Albert Zapanta - Owner / President / CEO
Mr. Zapanta was born in Los Angeles and attended local schools and colleges in that area. He graduated from the University of Southern California, the Harvard Graduate School of Business and the Inter-American Defense College at the National War College. In the private sector he worked as an industrial engineer for Bethlehem Steel and as the Director of Government Affairs for ARCO. Mr. Zapanta has also held numerous Presidential appointments including White House Fellow, Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Management and Administration. Mr. Zapanta was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. State Department Advisory Committee on International Trade Technology and Development and by President George W. Bush as a private sector delegate to the U.S. - Mexico Partnership for Prosperity. He was also appointed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to serve as Chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, DOD, from 2002-2005.
Mr. Zapanta served in the US Army during the Vietnam War where he was wounded and was awarded the Silver Star, five Bronze Stars for Valor, the Purple Heart and 30 other awards. Mr. Zapanta also served in Operation Desert Storm and was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Restore Hope in Somalia and Restore Democracy in Haiti. He retired after 36 years of service in 2002.
Mr. Zapanta bought a majority share of Planning in 2008 and now owns 100% of the company. Mr. Zapanta is a service-disabled veteran.
Marc Tripp - Sr. Vice President & COO
Mr. Tripp has over 30 years of broad federal government experience in personnel management, program management and logistics support. He has over 21 years of DoD acquisition experience, 12 years of federal contract management and financial management oversight experience and 8 years of corporate executive management experience.
Mr. Tripp has served in senior leadership positions with PLANNING, Inc. since 2000 - most recently as Sr. Vice President and COO. Under his direction over the last 10 years, course offerings were increased and new core services were added - one-on-one federal benefits counseling and staffing services. He also considerably enlarged and improved the group of instructors to meet the expanding curriculum and to ensure that each seminar is conducted by the most knowledgeable and contemporary instructors.
Mr. Tripp served as Executive Vice President of Raven, Inc. from 2004-2007. Prior to that, Mr. Tripp served in the U.S. Navy as a Naval Flight Officer, flying in the A-6 Intruder, Medium Attack aircraft during 6 peacetime deployments and a combat tour during Operation Desert Storm. While in the Navy, Mr. Tripp was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, 2 individual Air Medals (with combat "V" device), one Strike Flight Air Medal, five Navy Commendation Medals (four with combat "V" device), the Navy Achievement Medal and numerous other campaign and unit awards.
Paola Samakovlija-Bolasny - Program Manager, Retirement and Financial Planning Training
Ms. Bolasny was born in Milan, Italy. She moved to the United States in 1972 and began her career in NJ working with RCA and Pirelli Cable. After moving to the Washington area in 1981, Ms. Bolasny worked with Beretta and the IMF. In 1994, she started her career with Planning, Inc. by working with Les Trachtman, who founded the company. Together they built the business by developing a marketing niche in offering training courses for retiring federal employees. In her position, Ms. Bolasny handles all aspects of program organization, management and execution. She maintains the liaison with client agencies, instructors and prime vendors to schedule and coordinate seminars, as well as one-on-one counseling.
Christine Reid - Director, Finance and Marketing
Ms. Reid spent over 25 years as a senior marketing executive with a sales organization that sold consumer products to the U.S. commissaries and exchanges worldwide. In 2004, she left the company to work more closely in her husband's growing construction business and to develop additional skill sets. In December, 2006, she joined Planning, Inc. as their accounting manager. Since then she has assumed various other responsibilities including accounting, marketing, business development and other roles as they may develop.
Hon. Katherine Bulow - New Business Consultant- Leadership Development Training and Succession Planning/Health Information Management
Ms. Bulow is President of Bulow Group Inc. which provides consulting services to small and medium size enterprises, Fortune 500 and non-profit entities and the federal government. Prior to establishing her company, Ms. Bulow, was Deputy Administrator at the Small Business Administration and Assistant Secretary for Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. While in Government, she created a SES leadership training program, established the government procurement credit card program, developed strategic planning systems and established goals and performance measures.