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WHAT CAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT LEARN 

FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR’S SUCCESSFUL 

APPROACH TO HIRING VETERANS? 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2014 

Serial No. 113–50 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

( 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov 


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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS 

JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman 

DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado 

GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida, Vice-Chairman 

DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee 

BILL FLORES, Texas 

JEFF DENHAM, California 

JON RUNYAN, New Jersey 

DAN BENISHEK, Michigan 

TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas 

MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado 

BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio 

PAUL COOK, California 

JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana 

DAVID JOLLY, Florida 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine, Ranking 

Minority Member 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

MARK TAKANO, California 

JULIA BROWNLEY, California 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

ANN KIRKPATRICK, Arizona 

RAUL RUIZ, California 

GLORIA NEGRETE MCLEOD, California 

ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire 

BETO O’ROURKE, Texas 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

JON TOWERS, Staff Director 

NANCY DOLAN, Democratic Staff Director 

Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records 

of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs are also published in electronic form. The printed 

hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to 

prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting 

between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occurrences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process 

is further refined. 


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C O N T E N T S 

Page 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 

What can the Federal Government Learn From the Private Sector’s Successful Approach to Hiring Veterans? ....................................................................... 1 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Hon. David P. Roe, Acting Chairman .................................................................... 1 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 33 

Hon. Mike Michaud, Ranking Minority Member .................................................. 2 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 35 

Hon. Bill Flores 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 35 

WITNESSES 

BG Gary M. Profit (USA, Ret), Senior Director, Military Programs Walmart ....................................................................................................................... 3 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 37 

Mr. Sean Kelly, Senior Staffing Director, Cloud and Enterprise Group &

Military Recruiting Microsoft Corporation ........................................................ 5 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 38 

Ms. Maureen E. Casey, Managing Director, Military and Veterans Affairs, 

JPMorgan Chase & Co. ........................................................................................ 7 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 46 

Mr. Jim Amos, Chairman Tasti D-Lite and Planet Smoothie, On Behalf 

of the International Franchise Association ........................................................ 8 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 50 

Mr. Ross Cohen, Senior Director, Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation ................................................................................................. 10 

Prepared Statement ......................................................................................... 53 


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WHAT CAN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 

LEARN FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR’S 

SUCCESSFUL APPROACH TO HIRING 

VETERANS? 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, 

Washington, D.C. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:57 a.m., in Room 

334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. David Roe presiding. 

Present: Representatives Roe, Flores, Denham, Benishek, 

Wenstrup, Walorski, Michaud, Brown, Takano, Brownley, Titus, 

Kirkpatrick, Negrete McLeod, Kuster, O’Rourke, and Walz. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF ACTING CHAIRMAN DAVID P. ROE 

Mr. ROE. Good morning. The committee will come to order. 

Chairman Miller regrets he is unable to be here today but I will 

be standing in for him during his absence, and welcome. 

As we begin the committee’s work for the second session of the 

113th Congress I believe it is appropriate to examine one of the top 

priorities of this committee since 2011, improving employment opportunities for veterans. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor 

Statistics the unemployment rate for all veterans in December of 

2013 was 5.5 percent. This is in sharp contrast to December of 

2010 when the unemployment rate for all veterans was 8.3 percent. 

This equates to a difference of over 369,000 jobs and more veterans 

finding work. 

While I believe that programs like the G.I. Bill and VRAP have 

helped to position veterans to obtain the skills needed to get a job 

in today’s tough economy, the most significant factor in the drop 

in the unemployment rate has been that American corporations, 

and most importantly small businesses, have truly stepped up to 

the plate and have made it a priority to recruit, hire, and retain 

veterans. These companies and trade associations have made hiring veterans a priority not out of charity but because it is simply 

a good business decision. They have learned that the soft and hard 

skills as well as the incredible work ethic that veterans bring to 

the table are unmatched and make them excellent employees. 

Today’s panel of witnesses represent companies and associations 

that are among the best of the best when it comes to hiring and 

promoting the hiring of veterans. These companies have not only 

launched initiatives to train and hire veterans but they have 


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worked within their own industries and across the private sector 

to bring innovative approaches to increasing employment in the 

veteran population. I hope that listening to their testimony and 

having the opportunity to ask some questions will give members a 

better understanding of the commitment these companies have to 

veterans and countless others who share this commitment in each 

of our districts. 

I am also very interested to hear the panel’s opinions on federally funded training and hiring programs for veterans that Congress funds every year. As many of you know improving the performance of these programs has been and will continue to be a 

focus of this committee, and I am looking forward to learning what 

programs if any the private sector finds to be the most successful, 

in short what works and what does not work. 

While great strides have been made in reducing veterans’ unemployment rate I think that we all agree that much more is needed 

to create the best environment for job creation and growth as our 

men and women continue to transition from active duty service 

into civilian life. I remain concerned that over taxation, crushing 

business regulations which increase costs and reduce competitiveness, as well as well documented concerns and uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act threaten 

the hard work of our panelists and many others in making it a priority to hire our veterans. I look forward to hearing from each of 

our panelists today of how Congress can promote pro-growth policies that will help create new jobs for veterans and all Americans 

alike. 

At this time I yield to the distinguished Ranking Member Mr. 

Michaud. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN DAVID ROE APPEARS IN

THE APPENDIX] 

OPENING STATEMENT OF MIKE MICHAUD, RANKING 

MINORITY MEMBER 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for having 

this very important and timely hearing this morning. Providing 

veterans with an opportunity for employment is a top priority of 

this committee. In the tough economy we want to make sure we 

are doing everything that we can to help our veterans succeed in 

making that transition from active duty to serving the communities 

and making employment gains in their respective areas. 

This is especially important as we look to future servicemembers 

leaving the military in greater numbers. Any employer should be 

proud to have the employee with the resiliency, leadership, and collaboration, and ability to do the fundamental part of their job. Far 

too often these experiences are not readily translated and to match 

the needs of the private sector. It takes imagination and a bit of 

work. But in the end the effort is worth it. Businesses can get access to highly skilled and motivated individuals and veterans can 

build careers that can benefit their families and their communities. 

This morning I look forward to hearing about the successes and 

challenges our witnesses have faced and their recommendations 

when it comes to hiring veterans. I look forward to hearing how 


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public and private entities can better work together to provide a 

better transition to the servicemembers entering the workforce. I 

look forward to hearing from our witnesses regarding best practices 

and how they can be used to inform the private and public sectors 

in helping veterans find jobs. But most of all I look forward to 

hearing from our friends in the private sector about how our country’s veterans are continuing to serve this nation by contributing 

their skills and talent as they move forward in helping these companies be prosperous companies. 

Maintaining our nation’s economic leadership in the decades 

ahead will require highly skilled and educated employees who will 

lead the technology change. Veterans have proven their leadership 

and can-do quality in service to our country. They represent an untapped resource to provide the next generation of employees. 

Our job on this committee and in this Congress is to find ways 

to explore new and innovative ways to assist veterans and the businesses that hire them. This includes identifying what works and 

what does not work; what can be modified and what must be 

looked at differently. So I look forward to hearing all of the witnesses today. And Mr. Chairman, once again thank you very much 

for having this very important hearing today. And I yield back the 

balance of my time. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL MICHAUD APPEARS

IN THE APPENDIX] 

Mr. ROE. I thank you, Mr. Michaud. At this time I would like to 

introduce our first and only panel today, and I want to thank each 

and every one of you for being here with us this morning. 

First we have Retired Brigadier General Gary Profit, Senior Director of Military Programs at Wal-mart . And thank you for your 

service. Mr. Sean Kelley, Naval Academy Graduate, Senior Staffing 

Director for the Cloud and Enterprise Group as well as Military 

Recruiting at Microsoft Corporation. And Ms. Maureen Casey, the 

Managing Director for Military and Veterans Affairs at JP Morgan 

Chase. We next have Mr. Jim Amos, Captain Amos, I think two 

tours in Vietnam, the Chairman of the Tasti D–Lite and Planet 

Smoothie. A little cool for that today, Captain, but I would take one 

if you offered it. He is here on behalf of the International Franchise 

Association. Lastly we have Mr. Ross Cohen, the Senior Director of 

Hiring Our Heroes at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. 

Each and every one of you, thank you for being here. 

Your complete written statements will be made part of the hearing record and each of you will be recognized for five minutes. And 

we will not cut you off right as the red light goes off, but try to 

begin wrapping up your testimony at that time. Let us begin with 

General Profit, sir. You are now recognized for five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF GENERAL GARY M. PROFIT 

General PROFIT. Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Michaud, 

and members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, on behalf of Wal-mart Stores, Inc. I want to thank you for the opportunity to join you today to talk about veteran hiring. 

Wal-mart has a rich history with veterans, those continuing to 

serve, and military families. Arguably it begins with Captain, U.S. 


