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Tag Archives: transition

Matt Stevens on NewsNation

On September 16, 2022, THF CEO Matt Stevens was a featured guest on NewsNation’s “On Balance with Leland Vittert” to speak about The Honor Foundation and the nation’s current events.

Special forces soldiers struggle to find jobs in civilian life | On Balance

Matt Stevens on Got Your Six Podcast

THF CEO Matt Stevens joins Got Your Six host, Tony Nash, for an informative discussion regarding transition.

Listeners will learn about how private organizations are helping veterans with their career transition journey and hear about some of the principles and actionable methods they teach in their programs, including how to overcome your fears as an introvert to grow your network, which you can implement on your own so you can create more opportunities for you.

As a result, you’ll be able to acknowledge that accepting the connective tissue of where you came from to where you’re going is all part of knowing who you are. You will also gain new insights and better confidence in how to face one of the biggest challenges you’ll face after your military service: finding the right career path and pursuing a fulfilled and satisfying life.

Listen to the podcast, HERE.

THF Featured on SOFcast Podcast

“Transition is a layered approach and it certainly depends on all the factors like your job, your deployments — things like that. Whatever you do, you have to make sure you have an offramp and not a cliff. You don’t want to come to the cliff and fall off. You want to walk down the ramp and have a smooth landing…” — Matt Stevens

Listen to THF CEO Matt Stevens, SEAL (ret.), and VP of Operations, Michael Halterman, Marine Raider (ret.), share their challenges of transitioning from the world of Special Operations to the civilian sector on the official USSOCOM podcast, SOFcast.

Click to listen to the full interview HERE.

Michael Halterman Featured on Combat Leadership Podcast

LISTEN NOW:

The Honor Foundation’s VP of Operations, Michael G Halterman, was recently featured on the Combat Leadership Podcast with Mike Ettore to share his experiences and insights after spending 20+ years in the U.S. Marine Corps.

“In the times that we have right now, are the times when we need to maximize the opportunities to get repetition.”

Listen to the full interview by visiting the link HERE!

 

The Honor Foundation Testifies During House Veterans’ Affairs Hearing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2021                                                                                                          

The Honor Foundation Shares Military Pandemic Transition Outlook During House Veterans’ Affairs Hearing

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Honor Foundation (THF) CEO Matt Stevens appeared before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee today, providing testimony during a congressional hearing on military transition amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the existing challenges and stressors presented to transitioning service members and increased the difficulty of executing a [transition assistance] program,” said Stevens during his opening statement to the committee. “A service member’s last act of service to our country while in uniform should be to have an exceptionally positive transition. [They] should set the example for all of those in the next generation, as this will reinforce the idea to all who follow that the military as an institution ‘has their backs.’ This concept is ideal for recruiting, great for retention, and even better for the morale of those remaining in uniform.”

Stevens, a former Navy SEAL, fielded questions from members of the panel on the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on Special Operations Forces seeking to transition out of the military. Most specifically, he highlighted two critical factors most veterans face during transition: “Figuring out what they want to do next, how to talk about themselves, and develop their value proposition and personal narrative.”

The hearing, convened by the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, featured testimony from several other nonprofits and organizations, administration officials from the Department of Defense and Department of Labor, and others, in addition to Stevens.

The virtual hearing, along with Stevens’ full written testimony, can be found here.

About The Honor Foundation

The Honor Foundation (THF) is a career transition program for the U.S. Special Operations Forces community that effectively translates their elite military service to the private sector and helps create the next generation of corporate and community leaders. It achieves this through a three-month program which provides tailored executive education, one-on-one coaching, and access to a nationwide professional network. This program was built by the desire to serve others with honor for life, so that their next mission is always clear and continues to impact the world. Every step is dedicated to preparing these outstanding men and women to continue to realize their maximum potential during and after their service career. The Honor Foundation has 1000+ graduates to-date and has campuses in San Diego, CA; Virginia Beach, VA; Camp Lejeune, NC; a virtual campus (THFv); and its fifth campus launching Fort Bragg, NC in the fall of 2021. The Navy SEAL Foundation is a Founding Partner of The Honor Foundation.

