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Craig Burkhardt is an attorney and capital partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP.   He has focused on the representation of clients before the Executive and Legislative agencies of the United States and Illinois State governments for 37 years.  His clients have spanned from individuals, statewide and national business and industrial associations, businesses from technology start-ups, Fortune 500 corporations, to ambassadors, legislative leaders and chief executives of foreign nations.  He also practices election law, and has twice served as president of the Republican National Lawyers Association, and as chief counsel for the Republican leader of the Illinois House of Representatives and general counsel of the Illinois Republican Party. He regularly provides legal and political advice to federal and state Republican candidates and organizations.

His legal career started in 1984 in Springfield, Illinois, where he practiced for 20 years.  Following terrorist attacks on the United States, Craig was appointed by the White House to serve as Chief Counsel for Technology at the U.S. Department of Commerce, leading the legal staff responsible for providing advice to federal technology-related agencies. In that role, he supervised the legal team investigating the New York World Trade Center building and fire safety disaster, for which he was presented a federal gold medal for distinguished scientific and engineering achievement. He also headed the department’s Office of the Chief Counsel for Industry and Security, leading the legal staff responsible for preventing export of dangerous commercial goods to unauthorized entities and providing export administration and enforcement advice to the Bureau of Industry and Security.  In 2006, Craig resumed private legal practice at his firm’s Washington, DC office.  He concentrates on representing companies and foreign countries in their interactions with the United States Government.

Craig has been a leader at the local and national levels of the Boy Scouts of America for 35 years.  His leadership activities have included service as District Chair, Council President, Area President, Region Vice President (Membership), National Venturing Vice-Chair, National BSA Foundation Trustee, National Second Century Society Co-Chair, and Member of the National Advisory Council.  A favorite service was as founding Council President of the Chicago-headquartered Pathway to Adventure Council, which combined four predecessor councils.  This included the council of his youth, where he earned Arrow of Light, Eagle Scout and Quartermaster Sea Scout and was a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow.  He is Scoutmaster of Scouts BSA Troop 248 for Girls in the District of Columbia, which he founded with Barbara, his wife of 35 years, and First Class Scout Gloria Burkhardt.

Congratulations to Craig and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees! Eagle alums, let’s stay connected. Join NESA DC today! www.ncacbsa.org/national-eagle-scout-association/

Michael W. Gates, Ph.D. is a Research Entomologist and Research Leader in the Systematic Entomology Laboratory (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service), Beltsville, MD.  He was born in Michigan but spent his formative years in Conway, Arkansas.  He received his B.A. in Biology from Hendrix College, Conway, AR, his M.S. in Entomology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK and Ph.D. in Systematic Entomology from the University of California, Riverside.  Dr. Gates served as a postdoctoral researcher with began his career with the USDA in 2003 as a Support Scientist with the Systematic Entomology Laboratory in Beltsville, MD.

In 2004, he was hired as the USDA’s national parasitic Hymenoptera specialist where his assignment includes research, service identifications, and curation of the Smithsonian’s Chalcidoidea collection (>750,000 specimens). Dr. Gates internationally recognized in Chalcidoidea (superfamily of parasitic wasps) systematics and is a leading expert on the family Eurytomidae.  He has published over 90 manuscripts, including over 70 peer-reviewed papers and 3 book chapters.  His 25+ years of entomological research include investigations within 7 families of Hymenoptera, comprising over 20 genera (two new to science), and over 1,000 species (over 100 new to science).  Among his notable new genera is a Neotropical taxon that lives inside arboreal ant nests and parasitizes an obligate myrmecophilous fly species.  His publications are considered as authoritative and have served as the premise for related research.  His reputation has led to numerous requests where he has organized, moderated, or given invitational or submitted over 50 presentations at the national and international meetings.  He has made more than 5,000 determinations (representing over 25,000 insect specimens) as part of taxonomic services responsibilities at the Systematic Entomology Laboratory.  These determinations are used by federal government agencies for regulatory/trade issues and provide a critical role in protecting the U.S. agriculture.

