Military Entrepreneurs

Military Entrepreneurs is the premiere resource for business minded veterans. If you are entrepreneurial and want to learn how others like you made it in business and as entrepreneurs; this show is for YOU! My goal is to help others who are getting out of the military supplement their transition process from the stories of veterans who've made it in real-world business.

Noah Currier 09/07/2016

Justin Constantine 08/25/2016

Justin Constantine As a Marine officer, Justin Constantine volunteered for deployment to Iraq in 2006, and served as a Civil Affairs Team Leader while attached to an infantry battalion. While on a routine combat patrol, Justin was shot in the head by a sniper. Although the original prognosis was that he had been killed in action, Justin survived. Through teamwork and a positive mental attitude, he has had quite a successful recovery. Justin now speaks to audiences large and small about personal leadership, the critical role of teamwork in facing life’s challenges, and the upside of change. He applies his incredible story of overcoming adversity to every level of an organization, and all audiences to move beyond the challenges they are facing in their own lives. While on active duty, Justin had served as a Judge Advocate in the Marine Corps. Upon recovering from his injuries, Justin continued to serve in the Federal government in a number of attorney positions, including the Department of Justice, Capitol Hill and most recently with the FBI on a counter terrorism team. Despite being shot in the head, Justin was the Honor Graduate of his class at the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. He also recently completed the Master of Laws (LLM) program at Georgetown University focusing on National Security. Justin retired from the Marine Corps Reserves at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and now serves on the Board of Directors of the Wounded Warrior Project, Give An Hour, and SemperMax. In addition, in 2011 the Secretary of Defense appointed him to serve on a 4-year Congressionally-mandated Task Force for Recovering Warriors. In 2012 the Virginia Legislature passed a commending resolution highlighting Justin’s continued support of veterans and other wounded warriors. Most recently, Justin was awarded the prestigious inaugural 2014 Lincoln Award recognizing his outstanding achievement and excellence in providing opportunities and support to our nation’s veterans and military families. Justin has also been named a Champion of Change by the White House, and was presented with the All-American Hero Award at the 2013 All-American Inaugural Ball. Further, Justin was invited to introduce President George W. Bush at a veterans’ symposium at the Bush Institute in February 2014. Justin is a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation in connection with their Hiring Our Heroes campaign, and works with a number of corporations on their veteran hiring initiatives. Justin has also been featured in magazines and programs such as CNN, Fox News, Men’s Health, the Huffington Post, the Atlantic, Financial Times, and the Department of Labor’s America’s Heroes at Work Success Stories. Through his journey of courage, injury, resilience and triumph, Justin demonstrates that we are all stronger than we think we are. His personal story of recovery and success is a testament to the power of the human spirit, and the message he shares applies to every member of the audience. All will leave inspired to attack any difficulties in their own lives, and will search out opportunities to excel at work and at home. Connect with Justin: /episode/index/show/danevansonline/id/4616721

Justin Constantine 08/25/2016

Anthony Garcia 08/16/2016

Ryan Michler 08/10/2016

Michael Zacchea 08/03/2016

Michael Zacchea Mike Zacchea was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps in 1990. He served at Camp Lejeune as a forward observer and platoon commander, deploying to Somalia for OPERATION RESTORE HOPE and to Haiti for OPERATION SUPPORT DEMOCRACY. He served as operations officer and executive officer of a Marine recruiting station. He was selected for advanced artillery school, and went on to command two artillery batteries and serve as a battalion assistant operations officer. He served another tour on recruiting duty in the northeastern US. In March 2004, as a major, he deployed to Iraq for OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM II. His team’s mission was to build, train, and lead in combat the first Iraqi army battalion trained by the US military. After an initial 4-month training period, his adviser team led the Iraqi battalion in combat operations for 7 months. During this time, the battalion participated in OPERATION PHANTOM FURY, the 2nd Battle of Fallujah. The battalion spent 6 weeks in urban combat, the longest of any deployed Iraqi unit, and accomplished a number of historical firsts for the Iraqi army. During the battle, Mike was wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade. Mike’s military awards include the Bronze Star Medal (with Valor device) (with gold star in lieu of 2nd award), the Purple Heart Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, a Combat Action Ribbon, and numerous unit and campaign awards. Mike was also the first and at the time only American recognized by the Iraqi government by the Order of the Lion of Babylon. As a result of his wounds, Mike has been medically retired. Mike helped form a non-profit organization of military advisers in 2006 to help Iraqi interpreters immigrate to the United States, which eventually became known nationally as Netroots: the List Project. In 2009, he founded the the UConn Entrepreneur Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, through which he has helped veterans start more than 90 businesses. He served on a multi-agency cross-disciplinary working group chaired by the CT Dept of Veterans Affairs focusing on veteran reintegration, education, training, and workforce re-entry issues, and presently serves on the Benefit corporations state task force. Mike founded the CT Veterans Chamber of Commerce 501(c)6 organization in 2013, the only veterans organization registered to lobby in the CT General Assembly. He has been recognized as the 2012 Veterans Business Champion by the Small Business Administration, and been inducted into the UConn School of Business Hall of Fame. Mike serves on several veterans advisory boards for elected officials. Mike is also a member of the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs for the Small Business Administration, advising the Administrator on policies and issues affecting more than 3.6 million veteran-owned businesses producing more than $1.7 trillion in national gross product and employing more than 8 million employees. Mike is a frequent guest speaker in the media, and has been featured in several books and documentaries addressing the Iraq War, veterans issues, and Iraqi refugee issues. Mike presented “Managing Trauma in the War Theater” to the International Congress of Stress and Trauma Management in 2013. Mike is the author of “Veteran’s Advocacy: the Fight for Social Justice and Healing Through Activism” in Healing War Trauma: A Handbook of Creative Approaches (Routledge: 2012) and of “Social Entrepreneurship Solution for Veterans’ Reintegration through Entrepreneur Training for Disabled Veterans” in Social Entrepreneurship as a Catalyst for Social Change (Infoage: 2013). Mike’s education includes a BA from the University of Notre Dame and an MA from Hawaii Pacific University. He earned an MBA from the School of Business at the University of Connecticut. Mike is married and has a young son. He lives in northwest rural CT. Connect with Mike /episode/index/show/danevansonline/id/4562494

