Congratulations to Summit Consulting for turning 19! Thank you to our partners, Albert Lee, Anthony Curcio, and Gob Juntima, for a fun day celebrating Summit culture with our staff and clients. It’s great to be a Summiteer!
Sarah Cunningham Receives Top Reviewer Award from the CEAR Program
Congratulations to Summit director Sarah Cunningham, who was recently awarded the “Top Reviewer” designation for the FY 2021 CEAR program on behalf of the Association of Government Accountants’ Certificate of Excellence in Accountability Reporting Board.
The CEAR program recognizes outstanding accountability reporting by government agencies and departments and is the highest form of recognition in federal government management reporting. Sarah dedicated more than 40 volunteer hours to reviewing lengthy financial reports and provided invaluable knowledge and time to the CEAR program. Congratulations to Sarah for this incredible distinction!
We also want to recognize the individuals who served on the review teams that went above and beyond to contribute well-written, meaningful, and thoughtful recommendations for their assigned report, as well as federal agencies who are doing the work to improve transparency and accountability in a way that is accessible to the public.
Summit Sponsors Washington Evaluators Society
Summit is proud to be an organizational sponsor of the Washington Evaluators Society. We’re honored to be among the best and brightest in this important community and to be continuing our evaluation work ensuring that federal dollars are spent wisely and programs achieve outcomes relevant to their missions.
What’s New on Federal Credit Fridays
Episode 3: Scott Burroughs on the Latest Trends in Modeling for Federal Loans
Burroughs, a director at Summit and an expert in federal credit modeling, discusses the latest trends in modeling for default, prepayment, and recovery for federal loans.
Episode 4: Andrew McCabe on the $18 Billion Portfolio of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office
McCabe, the Director of Risk Management at the Loan Programs Office, discusses the office’s $18 billion loan portfolio, which consists of borrowers in the renewable energy and energy-efficiency sectors, advanced technology vehicle manufacturing, and advanced fossil, nuclear, and related transmission infrastructure spaces.
Episode 5: Jorianne Jernberg on What’s Next for the WIFIA Loan Program
Jernberg, director of the WIFIA Loan Program at the Environmental Protection Agency, talks about what’s next for her program.
Cunningham, a director at Summit, discusses Office of Management and Budget Circular A-129 and evidence-based evaluation of federal loan programs.
Missed an episode? Listen to past Federal Credit Fridays here.
About Federal Credit Fridays: The U.S. government is one of the largest lenders and credit guarantors on earth. Its portfolio is estimated at over $3.6 trillion, as measured by loan assets and the face value of loan guarantees. The government uses credit for a wide variety of policy missions, including housing, higher education, small businesses, rural and urban economic development, infrastructure, and export promotion, among others. This podcast will familiarize you with the vast world of federal credit, and we hope that you’ll learn about similarities and differences between these programs as well as the importance of their work to achieving policy missions within the framework of public-private collaboration.
Summit Presents at NGMA Annual Grants Training
Summit’s Sarah Cunningham, Kate Lynch Machado, and Lydia Kidder were excited to engage with grants management professionals in a discussion about the importance of disaster preparedness at the National Grants Management Association 2022 Annual Grants Training in April. They talked about steps that recipients can take to advance policy goals and be compliant with 2 CFR 200.
Conferences & Partnerships
Summit director Sarah Cunningham moderated the Results for America Panel at AGA’s 2022 PIO-CFO Summit in Washington, DC, on May 12.
Each panelist shared their experiences and insights on how to build the infrastructure necessary to enable evidence-based policy making, from getting started with the “quick wins”—which provide value to stakeholders to demonstrate progress, secure buy-in, and build trust—to leveraging agency learning agendas.
A collaborative series by Summit and Huron, a Global Consultancy. Authored by Kami Ehrich and Lisa Dailey, with contributions by Teresa Kline
In this series, we look at how an office climate assessment is a valuable tool to gain insight into employee perceptions of company policies and procedures. We talk about data collection techniques, engagement in a remote workplace, and a case study of a real organization. Check out the whole series on the Summit blog:
A blog series by Jonathan Ewert of CapZone Impact Investments with contributions by Summit’s Auyon Rahman
In this series of four posts, Summit collaborated with CapZone Impact Investments to discuss Opportunity Zone (OZ) updates in 2022. As the program develops, so does scrutiny on OZ investors.
