Vice President of Contracts & Procurement, Two Six Technologies
Mandy Walter-Beam’s biggest recent achievement was leading Two Six through its first CPSR review and getting DCMA approval on the purchasing and government property systems in a single cycle.
It was a big win that eliminated critical risk for the company, while meeting demanding mission requirements, Walter-Beam said.
“Our team didn’t just clear a major compliance hurdle – we used it to completely rethink how procurement operates,” she added. They shifted from manual paper-driven processes to a fully integrated P2P/SAP Ariba system, and deployed AI-enabled contract tools – slashing their CLM cycle by 29% and legal costs by 30%.
“I’m incredibly proud of how our team elevated contracts and procurement from a routine compliance function into a strategic driver that actively expands margin and moves the needle on our P&L,” Walter-Beam said.
Amy Dalton, COO at Two Six, called Walter-Beam a “visionary contracts & procurement leader focused on helping Two Six and the Government modernize contracting.”
“This year, she fundamentally changed how we operate, from understanding and navigating the FAR overhaul to securing our major CPSR win to bringing us into the modern era with SAP Ariba and AI,” Dalton added. “She continuously balances compliance excellence with innovation, ensuring our team is equipped to navigate even the most complex contracting environments.”
Why Watch
The Revolutionary FAR Overhaul is reshaping contracting, and Walter-Beam said it feels like everyone’s holding their breath waiting to see who navigates it cleanly. “We’re not waiting,” she said, “we’re moving fast on what I think is the real opportunity: the shift from Cost Reimbursable structures toward FFP, OTA, and commercial solutions has this built-in bias toward innovation and risk-sharing, which is actually where the government wants us to go anyway.”
So, Walter-Beam and her team are reframing the shift internally. Rather than a compliance burden, they view it as a chance to scale Two Six’s commercial-first acquisition strategy and show they can move fast on innovation without getting tangled up in regulatory complexity.
On the operations side, Walter-Beam is exploring how AI can be used as a practical tool to automate screening work, flag term deviations, and group compliance issues so her team can think instead of check boxes.
“That frees everyone up to do the negotiation and strategic work that matters, especially as we’re scaling our reseller partnerships and managing a large number of contracts across multiple vehicle types,” she said.
Many government customers are also bogged down by contract overhead and legal review cycles that unnecessarily slow them down, so Two Six is using AI to compress that cycle by automatically catching risk signals; flagging what matters instead of drowning teams in noise; and buying back time so their procurement and contracts people can do real negotiation instead of compliance screening.
“It changes the whole equation,” Walter-Beam said. “We’re also betting on commercial solutions as a first principle, which sounds simple but really matters: instead of assuming every customer need requires a custom build, we’re pushing commercial-first acquisition pathways that let customers move faster, spend less, and get proven solutions rather than just experimental ones.”
And as Walter-Beam and her team navigate the FAR Overhaul themselves, they’re learning what works and what doesn’t, so they can help customers structure their own contracts and vendor relationships in this new regulatory environment.
“You can’t compliance your way through massive regulatory change,” Walter-Beam said. “You have to be willing to rethink how you operate. We built a system, P2P, AI, commercial-first, that catches risk automatically and lets humans focus on judgment calls. That’s how you scale without breaking.”
Fun fact: Walter-Beam spent several years as an Arabic linguist in the U.S. Air Force, where she learned to listen carefully, catch nuance, and take precision seriously – which turns out to be exactly what is needed in procurement and contract law, she said. Outside of work, music is her lifeline. She uses it to reset after the intensity of M&A cycles, regulatory shifts and the constant pace of digital transformation. “I think the linguist background plus the creative outlet together is what keeps me from going completely tribal about process; I can be rigorous without being rigid, which seems to matter when you’re trying to lead teams through massive change,” she said.
Read the full article here: https://washingtonexec.com/2026/08/top-contracts-execs-to-watch-in-2026-two-six-technologies-mandy-walter-beam/
