Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program Scholars 2021 by klclemmer

2021 STAND-TO VETERAN LEADERSHIP PROGRAM SCHOLARS

GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL CENTER DALLAS, TEXAS

The Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program develops the skills of those who serve our Nation’s veterans and helps increase their impact. Scholars are rising leaders - both veterans and nonveterans - from a wide range of sectors. Throughout the five-month program, each participant has worked on a personal leadership project, which allows them to implement what they learn in the program in service of improving veteran outcomes across the United States. The Bush Center gratefully acknowledges the support of The Boeing Company as the Founding Program Underwriter.

Tina Atherall

Chief Executive Officer, PsychArmor Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California Tina is the CEO of a national nonprofit organization developing and implementing powerful learning ecosystems to affect systemic change, both inside and outside military-affiliated communities. In the role, she leads the organization’s efforts in strategic partnerships and collaborations with public and private partners. As CEO, she is responsible for creating the strategic vision for the organization and ensuring sustainability and scalability of the organization’s mission and service. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Tina will emphasize using education, training, and collective impact to increase veteran outcomes. Utilizing a systems implementation approach, Tina seeks to explore the narrative of military cultural competency, “Veteran Ready” and clarify the desired shared outcomes.

Zachary Baddorf Executive Director, Military Veterans in Journalism Silver Spring, Maryland Zack leads Military Veterans in Journalism — a nonprofit dedicated to getting more vets into journalism. Since founding the organization two years ago, Zack has raised approximately $400,000 to support the 450-member organization while also building programs and partnerships with a range of newsrooms, nonprofit organizations and companies. Zack also serves as Media Operations Chief for the U.S. Air Force at Joint Base Andrews, where he is responsible for liaising with the White House, Department of State, Department of Defense, Secret Service, and other agencies to facilitate national media coverage of senior American and foreign leaders, including the president. As a participant in the Veteran Leadership Program, Zack plans to gather additional support, partnerships, expertise, and energy to grow the nonprofit membership organization Military Veterans in Journalism. As Founder and Executive Director, Zack further plans to bolster his leadership skills to serve the growing community of veterans more effectively in media. 2

James Baehr

Counsel, Wentworth Management Services New Orleans, Louisiana James serves as head of litigation for a financial services company. He represents the company before arbitration panels and in court, assists in compliance with government and self-regulatory organizations, and assesses potential acquisitions for litigation risk. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, James hopes to introduce more veterans into the financial services industry. Demographic and technological changes are transforming the financial services industry, and a new generation of financial investment professionals will be necessary to step forward. Transitioning servicemembers can train and acquire licenses in providing financial services, operations, and compliance, and gain a new, challenging, and worthwhile career.

Aimee Bateman

Senior Defense Counsel, U.S. Army Leavenworth, Kansas Aimee serves as the Senior Defense Counsel for the U.S. Army’s Trial Defense Service Field Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. She leads two attorneys and three paralegals and personally represents soldiers in courts-martial, administrative boards, complex investigations, and other proceedings. She will soon retire from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Aimee is working to create innovative and effective programs to help stem the epidemic of servicemember and veteran suicide. She is seeking to do so by changing the cultural conversation and enhancing the understanding of the root causes of suicide using empirical scientific evidence.

James Beamesderfer

Vice President, Veterans Initiative, Prudential Financial Morris Plains, New Jersey Jim is the head of Prudential’s Office of Veterans Initiatives and leads the company’s external and internal military programs. This includes supporting diversity and inclusion activities, implementing military talent strategies, and overseeing philanthropic activities in collaboration with internal business partners. He ensures that military programming strategy aligns with the strategy of inclusive solutions and Prudential. Through participation in the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program, Jim will work to improve the overall financial well-being for military caregivers. This includes creating viable employment opportunities and outcomes as well as implementing financial wellness education programming.

