U.S. Based Visionaries
Making Hybrid Cloud
Environments Achievable

I have the privilege of leading the team here at VSO. My duties as CEO range but I’m at my best when I am collaborating with customers and teammates developing new ideas or solving meaningful problems.

Over the last 20 years my experience has been in entrepreneurship and venture capital. Many of the team at VSO have been my colleagues in a variety of ventures, however, most of my focus has been in working with large, data intensive environments and the particular business challenges which come along with them.

The idea for VSO came from John Birch (JB), a colleague from my Novus (acquired by IBM, 2007) days. At the time, I was looking to dive deeper into cloud computing, and JB’s idea seemed like a great marriage of working with people with whom I enjoy and an area of technology which greatly interests me. The veteran perspective was also a major draw as I believed from my study of history and my venture capital experience there was a significant untapped potential in the US’s investment in its military men and women.

Over my career I’ve been able to work with some exemplary leaders and teams. When we designed VSO, the founding team and I wanted to put a singular focus on culture, hence our “First Principles”. People always ascribe the “No Jerks” principle as my major contribution, and perhaps it was, but my most heartfelt of the principles is probably “We Won’t Waste Time” as it strikes to the heart of what I think about life and how precious it is. When I see people invited to a meeting they don’t need to be in, emails going unanswered, people not listening to others on call, or lecturing on subjects they know little about, not reading what someone else wrote, I’ve always thought, “How dare they?”. That person might have a kid at home they promised to shoot hoops with; a friend they want to spend time with; a wife or husband to enjoy a dinner with; a workout they want to fit in, etc and this person is wasting their time and potentially not allowing these important moments to happen. Wasting time has both a detrimental effect to the mission and culture of the organization, but more importantly to people’s lives. People don’t hate their jobs because they are hard or challenging. They hate their jobs when the work they perform is not meaningful or allowed to be meaningful. Don’t waste time because you are wasting lives.

That is a loaded question. I’ve been blessed with a lovely wife, Paula, and family. We enjoy being together and have had many adventures. We tend to be a very active crew with hiking, swimming, traveling, school, and sports. I suppose I will highlight perhaps the most unexpected part of my life outside of VSO: I’m an Oyster farmer. It’s a long story.

I serve as the Chief Operating Officer of VSO. In this capacity, I am responsible for Sales and Delivery functions-with a particular focus on profitable revenue growth. I am the Executive Sponsor for VSO relationships with SAP, Kaiser Permanente, and Stanford Research Institute.

I started my career as a Project Manager for imaging, workflow, and document management contracts with the US Gov’t. After a brief stint as a Network Architect at Nortel Networks, I joined Novus Consulting Group and, when Novus was sold to IBM in 2007 I was the Managing Director of major accounts. Inside IBM, I ran Storage Services Sales for North America, and then left IBM to start an IBM channel delivery organization for Glasshouse Technologies. At Glasshouse, I grew a sales and delivery organization in both the US, UK, and Ireland. In 2014, I became a partner in Xceed Group, a UK company, and became CEO of FIMS, which was a subsidiary of Xceed. During my time at FIMS, I grew the organization from zero to $10M in 2.4 years. The focus of FIMS had been IBM outsource subcontracting. The organization grew to include 12 outsource contracts and approximately 125 staff.

While at Xceed, I tried an experiment: to get my engineers to train military vets, like my brother Duke, for careers in IT. This worked so well that Xceed eventually hired almost 50 veterans, and at the same time cut their cost of delivery by 42%. Seeing this success, I wanted to double down on this method and build an organization that was 75% vet-delivered while aiming at a more diversified customer base and focused on hybrid cloud managed services. The investment to make this change was too much for my partners at Xceed. Having worked closely with Steve O’Keefe at Novus, I shared my vision with him, left Xceed, and together we started VSO.

Well, I love VSO because this firm is indeed for me a labor of love. I feel that VSO is the culmination of 15 years of work. At Novus I’d begun honing the skills to sell and delivery managed services through a channel like IBM. At IBM, I found out how things really work inside a large corporation-until IBM changed their approach to project and outsource alignment. At Glasshouse, I built a thriving business on two continents and 3 countries-with all the local challenge and nuance that that entails-until Glasshouse overleveraged itself and went out of business. At Xceed, it seemed I had all the components, but my business partners were too remote, and lacked understanding of what I saw the business becoming. At VSO, I found a partner in Steve that agrees with me on the important things but differs in approach enough to make sure I’m still learning every day. We’ve assembled a team that humbles me every week with their hard work, genius insights, and innovative ideas. We are blessed to have grown faster than any of my previous firms and are already a highly diversified company, striving towards our vet mission, and delivering hybrid cloud services. With the right team, you can do anything!

