More than three million veterans have joined the civilian workforce since September 2001, and another million are expected to join by 2020. And, most veterans continue to face challenges finding employment after transition from the service. This session will discuss the five steps your organization can take to engage and integrate veterans in your workplace. Insights and experience serving military-connected members will be presented by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University and Comcast NBCUniversal will directly discuss their work as an award-winning employer for veterans, guard and reserve, and military spouses, and how their efforts can be translated into your workplace. The five steps to be discussed include:
This session is presented by the SHRM Foundation and sponsored by Comcast NBCUniversal.
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Carol Eggert
senior vice president, Military and Veteran Affairs
Comcast NBCUniversal
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Brigadier General (Ret.) Carol Eggert is SVP, Military and Veteran Affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal. She provides strategic leadership to all aspects of Comcast NBCUniversal’s programs and outreach to the military and veteran community. Carol completed her distinguished military career in 2014 as the Assistant Adjutant General for the Pennsylvania National Guard and the Deputy Commandant for the Army War College. She served in a variety of command and staff positions and completed numerous overseas deployments, including a 15-month combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as Chief of the Women’s Initiatives Division and Senior Liaison to the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, and received numerous military awards and commendations, including the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.
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James McDonough
managing director
Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF)
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Colonel (U.S. Army, Ret.) Jim McDonough is managing director for the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF). Before joining the IVMF, he served as senior fellow for veterans affairs at the New York State Health Foundation and previously as president and CEO of Veterans Outreach Center Inc., located in Rochester, N.Y. The center is the nation’s oldest community-based non-profit for veterans and military families. McDonough is also a former director of the New York State Division of Veterans’ Affairs.
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Wendi Safstrom
President
SHRM Foundation
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Wendi Safstrom is a senior non-profit leader committed to serving the public through philanthropic program management, cultivating strategic partnerships and managing and developing high performing teams. She has both association and nonprofit management experience including; national program development and administration, membership strategy, marketing and product development, grant management, development and donor stewardship, and leading cross functional teams. Safstrom currently serves as President for the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation (SHRM Foundation), where she leads the development and implementation of SHRM Foundation's programmatic, development, and marketing and communication strategies in support of SHRM Foundation's new mission and vision, creating growth plans and ensuring alignment with SHRM goals.
Prior to assuming the role at SHRM Foundation, Safstrom served as Vice President at the National Restaurant Association and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, where she led the development and implementation of their Foundation's most recent five-year strategic plan, and was responsible for all Foundation programming, including workforce development initiatives, scholarship and event management, community relations and engagement initiatives. The NRAEF's philanthropic programming supported a number of audiences including high school youth, veterans transitioning from service to civilian work and life, opportunity youth and incumbent workers. Of particular note, she led the implementation of the restaurant industry's premier high school career and technical education program, growing the program to over 2,000 public high schools, engaging over 150,000 students annually, nationwide. In 2016, she served as lead project director for the development of a $10 million contract awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor to develop the hospitality industry's first apprenticeship program, and was instrumental in the Foundation's reorganization and relocation of operations from Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C., transforming the staff and culture.
Safstrom has also held human resource management roles with the Leo Burnett Company and Hyatt Hotels Corporation in Chicago, Illinois. She has a BS in Business Administration from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University and was recognized as a member of the 2014 "Power 20" by Restaurant Business Magazine as a leader in philanthropy within the restaurant industry.