Lacey Beaty

Mayor, City of Beaverton Beaverton, Oregon Lacey Beaty was elected Beaverton’s Mayor in 2020. Previously, she served for six years on the Beaverton City Council. Before joining the City Council, Lacey was an active volunteer for the city’s Visioning Advisory Committee, serving as vicechair. She was the youngest ever elected official in Beaverton’s history and the first woman to serve as Mayor. Through participation in the program, Lacey hopes to expand the state procurement code to include all veterans and not just service connect disabled veterans.

Adelle Bish

Associate Professor of Human Resource Management, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Greensboro, North Carolina As an Associate Professor of Human Resource Management, Adelle is responsible for the development and delivery of HR courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students. She typically teaches in the areas of HR Strategy, Compensation & Benefits, Human Resource Management, Employee Relations & Development, and Recruitment and Selection. She also conducts applied research in the field of HRM, with a focus on talent management, high performers, and recruitment, onboarding, and retention of specific talent segments such as military veterans. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Adelle is working to improve employment outcomes for veterans as they transition to working in civilian organizations through a program of research that identifies critical success factors from an individual and organizational perspective. Adelle’s work includes consideration of the experiences of minority student veterans attending historically black colleges and universities and their pathways to employment with an overall focus on building theory and evidence based HRM practices to ensure that veterans are prepared and supported in their transition to civilian careers and able to fully utilize their military skills and experiences in a meaningful way.

Elisa Borah

Research Associate Professor; Director, The University of Texas Austin, Texas Elisa V. Borah, MSW, PhD is a research associate professor at the Steve Hicks School o Elisa is a research associate professor at the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, and director of the Institute for Military and Veteran Family Wellness, within Dell Medical School Department and Steve Hicks School of Social Work. Elisa conducts research to identify, implement, and evaluate programming and support for military members, veterans, spouses, and their families. In 2016, she developed the Veteran Spouse Network to engage veteran spouses in defining programmatic and research needs to better support veteran families in Texas and throughout the country. Elisa’s work is focused on scaling the Veteran Spouse Network’s Veteran Spouse Resiliency Peer Support Program at a national level to ensure all spouses and committed partners of veterans can access tailored support in their communities through in-person or online formats. This program offers spouses education and support for their own needs as well as ways to support and understand their veterans’ needs. This expansion project will provide tailored implementation support to local and state organizations interested in bringing the program to their veteran family communities.

Thomas Brennan

Executive Director, The War Horse News Culpeper, Virginia Thomas is the founder and Executive Director of The War Horse News, an awardwinning nonprofit newsroom publishing bulletproof reporting on the human impact of military service. Since the its launch on Kickstarter five years ago, Thomas has led the newsroom in forging partnerships that include Fortune 500 corporations, Ivy League universities, and international philanthropic organizations. Thomas leads The War Horse team in its mission to hold power to account, strengthen democracy, and improve understanding of the human impact of military service. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Thomas will be focusing on the program and strategy design for The Military Spouse Reporting Network, an 18-month professional development and employment program for military spouses in journalism that will be formally launched by The War Horse in 2023. The Military Spouse Reporting Network will help to address widespread unemployment and underemployment in the military spouse community by providing vital training and resources to military spouses eager to report on the issues closest to home, addressing expanding news deserts across the United States, and ensuring veterans and military families are better understood and represented in the media.

Derren Burrell

President/Founder, Veteran Venture Capital Knoxville, Tennessee Derren is the Founder and President of Veteran Ventures Capital, LLC, an investment and consulting firm focused on scaling veteran-owned and led businesses. In this capacity, he oversees all aspects of company operations and fund management of the (up to) $100 million Veteran Fund I. Derren’s ultimate goal in his vocation is to help make military service the gateway to entrepreneurship, and the Bush Center’s commitment to excellence is yet another steppingstone to providing the reach and network to help veterans succeed in the private sector. Nurturing future leaders, increasing engagement to bridge public and private networks into a cohesive unit, and developing a strategic vision for Veteran Ventures Capital are all desired outcomes of this program.

