Mark Troppe, director of MEP’s Partnerships and Program Development Office, is recognized for his outstanding accomplishment in strengthening MEP’s relationships with state governments. This task required sophisticated analytic skill, “political” sensitivity, and strong inter-personal trust-building qualities. He led the effort to plan and execute a first-ever national recompetition of the $130 million MEP State-based system. In this challenge he demonstrated personal initiative, professional skill, tireless enthusiasm, and strategic awareness. The project resulted in substantially increased alignment between federal and state strategies, and significantly increased financial cost-share contributions from state and local sources.