On January 9, 2016 COL(R) Frank Francois along with current membership constituency participated in a ceremonial swearing –in ceremony for Kevin L. Coby as the 13th presiding President of RBA. Mr. Coby is an exceptional choice for this role, having begun his journey in the U.S. Air Force, working in military intelligence, as a signals intelligence analyst for the U.S Government. After nearly ten years of active service, including tours of duty in Japan and Korea, plus multiple stateside and temporary duty assignments, he left the Air Force in 1995. Subsequent to his departure from active duty, Mr. Coby served as a systems engineer and program manager in support of federal government contracts with various Information Technology companies, such as General Dynamics, TRW and Booze Allen & Hamilton, to name a few.
Mr. Coby began his journey as an entrepreneur in the basement of his home in 2006; he founded and led INSIGHT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IIT) as President and Chief executive officer from August 2006 to March 2010. Within 3 years Mr. Coby was able to grow his business from three employees to a work force of 35 employees. During this period he also acquired multiple Prime NSA contracts and grew his business to a net worth of over $13 million in revenue. IIT was acquired in 2010 by KEYW Corporation, a NASDAQ publicly trading company. At the time of the acquisition IIT was ranked as one of the Top 100 Disabled Veteran Owned Businesses in the U.S by Diversity Business.com. Mr. Coby spent two years with KEYW as the Vice President, managing IIT as a wholly owned subsidiary of KEYW Corporation and supporting Merger and Acquisition activity. In February of 2012 Mr. Coby purchased SITEC CONSULTING, LLC and is presently serving as the President and CEO of SITEC.
In his acceptance speech, Mr. Coby quoted John F. Kennedy; “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents”. He went on to say RBA is a place to develop talents and business. It is evident that Mr. Coby recognizes the necessity and the vital role RBA plays in transforming and educating businesses leaders, helping them to identify, focus and build a solid foundation for collaborating, educating and innovating for their businesses. He is well aware of the distinguished history of RBA; having been incorporated in 1994 and achieving a status of a non-profit IRS 501(c) 6 trade association. He refers to the RBA as an “amazing association with great leadership and membership of folks that have literally help write the American History and change the course of this country; Risk takers, resourceful pioneers who help build this prosperous nation. Members and leaders of our military that went on to become entrepreneurs and expanding the American Dream for themselves and others like me…which, I think is amazing”.
Today, RBA’s membership is comprised of retired and former military officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers, as well as, business owners and managers who operate successful and diverse businesses. Originally, RBA consisted only of commissioned officers however, in 2010 the RBA membership voted to expand their membership to include non-military business leaders as members. This select group of members is known as Associate members and they possess the same rights, privileges and benefits as other members. Today RBA enjoys a membership roster of over 59 corporate members and the list continues to grow. In addition, RBA inducted four emeritus members in 2012 to their membership directory as advisors to the board of directors; General Johnnie E Wilson, US Army (Ret.), Lieut. Gen. Julius W. Becton Jr., US Army (Ret.), Lieut. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg US Army (Ret.) and Colonel Verle R. Hammond, US Army (Ret.).
As an entrepreneur Mr. Coby understands the mission, the vision, the challenges and the strategic plan necessary for the growth and advancement of a business. He says “he can imagine the possibilities of what we can accomplish together for the next generation of business owners…if we are willing to open our minds, broaden our perspective and work together. Aligned with the current leadership Mr. Coby’s previous experience and insight will be a guiding tool in the implementation of the business strategy, growth initiatives, and outlook for the coming years.
Mr. Coby is of the belief that…It takes a village!!... And his outlook for this organization is that…we are indeed a village and together we will raise RBA to its next level of excellence!!
RBA is currently rebuilding its internal processes. Under the leadership of Admiral (Ret) .Anthony Watson and the RBA Strategy Committee, a RBA business strategy 2013 plan was created to better define RBA's corporate strategy to ensure that we are providing the best service to our customers including members and other stakeholders with whom we engage. The RBA business strategy was reviewed and approved by RBA board of directors and they directed that the business strategy plan be implemented immediately. Included in the business strategy plan is the RBA strategic map. This map is the reattempt for the implementation of the business strategy plan listed on one sheet of paper. It shows the plan to accelerate each RBA members' business growth. Mr. Mark Brown is the chair of the customer perspective committee. Colonel (Ret.) Al Elliott chairs the learning and growth perspective committee. Colonel (Ret.) Jim George chairs the internal processes perspective committee and Colonel (Ret.) Harvey Dickerson chairs the financial control prospective committee. I encourage you to go online and review the RBA business strategy plan as this is the driver for us to meet our goals and objectives.
In order to accomplish the budget items we must raise funds to cover our expenses. The main source of funds is through the collection of membership dues. Other fundraising activities include the annual friends and family picnic, COL (Ret.) Frank Preston; serves as its chair; the annual Ted Adams Memorial golf tournament, LTC Kevin Jennings serves as it chair; the RBA speaker luncheon series, COL (Ret.) Jim George, serves as its chair; the annual RBA holiday social, LTC (Ret.) Alan Thomas serves as its chair: and The RBA awards gala, MAJ (Ret.) Pat Williams, serves as its chair.. We have established a corporate membership and sponsors program and we are looking forward to getting that moving forward as our planning for the gala is finalized.
The RBA website at www.rmoa.org, is an important place to find out more about RBA. We will publish the RBA bi-monthly newsletter on line to tell the RBA story and to elevate our brand. We are in the process of updating our bylaws and articles to reflect the latest changes that are being made as a result of the actions taken by the RBA business strategy committee.
The RBA officers are voted by the RBA membership and serve a two year term. The current officers are;
Mr.. Kevin Coby
President
Ms.. Nicole Priester
Vice President
Ms. Gloria McFarland
Secretary
COL Harvey Dickerson USA (Ret.)
Treasurer
Currently the RBA administrative services is provided by WSC Associates, LLP. Mrs. Sharene Cook is the WSC President. I am proud to serve as the RBA President and to be a part of the executive group at a time when the organization is going through a major renovation. The morale of the RBA membership is high. The monthly membership meetings are interesting, informative and well attended.
The RBA officers and committee chairs served with distinction and pride and all have a sense of focus to achieve excellence in their work. Our motto and the RBA members are Heroes in Service – Heroes in Business – Heroes in Life. Thanks for logging in and enjoy the website.
Best regards,
Kevin L. Coby
President, RBA