Verenice Castillo

Founder and CEO, Military Spouse Advocacy Network San Antonio, Texas Verenice is the Founder and CEO of the Military Spouse Advocacy Network. In this role, she supervises and controls all its assets and affairs, strategic and operational responsibility for MSAN’s staff, programs, expansion, and execution of its mission and budget. She oversees and manages MSAN’s programs and projects with an outreach of over 371,000 military spouses around the world. She is also in charge of overseeing the fundraising strategy, planning and implementation. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Verenice is working to improve the welfare of the military community through a MSAN Military Spouse Mentorship-HUB that will “Help Us Bridge” military families and their surrounding communities to better educate, empower, and support them. The HUB will provide spouses and families with a one-of-a-kind connection to local programs and military installation’s resources, expanding their sense of community and 24/7 peer-to-peer mentorship.

Jaime Chapman

Co-Founder and COO, U.S. Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce Fort Hood, Texas Jaime is the COO & Co-Founder of the U.S. Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce. Jaime has achieved recognition for: #1 Military Spouse Owned Business Overall Award by Military and Veteran’s Choice in September 2019 at the Military Influencer Conference in Washington D.C. and the 2020-Armed Forces Insurance US Army Garrison Wiesbaden Military Spouse of the Year Award. Jaime served in the Army for six years and is an active-duty Army spouse. Jaime’s mission is to generate corporate buy-in for a newly created certification that she co-founded through the U.S. Military Spouse Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber’s flagship service offering is the Military Spouse Owned Enterprise Certification. The specific goal is to garner national recognition of the certification to become widely recognized in every corporate supplier diversity department just like “woman owned,” “veteran owned,” and “minority owned” certifications are accepted. The certification will allow military spouse owned businesses with employers who are able to contract opportunities out to them and track their supplier diversity spend with Military Spouse Owned Enterprises. 7

Babs Chase

Vice President, Military and Veterans Programs, The Manufacturing Institute Alexandria, Virginia Babs is the Vice President of Military and Veterans Programs at The Manufacturing Institute, the 501(c)3 nonprofit workforce development and education partner of the National Association of Manufacturers. In her role, Babs leads Heroes MAKE America, the Institute’s initiative to build connections between the military community and the manufacturing industry. The Heroes signature program provides integrated certification and career-readiness training in partnership with local community and technical colleges to prepare transitioning service members, veterans, National Guard members, reservists, and military spouses for rewarding careers in manufacturing. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Babs’s goal is to address the burgeoning workforce skills gap by building collaborative partnerships between academic institutions, manufacturers, and community providers to expand enhanced training opportunities utilizing the latest technological advancements to prepare members of the military community for high-demand careers in the manufacturing industry.

Leah Christensen

National Clinical Program Coordinator, Caregiver Support Program, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Portland, Oregon Leah is responsible for field operations with the development and implementation of programs and processes for VA medical centers that promote the health and well-being of family caregivers for our Nation’s veterans. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Leah is working to further develop and enhance support for veteran families at VA, with the goal of ensuring connection to assistance for the entire family unit. By providing information, education and available resources, VA will seek to further promote the health, well-being and resiliency of veteran families.

Crystal Cochran

Director, Fellows Programs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Hiring Our Heroes Springfield, Virginia Crystal leads several fellowship program teams designed to directly connect military spouses, transitioning service members, and veterans to employers. She launched and is scaling the Military Spouse Fellowship Program, a groundbreaking initiative removing barriers to employment and creating economic opportunity by putting military spouses directly in the path of companies that understand the value they bring to their teams. She leads an additional workforce development initiative, the Salesforce Fellowship Program, connecting veterans and military spouses with Salesforce certifications to Salesforce ecosystem roles and is currently developing a third fellowship program. Through participation in Stand-To VLP, Crystal will refine and scale these new fellowship programs and create a long-term strategic growth plan to ensure their success. This refinement and growth will allow the programs to move the needle on unemployment and underemployment for military spouses, transitioning service members, and veterans.

Beth Conlin

Program Manager, Amazon Arlington, Virginia Beth builds programs to recruit and retain military spouses into all lines of business, building mechanisms to support the unique needs of military spouses and supporting and engaging with external working groups to address the wholistic challenges that military families face when seeking dual incomes. Through her participation in the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program, Beth is working to remove barriers to employment when military families are stationed overseas and when service members are ETSing from OCONUS locations.