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Army, Sam Walton, who founded Wal-mart over 50 years ago. 

Through the years the legacy has been enriched by countless others 

and the 100,000 veteran associations and 150,000 veteran and military family associates who are part of the current generation at 

Wal-mart . At Wal-mart we are thankful for their service and sacrifice and we strive to support their heroism. Right now we know 

that one of their biggest needs is employment and gaining the tools 

necessary to prepare for a career outside of the military. 

Besides being the right thing to do, veteran hiring is also good 

for business, as you said Mr. Chairman. We believe veterans and 

military families represent the largest diverse talent rich pool in 

the world and are an essential of the next generation at Wal-mart 

. Their value begins with a rock solid foundation, a proxy for which 

might be the seven Army values I lived for over 31 years: loyalty, 

duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. It is complimented by the nation’s huge investment in skills 

training and leader growth and development. Frankly, who would 

not want to hire them? 

But there must be a sense of urgency associated with all of that. 

2.6 million post-9/11 veterans have left the service and in the next 

five years one million more will leave. About half of them are between the ages of 18 and 34 and unemployment for these younger 

veterans has often been more troubling than for their non-veteran 

counterparts. 

So at Wal-mart we decided to do our part and launched the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment last Memorial Day. Veterans 

who meet the job requirements and have been honorably separated 

from active duty within the last 12 months have a job at Wal-mart 

if they want one. Wal-mart has a host of opportunities at our stores 

and clubs across the country as well as select opportunities in our 

distribution centers and main offices. If you served and sacrificed 

for your country you should not have to fight for a job when you 

get home. We believe that in the course of the next five years we 

will hire more than 100,000 veterans. 

Since full implementation on Memorial Day we have hired nearly 

30,000 veteran associates. These jobs range from part-time hourly, 

to salaried management, from Wal-mart stores and Sam’s Clubs, to 

distribution centers and transportation offices, and to the corporate 

headquarters. 

One aspect of this commitment of which we are most proud is the 

Veteran Champion Program. This program is a six-week 

onboarding process to support the transition and integration of the 

new veteran associates into their new work environments. It is 

guided by an associated drawn preferably from a similar experiential portfolio. 

In addition to employment we also strive to understand and address some of the specific and special unmet and undermet needs 

faced by veterans and families. Through the Wal-mart Foundation 

we are committed to a $20 million campaign through 2015 and are 

focused on access to education, job training, and reintegration resources. Additionally as part of our holiday giving we announced on 

Veterans Day a $1.5 million grant to Operation Homefront Home 

for the Holidays Program and a $500,000 grant to the Fisher 

House Foundation Sponsor a Family Program. The grants provided 


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toys, meals, and lodging to military families in greatest need of 

support and helped hundreds of active duty servicemembers come 

home for the holidays. 

We salute America’s heroes. We are honored to have the opportunity to employ them, to learn from them, and to support them 

and their families in every way we can. Through career training 

and job opportunities we are helping prepare our troops for successful professional lives both during and after their service to the 

military. 

Thank you and I appreciate your leadership and for holding this 

hearing. I appreciate the opportunity to testify and am prepared to 

answer any questions. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF GARY M. PROFIT APPEARS IN THE

APPENDIX] 

Mr. ROE. Thank you, General Profit. Mr. Kelley, you are recognized for five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF SEAN KELLEY 

Mr. KELLEY. Thank you, Chairman Roe, Ranking Member 

Michaud, and members of the committee. It is an honor to testify 

today to discuss how companies like Microsoft partner to maximize 

civilian career opportunities for our returning veterans. 

My name is Sean Kelley and I am the Senior Staffing Director 

for the Cloud and Enterprising Engineering Group at Microsoft and 

the leader of our company wide military recruiting efforts. As a 

military veteran and third generation Navy family member I share 

this committee’s passion and commitment to support employment 

opportunities for military veterans. 

Microsoft has had a longstanding commitment to supporting veterans. Our military community has grown into a vibrant organization which now boasts seven chapters nationwide. This organization advises Microsoft leadership on broad ranging topics, from 

benefits for our Guard and Reserve employees, to special events. 

This spirit of community has fueled the success of our military recruiting initiative, which we have branded We Still Serve. 

In the community we have been early participants in public private partnerships seeking solutions to the challenges of veteran unemployment. Through our Elevate America Initiative, Microsoft 

partnered with six non-profit organizations to provide skills training, job placement, and support services to veterans and their 

spouses. Microsoft’s commitment to this effort totaled $12 million 

in cash, software, and other services. 

Also, Microsoft partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor to 

distribute 10,000 free technology skills training and certification 

packages to veterans around the country. These industry recognized certifications provide portable job credentials. 

But what I am most excited about today is Microsoft’s Software 

and Systems Academy. Any career transition is difficult but as veterans approach the end of their military careers it is not always 

clear to them how their skills will apply to jobs in the private sector. Thanks to the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 sponsored by 

Chairman Miller and Senator Murray, servicemembers may begin 

the transition process before their separation from the military, 


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much sooner. The Microsoft Software and Systems Academy is designed to meet such demand. 

The goal of the academy is to create a seamless and successful 

military to employment transition at no cost to the servicemember. 

It provides industry certification testing and college credit for those 

in service while they are still in the early phase of transition from 

their military to their civilian careers. For the curriculum Microsoft 

partnered with a local university to create a rigorous 16-week technical training course that military members are enrolled in while 

still on active duty. Soft skills, interview practice, and resume 

preparation are taught, and each student receives a mentor from 

a corporate sponsor and exercises to practice their new skills. 

MSSA operates on base in conjunction with DoD education and 

transition program partners. With command authorization 

servicemembers attend the course at their place of duty during 

their transition phase. 

I am happy to report that servicemembers who completed the 

MSSA pilot program were offered high paying career opportunities, 

many six figures, at either Microsoft or Launch Consulting, a veteran-owned business partner. Alternatively some graduates use 

their new skills to find technology jobs on their own or to pursue 

a four-year degree in computer science. 

As the program reaches additional bases around the country we 

will guarantee job interviews to those who successfully complete it, 

a critical step between acquiring any certification and acquiring 

meaningful employment. We are confident that graduates of the 

program will be well prepared to compete for jobs in the vibrant 

growing sector of the economy. 

Each time I look into the eyes of a transitioning servicemember 

I am that much more motivated to find new ways to open doors to 

technology for my fellow veterans. Here are a few recommendations 

to enhance the private sector’s ability to employ more of our veterans, which I explain in detail in my written testimony. 

First, enhance the G.I. Bill language and funding for STEM and 

computer science related degrees. Provide access to contact information of veterans attending college on the new G.I. Bill through 

a confidential opt in solution to encourage stronger employment opportunities and alignment to STEM degrees. Broaden the impact of 

programs like MSSA around the country by encouraging top down 

support from all service branches for on base programs. Encourage 

uniformity in tuition assistance across military branches to reduce 

the complexity and road blocks for servicemembers. 

In closing let me emphasize that military veterans are a national 

treasure. Microsoft is fully committed, as am I, to continue to innovate, invest, and participate in the circle of solutions that bring our 

military veterans to family waged careers of the future. Now is the 

time to act to accelerate progress by aligning our resources behind 

proven concepts that lead to high paying jobs in the new economy. 

Thank you for your commitment to veterans. I look forward to 

answering your questions, and I thank you for allowing me to 

share my story and Microsoft’s commitment to our nation’s veterans. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF SEAN KELLEY APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX] 


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Mr. ROE. Thank you, Mr. Kelley. Ms. Casey, you are recognized 

for five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF MAUREEN CASEY 

Ms. CASEY. Thank you. Chairman Roe, Ranking Member 

Michaud, and distinguished committee members, thank you for the 

opportunity to testify about JP Morgan Chase’s military and veteran employment initiatives. There is no group our firm holds in 

higher regard than servicemembers and veterans. We cannot thank 

them enough for their service. 

This hearing comes at a critical time. Given the rising tide of 

transitioning servicemembers, JP Morgan Chase has dedicated significant resources to build a comprehensive program focused on 

veteran employment, education, and housing. Since 2011 JP Morgan Chase is extremely proud to have hired more than 6,300 veterans, and still counting. The private sector has learned a great 

deal about the benefits of hiring veterans and we are delighted to 

share four lessons we have learned about how we do it. 

First, public and private sector collaboration is crucial. Second, 

it is critical to bridge the knowledge gap between civilian and military cultures. Third, we must help newly hired veteran employees 

develop a connection to our firm from the very start. And lastly, 

education and training are critical to employment success. I will 

summarize these points from my written testimony. 

First, collaboration is critical. JP Morgan Chase launched the 

100,000 Jobs Mission in March, 2011 with ten other companies. 