His was a co-recipient of USDA Beltsville Area Technology Transfer Award, “for extraordinary assistance to APHIS/PPQ at ports in the U.S. and around the world,” 2006.  He has won over $350,000 in extramural grants as principal/co-principal investigator to work on parasitic wasps attacking invasive species (emerald ash borer) or to make web accessible collection holdings in the form of specimen images and label data. He has served as an instructor for the Fairfax County (Virginia) Master Naturalist program since 2014.  He was honored with four patronyms including a new genus, Gatesina colombiana, and three new species: Euplectrus mikegatesi, Mikeius gatesi, and Eurytoma gatesi.   Dr. Gates served as a key person (in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution) in implementing an intern program in the Systematic Entomology Laboratory where volunteers gain educational experiences with the entomology collections. Since 2014, the program hosted over 500 individuals (including underserved and minorities) for nearly 300,000 volunteer hours.

Dr. Gates has been involved in Scouting as a youth (Eagle Scout) and as an adult Scouter serving at the unit level.  He currently is serving as an Assistant Scoutmaster and has attended Philmont twice, once per son. He has served on staff of at 2 National Jamborees (2013 & 2017) teaching the Insect Study merit badge and most recently (2019) as a co-coordinator of the Food Program at the World Scout Jamboree (developing program teaching about food production/security and related topics).

Congratulations to Michael and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees! Eagle alums, let’s stay connected. Join NESA DC today! www.ncacbsa.org/national-eagle-scout-association/

Phil Reilly is a retired CIA senior Operations Officer with a decorated 29 year career.  He also served in the US Army Special Forces prior to CIA.  Among the many positions he held, Mr. Reilly served as the CIA’s senior paramilitary officer as Chief of Special Activities Division and was charged with conducting Presidentially directed activities. Mr. Reilly had numerous foreign and domestic assignments including Chief of Station positions in Afghanistan, Europe and in the Far East. He also served as Deputy Chief of Station in Iraq and operated in Latin America and Africa.  Mr. Reilly was the deputy commander of the first USG team to enter Afghanistan two weeks after the 9/11 attacks.

Mr. Reilly is now the Senior Vice President at Orbis Operations, a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group, and an advisor or board member of several companies in the national security, cyber and financial space.

Mr. Reilly is a graduate of Georgetown University, was a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School and attended leadership training at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.  He holds numerous awards including the CIA Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, the Intelligence Star, and the Director of National Intelligence Personal Medallion.

Congratulations to Philip and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees!

Joe Sullivan is a Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Maryland.  He received his PhD in Plant Physiology from Clemson University in 1985 when he joined the University as a Faculty Research Associate in the Department of Botany.  As Associate Dean, he is responsible for administration and coordination of all academic programs in the college.  He formally taught courses in Environmental Science, Plant Structure and Function, Forest Ecology, Vegetation Sampling and Data Analysis and Advanced Plant Ecophysiology and directs the Urban Forestry program for the Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture.  He served from 2015 to 2017 as the Interim Director of the Environmental Science and Policy program.

His research area on the response of plants (trees and forests in particular) to environmental stress has resulted in over 75 book chapters, monographs and  peer-reviewed publications on diverse plants and ecosystems from the Boreal forests of Canada to the southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests to the urban forests of Baltimore and has been awarded in excess of $2M to the University for his research.  He has advised 29 Masters and 43 PhD students as major advisor or committee member and has mentored over 20 undergraduate students in their research.  He serves in leadership positions and board members for organizations such as the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation, the mid-Atlantic chapter of the International Society of Arborists, the Mid-Atlantic Section of Plant Biologists and the Ecological Society of America, Mid-Atlantic Region.

Joe Sullivan has a long history of involvement in Scouting as a Scout and later Scouter.  He received his Eagle Scout Award as a 13-year-old on September 7, 1969 and following that received the Bronze, Silver and Gold Palms.  He served as an Assistant Scout Master and Merit Badge Counselor during the 1970’s and served again as a Scouter with his two sons, one in National Capital and one in Baltimore.   He currently works with a team of current and former scouters at the University of Maryland to promote STEM educational opportunities for Scouts through the University.