Raphael Hernandez 07/27/2016

AJ Richards 07/21/2016

Mika Cross Workplace Transformation Strategist 07/14/2016

Mika Cross Workplace Transformation Strategist Mika J. Cross is a seasoned Workplace Transformation Strategist specializing in innovative global workplace initiatives, culture change, strategic communications, knowledge management, next generation/future workplace predictions, mobility and flexible work policy, diversity, inclusion and employee engagement. Her 18-year career in public service includes assignments throughout the United States Intelligence Community and across the Federal government. She is a veteran of the Unites States Army, having served as both an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer. Mika is highly regarded as a thought leader for flexible and transformational workplace practices and is regularly featured as a professional speaker at industry conferences and events. On behalf of the White House and the National Security Council (NSC), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) invited Mika to contribute to the “Workforce of 2020” strategy session as a component of the joint-led task force to develop a new business model for vetting current and future Federal employees into positions of national security. Mika was invited to speak at the House Smart Contracting Caucus roundtable on Telework and Mobility, by Co-Chairmen Gerry Connolly and Rob Wittman. She has also worked in partnership with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on behalf of the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Federal Women’s Program, to design innovative learning to help align Work/Life, Diversity, Inclusion and Human Resources professionals from across the government to share strategic vision and value for integrating a flexible and supportive workplace. In 2014, Mika was selected as a President’s Management Council (PMC) Interagency Fellow at OPM and worked on government-wide projects affecting culture and process change. As a component of the President’s Second Term Management Agenda sub-goal on People and Culture, she helped create an online Employee Engagement Community of Practice (eCOP) within OPM’s interactive dashboard (the Unlocking Federal Talent data tool at unlocktalent.gov). The eCOP is targeted for Senior Executive Management to help Federal agencies collect and use data to create a more engaged workplace. She also has led several workforce transformation initiatives resulting in winning the organizations she has worked for numerous industry awards- the most recent being USDA named on the Forbes 500 Best American Workplace rankings in March 2015. Mika has led the strategic communications and initiatives capability for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and currently does so for the Department of Labor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (DOL VETS.) Mika was awarded the Fed50 “Most Inspiring Up-and-Comer” award, the Federal News Radio “Causey Award” as well as a Next Gen Gov public service award. In 2013 she was named a by WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work-Life Progress. She currently serves as Government Chair of the Human Capital Shared Interest Group (HC-SIG) for the American Council for Technology-Industry Advisory Panel (ACT-IAC) and as a Board member for WorldatWork’s Alliance for Work/life Progress (AWLP.) /episode/index/show/danevansonline/id/4514512

Garth Massey 07/07/2016

Gordon Whitehead 06/22/2016

Thoughts on Leaving the Marines 06/16/2016

Kevin "Rabs" Bemel 06/08/2016

Travis Scott Collier 06/02/2016

Travis Scott Collier is originally from Georgia. After graduating the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut, Travis has been assigned across the country in many iconic places: New Jersey, Virginia, Texas, California, and now, New Orleans. Travis has spent his career immersed in the Coast Guard’s military training system. He holds a Master’s in Instructional & Performance Technology from Boise State University, has trained over 650 foreign nationals in 19 nations, led three of the US Coast Guard’s apprentice training programs (including the culinary training program), and helped develop small boat engineering and coxswain training programs for the Republic of Georgia Coast Guard. Travis recently returned from deployment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he developed a comprehensive training system to help the Kingdom train a new 5,000 soldier, critical infrastructure protection force. Travis is currently serving as a commercial vessel inspector and port state control officer, assigned in the Port of New Orleans. He has been awarded three Coast Guard Commendation Medals, with Operational Distinguishing Device. He is applying for early retirement, to transition in 2017. The Command Your Transition Story I made a “Year 9” Decision at Year 11. In the current, soon to be replaced, retirement system, military members got a defined pension at 20 years of service. Therefore, 20 years was the gateway to the golden carrot, nothing sooner. And while military members don’t like to say we’re in it for the money, money is a huge motivation for the dearth of people who don't leave during their second decade of service. It's a precipice: between getting a defined pension, or walking away with nothing. There are four years-of-service “gates” where members most often get out: Years 5, 10, 20, & 25. And we’re always reminded of our date of entry with every paycheck stub.Years of service drive manpower size and strength. Promotion, advancement, assignment—they’re all based on seniority of time. And while it can take a company a decade or two to mature, military careers must mature by 10-12 years to be viable. If you haven’t made a “terminal” rank by 12 years, or put yourself on the path to ensure a terminal promotion by 15 years, you’re out. Connect with Travis: /episode/index/show/danevansonline/id/4412916