About the Jim Mathews Award
Having known Jim for nearly a decade, we viewed him as exemplifying the “gold standard” in terms of professionalism in the business and competitive intelligence arena. More so, he always loved to speak to students about entering and making a career out of the intelligence profession, and what a noble pursuit it was.
Currently-enrolled university students (undergraduate and graduate level) can compete for one of two (2) awards to allow you to attend the annual RECONVERGE:G2 Conference as a Jim Mathews Award recipient. As a Mathews medal winner, your registration fee will be covered by Aurora WDC to the event.
Additionally, each of the two award recipients will be allocated a stipend that supports travel-related expenses associated with their participation in the Symposium. Most importantly, students will signify to potential employers their desire to achieve the levels of professionalism in their own careers that Jim Mathews was widely known for.
Thank you for considering this opportunity to advance your Intelligence career and education, and do so in memory and honor of a great and highly-respected professional.
Submission Instructions
The following are the qualifications the nominee must meet to in order to be eligible to be nominated for the Jim Mathews Award.
Minimum requirements:
- Be a currently enrolled (full or part-time) university student at undergraduate and graduate level – and provide (unofficial or official) student’s proof of registration in either the current semester (Summer or Fall, 2019 and/or Winter/Spring, 2020 term)
- Minimum 3.0 GPA (or 75 on a 100 scale) overall – also, please be able to provide us an unofficial copy or system-generated documentation of the educational institution’s record indicating cumulative GPA
Important additional elements to articulate on behalf of your nominee (-s):
- Have a demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in business, competitive, (commercial) economic, and/or market intelligence
- Show a strong appreciation for ethics & professional values
- Demonstrate leadership qualities within student or extra-curricular, community and/or professional organizations
- Display high levels of curiosity and persistence in your coursework and assignments.
A select group of highly experienced and veteran CI practitioners from around the globe, all of whom are members of the international Council of CI Fellows (see: www.cifellows.com) and have achieved success and hired practitioners during their careers, will review and rank the submissions. Your students’ probability of winning is dependent on the number and quality of nominations submitted.
As a candidate for a Jim Mathews Award, you are expected to deliver the following to the review committee. Please send all submissions through via the automated submission system, or e-mail them to Dr. Craig Fleisher at Craig.Fleisher@AuroraWDC.com. In either case, you should receive a timely confirmation of our receipt of your application materials.
- No later than March 13, 2020 (Friday): all nominations due by 17:00 EST
- Week of March 23, 2020: Short interviews (by phone) take place with award semi-finalists
- March 30, 2020 (Monday): Final selections and notification to award recipients
The winners will be present at G2 Annual Conference, a CI leadership symposium being held this year at the Fluno Executive Center at the University of Wisconsin in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, USA from April 22-25, 2020. Mathews Award winners will gain exposure not only to leading CI-related speakers, workshops and practices, but also interaction with a network of veteran CI practitioners. We look forward to seeing all of our applicants, and particularly the two winners, for an outstanding exchange of ideas and time! For more about RECONVERGE:G2, please see: http://g2.reconverge.net/
Jim Mathews Award and Fellowship
The submission deadline for 2020 is March 13, 2020 by 17:00 EST.
Jim Mathews Award Application
2019 Jim Mathews Award Winner
This year’s Jim Mathews Award medalist is Marina R. Boyle. Read a little more about her below!
She has an impressive resume including:
- Mercyhurst University, Ridge College of Intelligence Studies and Applied Sciences (3.94 GPA)
- Sophomore Area Resident Assistant
- Multicultural and Student Activities Council Programme
- Merciad Features Editor
- International Student Association President
In her own words…
For me, a career in competitive intelligence signifies an opportunity to pursue what I love. As someone who thrives in a fast paced business environment and is fascinated by strategy, competitive intelligence is a logical and exciting career option. Moreover, competitive intelligence is a growing and dynamic field with boundless opportunity to learn, provide insight and bring success to businesses. I hope to work for some years in the field, particularly in a business relating to tourism and travel. My goals include stating my own businesses both in North America and my home country of Ireland. Afterward I hope to retire with enough money and expertise to start an NGO that allows me to use business and competitive intelligence skills for humanitarian work. When looking at a career in enterprise and service, I see competitive intelligence as the key to commercial and personal success.
Winning the Jim Matthews award means the world to me because it validates my hard work up to this point and reminds me of the extensive opportunities there are in the field. Jim Matthews is naturally someone whose career successes I would hope to emulate in any future endeavours, and I am flattered to bear an award with his name. I feel so honored to have even been considered for the award, and to win is an achievement beyond my dreams. I look forward to bringing what I can to “RECONVERGE” and to learning from all those around me throughout the four days. I hope to meet lots of like minded individuals in the industry and understand how the CI field has given purpose to their lives. I am also looking forward to seeing how I can advance my career prospects in competitive intelligence following this success and giving back to the Aurora group in gratitude.
Past Award Winners
2012
Bridget Finn (Mercyhurst U.) & Shawn Ruminski (Mercyhurst U.)
2013
Nita Heeg (Algonquin C., Ottawa) & Mary Kate Daley (Mercyhurst U.)
2014
Sarah Stokes (Mercyhurst U) & Selina Zhang (Algonquin C., Ottawa)
2015
Lisel Douglas (Algonquin C., Ottawa) & Monica Perez (Mercyhurst U.)
2016
Nhi Tran (Mercyhurst U.) & Joshua Bailey (James Madison U.)
2017
Thomas Hamby (Mercyhurst U.) & Connor Hamel (James Madison U.)
2018
Micah Uveges (Georgetown University) & Holly Schnader (James Madison University)
Biographical Sketch of James E. Mathews
James E. (Jim) Mathews spent more than 30 years in the Defense Industry, and the last 14 in Competitive Intelligence (CI) and Price-to-Win (PTW). His whole career was centered on winning new business and he was the Lead CI Professional and/or PTW leader/co-leader on some of the largest winning proposals his company had engaged in in his last years of practice. His resume wins included the realignment of NORAD and Cheyenne Mountain (ISC2), the Joint Strike Fighter (The F-35), Coast Guard Deepwater (Recapitalization of all Coast Guard’s assets), High Altitude Airship, the Littoral Combat Ship (fast fighting ship for the shallow waters of the littorals), War Fighter Focus (Live, Virtual, and Constructive Training for the Army for the next 10 Years), and a multitude of Service Jobs and Classified Projects. Jim was medically retired from the US Air Force where, at one time, he was an Airborne Voice Controller for the Apollo program for NASA.
Jim received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from the University of Florida and a Master of Science Degree in Contract and Acquisition Management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Following a successful career at Lockheed Martin, he retired early in 2003, and joined Raytheon for just over three years as Director of Deal-To-Win, followed by Northrop Grumman TASC for 5 years as Director of CI/ Position-To-Win before joining Booz Allen Hamilton in December 2010 as a Principal on their GO Team.
He and his wife Bonnie resided in the McLean, Virginia area, and were die-hard Florida Gators fans. Jim had a passion for seeing young people succeed in their careers, and was always a willing mentor to professionals of any age who had a desire to learn.