Andrew Davenport

Owner and Certified Home Inspector, A Good Look Home Inspection Gainesville, Georgia Andrew owns and operates A Good Look Home Inspection, which offers thorough inspections that are summarized in simple pictorial reports. He ensures first time homebuyers and investors understand the properties they are considering purchasing. He reviews the home in its entirety to ensure all issues big or small are shared and put into perspective. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Andrew is working to empower veterans, regardless of service experience, to have their basic needs met through benefit acquisition. This will be a result of one on one or group conversations that help veterans understand their entitled benefits and attain housing.

Ross Dickman

Chief Operating Officer, Hire Heroes USA New Fairfield, Connecticut Ross is responsible for the client experience, employee experience, and business operations for 125 employees and over 30,000 client registrants per year at Hire Heroes USA. Ross works to ensure a high quality of client service delivery while maximizing operational efficiency. He also oversees finance and accounting, administration, HR, employee culture activities, client services, and volunteer and partnership programs. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Ross is working to improve employment outcomes for at-risk populations and underserved demographic groups in the veteran community through a partner services model that engages directly with underserved communities to enable employment skills and critical financial assistance.

Jay Garcia

Global Veterans Program Manager, Fortinet, Inc. Vista, California Jay is currently leading the Global Veterans Program and the Security Academy Program for Fortinet, the #1 cybersecurity company in the world. His responsibilities include global community engagement, developing and managing strategic partnerships with universities/colleges, nonprofit organizations, veteran service organizations and industry partners. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Jay is working to maximize women veteran’s participation in cybersecurity upskilling programs and in the industry through a program that provides mentorship and skill development.

Frank Goertner

Director, Military and Veterans Affairs, University of Maryland, Robert H. Smith School of Business Rockville, Maryland Frank, as Director for Military and Veteran Affairs at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, facilitates career and business development among the school’s military-affiliated students, staff, faculty, partners, and alumni. He also directs Maryland Smith’s Initiative for Veteran Lifelong Leadership, a collection of public platforms designed to explore, assess, and enhance the impact of veteran leadership on America’s markets and communities. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Frank intends to develop an outcome assessment and development plan for the Initiative for Veteran Lifelong Leadership at Maryland Smith. The Initiative, and its supporting plan, aims to foster greater national dialogue and metrics-based understanding of how U.S. veteran leadership relates to cross generational economic and community prosperity. 11

Quincy Harper, Sr.

Military Recruiting Liaison Lead, Accenture Federal Services San Antonio, Texas Quincy is a Military Recruiting Liaison for Accenture Federal Services, Advanced Technology Centers in San Antonio, St. Louis, and the D.C. Metro Area. He is responsible for apprenticeships, internships, and the military’s community hiring across each of the five businesses. Through his participation in VLP, Quincy plans to learn, grow, and engage in the continuance of finding resources and opportunities for veterans to thrive post military service. His focus is on identifying social, emotional, and physical obstacles and providing relevant outcomes.

LeNaya Hezel

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NayceQuest, LLC Springfield, Virginia LeNaya is a diversity, equity, and inclusion organizational strategist and sociologist. As the founder and CEO of NayceQuest, she consults and guides organizations as they explore, dive into a deeper understanding, and discover meaningful ways to shift organizations to taking equitable and inclusive actionable steps. Instead of offering one-and-done diversity training seminars, LeNaya collaborates with organizations to identify routine processes — and provide access to resources and collective agency to address the needs to create a DEI institutional culture. LeNaya is excited to participate in Stand-To VLP to explore the ways higher education institutions create campus environments to foster undergraduate student veteran academic success. The opportunity to network and collaborate with the Stand-To community will guide LeNaya to learn about the ways student veteran intersectional identities shape the academic structural needs to inform higher education stakeholders. 12

Julie Kangas

Psychologist, VHA San Diego San Diego, California Julie is a Clinical Psychologist at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Diego. She is a certified yoga teacher and a certified meditation teacher who is passionate about exploring alternative and complementary treatments for mental health. In her clinical work, she sees a wide range of cases in the general mental health clinic of the VA. She also serves as the co-director of the Advanced Fellowship for Women’s Health, is the chair of the VA Women’s Mental Health Committee, and is a clinical supervisor involved in training. Through her participation with this leadership program, Julie aims to increase women’s mental health offerings at the San Diego VA in a feasible and cost-efficient way, which she hopes can be replicated at other VA locations. She also hopes to tailor these services to the unique needs of women veterans, serving them in the best possible way.

