Bates to work with Topside

Bob Woods thinks so highly of Sandy Bates that he's hired her twice.

In 1996, Woods, who was commissioner of the General Services Administration's Federal Telecommunications Service hired Bates away from NASA. Now that Bates has retired from her own tenure as FTS Commissioner, Woods has hired her to work on some projects with his firm, Topside Consulting.

Bates made it clear that retirement is her priority.

"Working with Bob at Topside is going to start slow," she said. "They have some industry clients that do business in [information technology] and telecom, and perhaps I can help them out in those areas."

Bates will be available when Topside’s consultants want her expertise, but she has no projects to start on immediately, she said.

Woods said that Bates' value to the firm comes from her deep involvement in strategic government positions.

"She's got a lot of very useful insights into why the government does what it does," he said. "She knows the personalities involved. She's very representative of the kind of people we like to have in Topside, people who have deep operational and mission experience."