A MONTHLY PUBLICATION April 2022 | Issue 4
Welcome to our fourth issue of AMSGazette! We’re glad you are here. 

I begin this month’s letter to you by recognizing two amazing people who have been part of AMSG’s existence almost since the beginning – one as an employee, and one as a trusted advisor and teaming partner – and who are both retiring after decades of service to our federal government. 
First, Kathy Kovach, who joined AMSG in 2012 after she and I had previously worked together going back to 2008. Kathy is a multi-talented, persistent, and humble THOUGHT LEADER at AMSG. She has supported AMSG’s contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs for 10 years. Her work has literally impacted hundreds of thousands of Veterans Health Administration employees and stakeholders. We’ll miss you Kathy, and we wish you all the best in your next chapter!
Second, Joe Kopfman, who is retiring from American Systems Corporation (ASC) as the Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer after over forty-three years of service to our federal government as an employee of ASC. Joe has been a trusted advisor to AMSG for over 10 years since AMSG pursued and won a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contract to support the construction of the DHS Headquarters at the historic St. Elizabeth’s Campus in Washington, DC. Through the years, Joe has mentored, advocated and advised AMSG Leadership on all matters related to business. We’ll miss you Joe!

To both of these incredible people, we say, “Fair winds and following seas.”

I also wanted to share two events that have happened in the last month:
In March, I briefed the SBA’s Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs (ACVBA) at their Quarterly Meeting. My talk was on the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses and lessons learned from this experience. One of the lessons I talked about was taking the time to build and maintain strong relationships TODAY with your “ABCs” – that’s Attorney, Banker, and CPA! Having strong, trusted relationships with our ABCs has helped AMSG weather the storm of COVID. Don’t wait until the crisis is upon you to begin building these relationships. And this lesson applies just as easily to all of the key relationships in your life. Take the time to nurture your relationships! As my mom was fond of saying, “At the end of our lives, all we truly have are our relationships.”
CEO Circle “Fly In” – If you own a business, you know how difficult it can be to get away from the day to day “fire fighting” and spend quality time with fellow business owners, exchange ideas, hear from business thought leaders, and have the opportunity to see that many of the challenges your own business is facing, are not unique. The amazing professionals at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bunker Labs have created the perfect program to do this and more! I am honored to be one of the 40 military veteran CEOs that make up the 2021-2022 CEO Circle cohort. In March, we reconvened in Plano, Texas, for a quarterly Fly In and had another memorable experience. Whether it was speaking one-on-one with Chris Cassidy, a Navy SEAL/Astronaut and now CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum or setting goals with fellow CEOs for the rest of 2022, there was continuous learning happening.

In this month’s AMSGazette, we highlight Ken Mizrach, whose journey from an intern to Medical Center Director at VA Medical Centers is nothing short of inspiring. We also look at emerging technologies in the government and share five ways to improve the chances of successful adoption of new technology. Finally, we share the story of how one of our employees, Juania Owens, decided to move from New York City to Seattle during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what she learned about herself in the process.  
 
We thank you for taking the time to read up on AMSG and, as always, we welcome your input. Please feel free to email us at amessenger@amsgcorp.net with ideas, news, or even just to say hello. Also please feel free to share this with any of your colleagues you think might want to learn what is happening at AMSG right now. Have a wonderful month.
Best,
Jim O'Farrell
President and CEO
571-283-1871
AMSG NEWS
An Interview with Ken Mizrach
Introduction Written by: Juania Owens, AMSG Investment Analyst Team Lead (Pictured)
From intern to Medical Center Director at VA Medical Centers across the United States, Ken Mizrach served and supported our Veterans as a Federal employee for 42 years. He has since retired his Federal employee hat, joining AMSG in 2019 to support AMSG’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Government Accountability High Risk List Training Contract in helping VHA to establish training standards, and streamline processes and training systems.
 
If that isn’t enough, he is also an Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University School of Communications. With over four decades of training and experience, he brings a breadth of wisdom, skills, and VA knowledge, further enriching AMSG and our culture. We interviewed Ken to hear about his unprecedented career, the lessons he’s learned, and what drives him to continue his work with the VA.
TECH CORNER
Emerging Technologies in the Government:
Keys to Successful Adoption
EMPLOYEE CORNER
Fleeing New York City Amid the Uncertainty of the Unending Pandemic
Written by: Juania Owens, AMSG Investment Analyst Team Lead (Pictured)

When the pandemic hit in 2020, droves of New York City natives and transplants fled the city, hunkering down in second homes or flat out relocating to other parts of the country. More than 837,400 people submitted change-of-address requests from New York City addresses in 2020, a 36 percent increase from the year before.

Click below to read an AMSG employee's perspective on moving during the pandemic.
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