The last couple of years both of my kids have been in college. I spend a lot of time working with my wife to maintain our property and improve spiritually and physically. I’m an avid reader and have recently begun working on a couple of books.

I am the Chief Technology Officer at VSO. In this role, I guide the company in decisions that ensure technology serves and catalyzes VSO’s and our clients’ business success by delivering practical results that scale well. I am the Executive Sponsor for VSO’s relationship with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

I began my IT career in hardware, integrating systems for large-scale rollouts, then fixing enterprise class servers and storage at Hewlett Packard in years leading up to Y2K. I switched gears to work with high availability, disaster recovery and storage systems for companies such as Dimension Data, working with a broad group of customers in telco and finance. I joined Novus Consulting Group in 2003 and subsequently IBM in 2007, like several of us in VSO’s leadership team. At IBM, I was appointed Senior Technical Staff Member and years later Distinguished Engineer for the impact of my work on storage optimization technologies for IBM and our clients.

When Steve and John told me about the concept for VSO, I was determined to join them. Building a managed services company with a veteran focused workforce is an exciting challenge; I had to be a part of it. Also, working with people for whom you have great admiration and respect doesn’t just happen every day in business; it is critically important. Life is short!

My favorite VSO Principle is “Leadership is an Attitude, not a Position”. You will find leaders at every level in our company. My leadership advice includes... Be industrious: work to make things simpler, find ways to take things out of others’ hands, don’t bring a problem without your plan for a solution, and let others know if you are bored or have time on your hands.

Outside of VSO, you will find me reading, studying, and drawing – always around business, science and technology – I am an engineer through and through. My husband and I are also big hikers, car shoppers and adventure/sci-fi movie enthusiasts. We love the Tennessee Titans (Earl Campbell and Warren Moon, and most recently Derrick Henry!), the Rays, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buccaneers.

I am VSO’s VP of Delivery, a role in which I oversee the qualitative and financial aspects of the services VSO performs for its clients and partners, as well as the integration of the companies VSO acquires.

Like other members of the VSO executive team, my path to VSO can be drawn through Novus Consulting Group, which was acquired by IBM in 2007. I managed the training business at NovusCG, and later its Solution Center, which centralized the highest performers in the organization in order to leverage their talents across multiple accounts, and to develop solutions that standardized and automated the services that Novus delivered. Following the acquisition by IBM, where I continued to develop service offerings and assist in business development efforts in its Global Technology Services division, I returned to life in smaller firms, where I grew specialized service delivery teams in the private and public sectors, with a particular focus on Civilian Federal agencies of the US Government.

This one is easy: the people. Having been part of successful ventures with several members of the VSO team in the past, I jumped at the chance to do it again. One spends large amounts of time collaborating with workday colleagues – genuinely enjoying their company is a tremendous advantage, and a boon to productivity as well.

I see the relationships we form at VSO as our greatest strength. I’m at VSO today because of the deep trust I have in our leadership team. Every day we build relationships with our clients, our partners, and our colleagues, as we collaborate to accomplish our clients’ objectives. Few things are more satisfying than being on the receiving end of a heartfelt ‘thank you’ from a client whose life we improved through our hard work and diligent service. Those moments forge strong bonds all around – among us at VSO and with our clients – that can last a lifetime.

What keeps me busy outside of VSO is the primary reason for being inside VSO: the joys of being a husband and father. I also enjoy being a basketball coach, and playing the game when possible, although Father Time is taking a cruel toll on my on-court abilities. When basketball season is over, I devote an unhealthy amount of attention to the Washington Nationals, which paid glorious dividends in 2019.

I am VSO’s VP of Operations. In this role I help to guide the organization in making decisions for VSO’s long-term profitability and sustainability. My background in Human Resources brings in key elements necessary to ensure teams are meeting goals in relation to the overall business strategy.

I began my career in college recruiting. In 2000 I was hired by Novus Consulting Group to manage their technical recruiting efforts. I later became the head of Human Resources & Recruiting. When NovusCG was acquired by IBM in 2007, I was a member of the integrations team and later moved into communications and education support for the Data Center Services organization. In 2010, I joined the IBM Cloud Programs team, which was in its infancy, to build out the cloud offerings enablement program for the worldwide sales teams. By 2012, IBM Cloud was its own division and I continued to support Cloud Sales Enablement needs, as well as internal and partner marketing and communications for the Cloud portfolio.