Our goal to hire 100,000 veterans by 2020 has already been surpassed. In less than three years the coalition has hired nearly 

117,500 veterans. Given the momentum we have doubled our goal 

to 200,000 hires by 2020. Today the coalition is 131 companies 

strong, representing virtually every industry. Our goal is to significantly grow the coalition and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Employers can join by visiting our 

veteranjobsmission.com, where leading practices can also be found. 

Second, bridging the knowledge gap. JP Morgan Chase’s veteran 

employment program focuses on the entire continuum, recruiting, 

mentoring, and retention. To bridge the knowledge gap we established a military recruiting team, many of whom are former military and current Guard and Reserve members. This team helps to 

translate applicants’ experience and offer interview advice. Public 

sector programs are also very important to our recruitment strategy. We work with national and state programs through the Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs, the service 

branches, and the National Guard and Reserve. While not an exhaustive list we have hired candidates through each of these partnerships. Notably JP Morgan Chase recently hosted a constructive 

private sector coalition meeting with Defense Secretary Hagel to 

discuss ways to better align transitioning servicemember initiatives. 

Thirdly, developing an organizational connection from the start. 

Mentorship programs are vital to successful transition. JP Morgan 

Chase programs include our employee networking group ‘‘Voices for 

Employees that Served’’ where veterans help veterans understand 


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corporate culture; Pathfinder, inspired by military specialists who 

navigate unknown terrain to help veterans establish career goals; 

Body Armor to Business Suits, to help new hires build an immediate connection to our company. Importantly our employee programs include military spouses who also shoulder the 

servicemember’s sacrifice. And we know the knowledge gap is a 

two-way street, so we developed Military 101 to teach our civilian 

colleagues, including senior leadership, about military culture. 

Finally, supporting veteran education is another key element to 

our strategy. JP Morgan Chase co-founded Syracuse University’s 

Institute for Veterans and Military Families. The program offers 

tuition free training and certification in technology, human resources, and other studies. 

As we know, veterans can face unique challenges in educational 

settings. With this in mind I am extremely proud to announce 

today that JP Morgan is committing $1 million to expand veteran 

programs at educational institutions. Initially, grants are being 

awarded to Florida State College at Jacksonville, the University of 

Texas at Arlington, University of South Florida, and San Diego 

State University. 

Ultimately our collective success will be measured by how well 

the private and public sectors can work together to help 

transitioning servicemembers and veterans. JP Morgan Chase 

looks forward to continuing our work with Congress to position veterans and their families for long term success. 

Thank you very much for your attention to this important and 

timely issue. I look forward to your questions. 

Mr. ROE. Thank you, Ms. Casey. And Captain Amos, welcome 

home. And you are recognized for five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF JIM AMOS 

Mr. AMOS. Thank you very much, Chairman Roe, Ranking Member Michaud, members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me 

to testify today on successful private sector programs for hiring veterans. My name is Jim Amos. I am Chairman of Tasti D–Lite and 

Planet Smoothie. I am a veteran of the franchise industry with 

past experience as CEO of Mailboxes, Etc., now the UPS Store, and 

other franchise companies. I am also a military veteran, a former 

Marine Corps Captain with combat tours in Vietnam, and past 

Chairman of the International Franchise Association. And it is on 

their behalf that I am sharing these comments with you this morning. 

With nearly one million veterans transitioning out of the military 

service over the next five years, it is more important than ever that 

we help veterans reintegrate into the civilian economy. It is both 

an economic necessity and a moral obligation for our country, in 

my view. Franchising is a large and diverse business community 

that operates using the franchise business model or business format franchising. And franchising entrepreneurs open their own 

businesses and they purchase the rights to use trademarks, products, and business strategies of a proven franchise business. Franchise owners are typically highly motivated individuals who are 

natural problem solvers and successful franchise owners normally 


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exhibit excellence in the execution of business plans. Above all else 

veterans possess the leadership skills and the ability to execute 

plans that are necessary to run a successful business and incidentally to persevere through difficult economic times, as we have recently experienced. 

For nearly 40 years I have been privileged to both create and 

support programs for hiring veterans. And what I have learned is 

that these young men and women are clear examples of American 

exceptionalism. They are true American heroes who bring back security clearances and training and character and passion and dedication and a get it done mentality that frankly any company should 

appreciate and want to have as a human asset. I have learned in 

my own career that spreadsheets and net present values can tell 

you the history of a company when you are doing due diligence on 

the business itself. But it is the people that is going to tell you its 

future. 

Recognizing that franchising is a great fit for entrepreneurial 

veterans the International Franchise Association launched the Veterans Franchising Initiative, or VetFran, in 1991. VetFran is an industry wide initiative to encourage franchise companies to both 

hire veterans as team members and recruit them as franchise owners. As part of VetFran 618 franchisors offer special incentives to 

qualified veterans who purchase franchises. And these incentives 

can range from thousands of dollars in inventory to special financing for equipment, discounts on initiative franchise fees, and many 

other broad benefits. As an example, when I first became Chairman and CEO of Mailboxes, Etc. I followed the guidance put in 

place by VetFran and as a result we focused on hiring programs 

and programs to create benefits and incentives for veterans. And 

as a results hundreds of veterans became part of the MBE/UPS 

community. 

So before I go into the general results I would like to offer a couple of things just to level set the problem. There are roughly 23 

million veterans today in our country, 3.7 million are under the age 

of 39, and 1.5 million roughly are on active duty, another 1.2 million in the Guard and Reserve. 

There are 2 million children in these households with 95 percent 

being under the age of 12. And I can tell you as all of the folks 

sitting here on this panel that repatriating these men and women, 

the challenges that are associated with it, and the needs within 

their family levels are just absolutely enormous. A survey of 

VetFran members reveals that the program itself has achieved 

some significant results. In 2011 IFA launched Operation Enduring 

Opportunity that campaigned to hire and recruit as franchise business owners 85,000 veterans, wounded warriors, and their spouses 

by 2014. In a report on Veterans Day in 2013 we saw that the franchise industry had nearly doubled its hiring target and since 2011 

we have hired over 151,000 veterans that have started careers in 

franchising including 5,192 veterans that have been recruited as 

franchise owners. 

To assist veterans in opening franchise small businesses, Congressman Bill Flores introduced the Veterans Entrepreneurs Act of 

2013, legislation that provides a tax credit to qualified veterans 

worth up to 25 percent of the initial franchise fee. When coupled 


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with the incentives offered by franchise systems as part of 

VetFran, this tax credit will go a long way towards helping veterans open new businesses. The franchise community has already 

demonstrated a record of success in implementing veterans hiring 

programs and this legislation will help veteran entrepreneurs realize their dreams of owning a small business. 

The franchise community has been successful in hiring and recruiting veterans but there is still a great deal of work to do to 

serve these veterans who have served us honorably. Far too many 

veterans are unemployed and others lack the support they need to 

successfully transition into the civilian economy. It is an imperative 

that the private sector continue to build on its recent success and 

work as best it can with policy makers here in Washington to improve hiring veterans. 

And then I just might add as an aside that for my brothers and 

sisters that came home from Vietnam, we came home to a nation 

that was really interested in leaving an unpopular War behind, 

and by proxy we left the veteran behind. And I do not think we 

should ever do that again. And that really is what the focus of 

these program in my view should be. I want to just thank you for 

the opportunity to testify today and I look forward to answering 

any questions you may have. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF JIM AMOS APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX] 

Mr. ROE. Thank you, Mr. Amos. I now recognize Mr. Cohen for 

five minutes. 

STATEMENT OF ROSS COHEN 

Mr. COHEN. Good morning, Chairman Roe, Ranking Member 

Michaud, and distinguished members of the committee. My name 

is Ross Cohen. I serve as the Senior Director of the U.S. Chamber 

of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring our Heroes Program, and am an 

Army veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom. Thank you for providing us this opportunity to share our experiences regarding successful approaches to hiring veterans and military spouses. 

Since 2011 Hiring Our Heroes, working with many of the partners who are testifying with me today, have connected more than 

21,600 veterans, transitioning servicemembers, and military 

spouses to meaningful jobs through more than 660 job fairs hosted 

in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Through 

employment workshops at these fairs we have provided expert job 

search and readiness training to 8,000 more men and women. 

In March, 2012 we launched the Hiring 500,000 Heroes Campaign with a goal of getting business of all sizes to commit to hiring half a million veterans and military spouses by the end of 2014. 

I am pleased to report that more than 1,400 businesses of all sizes 

have committed to hire 361,000 veterans and spouses and to date 

247,000 hires have been confirmed. 

We are also developing a suite of online services to assist in the 

transition to the civilian sector. From our resume engine and 

eMentor programs, to Fast Track, and our military spouse 

LinkedIn networks, these tools make it easier for veterans to identify and achieve career opportunities. 


