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2021 Mentor Protégé Program

New year, new opportunities. Our Mentor Protégé Program is designed to help you uncover your inner greatness and harness that power in your career journey. Mentoring is both a “get and give” experience with the goal of providing a rich and rewarding experience for both mentors and protégés. A new job or the next big promotion, our Mentor Protégé program strives to create relationships where mentors and proteges can partner with each other to level up, enable, and inspire. Are you ready for dynamic personal growth and a platform for professional success?

Protégé

You might be brand new in your role marketing to the U.S. Public Sector Government or maybe you have been at it a while but are looking to pivot in your career. Protégés learn from a mentor’s personal and professional experience, knowledge, and skills. This one-on-one relationship allows protégés to gain individual attention on career roadblocks, explore new job opportunities, increase competencies in specific areas, and set goals for professional development. The program provides valuable connections with senior marketers and other protégés.

Mentor

Ask successful leaders and managers what the key to their own career success is and most of them will tell you they had great mentors that attributed significant support in their career trajectory. Effective mentoring not only advances the protégé, but also rewards the mentor. Mentoring government marketing professionals is an investment in the future of our industry and in the success of the future workforce. Give back and gain valuable, hands-on experience as a leader and a coach. Participating mentors benefit from:

  • Exploring opportunities to self-reflect on your personal career journey
  • Opportunities to expand connections and grow your network
  • Exchanging lessons learned
  • Strengthening your leadership and instructional skills

Program Format

Government Marketing University will be launching our 2021 Mentor Protégé Program as a six-part, virtual series.

  • Pairings of Mentors and Protégés based on skills and performance goals
  • Each virtual session will take place once per month for 5 months
  • Format includes a group discussion or industry speaker and networking time with all participants
  • Mentor/Protégé will set their schedules for 1:1 meetings based on specific project/goals set at the beginning of the program

Session Dates

  • February 11, 2021 – Virtual Networking Session
  • March 11, 2021- Goal Setting: Mapping Out Your Career Journey
  • April 14, 2021 – What Does the Business of Me Look Like? Portfolio Building Unique to Government Marketing
  • May 19, 2021 – The Art of the Negotiation
  • June 16, 2021 – Conflict Resolution
  • July 14, 2021 – Content Creativity

Apply today to unlock your career potential

Prior to the start of the program, prospective mentors and protégé will be invited to attend a “get to know you” virtual networking session. Mentors and protégés will be matched based on alignment of mentor expertise to protégé goals as well as feedback from the networking event. After the second session, protégés will be asked to provide a detailed description of a specific project they would like their mentor’s help with during the program duration.

Protégé Application
Mentor Application

If you are interested in becoming a mentor or protégé and have questions about the application process or the overall program please email us at Mentor@gmarku.com or call us at 888-376-1044.

Mentor Program Chairs

Christina Morrison

Director, Federal Solutions, Proofpoint

Christina Morrison has created, led and managed successful public sector go to market strategy and messaging plans for high-technology companies. She is able to drive success of business goals by building a strong marketing strategy that generates marketing demand & revenue.

She is an analytical, revenue driven marketing leader offering 20 years of brand management, strategic positioning, and lead generation experience with accomplished track record in both digital and social marketing and creating marketing revenue-generating integrated plans.

She currently is the Director of Federal Solutions at Proofpoint with responsibilities for the Go to Market Marketing Strategy, Messaging, Awareness and Demand.

Prior to her position at Proofpoint, Christina has led Federal, State and Local, Education and Healthcare marketing at VMware, Hewlett-Packard, NCR Government Systems, and Teradata Corporation, where she was responsible for marketing and public relations for verticals.

As a Teleworker herself, Christina serves as an active telework and mobility champion for the public sector, advocating the secure use of technologies to safely enable telework & mobility initiatives. Christina actively participates in a variety of social media communities to offer insight into the technology trends and issues that impact public sector. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Towson University.  Christina is proud to be from New Jersey and currently lives in Northern Virginia, where she enjoys cooking, volunteering in the digital classroom in Fairfax County Public Schools. She is an active runner and enjoys slowing life down with her husband and three boys.

LaRel Rogers

Digital Merchandiser, FLIR Systems

LaRel has spent the last six years mapping the user journey through product, digital, and event marketing programs. She developed lead-gen and sales enablement programs to drive pipeline, customer expansion and partner affinity for federal extended sales organizations. In her current role, she owns site product launch strategy across defense and commercial businesses as a Digital Merchandiser.

LaRel resides in Maryland with her twin sister and is a graduate of Louisiana State University. She is also the co-chair of Government Marketing University’s mentor/protégé program. In her downtime, she binges way too many movies and teaches beginner weaving classes in-person and online.

Emma Billingsley

Senior Government Marketing Coordinator, Sage Communications

With 3+ years of GovCon marketing under her belt, Emma Billingsley is passionate about facilitating conversations with government customers to solve issues that are important to them. As a Senior Government Marketing Coordinator, she is responsible for day-to-day project management and ensuring all campaigns are running smoothly. Emma is a resident of Bethesda, Maryland and graduated from the University of Alabama. Roll Tide! In her free time, she loves to travel and experience new things.

Testimonials

“The Government Marketing University Mentor Protégé program was beneficial to my professional development in many ways. My mentor was a seasoned government marketer who provided tons of valuable advice related to my role and career path. The program also allowed me to network with other government marketers, share ideas and learn about emerging topics that I could take back to my team. Being a protégé provided me with visibility within the industry and helped me obtain a job with a large global IT company. “

Jarell D. Grady 
Sr. Field Marketing Manager | Salesforce
Global Public Sector

“When I first started in the Federal IT industry 4 years ago, I immediately signed up for the GMarkU Mentor Protégé program. Not only did this program teach me more about how to market to the government, but it connected me with those who have been in the industry for 20+ years. Having access to these types of resources and meeting knowledgeable people that have started in positions similar to mine really helped my growth as a government marketer. I am lucky to have been able to participate in this type of program. I still keep in touch with my mentor to this day!”

Megan Battaglia
Director of Marketing
ThunderCat Technology