In 2017, Steve O’Keefe mentioned he was exploring “getting the band back together” to start a Cloud consulting firm. I was intrigued and wanted to be a part of it as I knew that I would be with a team of individuals that think logically and act ethically. While I found my time at IBM worthwhile and allowed for a lot of creativity, I knew I could make a larger impact at a small organization long-term. I officially joined the team in 2018 and have enjoyed all the ups and downs of a startup. It gives you so many experiences to learn from and gives you perspective on what should be repeated and what should not be repeated EVER again in your lifetime.

What I appreciate most about VSO is that one is constantly learning AND teaching, no matter the position one holds within the company. I have learned new things from every level in this small company. I am fascinated by our innate ability to support each other without question and teach each other without pain. This practice helps support my favorite VSO First Principle, “We will not waste time”. The more we learn every step of the way, the less time we spend trying to ‘reinvent the wheel’. Our most valuable commodity is time and VSO does a great job using it wisely, while growing steadily.

When not enjoying cross-country road trips with my walking encyclopedia husband, Tim, and our 2 children, I find great joy in helping non-profits be more efficient and capitalize on opportunities to provide great value to those they serve. In my leftover leisure time, I love playing strategy board games, complicated cake decorating and a great bottle of vodka on the rocks, while living in the great state of Texas.

As the VP of Commercial and Channel business here at VSO, I own sales and delivery for our Commercial and Channel business. I lead other Business Development, Sales and Delivery leaders and teams across dozens of successful contracts and engagements, while staying in consistent contact with our Commercial and Channel clients and partners to develop and achieve their IT goals.

I’ve been in IT since 1993. Spending seven years active duty in the U.S. Navy, forward deployed in the Arabian Gulf and Somalia engagement. Completing my time in the Navy with a three-year assignment at the Office of Naval Intelligence in the D.C. area. I worked with a couple of Defense Contractors before settling in with EDS on the BellSouth/AT&T account for six years and then moving to the American Airlines account for another twelve years and as EDS moved to HP, HPE and DXC via spin offs and mergers. I came to VSO with years of experience leading large ITO delivery teams and architecting out vast redesigns and integrations/migrations in the UNIX/LINUX/Vmware arena during client mergers and refreshes. I lead by example with an ability to cut to the quick and solve complex issues by recognizing and maximizing skill sets within my team, thereby putting people in best position to succeed.

I joined the VSO team, in December 2018 after being contated by a previous employee of mine who had started with VSO a few months earlier. I quickly recognized the value and opportunity of being part of a small/flexible company and was excited to make an impact and help VSO scale.

The involvement of the executive team and passion they bring to every account and discussion is not only refreshing but inspiring. There is a genuine feeling that VSO cares about individual careers and even life outside of work, which is rare in the corporate world and I recognize and appreciate that tremendously. My personal favorite principle is “we will not waste time”, time is absolutely our most valued asset in work and in life. There is never a reason to waste a moment of it. Even down/restorative/restful time should be with a purpose and meaning.

My lovely wife Emily and our three amazing children who are now amazing teens and young adults keep me on my toes. We spend a lot of time with our pets … Great Dane – Pearl, Beagle – Mable and our Hairless Sphynx kitty – Lily. Shout out to all my Atlanta and GA sports teams (GO DAWGS/FALCONS/BRAVES!). I am a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu having trained for over 17 years now and fought several MMA fights years ago. I enjoy old school weightlifting, Yoga, Mountain Biking. I also am a “car guy”, owning and enjoying rare/special edition cars and trucks.

I am a Senior Account Lead for VSO’s emerging and strategic accounts. These accounts include a large US healthcare company and global customers, like SAP, in which we are engaged through our partnership with NTT. I not only manage these accounts and oversee delivery teams for supporting client operations, but I am also actively engaged in a program lead role at SAP to help our customers with program management and governance activities.

I have been working in IT since 1998 where I started my career as a Solaris System Administrator. My jobs since then evolved from hands-on technical engineering to more consultative and architect type engagements with some stints in product management. My later roles as team lead and project manager led me down a leadership path, which became a logical progression to take on the account lead role for VSO.

