Nicholas West Email & Phone Number

I can generally figure things out pretty quickly and get good at them. From the early days of roofball against my cousins to the more recent bottle flipping trick shot contests with my son, I enjoy making and playing games and then getting very good at them. The games don't have to be all that intrinsically interesting either. For example, I've spent the last 17+ years getting good at Federal procurement at GSA. I like competition and working with smart and fun people. It turns out GSA has those things, so it has satisfied me thus far in my professional career.I started at GSA in June 2005, directly out of college. I spent the first five years in a couple different operational contracting jobs (negotiating/signing different contracts on behalf of GSA's Federal Acquisition Service or FAS). Then I was fortunate enough to be nominated to take a mid-career leadership program where I landed a detail assignment with the policy office that was in charge of telling operational FAS contracting people how to do their job better. I was promoted into a permanent position shortly after, and shortly after that completed my MBA, which I took part time at night. After spending a few years learning how policy works, I was asked to stand up a new role in the Integrated Award Environment, the office where all the governmentwide acquisition systems are managed in GSA. I was in charge of helping the systems team interpret and implement new policies and regulations. After a little over a year in this role I was promoted to a management role in the Office of Governmentwide Policy. While my job was to oversee all of GSA's acquisition policy, the three years I spent in this role was mostly learning how to establish a management style of my own. Then, as my bosses moved on to other jobs, one-by-one I was asked to fill in for them. I was promoted to the Deputy Director position which oversees several divisions (Policy, Integrity, and Workforce). A year later I was asked to be the Acting Director, which is a Senior Executive position, that I have been in for the last 3+ years.

Listed skills include Government Contracting, Program Management, Government, Federal Government, and 5 others.