Chris Lancia

Public Affairs Officer, United States Army Clarksville, Tennessee Chris serves as a United States Army Public Affairs Officer, where he is the commander’s spokesperson providing public affairs guidance in support of operations, training, crisis communications planning, public engagement strategies, strategic communications, media and distinguished visitor escort, and community relations to support and meet the command’s mission. He also provides photo, video, and journalism support to tell the command’s story in support of internal and external communications. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Chris is working to remove the stigma many veterans have toward organizations that provide resources and assistance. His program will highlight the helpers who are doing great work, bringing the focus on a lower level, removing perceived organizational barriers, and building trust with our Nation’s veterans to help them seek the assistance they need. 13

Umar Latif

National Medical Director, Help for Heroes, Springstone, Inc. Frisco, Texas Umar is the co-founder and National Medical Director of Help for Heroes: an evidence based, outcomes driven, multisite specialty program dedicated to serve the treatment needs of active-duty service members, veterans, and first responders who are struggling with mental health, substance use and co-occurring disorders. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Umar, a physician, seeks to advance the ongoing development of best-in-class national clinical programs for our veterans and their families and thereby enhance the delivery of high-quality health care for suicide prevention, behavioral health, addiction, and post-traumatic stress.

Annette Maldonado

Program Manager, General Services Administration Alexandria, Virginia Annette is a leading expert in workforce development, specializing in curriculum design. Currently, she is a federal employee, performing as the Program Director for a leadership developmental program to increase cross functional collaboration in an interagency environment across the 24 CFO Act Agencies. She is also a senior advisor in IT workforce development for the Chief Information Officers Council. In the last 10 years, she has held a variety of positions ranging from Financial Manager for the Department of Defense to Program Coordinator in higher education. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Annette hopes to reduce the gap in IT jobs between veterans and employers.

Bana Miller

Director of Marketing and Communications, Team RWB Alexandria, Virginia Bana serves as the Senior Marketing Executive and Key Communications Strategist and Advisor for the national nonprofit, Team RWB — proactively managing relationships with philanthropic and corporate leaders, individual donors, and national media. She also leads the design and implementation of corporate partnerships and cause marketing strategy. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Bana is working to advance the health and wellness of all veterans and their families.

Dennis Miller

President and Founder, Greater Philadelphia Veteran Chamber of Commerce Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey Dennis serves as the President of the Greater Philadelphia Veteran Chamber of Commerce, an organization that supports the military affiliated community in Philadelphia and its four surrounding counties. The Vet Chamber PHL was built to drive the economic empowerment of its constituency through business-related programming, professional networking, and information sharing. Dennis has been tasked with guiding the organization through its developmental stages and into the center of the local business community. Dennis has ambitious goals and will use his time as a Stand-To VLP Scholar to recruit likeminded individuals to partner with him to deliver opportunities for economic growth to Veterans of the Delaware Valley.

Derek Moore

Commander, United States Army Akron, Ohio Derek operates as the Company Commander of the 1484 Transportation Company. He is responsible for the management, training, discipline, health, morale, welfare, and combat effectiveness of 167 Soldiers and their families. A captain, he is responsible for cultivating a culture for the organization built around mutual trust and shared understanding. Through his participation in VLP, Derek is working to lower the recidivism rates for incarcerated veterans through a program that focuses on mentorship while incarcerated. The program helps provide strategy and guidance for the accumulation of resources such as VA support, housing, jobs, resume building, and financial literacy classes but also, a sense of family.