I worked with Steve at my first job out of college, Business Impact Systems. We were both engineers at the time. I then followed some of our former coworkers to Novus Consulting Group which was led by Steve and where I met John. The veteran mission always had my interest, but I also knew Steve had done this before and I wanted in. This was more than just about a job, this felt more like a family reunion! Steve would call me about once a week for 6 months prior to joining. He would keep me informed on all that was in the pipeline until he knew there was a solid opportunity for me to join. I joined in February 2018 and my favorite part of this story is that Steve quit my previous job for me!

NO JERKS! But on top of that, what I love about VSO is that we truly are a performance culture! If you do not know how to get something done, you reach out and someone on the team is there to help make it happen! Even the executive team is always there when you need them, and together, we know how to get things done!

I live in Olney, MD with my husband, Max, and two teenage kids, Kosta and Eleni. When we are not on the field, at dance, or crossing paths driving various carpools, we enjoy spending time with our extended big fat Greek family which are mostly nearby. We try to get to Greece to visit the rest of the family every other summer. In my “spare” time, I enjoy cooking, baking and entertaining! And somewhere in between all that fun stuff, I enjoy being a fitness coach!

As a Cloud Architect at VSO, I function as a trusted advisor, collaborator and leader to help customers develop and maintain a well-informed and well architected Cloud solution.

Through my 25 years of experience in Information Technology, I have had the privilege of working through a diverse number of roles within the IT field. I began as a Unix administrator for a number of small companies in Tulsa, Oklahoma before being hired to help with capacity planning and performance management for travel, focusing on Travelocity.com. After leaving Sabre I was provided the opportunity to work as a storage administrator at a national communications company, which lead to my concentration in architecting storage solutions. In 2003 I was hired by Novus Consulting Group, allowing me to share my storage experience with a large number of Novus Customers until we were acquired by IBM. During my 10 years with IBM I helped develop the storage backend for the IBM cloud offering as well as work as a development lead developing automated solutions for IBM’s Global Technology Services.

Having worked with the executive team at Novus Consulting Group, I was more than enthusiastic to join the VSO team when they told me they were starting VSO. It was very exciting to work with some of my favorite people 11 years after the acquisition of Novus by IBM. I knew with the VSO leadership team, the future for VSO was bright, and there has not been a day I have regretted the decision.

There are a number of things that I love about VSO, from the Veteran mission to having published First Principles that both help identify VSO as an honest and straight forward corporation, as well as provide guidance to both customers and employees the work ethic VSO has a foundation. Additionally, having started with VSO from nearly the beginning, I have enjoyed watching the company grow from year to year, and getting the opportunity to work at VSO with many of the people I have known for nearly 20 years.

Outside of VSO I enjoy trying and learning new things from learning additional technologies to learning and developing wood woodworking skills – although I still have a lot to learn when it comes to woodworking, I have really enjoyed the experience. I also enjoy cooking, golf, and tennis.

As the Director of Federal Architecture & Engineering, I have the privilege of providing technical leadership and support to the VSO delivery teams who are in daily contact with our clients. Combining the technical expertise of the team with their knowledge and understanding of the real-world problems of our clients allows us to create leading-edge technical strategy and delivery that satisfies our client’s needs both now and in years to come.

Closely related to this, I have the satisfying task of helping people develop their technical career path, clarify their goals, and coach them along their way. As they develop and mature technically, I look forward to seeing who will advance and take over my current role in the next couple years. A large part of this development requires staying in close contact with our industry partners for information and education to ensure we stay on the leading edge of their technology and services. This also has the fortunate side-effect of encouraging delivery teams to implement best practices and improve on the solutions we already deliver.

My vision as a VSO executive is to continue removing structural problems for the delivery teams, and to create strategies and processes that they can use as building blocks as VSO’s public sector, defense and intelligence business continues to grow.

Originally started out in data protection, and now have 30 years working in enterprise-class IT. After a decade of data protection and storage, stepped up into business continuity and disaster recovery.

A year-long contract at Google showed me how seriously disruptive an Agile, bottom-up culture can be, how most enterprises can never truly embrace that model, and how cloud-style IT could eventually overturn the business world. After a few years in top-5 consulting and data center architecture, I then made the leap from physical infrastructure to virtual infrastructure.

The last seven years have been focused on assisting public sector and defense clients navigating cloud-oriented executive and legislative mandates and successfully embracing cloud infrastructure.

