Dean, Defense Acquisition University, South Region

Mr. Mark D. Lumb is currently serving as the Dean of the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), South Region, Huntsville, Al. As the Dean he is responsible for the delivery of Defense Acquisition Improvement Act (DAWIA) functional training and defense acquisition consulting services to a diverse set of defense acquisition organizations in the southeastern United States. DAU-South is comprised of three campuses spanning 8 states and reaching over 35,000 government employees in 12 career fields in the Defense Acquisition Workforce. Since arriving at DAU in 2002, Mr. Lumb has served in a variety of positions including Professor of Acquisition Program Management where he was recognized for excellence and innovation in adult education and as the Director of Program Development where he was instrumental in the deployment of a professional forum for sharing on-line learning best practices for regional education institutions in the greater Tennessee Valley. Mr Lumb was most recently the chairman of the DAU-South Acquisition Program Management Department. In this position Mr Lumb pioneered a number of innovative training delivery methods and garnered recognition for efficiency and effectiveness.

Mr Lumb also serves as the Executive Director of DAU’s Army Senior Service College Fellowship Program (SSCFP), a unique, Military Education Level I equivalent leadership program for the Army’s senior acquisition civilians.

Mr. Lumb was the DAU representative to the 2006 Defense Acquisition Program Assessment (DAPA) Panel which was the most comprehensive review of defense acquisition practices since the 1986 Packard Commission. Mr Lumb was directly involved with the DAPA recommendation which lead to the creation of a training and certification program for the Armed Service’s requirements generation communities. He was also deeply involved in the 2007 Defense Acquisition Structures and Capabilities Review, also known as the section “814 study.” He played a key role in one of the 814 Study’s major products which was an in-depth survey of the contractor component of the Defense Acquisition Workforce. The Defense Acquisition and Structures Capability Review is best known for leading to the creation of the Defense Acquisition Workforce Development Fund (aka sec 852).

Mr. Lumb is a retired U.S. Army Infantry Officer with multiple field and acquisition assignments. His Army career included assignments with Redstone Arsenal’s Unmanned Ground Vehicles Joint Project Office (UGVJPO) where he played a pivotal role in the development of man portable ground robots later deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Lumb served at the Ft Benning, Georgia Office of the TRADOC Systems Manager for Anti-Tank Missiles (TSM-AT), where he was in charge of the effort to modernize the requirements for the Army’s TOW missile system. Mr. Lumb’s last active duty assignment was as in the Utility Helicopter Program Management Office where he served as the Product Manager (provisional) for the UH60M upgrade program and was responsible for shepherding the UH60M through a successful Milestone B decision.