Rebecca Moynihan

Vice President of Operations, Cohen Veterans Network Mount Kisco, New York As Vice President of Operations, Rebecca is responsible for developing and managing network-level projects to support the growth of the Cohen Veterans Network and its initiatives. This includes supporting daily operations of a network of 19+ mental health clinics, overseeing all facilities, managing the organization’s legal projects, and coordinating client experience initiatives. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Rebecca is working to further elevate the client experience in finding and receiving mental health care. This includes efforts to identify and eliminate any possible barriers and associated stigma to ensure our veterans receive the care and support they deserve.

Christopher Mulder

Air Force Officer, United States Air Force Alexandria, Virginia Christopher is an Air Force Fellow at the Atlantic Council. In this role, he has been studying and working with a cross-cutting team on great power competition, space, emerging technology, defense, resilience, and the National Security Council. Later this summer, the lieutenant colonel is transitioning to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he will work on readiness issues. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Chris is creating a framework centered around REACH (Respect, Engage, Accountability, Character, Healthy Living) that will provide proactive support and resources to help foster resilient military members during their service. This will uplift actively serving members while preparing them for a post-military career.

Eden Murrie

Chief Executive Officer, Operation Stand Down Tennessee Nashville, Tennessee Eden leads a team that engages, equips, and empowers veterans through services provided at the only VA-approved veterans service center in Tennessee. She directs operations and fundraising opportunities to connect veterans with careers, community, and crisis services. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Eden will gain valuable insight to further her organization’s efforts to provide relevant, ongoing mentorship and support to veterans as they transition to the Middle Tennessee area.

Janaia Nash

Chief Program Officer, Travis Manion Foundation College Park, Georgia Janaia serves on the Executive Team at the Travis Manion Foundation, overseeing the strategic vision of program initiatives within the organization. As the Chief Program Officer, this includes program design, implementation and expansion, budget execution, and evaluation. She leads the largest department and is also the principal leader for diversity, equity, and inclusion within the organization. Through participation in Stand-To VLP, Janaia hopes to diversify the veteran mentorship pool to ensure it is reflective of the communities served while also improving the overall well-being of service members posttransition through continued service.

Jeremy Nelson

Deputy Director, Military Health Institute, UT Health San Antonio San Antonio, Texas Jeremy develops and leads Military Health Institute strategic and operational initiatives related to research support, clinical advocacy, education, and community engagement. He interacts with executive leadership at local, regional, and federal levels to support UT Health San Antonio, UT System, and City of San Antonio military health-related efforts, and provides research support and guidance to UT investigators and facilitates collaboration with the Department of Defense and VA. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Jeremy is working to promote military and veteran health research. Creating greater awareness and transparency among military medical, academic, and research entities will enhance collaboration, leading to better treatments for service members, veterans, and their families.

Andrew Newby

Assistant Director, Veteran & Military Services, The University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi Andrew serves military-connected students across the eight campuses at Ole Miss. As the Principal Administrator for all veteran and military initiatives for the University of Mississippi system, his work supporting the post-traditional student population helps students to find their second service careers as they become lifelong learners. Through his participation in the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program, Andrew will work to solve the complex issues surrounding health care needs for student veterans by establishing streamlined care on college campuses across the country. Through a collaborative care model, VA Healthcare and university health care will work in concert to serve student veteran mental and physical health care needs on campus through Veterans Treatment Teams across the country.

Phaly Pichota

Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder, Cibus Health Carlsbad, California Phaly is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cibus Health, a technology company focused on democratizing personalized nutrition and bringing food as medicine to patients as part of health care delivery. With her participation in Stand-To VLP, Phaly is aiming to expand access to personalized nutrition support and improve overall health outcomes for veterans receiving care in and out of the VA health systems.