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From the beginning we knew that our success hinged on two critical factors. First, the effort had to be driven at the community 

level. And through the Chamber’s vast federation of state and local 

chambers of commerce we were able to reach employers of all sizes 

throughout the nation. Second, we had to work closely to bring 

these communities together by working with a wide array of public, 

private, and non-profit entities, including partners across multiple 

federal agencies and local governments, and other non-profit veteran and military family service organizations. Indeed we have 

forged key partnerships with the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative, the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs, and Labor VETS, 

and several Department of Defense entities, including the Military 

Spouse Employment Program, the Army’s Installation Command, 

and many others. More recently we collaborated with the VA to 

create a National Guide to Hiring Veterans that points employers 

to the most valuable resources available to assist them in the process of hiring and retaining veterans and military spouses. 

The value of these partnerships becomes evident at our hiring 

fairs where the entire community comes together. State and local 

chambers work hard to bring jobs from local businesses. Military 

officials, including from the Guard and Reserve components, frequently open up their facilities to host these events. The VA plays 

a critical role by making sure that veterans are utilizing their benefits. DOL and the American Job Centers provide ongoing assistance. And the Employer Support at the Guard and Reserve, the 

American Legion, and so many others provide invaluable resources 

in every state. And together we are making a difference. 

When we began our work in March, 2011 the employment situation was bleak. Post-9/11 veterans faced an unemployment rate 

greater than 12 percent. For veterans under 25 it was closer to 30 

percent. One in four military spouses was unemployed. There is no 

doubt that for some the situation has started to improve. We have 

seen post-9/11 veteran unemployment fall below 10 percent, and 

unemployment for veterans under 25 is down 10 points to approximately 20 percent. According to a 2012 Department of Defense report, however, one in four military spouses remain unemployed. Indeed, we have a long way to go. The fact is 800,000 veterans were 

unemployed at the beginning of 2013 and we are about to see an 

unprecedented number of departures from the military, not including spouses. So the private sector needs to step up even more. Hiring Our Heroes is ready to answer this call. Not only will we host 

more than 200 hiring fairs across the country this year, we will 

focus our efforts by targeting communities with the greatest need 

and by continuing to develop our suite of online services so that 

veterans and employers anywhere in the world can utilize them. 

We will also strengthen our private public partnerships. 

One upcoming example is occurring next week where we will 

take part in a two-day veterans job summit at Fort Bliss, Texas. 

Hosted by the Army and in partnership with the VA and Department of Labor, the summit will feature seminars on the transition 

process, tools and best practices for employers looking to hire, and 

presentations from key private sector, military, and governmental 

agencies. The summit will culminate with a job fair for 

transitioning soldiers, veterans, and their spouses. 


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Over the last three years Hiring Our Heroes has been proud to 

serve as a community catalyst bringing together our partners and 

our common mission. We will continue working together to achieve 

change in veteran and military spouse unemployment. 

Chairman Roe, Ranking Member Michaud, and members of the 

committee, I thank you again for the opportunity to testify and look 

forward to answering your questions. 

[THE PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROSS COHEN APPEARS IN THE APPENDIX] 

Mr. ROE. Thank you, Mr. Cohen, and all the panelists for your 

testimony. I will now yield myself five minutes. And I want to start 

just by reading a paragraph of Mr. Amos’ testimony. ‘‘When my 

brothers and sisters returned from Vietnam we were met by a nation so anxious to leave an unpopular War behind that by proxy 

we left the veterans behind as well. We should ensure that this 

never happens again.’’ Amen to that statement. 

And I think it is not. I think this is a testimony to the fact that 

it is not. And I thank you all. Many times I will come to these 

hearings and leave in a depressed mood. This actually has elevated 

my mood and in Washington, that is doing something if you can 

elevate somebody’s mood. 

I thank you for what each of your companies and the coordination you are doing with other companies that are not here that are 

equally responsible for that. I guess a couple of things that I want 

to ask about, and it is going to start sort of from the back door because as I left to be deployed I left a wife and a 12-week-old child 

behind. And you know, if I had not had some family support, so 

the spouses are an integral part. And much of the problem I think 

we have with PTSD and other issues are family issues and money 

issues. And a spouse having a job, or a veteran having a job, those 

problems go away. Many of those issues just go away. So I think 

that what you all are doing speaks volumes. 

I think one of the things that I, through all the testimony I read, 

that are the spouses not wanting to work? Or they cannot find 

work? Or they do not have the skills? Could somebody, maybe Mr. 

Cohen, you mentioned it twice, that that is the one thing that had 

not moved, the needle had not moved on the spouses. And I think 

that is where when you are deployed a lot of family issues begin 

to erupt and so forth. So anybody can take that question. 

Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think that it is a core 

issue that the private sector has really taken up in the past year, 

two years, this issue of military spouse employment. I would not 

put myself as an expert on the issue but I think some of the core 

issues are frequent moves and having to, as you said, sort of take 

care of the family while your loved one is deployed makes it more 

challenging. But I do think this is being, it is noted and I think 

being addressed aggressively now. 

Mr. ROE. Okay. Could any of you all take this question? What 

programs have we as a Congress passed that you all find very effective? And which are the ones that are not effective and maybe 

should as we go through this next year’s appropriations process 

move the resources around to things that actually work? So I will 

just open it up to anybody that wants to jump on that. 


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General PROFIT. If I could follow, sir, on Ross’ comment. First of 

all, I would be remiss in not telling you, if I did not talk about military spouse and family issues I probably could not go home to my 

wife of 42 years who followed me around the world for many years 

and struggled to maintain a career despite the same kind of values 

foundation and skills clearly that I had. And one of the things that 

we have done at Wal-mart is to institute something that we try to 

take jobs for military families to careers and it is called the Military Family Promise. And basically it says that if your spouse is 

moved as a result of a military permanent change of station, we 

will find you a new job at that location. And I think what the attempt has been with the breadth of our corporate footprint to turn 

those military spouse jobs into actual careers. And one of the 

things that, a face on that is a young woman who has been with 

us for I think 18 or 20 years now and has served in different Walmart roles from Hawaii to New York. And so I think that that is 

testament to a commitment to those spouses and families that also 

serve our nation. 

Mr. ROE. Thank you. Anyone on the programs that we currently 

have out there? What you think is working and not working? 

Ms. CASEY. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would take that question. One 

of the programs that we at JP Morgan Chase are working with is 

Department of labor VETS and their American Job Centers. I think 

one of the things that as you have heard my colleagues speak to 

is really understanding what the challenges and needs are, whether we are talking about transitioning servicemembers, veterans, or 

spouses, and then trying to connect them to the opportunities that 

exist. So what we have done is through our work with the Department of Labor VETS looked at key opportunities that JP Morgan 

Chase may have, whether we are talking about in Texas or California or Florida, or Arizona, providing them with those key jobs. 

They will then utilize the resources that they have in those centers 

that are dedicated to veterans to scan the pool of talent that is 

there and then make referrals to us so that we can then connect 

them to opportunities in our company. 

Mr. ROE. Okay, I have just one brief thing and no answer because my time is expired. Is that one of the things is how do we 

make sure that the transitioning veterans that are going to separate know about this? Because I can tell you when Captain Amos 

and I left the military they said, ‘‘Son, be sure the gate does not 

hit you, you know, where on the way out the front door.’’ Nobody 

said where are you going, what are you doing, do you have a job, 

is there anybody home? Nothing. So we have got to be sure that 

we have a way to make sure that the separating servicemember 

knows where to get this incredible amount of resources that are sitting in front of our committee. My time is expired. I now yield to 

Ranking Member Michaud. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This question is for 

Mr. Kelley. And I want to thank all the panelists once again for 

your testimony today. How many locations does Microsoft anticipate establishing an MSSA program? 

Mr. KELLEY. Well Congressman, our current intention is that by 

the end of this calendar year we would be in five locations around 

the United States. We are currently looking at how do we take this 


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program to be a program that through the community college system and online could also be accelerated to, you know, far reaches 

of the U.S. that perhaps are not collocated with a base location. 

Because we are in the early phase right now what we were concentrating on in the pilot was to prove the concept that we could 

train members before they exit the service and employ them all, 

which we accomplished in the first cohort. And now we are looking 

at how fast can we replicate the model and take it nationwide. 

Mr. MICHAUD. Thank you. In your testimony today each of you 

described outstanding and highly successful programs that support 

veterans employment. Most of these programs you discussed are 

new programs. While veterans issues are at the forefront today in 

people’s minds here and in Congress’ mind, these programs, you 

know, will endure while they are at the center. But what happens 

when veterans fade away and are no longer on the front page of 

the papers? You know, the federal government, you know, has not, 

as you heard earlier, has not treated our veterans kindly, particularly the Vietnam Era veterans. And once it is no longer on the 

front page my big concern is what will happen beyond the current 

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? And what does the industry feel 

that we should do in Congress, or what should the industry do to 

make sure that Congress does not let our veterans fall behind and 

become a back page story instead of a front page story? And I 

would ask each of the panelists if they could briefly make a comment. 

