For Our Defense: Greater Fayetteville Business Journal to host its second Power Breakfast at FSU

By Jenna Shackelford, posted Oct 27, 2021 on BizFayetteville.com

Greater Fayetteville Business Journal is preparing to hold its second Power Breakfast this year, themed “For Our Defense,” on Nov. 9 at Fayetteville State University.

Held at the Rudolph Jones Student Center, the event will focus on both large and small defense contractors and the impact of the defense industry on the region.

This second event follows a Power Breakfast that took place in July, themed “Entrepreneurs & Acquirers.” The inaugural breakfast highlighted the acquisitions of two of the Fayetteville regions most successful and thriving businesses in a panel discussion. Stakeholders in the business community filled the room and praised the event and its relevance.

The topic for this Power Breakfast was selected because of how the industry is growing throughout the Fayetteville MSA, Marty Cayton, publisher of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal, explains.

“Our second Power Breakfast has a direct and indirect relevance for every business owner in the Fayetteville MSA,” Cayton said. “In 2020 DOD spending in North Carolina topped 66 billion, up by more than $6 billion. Cumberland and Hoke County defense contractors hauled in significant portions of this spend. The sector is set to grow steady over the next ten years.”

Fayetteville State University has played an active role in the business community, especially in recent months with its efforts to support the Greater Fayetteville Chamber’s networking events and by announcing their upcoming entrepreneurial innovation hub which will be in Bronco Square.

“One of our core focus points is strengthening public-private partnerships. We are excited to host the Power Breakfast here on the campus of Fayetteville State University,” said Wesley Fountain, associate vice chancellor for external affairs.

The event will take place the week of Veterans Day.

Similarly to the previous Power Breakfast, For Our Defense will have a panel discussion format.

Following the Posting of the Colors, Cayton will give an introductory address followed by welcoming remarks from Fayetteville State University’s Chancellor Darrell T. Allison.

Then the panel discussion will commence. Afterwards, attendees can submit questions for the speakers via text for them to answer.

Numerous businesses throughout the community are sponsoring the breakfast. Sponsorships for the Power Breakfast come in three tiers: Presenting Sponsor, Lead Sponsors and Inspire Sponsors.

The Presenting Sponsor is Fayetteville State University; the Lead Sponsors include Andrulonis Media, Copiers Plus, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville’s Public Works Commission, TeamLogic IT, UNC Pembroke Thomas School of Business and the UPS Print Store at Westwood Shopping Center and Bragg; the Inspire Sponsors include Cape Fear Valley Health, Greater Fayetteville Chamber, Coldwell Banker Advantage, Dogwood State Bank, Fayetteville-Cumberland Economic Development Corporation, Cumberland Tractor Kubota of Fayetteville, Holmes Security Systems, H&H Homes, Walsingham Group and United Bank.

The speakers

Joyce Adams is the VP of AEVEX Aerospace Global Solutions in Fayetteville. Previously, Adams served as a Federal Government Civilian for 34 years. Since 2009, Adams has served with the Department of the Army, Joint Special Operations Command Intelligence Brigade Staff. Prior to that, Adams served as an Intelligence Operations Specialist and Counterintelligence Special Agent for USASOC, supporting Special Mission Units including six deployments to combat theaters throughout the world. Adams completed advanced leadership and organizational certification programs at Harvard, UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Management, NCSU and University of Louisville and earned her Bachelor of Science from Capella University.

Jay Dodd is a VP in the HQ/OPS Sub Account in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Army Account and the location GM for the Fayetteville office cluster. Dodd is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy and Syracuse University with master’s degrees in business and national resource management.

He is an instructor for BAH’s Change Management Advanced Practitioners’ Course, serving clients in the Operational Forces, and a veteran, having served in the Army for 24 years, rising to the rank of Colonel. Dodd is a Project Management Professional and a CPA. He is the recipient of AUSA’s writing award for his research project, “The Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990, Conserving Resources for Readiness and National Security Through Better Financial Management.”

Louis Huddleston is the CEO-President of Operations Services, Inc., a management consulting firm that supports government organization, founded in 2010.

He served in the Army for 31 years before retiring as a colonel as the 18th Airborne Corps Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Planning and Force Modernization.

Since then, Huddleston has served contracting companies in D.C. and Fayetteville-Fort Bragg.

Huddleston has volunteered his skills to numerous defense and economic development organizations and boards throughout the region.

Huddleston holds a B.A. in Political Science from Morgan State University and a Master of Arts in Public Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College in D.C.

Ed Petkovich, who has been in Fayetteville since 1986, is the owner/ chairman of Walsingham Group, a defense firm that offers a variety of services including provision of aerospace refueling operations for the DOD.

Petkovich serves on numerous boards and was a founding board member and officer of the USASOC Soldier Family & Command Support Association. Petkovich is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard for 22 years.

Petkovich holds a B.S. Electronics Engineering Technology from Cleveland State University and is a graduate of the Tepper School of Business Executive Program at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Greater Fayetteville Business Journal’s Power Breakfast will be held from 7:30-9:30 a.m. on Nov. 9 on the campus of Fayetteville State University at Rudolph Jones Student Center, located at 1200 Murchison Road in Fayetteville. General admission tickets are available for $40 and tickets for a table of eight are sold for $275. Ticket sales for the event end Nov. 8. To purchase tickets, visit fayettevillepowerbreakfast.com.

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