For more information about this press release, please contact Kathy Leming at kathy@honor.org.

THF Partners with Big Sky Bravery

The Honor Foundation (THF) is excited to partner with Big Sky Bravery (BSB) — a civilian-based organization dedicated to providing members of the Special Operations Forces with post-deployment decompression programs in Montana’s restorative surroundings. Their programs are tailored to meet the unique needs of these elite military members by building trust, brotherhood, and friendships at this critical time in their lives as a means to improve their psychological and emotional well-being.

As both THF and BSB focus on The Special Operations Community, this partnership will highlight the strength of world-class nonprofits providing unique services throughout the Operators’ entire career.

Matt Stevens, THF CEO, on the partnership:

“We’re excited to work with Josh and the team at Big Sky Bravery to provide the SOF participants in their program with the transition assistance they need.  We’ll be prepared to serve every single one of them when the time is right for them and set them up for success as they transition out of uniform and into their next great adventure in life.”

Big Sky Bravery was founded on the belief that a debt of gratitude is owed to the members of our military’s active duty Special Operations Forces. Josh McCain, Founder and President of the nonprofit, expressed his excitement for the collaboration between the organizations.

“We are thrilled to partner with and incorporate The Honor Foundation into our programs.  We can always give more to the SOF community, and after being a witness over the past six years to the great struggles they face with transitioning, I have no doubt this partnership will move mountains for them.”

To learn more about Big Sky Bravery, please visit their website at bigskybravery.org.

THF + Q4 Raider Patch: “Transition: The Next Ridgeline”

The Honor Foundation is part of a quarterly series in the Raider Patch titled, Transition:  The Next Ridgeline, sharing takeaways and advice from the THF Alumni in the Raider community.

Our second feature in the Q4 2020 issue focused on “The Networking Power of LinkedIn ” with John Logan. Flip to page 17 to read his full article.

Thank you to the Marine Raider Association, one of our valued Community Partners, for this great opportunity to contribute to your publication each quarter.

 

Patch 4thQ20 print

Dave Pouleris Featured on Signal Fire Radio

LISTEN NOW!

Episode 2: Ribbons and Medals with Dave Pouleris, is out on Signal Fire Radio now! Listen to THF’s Director of Programs at the Camp Lejeune Campus share his thoughts on leadership, emotional intelligence and the value that skills learned in the military can bring to the workforce.

 

About Signal Fire Media Company:

Signal Fire Radio is a show about ambitious leadership for ambitious leaders. Each day we battle the villain of self doubt with encouraging conversations designed to feed the mind, strengthen the body, enrich the soul and nurture relationships.

Rob Rens, Marine Corps Veteran and Entrepreneur, and his Combat Veteran friends Matt and Evan share their transition stories and chat with experts to explore and maneuver the change from military life to a career in the private sector. Listen to all episodes HERE.

One is None | 6.4.21

Save the date! JUNE 4, 2021 in San Diego, CA.

Join The Honor Foundation for an exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend an intimate day with former U.S. Navy SEALs, EOD Technicians, Marine Raiders and other Special Operations Leaders.

Stay tuned for more details on this event!

The Next Course | 3.17.21

For more details on the event or to purchase your ticket today, visit this link.

Join us this St Patrick’s Day for an elite networking event and food & beverage pairing to connect the Special Operations community and Tampa Bay business executives,  to build economic vitality with the next class of business leaders.

To learn about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Kelly McGraw at kelly@honor.org.

 

THF The Next Course_Event_AD

 

Spotlight on Millennium Health

We’re excited to introduce another valued Employer Partner of The Honor Foundation.

These are companies and organizations who have hired men and women from our program and/or who have generously given us their time, resources and connections in an effort to help build a stronger network for our Fellows after service — a community post community. 