General PROFIT. Well first of all I share your concern and the 

sense of urgency that we should all feel about achieving something 

that certainly we did not do when those returned from Vietnam. If 

I could offer one I believe that we would be well informed by a national strategy that better leverages the very real complementary 

value that the private and non-profit sectors bring to the public private partnership and the responsibility to support those who have 

served and sacrificed for all of us. And despite the real advances 

in robusting that partnership, I do not believe we have achieved an 

optimum level of integration and synchronization that would actually support our interest in renewal in the economy and the interests of those who have served and sacrificed so much for this nation. 

Mr. KELLEY. Congressman, there are two suggestions that I have 

and both of them come from my lens as a talent acquisition leader 

in the technology industry. And I would say first continue to focus 

on investment in education. So any G.I. Bill enhancements, support 

for STEM education that would encourage long term pipelining of 

talent into what really is all industries are becoming technology industries now, and I think that that has a long term payoff, that 

education investment. 

The second is upon transition I believe that the military veterans 

are the most codified human resource asset we have on the planet. 

And today we still allow that resource to walk out the door and we 

lose this amazing asset of information that could drive the economy. The specialties that people have learned, the education, their 

experiences. And if we could find a way to harness that and channel our veterans over the long term toward high paying jobs, ways 


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to contribute to the nation’s success and economic prosperity we 

think those would be two areas that would have big payoff. 

Ms. CASEY. Congressman, thank you. I think hearings such as 

this are a great opportunity to continue the dialogue and highlight 

this issue. I think the other thing that we need to remember is that 

servicemembers and their families do not come home to a federal 

agency, they come home to our communities. And JP Morgan 

Chase, we are in 25 states. We have 5,400 branches nationwide. 

And we know that these servicemembers and their families are 

coming home to our communities. So what can we do to continue 

to raise awareness? Mr. Chairman, you spoke about that awareness issue. How do we ensure that they are informed consumers 

and also that our communities are prepared to provide the support 

and services that they need when they return? So we are trying to 

do that throughout all of our markets to really take it down to the 

branch level and work within our communities to make folks aware 

that things like veteranjobsmission.com exist, where 131 companies 

have committed to hiring veterans. And that there are resources 

available to spouses. But I think that all of the work that you do 

in forums like this is very helpful to keep it on the front pages. 

Thank you. 

Mr. AMOS. Congressman, I would like to thank you for the question because I think it is the seminal question. And I think the 

needs are both organizational and they are about communication. 

Nearly 40 years ago when I walked out the back gate at Quantico, 

Virginia I felt like Captain America on one side of the gate and on 

the other side I did not know who I was or where I was going. I 

do not think we had the technology capacity to track a veteran, 

specifically to your question, at that point. But I will tell you this, 

I had a conversation with General Shinseki just a few months ago 

and we do not have that capacity today. We still cannot find these 

young men and women when they leave to help them meet some 

of the challenges that they have. 

So I would say this having spent the last 35 years in meetings 

and listening to veterans, their spouses and children in programs, 

there are hundreds, hundreds of organizations trying to meet the 

individual needs of returning veterans around this country, including what our government is doing. They are all disparate. They are 

all funded separately. Some are non-profit, some are profit. There 

are egos involved. There are organizational egos involved. So there 

are a lot of challenges to really, truly meeting the need of the veteran. Because this cause sounds great to everybody, and everybody 

wants to participate until, as Chairman Roe pointed out, the guns 

go silent. And then often the support goes silent. 

And so what I would suggest like Mr. Reagan did in 1982 with 

small business, hold a summit. Pull all these disparate pieces together and talk about coordinating this effort so that there is a 

clearinghouse that when a veteran walks out the gate he or she 

can press a button and find all the needs there in terms of someone 

to talk to. The needs we are talking about for these families? When 

we deployed, we deployed for 13 months at a stretch. During World 

War II it was for the duration. Now these young people are going 

back five and six tours at a time. You talk about jobs for the 

spouses and homes that they go to, I moved eight times in nine 


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years in the Marine Corps. Now they are doing that, I mean, it is 

just so difficult to hold these families together. They need jobs, 

number one. They need career counseling. They need marital counseling. They need a lot of help. And I think we need to try to coordinate the organization and the communication for these people 

in one place if at all possible so they can get that immediate need. 

Thank you. 

Mr. COHEN. Thank you. Congressman, I will conclude by saying 

I am cautiously optimistic. And the reason I am cautiously optimistic that when the guns go silent we will still have the energy 

to address this issue. Because the folks who are on this panel here 

representing some of the largest, most influential companies and 

associations in the country. And the experiences of the past 2 

years, I think to some of the points made, I think cannot be lost. 

So our challenge is, our opportunity is, for all of the reasons people 

have said, this is not a hard sell. People want to hire veterans. 

They know that veterans and military spouses make outstanding 

employees. And we have learned a lot of lessons over the past several years, over the past decades. The challenge we have now is 

making sure that those lessons get deeply, deeply embedded in 

local communities across the country over the next months and 

years to come. 

Mr. ROE. Okay, thank you Mr. Michaud. Mr. Denham, you are 

recognized. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me first start by 

thanking Wal-mart . Two years ago Mr. Walz and I, along with 

Senators Manchin and Kirk, started the Veterans Jobs Caucus and 

Wal-mart was one of the first companies to step up and really show 

a huge impact in hiring veterans. And while we have 250,000 servicemen and women returning home every year for the next 5years, 

100,000 is a huge, huge goal and we thank you for your commitment in doing that. 

Let me ask you, you know, as you are looking at hiring veterans, 

what is the generational breakdown that you are looking at? Are 

they mostly post-9/11 veterans? Or are you seeing older veterans 

that are looking to come to Wal-mart for the first time and start 

a new career? 

General PROFIT. Thank you very much for recognizing the important work that we think we do with the Caucus. As was said before, we are in this for a long haul. We have been in this since the 

company was founded. And I think it is important work. 

Our focus, because we think they are the most vulnerable, is on 

those from 18 to 34. With that said, we know that joining our 

ranks over the course of time and certainly since the inception of 

the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment on Memorial Day that 

we have had people from every generation join us. And so we are 

not dismissive of any of them. Wal-mart is a really big place and 

we essentially have an appetite for talent across our enterprise. 

And so we welcome all that think that they can play a role in the 

next generation. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you. And let me briefly discuss how I think, 

at least the vision that I would see as helping our veterans to find 

work. You know, when I left active duty I was amazed to find out 

that as a crew chief, as somebody who could work on some of the 


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most sophisticated aircraft in the world that it was going to take 

me 3 years of training to be able to work at any airfield across the 

nation on less sophisticated aircraft. Because we just did not credential our military. Somehow that was going to create a competitive disadvantage for our recruiting offices. 

We passed that bill and I am proud to see that that is implemented into law. We are credentialing them. We are allowing them 

to utilize the skills that they gained on active duty. But I would 

say the next part of that vision would be once you get them 

credentialed to actually give you guys the ability to go out and 

market to those specific career fields. Understanding which career 

field you are looking for and contact those men and women 6 

months before they transition. So I think part of our challenge is 

we are always trying to find out where somebody has been discharged, what state they have been discharged from, and where 

they go afterwards and do they come back to our home state? Rather than being able to market to them before they leave active duty, 

finding talent and really I think encouraging those men and 

women that they are going to have a job, they are going to have 

a home, they are going to be able to have a family as soon as they 

leave active duty. 

And so I think that is the next step. But I did have a question 

for Microsoft. What you are doing is a little different from what we 

have been trying to do internally. So rather than credentialing on 

the inside you are looking at private credentials and integrating 

backwards into that training process. Could you explain a little bit 

more on the differences between the two? 

Mr. KELLEY. Absolutely, Congressman, thank you. The program 

itself, this was actually a very targeted effort around software testing jobs that, you know, unfortunately we did not have 

servicemembers that were ready for that specific discipline area. 

And my focus as a recruiting leader was to find, to bring all of the 

intangibles that come with military service, add a thin slice of, you 

know, essentially a crash course. And the beauty of this program 

is in 16 weeks whether you have a degree or not, regardless of the 

discipline that you had in the military, if your aspiration is to be 

working in the technology industry this opens that door. And one 

of our significant challenges, many servicemembers look at the 

banner called Microsoft, or pick any other technology company, and 

they do not see themselves as part of this industry. And we 

thought this would be a huge paradigm breaker in that regard. 

And, you know, with our leadership, to be able to see that we took 

a mechanic, to take somebody who is an aircraft commander, or 

somebody who was maybe an IT operations person in the military, 

and really just concentrate the learning and turn that into a job 

has been a breakthrough both just for people’s belief that there are 

military members who can be participants in the STEM discipline 

areas at Microsoft or any other technology company. But we also 

have, you know, people get their Microsoft developer certifications 

while on active duty, and we have participated in the White House 

IT certification efforts. So that is still another pipeline. We just felt 

like there was an opportunity, particularly pre-departure, to put 

this polishing on people’s technology coding skills, which is a hard 

science area that we need for a lot of the jobs that we have. 