In this post, we look at an overview of the eight recommendations made by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the response from IRS management, and the implications for Qualified Opportunity Fund administration.
We dive into a detailed analysis of the watchdog report by the Treasury Inspector General, which zeros in on inaccurate or inconsistent filings by OZ taxpayers, and the IRS management response to it.
We wrap things up with a discussion of the work of the Treasury Inspector General, IRS, Senate, and House of Representatives in developing processes and legislation to track and regulate Opportunity Zone businesses and investors.
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Latest Episodes
The Honorable Seth Appleton of MISMO and Summit Director Josh Goldberg Discuss Ginnie Mae, Securitization, and Digital Mortgages (May 25, 2022)
Celebrating Pride Month
Summit hosted our annual pride celebration in June, complete with tie-dye, lawn games, drinks, and snacks. Summit’s group of 2022 interns got to join in on the fun too, giving them a great first taste of Summit culture.
This event also served as a fundraiser for local charity SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders), which supports young LGBTQ teens in the Washington, DC, area by providing leadership programs and opportunities.
Pride month has always been an important time at Summit. Nineteen years ago, partner Albert Lee founded Summit specifically during pride month. In a speech at Summit’s pride celebration, Lee stressed the importance of positive representation. “When I was young, there were very little gay examples…” he said. “When I have an opportunity to stand in front of people as a leader, I want them to know that we are and we can be leaders.”
Lee also spoke about the importance of collaboration, saying it was important to “pass the torch” to other individuals. He concluded his speech with a call to action: “Stand up, raise your hand, and be an example. Because when you think the battle is over, it is not.”
Congratulations to the winners of this year’s 2022 #DCDataFest! Team Freed-Hardeman of Freed-Hardeman University won for Best Insight and Team Bread Differential from University of Maryland won for both Best Visualization and Best Use of Statistical Analysis.
A special thank you and shout out to our distinguished judges (Albert Lee, Adam Hoffberg, Jonathan Thomas, Sharon Boivin and Scott Gibbons) and our VIP Consultants (Albert Lee, Yuan Yuan, Aidain Moore, Ryan Kling, and Charlie Smith) who spent all weekend coaching the student participants from the University of Maryland, Freed-Hardeman University, George Mason University, The Johns Hopkins University, and William and Mary College.
Summit appreciates everyone who took time out during DataFest weekend to give back to the data science community and mentor the next generation of data scientists!
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Community Development Financial Institutions Guarantee Program Portfolio Management and Underwriting
These engagements provide continuing support to the Department of the Treasury as new and existing loans are made for economic community development, with an emphasis on underserved areas.
Export–Import Bank of the United States, Portfolio Risk Management and Chief Risk Officer
Summit won an engagement to support the Office of the Inspector General in conducting 2022 portfolio risk management and chief risk officer evaluations for the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
U.S. Small Business Administration, CARES Act
These engagements assist the SBA in ensuring the integrity of the money spent on CARES Act relief and detecting waste, fraud, and abuse. This is integral work to demonstrate to Congress and the American people that this money is spent wisely.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Community Facilities Program Financial Analysis and Underwriting Training
Serving as a sub to Blake Wilson Group, Summit will be supporting USDA in the development of training content focused on underwriting and financial analysis fundamentals for the USDA’s Community Facilities Program. After developing the content, Summit will facilitate the training sessions in June and July 2022.
Fannie Mae, Model Risk Management Fannie Mae’s Model Risk Management is validating a suite of capital markets models impacted by the transition from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Summit is supporting this effort for the second half of 2022.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Federal Student Aid
Summit was awarded additional funding to continue providing program management support for Federal Student Aid’s Next Gen Program Office and Student Aid and Borrower Eligibility Reform (SABER) initiative.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) Program
Summit was awarded a modification to continue providing federal credit support—including budget formulation and reestimates as well as program development policy advice and guidance—for the WIFIA Program.
Missed a newsletter? Read past editions in the archive.
Summit Consulting, LLC, 601 New Jersey Ave, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20001, USA, 202-407-8300
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