● Lead all four of the company’s major initiatives, driving rapid growth for (1) The VETS Indexes Employer Awards, (2) The Employing U.S. Vets Conference, (3) The Veteran Employment Benchmarking Service, and (4) The VETSX and VTRNIX financial indexes of publicly traded companies. Direct a diverse staff and foster an inclusive environment, emphasizing the core values of continuous improvement, developing new skills, and data-driven decision-making.● Tripled the number of organizations participating in the VETS Indexes Employer Awards survey and recognition program – from 118 employers in 2022 to 239 in 2023 and then 344 in 2024 – through email marketing campaigns with open rates surpassing 50%, website design emphasizing plain language and SEO, partnerships with national media outlets, targeted social media posting, and webinars. The quality of participating organizations charted the same upward trajectory as the quantity, with 2024 participants including Adobe, AT&T, CVS, Fox Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, NVIDIA, Lowe's, PepsiCo, Prudential, SONY, United Airlines, Verizon, and more.● Increased by a factor of ten the number of registrants for the Employing U.S. Vets Conference, a gathering of veteran employment thought-leaders to share best practices in the space. The event grew from about 240 registrants in fall 2020 to more than 2,500 registrants, representing 1,500 different organizations, in fall 2023. Essential to this audience growth was booking top conference speakers, by building coalitions spanning the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Speakers at the event, for which I function as the host, include leaders from the world’s largest multinational companies and the top nonprofit organizations, while our most recent keynote speakers represented the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and U.S. Department of Labor. Established partnerships with SHRM and HRCI to offer recertification credits to conference attendees.

● Proposed, developed, and launched the VETS Indexes Employer Awards, a survey and recognition program that evaluates employers’ veteran-related policies and outcomes by collecting and comparing thousands of data points in a 30-page survey. More than 100 organizations participated in the inaugural Employer Awards, including marquee brands such as Amazon, Comcast, and Humana.● Built the Veteran Employment Benchmarking Service, which analyzes thousands of data points collected in the Employer Awards survey, contextualizes the information with industry- and size-based comparisons, and presents customized benchmarking reports detailing how employers’ veteran employment efforts stack up. Through careful use of plain language and detailed graphics, the service distills the countless calculations behind the Employer Awards into easy-to-understand action items that employers use to improve their programs.

● Led Military Times’ Best for Vets series of rankings and oversaw all of the publication’s coverage of veteran employment, the GI Bill, and transition out of the military, directing and editing reporters covering those issues, as well as handling all related social media, newsletters and SEO. Developed and maintained editorial features calendar, encompassing both print production and web content. As part of this, I oversaw the creation of a new Military Times professional/career development website for troops leaving the military, designing the site's look, structure, features, and user experience. The site, which launched in March 2018, grew to become the largest shoulder brand across Military Times and its parent company, Sightline Media Group. Traffic more than doubled, with pageviews growing by 138% and unique users growing by 161%.● Functioned as Military Times’ data editor, overseeing most of the publication’s polls, surveys and large data projects, while regularly helping reporters with complex datasets they came across in their beats. ● Developed or led many key initiatives, collaborating across all Military Times departments and with partner organizations. I proposed and developed the Military Times/Institute for Veterans and Military Families Poll, a unique, recurring scientific poll of service members and veterans done in partnership with Syracuse University. I also played an integral role in planning and leading high-profile events, such as Military Times’ Service Members of the Year awards.

Handled most of the newsroom’s data and survey projects, working in datasets with hundreds of thousands or millions of data points. Oversaw all of the publication’s Best for Vets features, which surveyed and ranked hundreds of employers, universities, franchise brands, and places to live on their veteran support programs and policies. For other data work, I utilized Freedom of Information Act requests, publicly available data and custom surveys and polls that I created. Covered veteran education, employment and transition issues, spanning Congress, federal agencies, the private sector and advocacy groups. Spoke to academic conferences and institutions as a subject-matter expert on military and veteran education. Also did substantial work in front of the camera.

Covered Congress and the federal government for three newspapers: The Press-Register, based in Mobile, Ala.; The Mississippi Press, based in Pascagoula, Miss.; and The Huntsville Times, based in Huntsville, Ala. Topics of focus include federal handling of the Gulf oil spill, wind and flood insurance, military contractors, NASA, the tea party and the federal budget.

Appeared frequently on the statewide, weekly political roundup shows "For the Record" and "Capitol Journal: Week in Review." Discussed local, state and national issues.

Covered state government and both chambers of the Alabama Legislature, and broke news related to gambling scandals, coastal insurance and public-sector unions. Sent to the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coast on extended special assignment to cover the oil spill. The Press-Register has a circulation of 86,000 daily and 102,000 on Sunday.

Reported on local colleges and universities, as well as the University of Alabama and Auburn University. Led coverage statewide of crimes and scandals at a nearby community college.

Covered congressional and statewide campaigns across the country for a special section published the day after the general election. Continued the work on a part-time basis after gaining full-time employment with The Press-Register.

Reported on the Maryland House of Delegates, the state budget and a crisis in the state’s horse racing industry. Capital News Service is a daily wire run by the University of Maryland.