A mutual acquaintance recommended VSO as a good company to network with and introduced me to some of the executive team. After learning about the consulting DNA and getting to know the culture and the people; I made the decision to come on board and help grow VSO’s federal practice.

Coming from a large extended family with an extensive military background, I value the veteran mission and actively participate in mentoring and developing those who have recently transitioned into the private sector.

When I am not wrangling or wrestling children, you will usually find me either in my library exploring a new subject, or in my shop developing a new skill. Of those, the newest, still developing skill is blacksmithing and the most esoteric is probably Boullework marquetry and inlay.

vSQOD Solutions Engineer

April 2022

I joined because I was transitioning from my old company, and wanted to join an IT company that cared for veterans. My experience has been excellent with VSO. They care about their employees career progression, which is very important to me.

I joined the Air Force in 2001 and have been in Communications my whole career. I've excelled in my career so much that I received a lot of awards and have deployed by myself to support the unit that was abroad. Currently I'm still in the Air National Guard, but I am a First Sergeant for the 116th Medical Group on Robins AFB, GA

My wife and I have been married for 11 years, but have known each other and been friends since we both was in the sixth grade. We have a 16 year old daughter, that is dual enrolled in her high school while she pursues her BS in nursing. Being dual enrolled allows her to graduate high school with her Associates degree and her high school diploma. In my spare time I like to watch college football, GO BUCKEYES!!!

I joined the Army because I was tired of watching all of my brothers get locked up. I come from a family of 7 children: 6 boys and 1 girl. Out of all of them, I was the only one to join the Army. My father served 2 tours in Vietnam as a Marine. So you can say I always had the idea of joining the military and prison just wasn't in my sights.

Sr. System Administrator on Monitoring Team

April 2019

One day I was in school for PM and ITIL:, I was talking to Duke and he facilitated the referral to move to VSO. I love it!!! I keep myself busy and do what is needed. Currently studying for Azure 900, (looking to be complete by the end of November) CCNA and possibly PM in Jan. Recently earned my certification as an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. Earned my certification in ITIL since the last time I posted my status.

I am a retired Infantryman, with lots of combat experience. Fought during the 3rd push to combat in Ramadi Iraq with 3rd Infantry Division (Sledge Hammer) where I lost many friends but still brought all of my soldiers home safe. Then again in Afghanistan where we trained and fought along side the Afghan Army, their Police Force, and Secret Agents. The last position I held before retiring in 2016, was the Battalions Operations Sergeant Major as a Sergeant First Class.

I am originally from Houston, TX. I currently reside in El Paso, TX. I have 5 children: three boys and two girls. Their ages range from 23 boy whom currently in on the NYS project, about to attend college in January and just got certified as AWS CCP, 22 yr old boy that works for the Border Patrol, a 6yr old boy, 12yr old girl and 15yr old girl. I have a Bachelors in Business Administration. My Hobbies include running, working out, improving my yard, and cooking. I am a big-time UFC fan!

I ran out of money for college and was going to enlist for 4 years, I really enjoyed it, thrived, and was good at it, so I stayed for a couple decades.

Director of Veteran Programs

January 2018

I joined as I had just transitioned out of the military and was leaving the IT company I was with before. Since day one it has been a welcoming challenge to incorporate the different technologies, people, and skills into well oiled and high operating teams. I am as proud of what we have all accomplished in VSO as I am of my time in the Army.

My last position was as the Senior Instructor for the Small Arms and Tactics Trainer Course. Before that I spent years as a Scout Platoon Sergeant and Senior Scout, Drill Sergeant, and Operations NCOIC. I held many supplemental roles as well to include, Project Purchasing Officer, Master Resiliency Trainer, and many other “Additional roles'' that NCO’s and Officers are expected to accomplish alongside their primary duties.

I am married (To my better 90%) and have 3 Children 27, 6, and 2 years old, respectively. I enjoy rugby (Too broken to play now and can only coach) reading, staying in touch with some of my military brothers, gardening, and landscaping. I used to be a Broncos fan but don’t watch too much football anymore (Go Bama, I guess I like Nick Saban’s leadership style). We also enjoy hiking and exploring the beautiful state of Texas with the Family.

I grew up on a farm where I was working hard since early childhood. Once I graduated high school I went directly to college and quickly found myself bored with continuing school. While in college I was working at a general contractor which provided valuable life lessons and to value hard work (60+ hours a week) but felt that it was not the path to a rewarding life. Thereafter I moved on to working at Wal-Mart simply because it provided an income and was closer to my college. At some point I thought “What am I doing?”, I am going to college in which I despise and am failing at, I’m working at Wal-Mart making little of nothing and my life doesn’t feel rewarding. Within 2 weeks I was on my way to Ft. Jackson for basic training!

