By SHAWN PIATEK
Tip Turpin took a gamble on Thursday and logged a lot of early morning miles in order to attend the Government Procurement Expo at Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center in Richland Township.
Turpin couldn’t be sure if the first-year event, sponsored by Johnstown Area Regional Industries, would be worth driving from Cheswick in suburban Pittsburgh.
By lunchtime, the vice president of sale and marketing for Millenia Group, a contract electronics manufacturer, was sold on the event.
“The exposure has been great,” Turpin said. “We’re going to come away from this with three or four contacts that will be very helpful over the long term.”
The expo brought together more than 130 attendees to meet with 15 government agencies and 10 service organizations. Agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and NASA were on hand looking for vendors who can help support their supply chains.
Bob Shark, vice president of procurement and technology at JARI, proclaimed the event a success. He expects the event to become a fixture on the region’s business calendar.
“Based on all the comments we’ve received, this event was very much needed and appreciated,” Shark said.
“We plan to continue to do this annually and make it bigger and better every year.”
Turpin said the event was beneficial to his company in several ways.
The direct access to the exhibitors was important, but Turpin also pointed to the event as an excellent networking opportunity.
“Interacting with the other attendees is where you make your best contacts,” Turpin said.
“Even sitting here at this table for lunch turned out to be very beneficial and yielded some great opportunities down the road.”