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Mr. DENHAM. And if I could conclude with just a brief follow up, 

is it a shotgun approach of anybody who is interested in Microsoft? 

Or are you looking at ASVAB tests and specific career fields to say 

that is somebody that we know would succeed here? 

Mr. KELLEY. Well what we, we definitely mapped out the bases 

around the nation, looked at more technical areas specifically and, 

you know, identified over 30,000 military members that we believe 

are, you know, easily able to go into this program and transition 

into the technology industry. So we did have targeting. But we also 

looked at frontline units that had very elite selection criteria, Airborne, other units, too, because we knew that there was rapid 

learning capability there for us to be able to target the accelerated 

learning path that we were, you know, putting in front of the participants. But we look at ASVAB scores, math testing, and then a 

selection process to get into the program. 

Mr. DENHAM. So an Air Force crew chief might have actually had 

a shot? 

Mr. KELLEY. Absolutely. 

Mr. DENHAM. Thank you, I yield back. 

Mr. ROE. Ms. Brown, you are recognized. 

Ms. BROWN. Thank you. First of all, let me just thank each and 

every one of you for your service and your commitment to our veterans. For decades the Federal Government has been the key gateway for veterans and good jobs and security but that is not the case 

anymore. I am pleased that Ms. Casey and JP Morgan Chase has 

announced that my hometown college, the Florida State College at 

Jacksonville will be one of the recipients of the grant to fund higher education programs for the U.S. military. And I need to do a disclaimer. Before I came to Congress I worked for the College for 16 

years. And I know the community of Jacksonville’s and of course 

the College’s commitment to veterans. So I want to thank you and 

I want you to expound a little bit about that program in a minute. 

Because one of the problems that, let us say spouses are experiencing, because they have to move, maybe they are a teacher or a 

nurse, and they are certified in Florida. But if they have to go to 

another state, they have to go through the process again. So we 

need to work to make sure the certification will transfer. And of 

course I want to ask Wal-mart , and thank you all of you for your 

employment, but Wal-mart a lot of business, and you have a lot of 

private small business, what kind of program do you have to help 

those veterans do business with you? Because you buy everything. 

And so I am interested in that. 

But I cannot let this opportunity go by not to commend one of 

the companies in my district, CSX. They have twice been honored 

by the Employers Support from the Guard and Reserve for their 

hiring commitment to veterans. And in fact the railroad industry 

has a great record of hiring veterans. Twenty-five percent of the industry is veterans. And the Obama administration, along with the 

Joint Forces Initiative, and the VA, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, have started a program, Veterans Transportation Careers. And you know they have a lot of the logistical skills. And we 

are going to work to translate that to the workforce. So can you answer those questions? First of all, more about that program initiative, the education initiative? 


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Ms. CASEY. Thank you very much, Congresswoman. Yes, we are 

quite excited about this program as well. In developing these education grants we really looked at what the needs of transitioning 

servicemembers and veterans are. So it really goes back to bridging 

the gap. How do we make sure that they are prepared to be students again? Number two, how do we ensure that they have the 

support services they need to succeed? And number three, how do 

we educate the administration and the faculty about the needs of 

returning student veterans? And so the particular program at Jacksonville is really focused on professional development for the faculty and administration so that they can understand the military 

culture, understand what some of the needs might be. And then 

also building out their support services for veterans to position 

them for success. So whether that is additional tutoring services, 

other kinds of counseling and support services, anything that will 

position these veterans for long term success. 

Ms. BROWN. Thank you. Wal-mart , businesses? 

General PROFIT. Thank you, Congresswoman, for the question. 

First of all one of the elements of the Veterans Welcome Home 

Commitment was the notion that Wal-mart can do a lot but Walmart cannot do as much as if we all work together. And we recognize the importance of our supplier network and those with whom 

we do business and I think have importantly begun work in our 

supplier diversity function to take a look at veteran-owned businesses particularly and how we can include them as an important 

segment in that particular supplier base. So I think there is very 

important work being done both to track them and encourage them 

to become our suppliers. 

Ms. BROWN. Thank you. I think that is about all the time I have. 

Once again, I want to thank all of you all for your service. But as 

I mentioned before, I want to just share with you all, I went to a 

restaurant. Let us just say it was a waffle house. And someone 

knew that I was in there and they told the lady that was serving 

me. The lady was a veteran. She told me she was homeless. And 

it just broke my heart. And she had no place to stay. And veterans 

like her need more than just finding a place to stay. The system 

is broken. And still, this lady still has not gotten the kind of help 

that she needs, even though I referred her. She needs more than 

a house. She needs the counseling component. She needs the educational component. So it really does take the whole team. So I 

want to thank you again. 

Mr. ROE. Thank you for yielding. Mrs. Walorski, you are recognized. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I just wanted to 

also thank and commend every one of you for sitting here and for 

what you are doing to lead the nation in this comeback of jobs for 

veterans. I am from Indiana, and we have a proportionately higher 

number of veterans in Indiana with the fourth largest Guard in the 

country. And Hoosiers definitely take up the call when called. But 

one question I have is when we hear about best practices and we 

hear a lot about, I call them P3s, we have used them a lot in Indiana, public private partnerships, they have worked and I have traditionally been a huge supporter of them. In our district, in Northern Indiana, we are heavy manufacturing, one of the largest manuVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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facturing districts in the country. And 80 percent of those are small 

companies. So from your perspective, you folks are all representing 

large, huge companies. And I guess what can we take and translate 

down to smaller companies that would incentivize them to be involved? Because in my district many times when you say I am 

here, I am from the government, I am here to help, they are like, 

no thank you, shut the door, leave me alone, get off my back, and 

we will do fine. But when we talk about things like, the tax credit 

from Representative Flores and things like that, is this really 

something that can be federally driven? Things that will help 

incentivize smaller companies? Or how do you see it, since you are 

the experts here in the field? Anybody? 

Mr. AMOS. Well first of all I would like to point out that when 

you talk about franchising although there are significantly large 

companies, billions and billions of dollars, they are all built on the 

premise of independent franchise owners. So all of it is small businesses. And all of the hiring that has been accomplished here 

through these VetFran programs have been done at the small business level. There is some employment that takes place at the corporate level in these businesses, but clearly the logwood here comes 

from small business. So any programs that can provide the relief 

for a small business owner, I mean, the Affordable Care Act was 

mentioned without discussing obviously the employer and employee 

mandate, but essentially if you want to respond broadly any tax relief at that level, any relief of the burden on the regulatory level 

for small business, the ability to hire, the incentive to hire. If I am 

a small businessman, or woman, and it appears to me that I have 

a Hobson’s Choice, as an example—— 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Mm-hmm. 

Mr. AMOS [continuing]. Between paying a penalty or providing 

healthcare at that level, I am obviously going to matriculate to that 

place where I have more free capital to invest in my business that 

involves hiring as well as many other things, including opening 

new locations which create new employment and new tax dollars 

and new revenue. It is, to me, as a relatively simple individual in 

terms of how small business operates, that is not rocket science. It 

is just opening the way, which is why I talked about the summit 

on small business a while ago in conjunction with what we are 

talking about here. Because I think that is the way you offer relief 

and create incentives—— 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Mm-hmm. 

Mr. AMOS. [continuing]. For hiring to take place. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Anybody else? 

General PROFIT. And if I could just offer, when Bill Simon talked 

at the National Retail Federation a year ago about American renewal, and he followed that up just the other day by talking to the 

U.S. Council of Mayors. And a very important element of that was 

our focus on U.S. manufacturing. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Mm-hmm. 

General PROFIT. And we think that the time is right to put a special emphasis on U.S. manufacturing and we think we are investing in it and importantly have some very important goals that we 

want to meet. And so I think that to place a special focus and a 

special emphasis on that is very well timed. And we would cerVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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tainly be willing to join that public private partnership and frankly 

think we already have. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. That is great. 

Ms. CASEY. And I would just offer Congresswoman—— 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Yeah? 

Ms. CASEY [continuing]. That the other half of that equation goes 

back to a recurring theme that we have heard here today is around 

ensuring that veterans are informed consumers. We know that 

more than 50 percent of veterans are going to go to work in small 

business. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. Mm-hmm. 

Ms. CASEY. So how do we do a better job at creating, matching 

the supply to the demand? Creating that connection of those that 

are transitioning out with knowledge and information about where 

the job opportunities are? So I think there is definitely room for improvement in that regard. 