Solution Engineer

April 2021

I am very new to VSO but the experience has been great out of the gates! My journey to VSO was a fairly long one in which I don’t recall exactly how it started. I believe I applied for a Cloud Architect position on one of the VSO contracts but that did not work out due to contractual issues. Along the way Mike and Mark seemed to continue seeking my place in VSO with some other offers that did not quite work out. It was this seeming desire to bring me on board along with the corporate mission, values and ethics that had me hooked on working with VSO. One day the contact came that VSO had a position for me…that is where it began!

I spent a year at Camp Humphreys in the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade. This assignment offered a very diverse and rewarding experience while working directly with ROK soldiers and being the support of the eyes and ears of South Korean operations. After Korea I was assigned to Headquarters Army at the Pentagon. I spent over 3 years supporting the Pentagon Telecommunications Center aka “the Army’s nerve center”. This was a very rewarding assignment as I had direct communication with high-level Army and other Govt. officials including the Joint Chiefs of Staff

I am married to my lovely wife Celena and we have two children (both boys) Jaxon(6) and Layne(1). I enjoy the outdoors to include hunting, fishing, 4 wheelers, hiking, etc. I have a love for old cars, drag racing and have a 1970 Road Runner. A little about myself that is usually unassuming, I was a 13-time Virginia State Champion boxer (Golden Gloves, Silver Gloves and Junior Olympics), regional champion and ranked 8th in the Nation. I am also a trained mixed martial artist to include Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Kinda funny story. I answered an ad in the local newspaper for “heavy equipment operator training”. A phone conversation and 30 min later a Naval recruiter pulled up in the driveway decked out in dress whites driving a convertible bright red Corvette! …ended up running nuclear reactors aboard the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier – suppose that counts as heavy equipment!

Senior Solutions Engineer

March, 2018

When John and Steve started VSO I was one of the first technical resources to come aboard supporting our first account R1 Health. I knew John was looking to perfect a vision, which I had also had the privilege of being part of at a previous company. I was certain John and Steve together would be an unstoppable team in that regard - and in all honesty I needed the work! My expectations have not only been met but I continue to be amazed by this company!

I was only 18 going on 19 when I signed up. I spent the first 1.5 years (after boot camp of course) in school in Orlando, Fl learning all about hydro- and thermodynamics along with nuclear power theory and practice. Then I spent 6 months in Idaho Falls, Idaho doing practical training on a couple of nuclear subs submerged in a swimming pool out in the middle of nowhere. I was then stationed on the Abraham Lincoln which was deployed at the time in the Gulf under the first Gulf war and stationed out of Alameda, Ca.

I met a Danish girl in San Francisco while in the Navy and followed her to Denmark. We got married and have four children together. My ex and I have since gone our separate ways but we are all currently living in Denmark. My two oldest boys are working on their respective masters at the university here in Aarhus, and my two youngest are finishing up “high school”. I enjoy dancing salsa with my fiancée, going on wine trips and otherwise travelling. I have a great interest in what I refer to as “Inspired Economics” which is essentially new systems thinking around economic (and socio-economic) challenges - and no, utopia is not a bad word, like all ideals it is star a by which we can navigate by or said less poetically it’s worth reflecting on in my opinion! Another great interest of mine is following the work of theoretical physicist Nassim Haramein and his team on Unified Physics at the Resonance Science Foundation. Truly fascinating work even if physics isn’t really your thing.

I decided to serve in the fall of 1995. School was coming to an end and college at that time was not an option. I have a father that served in the Navy, and two uncles that served in the Army, so I decided to see if I could make it for one enlistment. That enlistment, which started in the summer of 1997, turned out to be a career until the fall of 2017 when retired.

Associate Sys Administrator on Monitoring Team

October 2019

I joined VSO because I wanted the experience of working with IT and I saw an opportunity to join a company that is 1.) Veteran-friendly and 2.) very innovative from the research I did when offered the opportunity to join the team. I have enjoyed working with everyone so far and hope this can turn into another great opportunity to be a part of something that I believe in again.

