The MIL Corporation’s very own Paul Marshall was awarded the President’s Award during the Association of Government Accountant (AGA) Professional Development Training (PDT) 2020. Marshall has been a Vice President of Business Development at MIL for over a year now, and we had the chance to sit down and discuss this outstanding achievement with him in an interview.
Q: Paul, you have been with MIL for over a year now and throughout your tenure you have been heavily involved with AGA. Recently, you have accepted the Sponsorship Chair role with the AGA DC Chapter. Tell us about it! .
A: I am excited to take on the Sponsorship role at the DC Chapter as it is the largest chapter in the country and, especially this year with the effects of COVID, will make this a challenging role. I know sponsors want value for their dollars and I believe this year we will be able to work with them to take advantage of many virtual opportunities and maybe even increase the number of people that attend our meetings and events, as we saw with the last DC Chapter meeting. The virtual option actually seems to really increase the number of people that attend our events.
Q: How did you get into the non-profit, what year did you start and how long have you been working with them?
A: I’ve been pretty active member in AGA for almost 20 years now, serving on multiple chapter boards as well as National positions. In the last two years I have really enjoyed standing up the AGA podcast – over 50 episodes as of now! My entrée into AGA was with the Early Careers program. It was fun to go to happy hours and meet people. Eventually that turned into “growing up” with my peers who became successful private sector and government leaders. AGA made all that possible!
Q: What advice would you give to those who are thinking about joining AGA, especially those who are just now starting their career in accounting, either in government or in the public/private sector?
A: It’s a no brainer – AGA is the premier organization for the government accountability community, including both federal and state & local. As I mentioned, as a younger person starting out, just participating in the Early Careers/Young Professionals activities including happy hours, skiing, hiking, all kinds of fun events, makes it enticing. On the professional side, you get the opportunity to interact with government leaders on a more personal level and really get to know them while building quality relationships. This has an immeasurable benefit on your career as you progress.
Q: Tell us more about the benefits of joining both at the national level and at the local chapter level.
A: The benefits are many! I would say the biggest benefits at the national level include the large training events such as the PDT and NLT, as well as a ton of resources for training, certifications (CGFM), and of course the podcast. At the chapter level you really get a chance to get to know people, serve on the Board, participate in chapter events, and enjoy the sense of a local community, all with the same goal of making a difference in your profession – better government accountability and financial management.
The Association of Government Accountants (AGA) is nonprofit member-organization for government financial management professionals. AGA leads and encourages change that benefits the field and all citizens. The host training events, professional certification, publications and ongoing education help members build their skills and advance their careers.
Mr. Paul Marshall (CPA, CGFM, CIA, CICA, PMP), Vice President at the MIL Corporation, has over 20 years of experience in the federal financial community with demonstrated expertise in technical, business, and leadership development. Mr. Marshall serves as one of MIL’s robotic process automation (RPA) practice leads.
Mr. Marshall’s experience with the MIL Corporation, as well as with other government consulting firms such as AOC Solutions, Deloitte, and Booz Allen Hamilton, includes expertise in leading teams in business transformation, accounting practices, financial reporting, enterprise risk management, as well as business and financial systems.
Mr. Marshall began his career as an Auditor for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General. Over the span of his consulting career, he has supported Federal government clients including the Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Justice, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.
Additionally, Mr. Marshall is the host of two successful government-centric podcasts, AGA’s “Accountability Talks” and the Association for Federal Enterprise Risk Management’s (AFERM) “Risk Chats.” He holds several technical certifications (CPA, CGFM, CIA, CICA and PMP) and graduated with an MBA in International Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University and a B.S. in International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology.