what your key areas are that you can provide to the government. Prepare ahead of time, of course, see about what, what the agenda is going to be, who the topics and speakers will be there and you know, bring notepads to write on and you know, be just ready to engage. And it's, you know, like I said, it's a lot of networking time. So. And I, I use the word fun. Fun in the business sense that it's just active and a lot of energy that takes place at our conferences. Let me just back up real quick Mike, with one other aspect of our, all of our conferences are these sponsorship opportunities. Large, medium and small companies can all have a chance to sponsor. It's not just for the largest, but that way it, it provides companies the ability to promote themselves there publicly either through speaking for a couple of minutes from the stage or on a panel or with all the signage and posters that are there at the conference. So with that, back to you, Mike.
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B
Yeah, so who are some of those high level sponsors? Obviously it's going to be good. They'll be happy to have their names mentioned. But I think it's more importantly from people who are, have not, don't already have the summit on the radar. The first, one of the first things I'll look at in addition to speakers is who's sponsoring it. Are these the, you know, if ex firms are sponsoring. Okay, that's probably the event I want to be at. Who are some of those, those top sponsors you guys already have locked in for this or I guess this year for next year for January?
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C
Yeah, yeah, it's a great question. I mean a lot of our large companies have it, you know, eventum floor, kbr, you know, down the list aecom Parsons are the large as well as other larges. But in there's several mediums. Let me just say if, if companies want to sponsor for isoa, please contact Roxanne through email or our website because there's a few sponsorships left that are open for companies to sponsor.
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B
Thank you. Next, I want to move into the global events that you have planned. So last saw you in Bucharest in September. Howie, when I was on your panel for at the conference for the NATO procurement talking about AI and bd, there's I found those not only is it the access to government, but it's actually I find some of those overseas conferences are just a better way, a different way to connect with other with other members. Everyone's there for a couple days. Could you talk a little bit about what are the 2026 overseas conferences that you all have lined up?
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C
Okay, yeah. Great, great. Thanks Mike. The first so after January, the next big one will be in February, early February in Amman, Jordan, which is our Middle east conference which we hold every year. We have it in different locations. The Middle east we've had it in Dubai, Abu Dhabi. Early last year we had it in Qatar, in Doha. This year it'll be Aman, Jordan. But you're right, it's a great chance for companies to interact locally, regionally, what's happening in that country as well as others. And as we know there's been a lot happening in the Middle east over this last year. The next event will be we're having actually a one day event in March. It's going to be in Washington D.C. it's a Ukraine industry day. You know, just kind of backing up too over the last well since the war started In Ukraine in 2022, we've had a conference or at least every year we've had two conferences in Europe. Warsaw conference we held three years in a row. This past year it was in Bucharest, Romania, focused on Ukraine. But then we have an industry days, several days conference in Germany every year. Germany being the largest economy in Europe, lots happening there too with companies involved with all a lot of defense areas with each all these countries, as we know all the countries have committed to increasing their ministries of defense spending budgets up to 5% of GDP, which is huge. It's unprecedented. It's never been that big in the past. So there's a lot more defense spending going on there in Europe. So that's, that's in April. We'll be in Germany, Wiespad in Germany for our conference. Then the next one is in May. We'll be in Miami. We've held a, we held a conference there last year for the first time. It'll be a, we call it the Americas Conference, focused on, you know, the border, South America, Central America, which we know is a large, huge effort going on there now too. Then we, we'll be in Hawaii for our, this will be our fourth year in a row for our Indo Pacific Conference. And it's really a great way to interact with what's happening with the Indo Pacific, with Taiwan, with China, with all the countries in that region there. And then in the fall will be, let's see, let me, let me back up. The Miami conference. I'm sorry, the Hawaii conference will be September. We switched it up this year. So September next year will be our Hawaii conference with the Indo Pacific, both with the Hawaii Conference and VSPAad. In the conference we're going to have a tabletop exercise focused on potential scenarios in each location. And that's a great effort also for companies to be involved. We had a, earlier this year, In March of 2025, we held a tabletop exercise in the Washington D.C. area on Indo Pacific that was very advantageous, great participation there. But then, so then next year, November will be our annual summit, just like we're about to have coming up now. So that kind of rounds out the year. You know, we hold these large conferences throughout the year, but we do all throughout the year smaller events in person, as well as virtual webinars and topical discussions. So it's, it's quite an active calendar we have that's hard to keep up with sometimes.
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B
It sure is. So the government, obviously you get senior government officials at a lot of these events. You have all the behind the scenes conversations of inviting them, doing the logistics, all that. Why do they want to participate? Obviously I got some, you know, it's kind of a leading question, but what is it that really gets them interested to put the events on the calendar? What do they hope to get out of it? And I think that's important to understand for the participants coming to the events to understand what perspective is government bringing in and that can better inform how they plan to engage with either the speaker or if it's a high level Keynote speaker maybe with their staff at one of the events.