I joined the US Army in July 1997. I completed OSUT training at Fort Knox, KY, where I was then stationed in Friedberg, Germany assigned to 1-37 AR. 1st BDE, 1st AD for the next two years. I then was stationed in Fort Knox, KY assigned to 1-16 CAV and 2-81 AR as a trainer to cadets and OSUT trainees. In 2003 I was then stationed back in Friedberg, Germany as a Tanker and deployed to Iraq on two different occasions, once from May 2003 to July 2004. The second deployment was from January 2006 to February 2007. Another station at Fort Knox as an instructor and then finally to Fort Bliss, TX with multiple positions to include Senior Scout, Platoon Sergeant, and S3 positions from 2011 until I retired in 2017.

I am from Waco Texas and married with no children. I am currently completing my Bachelor of Science in Information Systems. Since retiring two years ago, I have become a real home body and just like to enjoy life.

Business Analyst

December 2022

I joined VSO because of the great company culture and the outstanding commitment to veterans. Duke and the team at VSO are amazing!

Tours served: HSL-49 San Diego, California. HSL-47 San Diego, California. USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), USS Nimitz (CVN-68), Mobile Security Unit Three, San Diego, California, Supply Officer School, Athens, GA, VQ-3, Tinker Air force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), HSC-3, and COMHSCWPAC Supply Officer. Miss putting on the uniform and serving our great nation!

Married and father of six wonderful children. I enjoy all outdoor activities, fishing, sports, and spending quality time with my family.

Hard to say now, I am sure patriotism was part of it the Iran hostages had just been freed and the Cold War was still around.  A family tradition on some level - my dad and uncles were WWII vets, my cousin a Vietnam vet and my sister was in the Navy.

I am supporting the Oracle Engineered devices (Exa) on the DOI ONRR account.

December 2019

I had been working with Ethan Watts for about a decade at a prior job and he suggested I apply at VSO. A million thanks Ethan, VSO is absolutely one of the best work environments. Everyday, I am astonished at how many highly skilled people are so nice. My youngest son was on the Covid Army and he always asks me how I got in with the "No Jerks" policy. I try to remember that.

Trained in aviation supply assigned to a small Helicopter Maintenance Squadron what at the time was NAS Dallas. In our shop which was behind the times it involved searching microfiche to locate the parts and then teletype to the Navy to order the parts.

My wife and I have 2 kids in college. We are recovering helicopter parents, so now we have 2 rescue dogs that get our attention - the kids seem relieved by that.

I heard a recruiter talk about cavalry scouts during a presentation. Thought that sounded pretty neat so I decided to become one.

Military Apprentice – Solution Architect Apprentice

I was looking on Linkdin for jobs and I came across a post from Nick Curry talking about an exciting opportunity for transitioning service members. The rest is history, I am beyond grateful to VSO for providing me so many opportunities for professional development. The culture is amazing, and the people are the reason for that.

I was a scout for 8 years and an artilleryman for 3. During my service I came across an opportunity to provide honors to deceased veterans. I cannot think of a more humbling and sobering job. I was trained by previous members of the Old Guard in Arlington National Cemetery. I trained more than 60 individuals on how to perform military honors. I was the NCOIC of a regional office. I completed more that 1500 funerals over a span of 8 years in the Military Funeral Honors Program.

I Married my best friend in 2013. She gave me 2 awesome children. I enjoy hanging out and doing things with my wife and kids as well as attempting to take strokes off my golf game. Video games are cool also!

Family Tradition (I am a third generation Marine) and a desire to defend the nation.

Business Unit Executive – Public Sector

October 1, 2021

I joined VSO because I identify with the company’s mission and values. Working here gives me a sense of belonging to something more than just a company providing a service. It’s a lot like the military in that sense.

Married with 5 children (1 boy and 4 girls).

At the time I was not exactly locked into college and I wanted do my part and serve my country while finding direction.

Account Lead

October 2018

I was recruited to come to VSO by John Birch to work as a Sr. Technical resource on Sprint, since then I have moved into the Account Lead role as well. My time at VSO has been exciting and challenging.

After high school graduation I enlisted in the US Air Force, at the tail end of the Cold War. I was in for a total 11 years (which included both Active Duty and Air National Guard time). I was a Weather Forecaster during my career.

I am from NJ, born and raised by immigrant Italian parents. I actually did not speak English when I went to kindergarten. My parents learned English along with myself while I went to school. I am the oldest of 3 boys. Playing computer games was an early love of mine. When I wasn't in the arcade, I was playing on my Intellivision, Commodore 64 or Atari. Sports was a large part of my childhood although it was mostly focused on soccer, which I still play today (albeit much slower pace!).

