Katie Donnell and I attended the Unanet Champions Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, May 1-3, 2022. Unanet Champions started out with an amazing motivational speaker, Carey Lohrenz. Carey was the 1st Female F14 Pilot in the US Navy. Carey overcame many obstacles as the 1st Female F14 Pilot. Talk about inspiration! As someone who was used to flying at Mach 2, working in a fast-paced and constantly changing environment, she spoke about adapting quickly to avoid risks and shared steps in leadership that will help your team win every time.
That’s how so many businesses and employees feel, right? Life, in general, is super-fast paced, and it’s hard to keep up with requirements, policies, and the ever-changing market. Listening to Carey about being Resilient, Tenacious, and a Catalyst was a great way to kick off the Unanet Champions Conference. It reminded me why I love my job and working at Redstone. We can help our clients when they need us the most, and we can be that support and catalyst.
Unanet hosted a wonderful event filled with every opportunity to learn more about the software as well as business process improvements. A few of my favorite sessions were Resource Management with People Planner, Unanet Mobile App, and the Subcontracting Portal. If you are not using these functionalities in Unanet yet, it’s a must! It’s important to utilize the new functionalities and continue to improve your processes with the Unanet product enhancements.
Unanet hosted fabulous dinners every night, which allowed us plenty of opportunities to network with new and old friends. We really enjoyed meeting new people and making connections from DC all the way to San Diego. The Unanet Neon Desert Party was a personal favorite. As we arrived, we received neon sunglasses, and everyone ended the night dancing and playing fun yard games. Thanks to this great networking opportunity, Redstone is currently collaborating with other companies to bring new content and services to our clients. We are excited to take what we learned at Unanet Champions and teach our Redstone clients how to better utilize the system to its capabilities, which will allow our clients to be more productive.
To close, Unanet brought in the original founder of the company, Fran Craig, to give the keynote speech on the last day. Fran also attended sessions within the conference where Katie found herself sitting next to Fran in a session. It means a lot to look back on the long-standing partnership that Redstone Government Consultants has had with Unanet and see how far we have come.
Katherine (Katie) Donnell serves as the Director of Unanet Practice Services at Redstone Government Consulting, Inc., where she leads the firm’s Unanet consulting practice in delivering expert implementation, optimization, and compliance support to government contractors. With extensive expertise in DCAA-compliant Unanet Time & Expense Tracking, Project Portfolio, and Financials, Katie plays a vital role in helping contractors build and maintain compliant, efficient financial and project management systems. As one of the first Unanet Certified Implementers, Katie was part of Unanet’s initial pilot certification program for non-Unanet consultants, investing over 300 hours in training, system development, and rigorous testing to obtain her certification. She holds Unanet Advanced Project Management training credentials and is also a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Her technical expertise and real-world implementation experience make her a trusted advisor, frequently called upon by Unanet’s internal teams to support implementation projects as an external expert. Katie is also responsible for the continued growth and strategic oversight of Redstone GCI’s Unanet Practice, ensuring that quality of service, client support, and consultant development remain at the highest standard. She is committed to advancing the professional development and expertise of Redstone GCI’s Unanet consulting team, ensuring they stay at the forefront of industry best practices and evolving compliance requirements. At Redstone GCI, Katie serves as a primary point of contact for numerous small business clients, providing ongoing government cost accounting and compliance support. She regularly assists with monthly accounting close processes, ensuring accurate financial reporting for program management and executives. Her unique combination of software system expertise and compliance knowledge allows her to provide strategic, hands-on guidance to government contractors navigating complex regulatory and financial landscapes. With extensive experience in government contract accounting and compliance, Katie has assisted contractors with DCAA audit readiness, including SF1408 pre-award accounting system audits, provisional billing rate submissions, forward pricing rate development, and incurred cost submissions. She also helps clients design and implement compliant policies and procedures to support an adequate DCAA-approved accounting system. Prior to joining Redstone GCI, Katie worked in public accounting and government contracting, gaining operational experience with Unanet, QuickBooks, SpringAhead, Deltek T&E, ADP, Paychex, and QB Payroll. Her extensive background in accounting, compliance, and financial systems ensures that Redstone GCI’s Unanet clients receive the highest level of technical and regulatory expertise.