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C
That's right. No, that's a great question. Government, you know, they're, they, they. I mean actually the federal acquisition regulation says that the government are supposed to, they're directed to interact with private sector and that's really what we are. Of course we're made up of nonprofits, also non governmental organizations, but that the motivation for, for government and senior officials to speak is to tell their story, tell what the government's plans are to the private sector. Because you know, the private sector, it's kind of goes without saying nothing happens without a contract being let to get some service or something built or made or provided for. And so the government is not just obligated but they want, want to be able to present to us. And so we, we know takes a lot of effort to get them there and planning such logistics, timing and everything. But it's worth it for them and for us.
- [18:48]
B
What have you seen? I don't know if you have a story that comes to mind or anything. What's a productive way for the attendees to engage with government? Obviously they don't want to you to walk up there and take 10 minutes their time after a talk. Everyone wants to connect with them but also you don't want to just let that opportunity pass. What's a, what, what, what have you seen as a. I don'. If the one of your members comes to mind. But the most effective way to really engage with government to use a in person event to, to catalyze and, and build a new relationship. A new contact on the government side.
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C
Yeah, that's, that's a great question. What we try to do, our strategy really when we have a senior official come, either active duty military, you know, general, admiral, or you know, senior civilian or appointee to a senior, you know, position is to request that they bring their staff with them. The key staff, okay. You know, contracting staff, procurement officials, you know, and then stay, be at the conference with them, but then stay there and participate in the networking, in the business matchmaking sessions. And that really has worked out well in the past where they get the, you know, the senior, let's take an example, the Army Corps of Engineers, they're a great partner of ours too. The Chief of Engineers, the army three star Lieutenant General they've had several times. Well, they'll come, be the keynote speaker, they leave, but then their staff stays for the matchmaking, for the networking. And it's a great, great effort because our companies love it. And as well as the contracting Official from the government loves it too.
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B
And I'll say this too, what I noticed most recently again at the Bucharest conference in September, was the overseas conferences and additional value. Sometimes those high level speakers stick around for the whole time. They're not just in and out as they might be at a DC conference for the talk. So just another reason to maybe consider putting one of those events on the calendar.
- [20:38]
C
Right. One other aspect too is at each of our conferences, you may have been involved in this before, where we have a dinner midway through the conference, like the second night, we call it a president's dinner or a chairman's dinner. And we basically invite all the top sponsors and the ISOA leadership, but also the dignitaries, the senior keynotes that spoke to come to dinner. And it's a nice social atmosphere for them to be able to interact with our companies and with the ISOA leadership. So it's, that's, that's a good avenue also.
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B
Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a. I remember the Bucharest dinner was a. Was, yeah. And a great one to connect again with this. Both the speakers who at One of these D.C. events might have just been in there for a couple hours, but stuck around for, for a few days.
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C
Right, yeah. Let me add one other aspect of our summit coming up too. We every year, the last several years, I've been doing it now, 10 years in this position. We started an awards program years ago and we had a separate event for the awards, but this year we were combining with the summit. So part, actually, the third day in the summit, there'll be an awards presentation to some key individuals, three lifetime achievement award winners, and then nine different companies for different aspects, different categories of awards. So that's another nice attribute for the summit.
- [21:54]
B
I think it's nice to combine all those in one event, especially for those not in the DMV, the D.C. area, who are coming in. It kind of increases the value of that trip and lets them do a little bit more in a single week going back to the prep for the conference. So one thing that, you know, we focus on is identifying demand signals, solutioning, how to align business development, solutioning with the administrations, with the Department of War's priorities. We'll do for clients, sometimes briefings for conferences like the ISOA Summit. Who's speaking? Not just who to talk to, but what have been their priorities. What are we seeing in the open source intelligence over the last few weeks that, that general that speaker's talking about so that you can go in not just with, hey, here's what we do I think we're a fit, let's have a follow up conversation. But I know this is your need. Here is our solution. So that, that's your starting point. What we found from all this is that that's great that that that accelerates a lot of that desktop research time where you're paying staff just to go look at a computer refresh government websites or look at, you know, a SAM.gov trackers or something like that. But what we found is that makes even more important are those human relationships. So that's all great. But at some level data analysis becomes a commodity and everyone can kind of access the same thing. Those relationships really then become the differentiator and especially those in person touch points. Great. This is great how you know, we're in different states right now, but it's always great to check in in person. I'm kind of just talking there. There's not a question. Maybe my, my question is what are your thoughts on what is that value of the human relationships now that you've been in this market for a little while, has that changed? Is it, does it reinforce the value of that? What are your thoughts on that?
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C
No, a great point too. It's still, we're still people, we're not robots, right? It's showing up in person, talking to people, you know, smart people to smart people about what's happening in the government. What are the trends for contracting rules coming down the pike. It's critical. I mean that kind of gets back into being a member of isoa. A corporate member means that you're part of the family. You've access to our internal lists, contact lists, but also if companies, and this happens all the time, where you meet someone at a conference, either a government or private sector. But you know, it's always hard to get back in touch because people, you know, email and phone and text and everything, but then they'll come to me or Roxanne or our senior leadership at isoa. Hector Villas is our membership director, does a fabulous job asking us to connect them with that person in government or the private sector. And we do it. And that's one of the great benefits of being a member of ISOA also.