Mrs. WALORSKI. I appreciate it. And General, let me just say that 

one of your colleague institutions, Sam’s Club, does a phenomenal 

job in my district, in a place called Goshen, Indiana, they do veteran days. And I was grateful to participate in one a couple of 

years ago where it was, you know, refreshments and discounts and 

all kinds of things to attract in veteran families, highlighting 

things that families would need and be in need of, that were, you 

know, specifically reduced for folks that had a veteran card type 

thing. And celebrating that they were a veteran, with red, white, 

and blue decorations in the store, and cake, and all kinds of things 

for their kids. It was awesome. And it is just one of the ways, I 

think, to your point, Mr. Amos, and continually educating and advocating for veterans coming home that they have done the job we 

have asked them to do. So to all of you, I just, I so much appreciate 

your comments and how we can translate them back into our districts. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. ROE. I thank the gentle lady for yielding. Mr. Takano, you 

are recognized for five minutes. 

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will start off with Mr. 

Kelley. Mr. Kelley, as a former community college trustee for 23 

years and also as a teacher in the high schools, you know, this is 

where I come from. Do you think our servicemembers are receiving 

enough counseling and information about their futures and transitions out of the service? And are they receiving this counseling and 

information early enough? 

Mr. KELLEY. Congressman, thanks for the opportunity to comment. Definitely not. I think this is one of those long standing 

issues that has gotten a lot better with the VOW Act. But I think 

we have this opportunity to make it part of the leadership responsibility of the military to understand that everyone is going to transition. And, you know, we have had such pressure on those unit 

leaders to be mission ready and we need to transition that thinking 

to say that it is part of our opportunity to counsel our young members of the military, or those that are nearing retirement, that the 

planning needs to start 18 months out in order to align for their 

transition. 

Mr. TAKANO. Thank you. So we need to begin not with a crash 

course at the end, but at the beginning and throughout. Can you 


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talk about the partnership you have started with community colleges and how you would like to expand this partnership? And 

what makes community colleges logical partners? 

Mr. KELLEY. In our experience, we have worked with community 

colleges in our Elevate America Program, with Project Succeed at 

Bellevue Community College right near Microsoft. We are looking 

at partners in the community college system because we, particularly with our 16-week academy program, there is more flexibility 

with the leaders in the community college system at this time to 

look at a unique program and responsiveness at the pace we are 

trying to roll this out. And the locales near our bases, many of 

them are already on our military installations, which is an accelerator as well. 

Mr. TAKANO. Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you for that. Mr. 

Amos, I want you to know that I am, as the ranking member on 

the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity I am also the lead cosponsor of Mr. Flores’ bill to provide the tax incentive for franchising. I am a great admirer of franchising. I think it is a great, 

entrepreneurship with training wheels, it gives people some guidance. Along the lines I asked Mr. Kelley, the question that I asked 

Mr. Kelley, that I posed to Mr. Kelley, about preparation throughout the servicemember’s career, could we do more in terms of getting entrepreneurship in the minds of these servicemembers? For 

instance, is there a way for us to also, I know we can use our tax 

sheltered deductions, first of all get the servicemembers to be 

thinking about that sort of saving, but is there currently a way for 

a servicemember to parlay those savings, part of them, with their 

contributions into maybe a down payment on a franchise? 

Mr. AMOS. Well there are incentives that were created through 

programs like VetFran. I think that that path is almost unintelligible to the person who is living in the military today, however. 

And so the education that you are talking about that should begin 

ahead of time, in all likelihood does not. And I would like to point 

out that sometimes the military has the ability, no pun intended 

here, to shoot themselves in the foot in these issues as well. And 

I would say the reason why is because the mission orientation is 

so intense and so focused that if you are a regular officer, as I was, 

or someone that is in the military as a career, or an intent to have 

a career, all of the infrastructure within the military is designed 

to focus on people who, and get people to stay in and make it a 

career. And so there is very little discussion of people that are leaving. And they are not set up to have that discussion. And when the 

decision is made to leave internally if people were going to be perfectly honest about themselves it is almost as if their back has 

turned on someone who has decided they are not going to have the 

same goal. And I am just suggesting that internally inside the military itself there is almost an implicit lack of attention paid to people when they choose to leave. 

Mr. TAKANO. So there is not a discussion about a certain amount 

of deduction each month, and the compounded gain could someday 

be used on a down payment on a franchise? 

Mr. AMOS. No. 

Mr. TAKANO. So you do not have a choice, you know, there is 

choices other than transition into a salaried job, you could own a 


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business someday. We do not get them to think about this early on 

in their career? 

Mr. AMOS. Not today. Not in the present environment. 

Mr. TAKANO. Yeah. Okay, great. Thank you. 

Mr. ROE. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Wenstrup? 

Mr. WENSTRUP. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all for 

being here and trying to make such an impact on our veterans’ 

lives. I appreciate that. There has been a lot of discussion. I am 

a Reservist, spent a year in Iraq. And I still drill. I was at Fort 

Lewis last year doing preventative medicine. I think a lot of the 

things of what we are talking about here is preventative medicine 

if we capture them early. I mean, you talk about all the pitfalls and 

problems of leaving the military and the stresses that are upon 

you, especially if you do not have a job. And one of the things I 

was encouraged about when I was at Fort Lewis last year is the 

effort to try and give some guidance and counseling to 

servicemembers that are getting out of the military. And, you 

know, this is the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. And that really falls 

under Armed Services Committee where I think we need to make 

some changes. And I want your opinions on that because as great 

as it is to do all these things and we need to continue to do for veterans, you know, of all eras, that have been out there and are 

struggling, I think that we have greater successes if we capture 

them while they are still in uniform. Now Captain Amos you referred to the culture of the military as more towards stay in, stay 

in, stay in. So where do we, where do we start to engage heavily 

with those that said I am getting out when there is that sort of 

ideal of keeping them in the military? I mean, I would call it second career counseling, or what have you. And when I talk to veterans that are going to use their G.I. Bill I encourage them to 

study and make sure you get a skill that will get you a job when 

you are finished. I know, Mr. Kelley, Microsoft has been engaging 

with those that are still in uniform, if you care to comment on that. 

And Captain Amos, your opinion, too, on the dichotomy there, if 

you want to go ahead? 

Mr. KELLEY. Congressman, I will crystallize the example of the 

graduates out of our program at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with 

the support of Colonel Hodges there, the Base Commander. You 

know, of the graduating class a number of them who felt supported, guided by their leadership actually have not become citizen 

soldiers and have signed up with the National Guard in Washington. I think this underscores the long term thinking that if we 

had that support in the leadership, and I do think this is an expectation that leaders would accept. It is not their mission focus now, 

but if we establish a leadership ethos in the military that has the 

long view, that says my, and I feel like leaders feel that accountability to their soldiers, and to say your long view is to help them 

have a life plan. We look at their whole life. We look at how their 

family is doing, their savings, their education. And we do it with 

concentrated focus while they are on active duty. And we just have 

to extend that horizon and also show the benefit, which is someone 

who leaves happily will end up potentially being a drilling Reservist that is also a critical part of our system. 


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Mr. WENSTRUP. It seems to me this is a conversation we need to 

have within the Armed Services Committee as well. Captain Amos? 

Mr. AMOS. Well I agree with that entirely. And I think it is 

somewhat of a cultural issue. But I think the mission focus could 

be focused into a service or a department or an area that is focused 

on the life counseling. That works hand in glove with the private 

sector on the outside. Organizations and associations like the International Franchise Association that can talk to people so that there 

is a full range of discussions and counseling and outcomes that are 

there for that veteran by punching one button. It goes back to the 

summit we talked about a while ago, it seems to me. But yes, I, 

that is, that would be, I think that would go a long way to providing solutions in repatriation and transition. 

Mr. WENSTRUP. And just one other quick question. Do you see it 

possible to truly have a, and I hope you do, an effective clearinghouse? You know, that would engage large corporations, small 

businesses, where people can go and say, hey, I have this skill, is 

there a job out there for me? And then the other way around? Anyone can take that. 

General PROFIT. Yes Congressman, first of all thank you for your 

continuing service. I think there is some very encouraging work 

going on the Department of Defense and in the services that suggests that frankly these discussions ought to occur at enlistment or 

commissioning. Because all of us are going to transition, whether 

it is at a career stage after many years, or after one enlistment. 

And I think discussions about how the military fits in to your larger life plan, as many have described, are happening. I do not think 

they are happening fast enough, and I do not think they are happening with the urgency to recognize the fact that the force is going 

to look far different in the not too distant future than it looks 

today. And I think we have to help those folks with the next stages 

of their lives. And I think the department is seeing the enlightened 

self-interest in all of that for a lot of economic reasons. 

Mr. WENSTRUP. Thank you. And I am out of time, so I yield back. 

Mr. ROE. Thank the gentleman for yielding. Ms. Kuster, you are 

recognized. 

Ms. KUSTER. Thank you very much. And I very much appreciate 

your testimony here today. Thank you all for your service as well. 

What I wanted to focus on is this issue about translating the skills 

because that is what I keep running into over and over at home. 