Dannielle Pope

Director, Innovative Technology, America’s Warrior Partnership Morrisville, North Carolina Dannielle is responsible for providing strategic oversight for local and nation-wide technology initiatives. As the Director of Innovative Technology at America’s Warrior Partnership, she is responsible for leading and maintaining strategic technology partnerships and is responsible for developing and maintaining America’s Warrior Partnership’s proprietary technology solutions such as WarriorServe®, WarriorServe® Partner Portal and the WarriorServe® Resource Directory. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Dannielle is working to end veteran suicide by incorporating predictive analysis of America’s Warrior Partnership’s landmark suicide prevention study into the organization’s current software solution.

Lauren Postler

Founder and Managing Partner, Military Connected Capital Houston, Texas Lauren is the Founder and Managing Partner of Military Connected Capital, which is a financial institution and consulting firm dedicated to raising and deploying “patient capital” for veteran and military-connected entrepreneurs. Through her participation in the Stand-to Veteran Leadership program, Lauren will connect with more entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and leaders in the military-affiliated community to learn about the potential need for capital and fundraising support among the mission-driven organizations seeking to make a difference. She hopes to be able to gather critical market intelligence to help inform next steps for Military Connected Capital while also offering mutual support to her cohort peers over the course of the program.

Betty Rhoades

Executive Director, HillVets Foundation Washington, D.C. Betty serves as the day-to-day leader of the HillVets Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the community of veterans, servicemembers, and supporters in our Nation’s capital with opportunity, mentorship, housing, peer assistance, and training in their pursuit of continued service in government. She focuses heavily on development and partnership efforts, including but not limited to pursuing grant opportunities, networking with external stakeholders, hosting and attending fundraising events, strategizing regarding grassroots and crowdfunding opportunities, and otherwise positioning the organization to increase its intake and therefore serve more program participants. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Betty is working to highlight the value that veterans and military family members bring to policy and politics — whether at the local, state, or federal level — thereby maximizing their opportunities for positive career progression.

Daniel Rickert

Chief of Staff, Veteran Affinity Group Lead, Palantir Technologies Arvada, California Dan is the Chief of Staff to Palantir’s Global Head of Defense and a critical member of the defense team. He focuses his efforts across team management, marketing, sales, and strategic communications. Dan is also the head of Palantir’s veteran affinity group, Pal-Vets. By participating in the Stand-To VLP, Dan is working to build two separate organizations that he is most passionate about: one builds veteran valuealigned communities of fellowship and trust, and the other equips friends, family, and veterans with suicide-intervention tools.

Margaret Riley

Chief Operating Officer, The COMMIT Foundation Saint Johns, Florida Margaret serves as the operations and strategic leader for The COMMIT Foundation. She provides leadership and strategic guidance on key organizational initiatives and performance outcomes, and ensures operations and programs align with the organizational values and mission. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Margaret is working to maximize organizational impact through well planned and executed strategic planning and developing the correct critical success factors to measure progress. Additionally, Margaret will share best practices in a way that other organizations can have greater impact in their spheres of influence.

Brian Ritter

Human Resources Program Manager, The Boeing Company Snohomish, Washington Brian designs, develops, and executes various process automation activities within human resources, and serves as Program and Project Manager for various HR initiatives at Boeing. By participating in VLP, Brian will develop internal “one-stop shopping,” standard processes and various process automations for Boeing’s implementation of the Department of Defense “Skillbridge Program.” These activities will help ensure a smooth process for both the veteran and the host manager.

Melissa Stirling

Senior Director, Diversity and Inclusion & Head of Military Programs, Hilton Charlottesville, Virginia Melissa is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Team at Hilton, working strategically and tactically toward Hilton’s diversity and inclusion goals. This includes supporting the Team Member Resource Groups and working crossfunctionally to gain stakeholder buy-in on all D&I efforts. Through her participation in VLP, Melissa is working to scale military fellowship programs within her organization to provide servicemembers with rich experiences in the hospitality industry, while sourcing future leaders, either temporarily or permanently. These fellowships will be in partnership with the Department of Defense, utilizing programs such as SkillBridge and Education with industry-type programs.