Please join us tonight at 6:00pm as we recognize Joe and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees. To reserve your seat, please visit www.NCACBSA.org/NOESA.

Josh Batten is an Executive Partner with Gartner Inc., the world’s foremost research and advisory company employing more than 15,000 employees globally. In this role, he directly contributes to the business and mission success of multiple national-level federal organizations by serving as a trusted adviser and thought partner to C-Suite Executives, Senior Executive Service members, and military Flag Officers from across the U.S. Government. Focusing on organizational evolution and business optimization, Josh leverages more than 25 years of experience as an accomplished leader in both the public and private sectors to help federal agencies develop and execute complex business and resource strategies that cost-effectively save time, increase performance, and maximize impact of investments.

Immediately prior to joining Gartner, Josh served as the Chief Technology Officer and acting CIO for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation where his primary focus was to drive innovation throughout the organization and deliver business value to 1,100 geographically-dispersed agency employees, 500,000 commercial carrier companies, 12,000 State personnel, and 5 million commercial driver license holders who relied heavily on agency-managed IT services.

Previously, as a federal civilian, Josh served in a variety of positions of increasing responsibility including Deputy G-38 for Headquarters, Department of the Army, where he was responsible for managing policy, oversight, and enabling activities for Army Counter-Improvised Explosive Device and Explosive Ordnance Disposal capability development and operational support; Deputy Director for Capability Development in a Department of Defense sensitive special operations organization where he provided innovative technology and training solutions to support high-risk operations; and Intelligence Officer and technical program manager with the Defense Intelligence Agency where he managed capability development and integration initiatives. He was also a small business owner providing emerging technology discovery, assessment, and integration for special operations and intelligence community clients.

Josh began his public service career as an Infantryman assigned to the 3d U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard) in Washington DC where he was selected to be a Sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (badge #421). Additionally, he has served as a military reservist in the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, deploying multiple times in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Josh has a BA in History, is a graduate of the Harvard Senior Executive Fellows and Cornell Executive Leadership Certificate programs, and is certified as a Project Management Professional.

Growing up in rural West Virginia, Josh has been involved with Scouting since he was a youth. Having previously served in various unit, district, and council positions over the years, he currently serves in the National Capital Area Council in multiple capacities. In addition to earning the rank of Eagle Scout, he is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, the Community Organization Award (Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal), and the God and Service adult religious award. He is a life member of the National Eagle Scout Association, a member of the Order of the Arrow (originally Shenshawpotoo 276), a James E. West Fellow, and a fellow with several alumni legacy societies. A strong proponent of preserving scouting’s heritage, Josh served for a number of years on the Shenandoah Area Council history committee, as adult adviser for the Virginia OA 100^th Anniversary history display at the 2015 SR-7A section conclave, and routinely displays historical material at local area events to increase public awareness of scouting’s influence on society. He has also attended Wood Badge, Sea Badge, and Powderhorn training and was registered as staff for the 2021 National Jamboree…before COVID delayed the event.

Most importantly though, Josh and his wife, Christie, are the proud parents of two young scouts, Sarah (Webelo/GSUSA Junior) and David (Tiger), who both love the outdoors, nature, and exploring the world.

Please join us tomorrow, June 2nd at 6:00pm as we recognize Josh and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees. To become a sponsor for this event, please visit www.NCACBSA.org/NOESA. Proceeds will go towards providing Eagle Scout Recognition Kits for new Eagle Scouts in the National Capital Area Council.

In 2018, Dr. Phillips was named the founding Executive Director of the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care.

Please join us on Wednesday, June 2nd at 6:00pm as we recognize Dr. Phillips and his fellow 2021 NOESA Honorees. To become a sponsor for this event, please visit www.NCACBSA.org/NOESA. Proceeds will go towards providing Eagle Scout Recognition Kits for new Eagle Scouts in the National Capital Area Council.