Read below to hear from Millennium Health CEO, Andrew Lukowiak, on career transition, company culture and more.

Q1 What advice do you have for those who are experiencing transition?

Without question, the military training received by Honor Foundation Fellows is an asset to any private company.  Thriving in uncertain environments, dealing with ambiguity, placing “Team” ahead of “Self”, and understanding what it means to be mission oriented has already prepared each of you to be incredibly successful in the private sector. The best advice I can provide is that learning how to effectively communicate these accomplishments in ways that the private sector can understand and value is essential. Finding corporate sponsors, workshops, or other venues to help you translate your military capabilities into meaningful corporate vocabulary can be all the difference in landing that first job in the private sector.

Q2 What is your favorite interview question? 

“Tell me about a time that you failed and what did you learn from it?”  All too often hiring managers are focused on a candidate’s successes in an interview.  How an individual responds to failure, to criticism, to feedback and uses these opportunities to improve themselves will tell you a lot about their ability to grow through adversity, a key factor to success in any corporate environment.   

Q3 What makes the culture at your company special? 

We operate on a principle of decentralized leadership, that is, we empower our team members from all levels within our organization to make change, initiate improvements and own our success. This environment of collaboration makes the entire company stronger and more effective. 

Q4 What drives you every day?

Making a difference in the lives of our customers and their patients. Over the past two years, we have researched and developed trend reports utilizing real-time urine drug testing data to identify and alert clinicians about emerging developments in the drug use landscape, resulting in multiple, peer-reviewed, open-access publications and scientific reports. These publications have been widely accessed by the healthcare community and provide resources that professionals can use to help better identify and treat patients coping with the devastating disease of addiction. As a result of this work, in January of 2020, we announced that we had joined forces with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to donate this data to help combat our country’s ongoing drug overdose epidemic.  Every day we get to come to work and ask “Ok, now what else can we do better to help save lives?” 

Q5 What book do you find most valuable?

Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Lief Babin describes how leadership―at every level―is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. With topics including Decentralized Command, Cover and Move, and Leading Up the Chain, the former SEALs (and authors) use their experiences in Iraq as examples of how individuals can improve leadership in any environment. According to Babin, “There are no bad teams – only bad leaders.”  There’s considerable truth to that statement.

Q6 What is a lesson you learned the hard way?

A lesson I learned the hard way is often quoted, “you deserve what you tolerate”. It is up to us as leaders to recognize when changes need to be made for the good of the organization, even when those decisions are difficult to make. 

Q7 What defines a leader?

A leader is defined by their ability to create a vision for a given purpose and identify the individuals whose specialized talents, when aligned as a team, can successfully execute on the vision to achieve the desired outcome.

Q8 What is your favorite quote?

Hard to pick just one but the quote that I reflect on the most often is hanging in my office from the Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena; “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

 

 

THF Alumni Ted Handler Featured on SOFSpot Podcast

“The experiences that veterans bring to the table — I have yet to find a leadership challenge that I wasn’t able to draw a parallel to in the military. […] To the transitioning people out there, you will have the experiences to draw off of to make yourself successful.”

Tune in to Episode #49 “Comfortable in the Chaos” of SOFSpot, the podcast of the Global SOF Foundation and listen to the transition stories of THF Alumni Ted Handler along with Blake Moore and Dennis Moore.

Thank you to Chelsea Hamashin and Global SOF Foundation for the opportunity and to Ted for sharing your insight and experience.

Listen to the full episode HERE.

Wounded Warrior Project Partners with THF in 2021

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) expanded partnerships to include 12 new and existing veteran and military service organizations to help meet the needs of our nation’s wounded, ill, and injured veterans and their families. WWP provided the following mission delivery partners more than $2.3 million in grants to expand the impact of WWP’s existing efforts and to fill gaps in programs and services.

These grants will support a wide range of services for wounded, ill, and injured veterans and service members, including connecting veterans with volunteer opportunities in their communities, programs for military children, services for special operations forces, resources and funding to combat food insecurity and increase veteran farming opportunities, and much more.