Kimberly Tapia

Entrepreneur, Polanko Group Columbus, Ohio Kimberly is a serial entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Managing Principal of the Polanko Group, a company recognized for building customer-focused businesses driven to achieve high-impact. Her fields of experience span over 12 years in the areas of strategic planning, financial analysis, Lean Six Sigma, operational excellence, organizational development, project management, and leadership principles. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Kim is working to amplify veteran opportunities to become or further thrive as entrepreneurs through a highly accessible and supportive community ecosystem.

Dylan Tête

Executive Director, Bastion New Orleans, Louisiana Dylan is the founder and Executive Director of a $14 million supportive housing development complete with a wellness center and related programs. Dylan leads operations at the development, which houses approximately 105 residents, including children. In addition to leading operations, Dylan manages the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs to enhance mission effectiveness. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Dylan is working to transform the continuum of care by offering a new housing alternative to warriors and families who need instrumental assistance in the activities of daily living. Through a community-based model that Dylan has pioneered, warriors and families will thrive in the face of life-altering injuries.

Jesse Tossetti

Director of Outreach and Admissions, Warrior-Scholar Project Englishtown, New Jersey Jesse leads a team that is responsible for advancing the participation of student veterans and transitioning service members who are looking to utilize their educational benefits to achieve their personal higher education academic goals. He ensures the course seats are fully utilized for all 29 weeks of summer programming with 20 partner institutions. Through his partnership in Stand-To VLP, Jesse is working to maximize student veterans’ ability to achieve their personal academic goals in higher education. The main scope of his efforts will be to increase the knowledge and resources to this community of programs like the Warrior-Scholar Project.

Lawrence Vasquez

Director, Military and Veterans Affairs, Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles Pasadena, California Larry is the Senior Adviser to the Mayor and City Council on programs and policies supporting the military veteran community in Los Angeles, which has the largest concentration of veterans in the country. He is the liaison to Active, Reserve and National Guard units in Los Angeles for training and defense support to civil authorities, and coordinates city efforts supporting LA Fleet Week and is lead planner for Military Village. Through his participation in VLP, Larry will work to identify, assess, and develop best practices, policies and programs for the City of Los Angeles and the public sector to support veterans and military families in or transitioning to Los Angeles in the areas of housing, employment, education, and health services.

Andrew Ward

Founder and President, Acadiana Veteran Alliance Lafayette, Louisiana Andrew is the Founder and President of Acadiana Veteran Alliance. His role is to guide its three founding pillars of work, heal, and give for the veteran community in the region and throughout the state of Louisiana. Andrew deeply believes that the organization and people must provide real solutions for those who served and must be structured and aligned to truly help veterans, not just in their words, but also in their actions. Through his participation in Stand-To VLP, Andrew aims to continue to “Place the Mission First” by serving the veteran community through work placement, industry creation, PTSD treatments with true efficacy, and philanthropic efforts to other Veterans Service Organizations.

Jimmy White IV

Professional Speaker, Jimmy White Speaks LLC Exton, Pennsylvania Jimmy conducts keynotes, workshops, and seminars that motivate his audiences into action with calls to service to help themselves as well as their greater community. A dynamic and engaging speaker, he mixes his personal, professional, and military experience to convey real-life applications of the principles of character, leadership, team building, and living a life of purpose. Through this program, Jimmy plans to support veteran empowerment in marginalized demographics to become leaders in their communities and live a greater life of service. With the support of VLP and the gained community from this program, he hopes to enhance his veteran advocacy work to make a positive impact both locally and nationally.

Casey Woods

Founder and Executive Director, FORGE Foundation Surfside, Florida Casey is the Founder and Executive Director of FORGE, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing veteran suicide through initiatives including the Overwatch Project. The Overwatch Project is coming at veteran suicide prevention from a new direction, using an approach that was successfully utilized to help solve another complex problem: drunk driving. The Overwatch Project is building the equivalent of the “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk” campaign for veterans, only instead of talking about alcohol and vehicles, it focuses on firearms and suicide. Through her participation in Stand-To VLP, Casey is working to expand and scale the Overwatch Project through an enhanced partnership model for veteran-serving nonprofits and through a new toolkit for veteran family members. 26