I am an avid motorcyclist and a nationally certified motorcycle instructor for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. In the past, I participated in road racing events.

Most importantly, I am married to my amazing wife since 2008, and we have a son, Ryan, who keeps me young while I try to keep up!

I wanted the opportunity to travel and receive an education, and the Navy allowed me to do both while also making a difference.

Windows System Administrator

June 2022

I saw an interesting opportunity come up at VSO and couldn’t pass it up. Everyone was so incredibly kind, there were absolutely no jerks which was an instant win for me. I’m very happy to be part of the VSO family.

I was stationed in Japan during my service (by design, I absolutely love Japan). I served as an Information Systems Technician and went from help desk technician to senior system administrator, all while training and training others. I learned valuable life and professional skills but was also fortunate enough to be in one of the most beautiful and historied countries in the world.

My wife Becky and I have two boys (Sergio 6, Lucian 3) and will be welcoming another boy into our family very soon. We enjoy visiting our local trails and taking in the scenery but also like to stay in and play video games too!

I joined the military shortly after Operation Desert Storm had started and just felt the need to serve my country. I took the first career choice that was provided to me and became a nuclear weapons specialist at F.E. Warran AFB, Cheyenne WY. I really wish I would have stayed in the military for at least 20 years. I left the military to try and start my own business and quickly found it was not a easy as I thought.

P/T Systems Analyst on Monitoring Team

August 2019

My 1st job is working for the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) and work Monday - Friday. I have a hobby and passion for restoring cars and needed some extra income so I took a second job (weekends) with VSO. This has been an eye opening experience as I have never done any kind of IT work before. I am truly loving the position and thanks to everyone's patience - I am slowly learning a lot. Additionally, I am very thankful for VSO because it can be challenging finding a good job while being a paraplegic.

I spent my four years at F.E. Warran AFB and was trained and certified on several nuclear weapons however I was assigned to the Peacekeeper Missile. It was an awesome job and very fascinating with a lot of outdated equipment.

I have been married to Dianna for a little over five years. I met her while working with the PVA. I have one biological daughter who is currently a 2nd Lt. in the USAF as a nurse. I could not be more proud of her.

I didn't have a lot of life direction at the time, so I figured the military was a good place to start.

Solutions Engineer

October 2018

Karla recruited me off of LinkedIn. Life at VSO is great for me. I love the very open, small and welcoming atmosphere and there is great camaraderie among the teams.

My IT experience started when I joined the Marine Corps in 1996 as a computer operator in the Aviation Logistics squadron while stationed out in Kaneohe, HI. It was there that I had my first experience typing basic Unix commands while maintaining the naval aviation supply systems. When I got out in 2000, I moved back to California and landed my first civilian job working at a web hosting data center with Qwest out of Burbank as a Hosting Operations Sys Admin.

I have 2 daughters with my wife (who I met in Hawaii when I was stationed there). Nowadays, I spend most of my time tending to my kids with whatever activities they have going on -- theater, volleyball, gymnastics, etc. Whenever we can, we try to visit family in Hawaii and California and every now and then we fly out to the Philippines (where both of us were born) to visit some relatives out there.

During my free time, I like to play guitar, listen to music and watch any type of sports -- basketball, football, soccer, boxing, mixed martial arts, etc. -- it doesn't matter.

I wanted to travel the world and my grandfather had spent 25 yrs in the Navy, serving heroically in WWII. I never met him, but they say I’m just like him. “Son of a son of a Sailor”.

Senior Account Lead

December 2018

A former employee of mine referred me to VSO as a technical resource, but once on board, I quickly found my way to the leadership career path. I absolutely love it at VSO!! The positive and performance minded culture suits me perfectly. We're doing great things here at VSO for our clients and our people every day!

I have been in IT since 1993 when I joined the Navy at the age of 20, serving 2 enlistments, one aboard the USNS Mars (T-AFS-1) and the other at The Office Of Naval Intelligence.

Me and my beautiful wife have 3 children, son 24 (also a Navy veteran), daughter 20 (in college) and daughter 15 (she's our baby and can never move out!).
My hobbies include Brazilian JiuJitsu (I am a black belt), MMA (I used to fight, but now coach, referee and judge local fights) and cars...specifically Ford Mustangs (I enjoying owning rare limited run models these days), I also do Yoga, lift weights, golf, mountain bike and travel as much as possible.