The organizations include:

“The military and veteran community organizations that we work with help us fill critical gaps in care, ensuring that America’s injured veterans and their families have access to the resources they need to thrive,” said WWP CEO Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Mike Linnington. “We’re proud to support these amazing organizations and the diverse spectrum of services and programs they provide. Through these grants we are strengthening the communities where these warriors, and their families, work and live.”

Since 2012, WWP has granted more than $271 million to 192 veteran and military service organizations. Learn more about WWP’s community partnerships.

 

About Wounded Warrior Project
Since 2003, Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) has been meeting the growing needs of warriors, their families, and caregivers — helping them achieve their highest ambition. Learn more.

SOURCE Wounded Warrior Project

For further information: Mattison Brooks — Communications Specialist mbrooks@woundedwarriorproject.org, 202.969.1120

THF + GovX November Patch of the Month

The Honor Foundation is so excited to partner with GovX for the November Patch of the Month! Check out the link to purchase yours today and help transitioning members of the SOF community in their next mission in life. 

Thank you for your support in this partnership, GovX!

THF Mentioned in Military Times

“It’s very tribal and team-oriented,” said Matt Stevens, a former SEAL and CEO of The Honor Foundation. “A lot of times people are really tied into what they did. It becomes everything about them. And stepping away from that to kind of figure out where you’re going to fit in, what your purpose on the planet is because all of the sudden you have choices, is daunting.”

Read the full article in Military Times by visiting this link.

If you are a member of the Special Operations Forces community, please take part in the SOF for Life Survey from our valued partner, Global SOF Foundation. 

 

THF + Q3 Raider Patch: “Transition: The Next Ridgeline”

The Honor Foundation is excited to be part of a quarterly series in the Raider Patch titled, Transition:  The Next Ridgeline, sharing takeaways and advice from the THF Alumni in the Raider community. The first feature in the Q3 issue focused on “Networking Virtually” with Jason Hadaway. Flip to page 22 to read his full article.

Another THF Alumni, Garret Harrell, is also profiled in this issue. Turn to page 29 to learn more about his transition experience, resources that he found useful, advice to future transitioning Raiders, and what he does today.

Thank you to the Marine Raider Association, one of our valued Community Partners, for this great opportunity to contribute to your publication each quarter.

Patch 3rdQ20 148

Janie Livesay Awarded Bronze Winner for 2020 Stevie Awards

Earlier this month, THF’s Director of Programs at our Virginia Beach campus, Janie Livesay, was named the winner of a BRONZE Stevie Award in the “Mentor or Coach of the Year — Government of Nonprofit” category in the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business. 

The Stevie Awards for Women in Business honor women executives, entrepreneurs, employees, and the companies they run – worldwide.  The Stevie Awards have been hailed as the world’s premier business awards. More than 1,500 entries were submitted this year for consideration in more than 100 categories, with each Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winner determined by the average scores of more than 180 business professionals around the world, working on seven juries.  

THF Veteran’s Day Tribute Workout

Roughly 2,500 Special Operators transition out of service annually. Often underutilized in the private sector of business and entrepreneurship, our programs allow the industry to effectively recruit and deploy this talent pool. The Honor Foundation, a career transition institute for U.S. Special Operations Forces, exists to serve these men and women through their transition, and assist in finding a purpose-filled and mission-driven career post their unique military service.

Please join The Honor Foundation and Crossfit for a fun workout to pay tribute to all U.S. Veteran’s. This event can be done virtually or at your local Crossfit gym.

Workout details will be posted the day of the event.

Join the workout and support THF by visiting this link!

         

 

THF Featured in Ranch & Coast

The Honor Foundation was recently featured in the October 2020 issue of Ranch & Coast magazine in San Diego. The article includes THF Founder Joe Musselman, VP of Programs Joe Lara, VP of People Tori Campbell and THF Alumni John Goodson.

Read the full article and publication here.

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