About | Tips Construction

Our Story

TIPS began as a small department within the Region 8 Educational Service Center, which supported school districts throughout northeast Texas.

The founding leaders envisioned a procurement partnership between TIPS members and local vendors that would meet the needs of public entities and give highly qualified businesses an entry into this competitive, governmental procurement market through TIPS compliant bid process.

Public K-12 schools, civic municipalities, universities, and other governmental agencies had a growing need for a supportive and viable procurement process.

Over the course of over 20 years, TIPS has grown beyond its headquarters located in Pittsburg, Texas, and now services cooperative members and vendors across the nation.

The TIPS Construction team is not a commercial entity, but a department of the overall TIPS cooperative. Our lead agency, Region 8 Educational Service Center, is commissioned by the Texas legislature.

TIPS Construction is an exciting development for the TIPS-USA Cooperative which now offers specialized service to its vendors and members who utilize the TIPS construction contracts as a vehicle for procurement.

This individualized response is one unique way we are expanding and growing deeper into our motto, “Purchasing made Personal”.

David Mabe, Vice President of Construction

David currently serves as the Vice-President of Construction for the TIPS purchasing cooperative. David previously served as the Deputy Executive Director for the Region 8 Education Service Center. It was in the Deputy Director role that he and his team founded the TIPS purchasing cooperative in 2002. Today David’s focus is on the construction contracts for TIPS. Under David’s leadership TIPS has grown from a small regional purchasing cooperative in Texas to one of the largest purchasing cooperatives in the nation, with 130% growth in the last four years alone.

Stephanie Glenn, Construction Procurement Manager

Stephanie Glenn has more than 20 years of experience nationally and internationally in the non-profit and for-profit sectors creating and managing community development programs. Through these experiences, she knows how to develop partnerships through needs’ assessments, evaluation, networking and facilitation of resource exchange. Stephanie connects TIPS members with local, construction service providers and she uses her transferable skills, creative problem-solving and process-oriented mindset to strengthen the construction sector of our cooperative purchasing program. Stephanie manages all the assignment of construction contracts which is the key for many TIPS members to procure work from valued, local construction vendors. She works alongside our construction compliance manager as projects are underway to track compliance and communicate between vendors and members when needed. In addition, her broad experience with TIPS cooperative purchasing allows her to be a trusted resource for JOC vendors across the nation seeking assistance and training when navigating our specialized TIPS construction procurement process.

Gene Hawk, Construction Compliance Manager

Gene comes from the K-12 sector with twenty years’ experience as a Facility Director and an independent construction consultant completing over a billion dollars of construction activities in his career. Gene’s experience with public entity procurement, cooperative contracts, public finance and understanding the public agency facility needs along with his construction experience are unique traits. Gene’s experience working with Construction Mangers, General Contractors, Engineers, and Architects will be of great value when connecting vendors and members. His focus for TIPS has been to ensure that both members and vendors are educated on the requirements of JOC contracts and ensure they remain compliant with their contracts. He also offers assistance to vendors that may need training in the use of the estimating platforms required for use with the JOC Contracts, as well as proposal formatting. 

Meredith Barton, Director of Business Development

Meredith has twenty-four years combined experience in procurement and commercial retail leadership. She is a forward-thinking business and procurement executive with decades of experience in building highly collaborative, successful teams, while developing program strategies, executing planned objectives, managing multi-billion-dollar budgets, all while creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. She is a detail-oriented leader dedicated to continuous business and purchasing improvement, focused on enhancing revenue and streamlining business operations. Meredith is diligent in driving profit maximization while complying with rules and regulations and operating with integrity.

David Adams, FacilitiesConnect

David has the unique experience of having worked on both the supply side and the procurement side for over 20 years. His supply-side experience is in leadership roles setting the strategy and building programs, business development, training, and operations in the facilities construction marketplace, with over 20 years of experience in the GPO / Cooperative business space. On the procurement side, he represented one of the largest national purchasing cooperatives in the country as Vice President for facilities contracts and was also the past Chair for the Center for Job Order Contracting Excellence (CJE). David is passionate about the value of compliant cooperative and GPO contract purchasing and the positive impact it has on both agencies and suppliers.

FacilitiesConnect provides onboarding and business development training for Suppliers.

Tara Adams, FacilitiesConnect

Tara has the unique experience of having worked on both the supply side and the procurement side for over 20 years. Her supply side experience is in leadership roles setting strategy and building programs, business development, training and operations in the Facilities marketplace. She has over 12 years of experience in the GPO / Cooperative business space and was responsible for running a business unit for a national contractor via cooperative contracts. On the procurement side, she represented one of the largest national purchasing cooperatives in the country, where she held positions in compliance and business development for construction contracts.

Tara’s passion is to help people, businesses and agencies succeed using cooperative and GPO contracts. She does this with an attention to all details to ensure success. From training your team to explaining how these contracts work, whether virtual or in person, Tara relates extremely well to buyers and suppliers. She is a catalyst in the success of bringing together customers with suppliers that have been awarded supplier contracts. Long-term relationships with Tara are the cornerstone to many suppliers ongoing success in the public sector.

FacilitiesConnect provides onboarding and business development training for Suppliers. Tara’s specific focus is on Energy Savings Performance Contracts and HVAC Contracts.

Rachel Caldwell, Construction Customer Support

Rachel has been with the TIPS Construction team since 2021, offering assistance in vendor support and business operations. She currently serves as first level support, helping TIPS Construction vendors and members with any inquires, training or guidance needed to aid their procurement process, including vendor portal assistance/training and TIPS eBid (IonWave) support.

Gabe Gaytan, Construction Business Manager

Gabe came to the Construction team from a previous position within the TIPS accounting department. Serving as a liaison between TIPS Construction administrative processes and vendor’s business operations, Gabe ensures that every partnership runs smoothly. He oversees your TIPS construction accounts and maintains the existing processes that will efficiently support TIPS contracted projects, ensuring accuracy in reporting and accounts payable.

Brandon Williams, Director of Quality Assurance

Brandon leads our new Quality Assurance division. The goal of Quality Assurance is to follow up with TIPS Construction projects to ensure that our member agencies are satisfied with the quality of work and project compliance. He works closely with our member’s facility contacts and the project managers for TIPS Vendors to guarantee the overall satisfaction of Members utilizing a TIPS Construction contract.