- [24:41]
B
So as we're looking into 2026, what are some of the key market signals that you're going to be tracking to get a sense of, to keep your finger on the pulse of what direction things are going both on the acquisition side as well as on the acquisition priorities in the mission side?
- [24:58]
C
I'd say just keep in attune to the. There's been a lot of memos that have come out of the Department of War. Secretary Higsett has sent out quite a few things as well as their leadership under the acquisition and sustainment. Which gets me back to one of the key speakers at our summit. Dale Marks is going to be talking about. He's actually from the energy field, but his title is Acquisition Sustainments that he'll be talking about. So I'd say energy is one big aspect to look forward to. We have several companies involved in the energy area, but just back to the defense and what's happening in the world again down south, Middle east, you know, Africa, there's been less effort there with defense, but the Development Finance Corporation, DFC has been doing a lot of efforts throughout Africa. So I'd say just, you know, keeping abreast of that, you know, back to AI again, technology is just, it's a driver for all, you know, everything now. And so I'd say if companies can make sure they're incorporating technology and innovation and AI as much as possible into their value stream, value propositions.
- [26:07]
B
That's what I love to hear, that that's exactly what we're focused on, is making our clients more efficient so that the AI is taking care of the analysis, tracking everything you just mentioned, tracking those signals so that the clients are going to the ISOA summit in January. They're going into their meetings with government armed with, prepared with the solutioning and understanding the priorities going in and just makes everything more efficient. Government wants that too. They want you coming and knowing what their needs are and having prepared solutions that, that you can start discussing. All right, well, as we wrap up here. Oh, sorry, Howie.
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C
Yeah. One last. But, you know, back to this whole. I mean, it's important to be able to. Exactly what you just said to know or to understand what the government, what the administration's trying to do, being able to speak their language. I mean, you know, they use the phrase, you know, safer, stronger, more prosperous, more effective, more efficient. That's what you really have to be striving for. So when you come out with whatever your service or product is, it's in that line of thinking.
- [27:04]
B
Yeah. So as we wrap up, I always like to ask, so what? What's the so what that you'd like to leave with the defense industrial base and with government.
- [27:13]
C
Yeah, so what? So what? The way I term it, that is why soa, we say isoa? Isoa, it's vernacular, it doesn't matter. But it's because we're, you Know, we're a family, 200 companies. It's, you know, we provide a great service to our companies like yours and others around the world that can get you in front of the right people and provide business opportunities for you. And, you know, again, the intersection of government and private sector being able to help the government, help private sector in both areas provide support for our missions and goals around the world.
- [27:49]
B
Yeah, and you mentioned that. So with the Bucharest conference in September, I was in London right before that at the DESE conference. 40,000 plus people there in London. Then you go to Bucharest, a couple hundred people. I find there's a value in both. Definitely a different networking approach, a different feel at the ISO event compared to that. But then the AUSAs and the DESIs are also, they also have a place too.
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C
But.
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B
But there is, yeah. Howie, thank you to you and your team for what you do at ISOA for the summit and definitely for the overseas conferences because there's very much a niche that you all are the platform for connecting to key officials with the Combatant Commands and with government. So thanks to you and your team for that important work.
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C
Thank you, Mike. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And it's a great opportunity here to speak to all to you and your network. So thank you. Thank you very much.
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B
As we wrap up then, what's the best way to contact you or your team? How can they sign up for the summit or learn more about membership?
- [28:45]
C
Yeah, just go to our websites. Stability hyphen. Operations.org has all of our events on there. My email's there. Well, I'll just give it to you. It's howielandstability-operations.org Roxanne Kaufman, our senior vice president. Same with Roxanne kaufmantability-operations.org Ginny Maycock is our communications director. She's actually, it's gmacocktability-operations.org, but you know, it's through our website that we do a lot of our work. Great social media presence that GENIE provides too, through LinkedIn and other aspects. But yeah, just love to have as many companies as possible at our conference and as members, feel free to message.
- [29:27]
B
Me on LinkedIn too. Mike Shanley, if you want to get in touch with their team or if you want to learn more about our Defense Early Opportunity Identification Briefing solution. So with that, Howie, thank you very much for being on the show. I've been looking forward to this one. Great to have you on and hope to have you back on again in 2026.
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C
Same here. Thanks again, Mike, and great great being with you.
- [29:48]
B
Thank you.
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A
Thanks thank you for tuning in to the govdiscovery AI podcast with Mike Shanley. Govdiscovery AI leverages our team's decade of experience winning federal funding to deliver federal Growth intel to sales proposal and capture teams working in defense and civilian markets. Each market intel report is delivered by federal growth experts leveraging our proprietary deep data discovery process. If you enjoyed today's show, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and connect with Gov Discovery AI and Mike Shanley on LinkedIn or learn more at govdiscoveryai.com.