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BruceFarrell

Bruce Farrell, Fellow (Class of 2021)

Proposal Director (Retired)

Bio

Bruce is a business communications and development professional with a real passion for design. He specializes in bringing strong design principles to proposals, presentations, and all other business documents. He has over 30 years of experience in the field.

He was working as a Proposal Director for the Management Consulting practice of Plante Moran. In July 2020, he had a terrible bicycle accident that changed his life. He retired from the firm and continues to make his recovery. He served on the board of APMP for two years. He also was on the Regional Board (GMC) for ten years, including three years as the President.

Bruce is a musician, playing guitar in several bands.

What does being an APMP Fellow mean to you?

It pleasantly surprised me when I was awarded APMP Fellow. I'm humbled by the honor.

What's your best memory from attending an APMP event?

I love talking to people. Everybody. It's the best part.

I think it was the first time or second time I saw Dr. Tom Sant, and he was doing executive summaries. Near the end of his session, he asked somebody he didn’t know from the crowd who was having trouble with an executive summary. And he said, let’s see if we can work on that. He then asked her what she needed, what kind of outcomes she expected, and what her end product should look like. He wrote this all out on a whiteboard.

Then, right off the top of his head, he looked at what was on the board and spoke out an executive summary that I would put in a proposal today. It was mind-blowing. So thank you, Tom.

What advice do you have for a proposal professional entering our field?

I think there’s a lot of value in knowing what you do well, knowing what you don’t do well, and knowing where you want to be. Have a clear path goal.

APMP has a lot of resources. Use them.

Anything else you would like to share?

I love developing presentations. Someday, I hope to be presenting them again.

I would advise new professionals to take advantage of the resources that APMP offers. Not only do you have access to conferences and seminars through your chapter, but the free webinars and the robust network of professionals are great benefits that can help advance one’s career.
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Valerie Kessie, CP APMP
Acquiring the executive summary micro certification has helped to build my confidence in producing best practice Executive Summaries. I also benefit from the social media badge for my LinkedIn profile and certification to add to my resume. Both of these allow me to verify my Executive Summary capabilities.
LauraRispin
Laura Rispin, CP ES-M APMP
My experience, combined with the APMP Body of Knowledge, helped me obtain both the APMP Foundation exam and the Practitioners exam within a week.
Sonal
Sonal Bhatnagar, CP APMP, PMP
During my association with APMP, I have been fortunate to have met and gathered wisdom from several industry stalwarts.
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Karthik Koutharapu, CP APMP
The Executive Summary is the key element of each proposal, literally the most important part of the response next to the price – this is why my focus was on this micro certification. Understanding the principles of Deal-Strategy, Win-Strategy, Competitor-Analysis, Ghosting, Persuasive Writing, Features/Benefits/Discriminators, and many more is essential and beneficial for so much more than just the Executive Summary.
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Florian Lamisch, CF ES-M APMP
I never want to be complacent in my career, so it has been beneficial to have this group of peers who are going through similar trials and tribulations in the proposal world on a day-to-day basis.
jill zander
Jill Zander, CF APMP
APMP is an organization full of hardworking, enthusiastic professionals who are dedicated to promoting their industry and practicing their craft.
HeatherFinch
Heather Finch, CF APMP
This topic, Executive Summaries, is way underrated. The Executive Summary is the most eye-catching document, which almost everyone on the customer side reads. Yet, in most bid teams, we don’t dedicate the attention it deserves. I want to learn about something I can immediately put into practice at my workplace, which provides a “quick win” to the team and is a long-term benefit for the company.
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Dénes Máthé, CF ES-M APMP
APMP's techniques on proposal writing are meticulously engineered with real-life examples, and the extensive information available in their Body of Knowledge is a goldmine for bid & proposal professionals.
AnantShukla
Anant Shukla, CF APMP
Receiving Practitioner-level certification boosted my confidence and validated my experiences and professional growth in the bid and proposal industry. The badge is something that I see each day, and it motivates and encourages me to keep networking, learning, and elevating others in our combined professional development goals.
Kim Ruff
Kim Ruff, CP APMP