Every year, APMP’s annual conference gets bigger and better, and one of the unsung heroes is Steve Jensen, CF APMP Fellow, whose work behind the scenes has aided in its growth and smooth operation.
Jensen has served as a volunteer since 1997, evaluating each proposal for presentation, and arranging for and building out the conference curriculum. While audiences see the fruits of his labor, Jensen is a secret weapon—a member of the team who never seeks out recognition and doesn’t mind his behind-the-scenes role.
After graduating from Rider University, Jensen worked as a reporter for several newspapers on the East Coast before transitioning to proposal writing and bid managing. He spent 14 years as the director of bid management for the Plano, Texas-based Acision LLC, the global market leader in the development and production of software-based voice and data messaging systems for the mobile and cable telecommunications industries. He left the position in September 2013 to spend time as an independent proposal consultant, and then accepted the position of senior proposal manager with CenturyLink Technology Solutions in November.
Recently, APMP had the chance to catch up with Jensen to talk about his long-time involvement with the organization.
APMP: You were a newspaperman for many years. How did you get involved in the proposal management business?
Steve Jensen: My first job working in proposals came in 1982. I was working in the marketing department for a military defense firm, and one day we got a big RFP for a military vehicle. They knew I had a journalism background, so I automatically got labeled as the guy to do it. My first response was “What’s an RFP?” Soon thereafter, proposal management and I seemed to hit it off. I learned pretty quickly that I was good at it, and I was able to use the writing skills I had honed over the years and apply those to the proposal side of the house. The experience has served me well.
APMP: What was your first involvement with the APMP conference?
SJ: I joined APMP in 1987 in Florida, and there was a conference in Orlando at Disney. At the time, APMP didn’t have any assigned people to run the day-to-day work; those people were usually pulled from the local chapters. I was an officer at the time and was recruited to help organize the conference. I gathered up all the presentations, did some critiques, and worked with the presenters to ensure a balanced curriculum with purpose and flow.
APMP: With the experience of that first APMP conference behind you, how did you come to continue volunteering, and how has your role expanded through the years?
SJ: After the success of my first conference, the following year APMP asked me to coordinate speaker presentations for all future conferences. I was very pleased they asked me. I have coordinated the speaker presentations for every conference since—from 1997 to 2013. For the 2014 conference, I served on the presentation selection committee.
APMP: Why did you agree to take on the position full time?
SJ: Even though it is a lot of work, I really enjoy it. It gives me an opportunity to meet people from all over the world, people I wouldn’t normally get to see, and I’ve established a lot of good contacts and friendships as a result.
APMP: In addition to the people you meet, how else has the position helped you in your career?
SJ: Going through all the presentations, you start to learn more about your own craft and understand what the best minds are thinking in terms of proposal management and what the best techniques are. It has helped me in the way I have done my own proposals, as I have applied a lot of what I have learned from reviewing the presentations.
APMP: I know your job is changing this year, but talk a little about what your responsibilities were at the conference the past 16 years.
SJ: My role was the presentation coordinator. Any time a new conference would start, they elected a president and established a review committee of three or four people. Basically, I was the middleman between the speakers, the president, and the review committee. I was the day-to-day operational guy, making sure all the speakers had the information they needed in order to get their presentations together. A call for papers goes out, presentations come in, the review committee makes selections, and then it was my job to communicate with the speakers and answer any questions.
APMP: How has your role changed for this year’s event?
SJ: I decided after last year that I was getting a little overwhelmed with work at the office and with the demands of this. I thought I might not be able to continue to do it, so I backed out. Later on, I had a change of heart, but they had moved on to coordinate in-house. They asked me if I would be on the evaluation committee instead, so that’s what I am doing now. I reviewed about 130 presentations and made my critiques.
APMP: What do you enjoy about these new responsibilities?
SJ: I like having a little more input into the kinds of presentations that get in front of the membership. Hopefully, I am touching on some of the things I’ve learned in the last 15 years and applying that in my critiques and evaluations.
APMP: What do you consider the most important aspect of all that you have contributed over the years?
SJ: Good will. You need good will with the people who do the hard work on presentations. When you help them with developing and presenting their materials, they continue to come back and generate good material. That benefits the membership as a whole.
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