And I was really encouraged last week in a meeting with some 

folks from Home Depot on their initiative on hiring veterans. They 

talked about they have developed a partnership with Monster.com 

that would translate the military skills that are transferable to the 

civilian workforce. So we know that that is difficult right now because of the different terminology. But they have created a military 

skills translator available, it is homedepotmilitary.com. And you 

may be familiar with this. The online program allows applicants to 

enter their service pay grade and military job title and the computer will translate that experience into civilian skills that will 

allow the applicant to add those skills to a refined search to view 

available jobs. 

It seems to me, and I am very much in favor with my colleagues 

on both sides of the aisle of this public private partnership. And I 


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particularly liked your comment, Ms. Casey, they do not come back 

to a government agency, they come back to our communities. But 

it seems to me that this is critical. Because a lot of the unemployment and this long term unemployment seems to be exacerbated by 

the way we do searches now with new employees. It is the computer that is looking at the resume and it is just looking for certain 

words. And no military person is going to put down teamwork, you 

know, they are going to put down their rank and the teamwork is 

going to be obvious. But if the computer is looking for teamwork 

we have got to help with that transition. I do not know if you have 

any comments, but is there anything that we can do just with this 

sort of almost technical problem that people have? And it is particular exacerbating for older workers. Because they are not going 

to use the words, the types of words that the computer is going to 

be looking for. 

Ms. CASEY. If I may, Congresswoman? I think there is a couple 

of things. Number one, I think that involving the private sector 

earlier in the transition assistance process, where they are able to 

talk about the kinds of jobs that they have available, the skill sets 

that they are looking for, and inform that process. Right now many 

of the instructors in our transition assistance programs, and I 

should say many changes have been made and many advancements 

have been made in terms of the revitalization and revamping of the 

transition assistance program. But I think that having some input 

from the private sector so that they can advise what they are looking for would be very helpful. I think the other thing that we have 

seen at JP Morgan Chase is that it does take more than a computer program to do this, which is why we have that dedicated 

team so that we can look at the skill sets of our jobs and also look 

at the profile of the military talent that will match and then provide that. But it is really heightening the awareness. We talk about 

that 99 percent, one percent divide. It is educating our folks who 

are looking at military talent. 

We did something as simple as looking at the way we do our job 

descriptions. The first bullet typically would say, you know, four 

years of banking experience preferred. Well, many military are 

going to look at that and pass right through that. So if we make 

that, put it at the bottom of the pile instead of the top all of a sudden we are starting to see increased candidate applications for 

some of these positions. So I think it is really looking at all that 

we are doing across the spectrum in the course of sourcing military 

talent and making adjustments across the way. 

Ms. KUSTER. That is great. Thank you. 

Mr. KELLEY. The experience we had in a similar process on your 

westillserve.com Web site in 2009 we went through the process. A 

volunteer team of veterans at Microsoft spent over 400 hours mapping the MOSs in the military to jobs at Microsoft. And I would 

say that the outcome of the Web site was a tactical outcome and 

the real strategic value was we created believers on both sides of 

that decoder. 

Ms. KUSTER. Exactly. 

Mr. KELLEY. We were able to go explain to military members 

that here is a vision that you can dream, and to our leaders and 

members of our recruiting organization we were able to point out 


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the translation for them. And of course the tool has helped to make 

it easier for someone to find a job on our site. But the human connection, the cultural shift that occurred through that education I 

think was the main value. 

Ms. KUSTER. Great. Well my time is up and I just want to thank 

you. And you can tell it is a bipartisan support. We are here to support you in any way that we can as well. Thank you. 

Mr. ROE. Thank the gentle lady for yielding. Ms. Brownley, you 

are recognized. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And I have a couple of 

questions so I will try to be succinct. The first goes back to the 

chair’s opening remarks about military spouse employment and 

trying to move the needle on that. I am wondering if we have any 

data on that so we sort of know what the unemployment rates are 

and the number of veterans who are unemployed. Do we have similar statistics for military spouses? 

Mr. COHEN. Congresswoman, there was a 2012 Department of 

Defense study that demonstrated that military spouse unemployment as of 2012 stood at 25 percent. And that is the most recent 

data that I am familiar with. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. So way higher than—— 

Mr. COHEN. Yes. And underemployment rates I believe somewhere in the 40 percents. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Very good. The next question I had was wondering if there are any statistics as we, and again thank you all 

for what you are doing, and as we move forward and move the needle on employing our veterans, are we also collecting data around 

what the average salaries are? Are veterans transitioning to the 

private sector and are better off than they were vis α vis their salaries than in the military? Do we have any data on that? No? It 

sounds like something that we should be collecting data on. 

As far as the, I am actually carrying a bill to extend the Work 

Opportunity Tax Credit. I think probably the whole panel, correct 

me if I am wrong, but I think you would all agree that it is beneficial. Can you comment on how critical it is to gaining employment 

for our veterans? 

General PROFIT. Congresswoman, thank you for the question. 

While I do not want to suggest that Wal-mart does not take the 

Work Opportunity Tax Credit when we realize it is available to us, 

we do not make hiring decisions based upon the availability of the 

tax credit. It is too important to get the right people. And so we 

do not base our decision making in that area on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit availability. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Any other comments? 

Mr. AMOS. Well I think that is accurate but that does not mean 

it is not helpful, and that it does not provide a benefit that is attendant to making the right hiring choice. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. I have heard some people say in businesses in 

my district as well that there are certain obstacles in obtaining it. 

Any suggestions for streamlining that? No? Well the last question 

that I have is based on survey results from veterans in franchising 

and a progress report. One of the key findings indicates that 80 

percent of franchises surveyed are not aware of any tax credits 


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available to employers that hire veterans. And I was just wondering, Mr. Amos, if you might be able to comment on that? 

Mr. AMOS. Well I think that it is, first of all it is the newness 

of the program. And there is some, there is a requirement, I mean, 

there is not even any statistical support for it that I am aware of 

yet. So I think that that requires some communication and education to the greater franchising world that IFA will do and is 

doing today. I think that will help challenge, actually. 

Ms. BROWNLEY. Thank you. I yield back. 

Mr. ROE. Thank you for yielding. Ms. Titus, you are recognized. 

Ms. TITUS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I ask a question I 

would just like for the record to point out that there are two companies in my district in Las Vegas that have excellent programs for 

hiring veterans. They are very innovative. MGM Resorts has Boots 

to Business that has been very successful, and Caesars Entertainment has Enlisting Heroes. So we are proud of the work that they 

are doing, which is similar to what you all are doing and I thank 

you for that. 

I would like to focus my question on something that you are 

doing, Mr. Kelley, and that you commented on in your written testimony. I have been working on trying to get more students involved in the STEM fields, and especially minority students. I 

think that is the key to good jobs and being competitive in the global economy. And I know that you all certainly do that. And you 

wrote that you would recommend that the government enhance the 

rules of the G.I. Bill to incentivize STEM education. I would very 

much like to work with you on the specifics of that and see if we 

cannot get that done legislatively. But would you take a minute to 

kind of summarize for us what some of the recommendations are 

that you would make to improve that? 

Mr. KELLEY. Congresswoman, one of the things that we did as 

we have evaluated what are the best odds to get into large technology companies? And all of us invest heavily, and Microsoft specifically, in hiring our college grads with computer science degrees. 

I also know, and my colleague Chuck Edward here in the audience 

runs our college recruiting organization, you know, we canvass 

hundreds of universities across the country. Our servicemembers 

actually choose sometimes to go to the least cost option, not the option that would most likely get them to the highest employment opportunity. So our top computer science programs, there is a large 

gap between what the G.I. Bill will pay for and even the yellow ribbon may not close it. And so we have talked about the yellow ribbon plus for STEM education to make sure that the servicemember 

is not making a purely short term economic decision. That they are 

really looking at the fact that these are upon graduation six figure 

salaried jobs in any of the technology companies. And the competitiveness as a young person, you know, they have five job offers at 

the time they graduate. And I want our veterans to participate in 

that very huge opportunity in the technology arena. 

Ms. TITUS. Well let us talk about some ways to kind of get that 

done. Anybody else have suggestions along those lines? Thank you, 

Mr. Chairman. I look forward to bringing some of that back to this 

committee. 

Mr. ROE. Thank you. Mr. O’Rourke, you are recognized. 


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Mr. O’ROURKE. Thank you. And I would also like to thank the 

panel for their service, through them to their companies for what 

they are doing to hire veterans, and for the testimony today. And 

I want to thank the leadership of the committee and the staff for 

giving us this opportunity to hear from you. 

I represent the community of El Paso, Texas. At Fort Bliss we 

have 29,000 active duty. Within the community we also have over 

80,000 veterans. And we also have nine percent unemployment. 

And so what you are saying today is very helpful for me as their 

representative to think through policy implications, efforts that we 

need to undertake even in our capacity in our districts to connect 

more of these veterans with their jobs. And I think the points 

about what we can do while they are still active duty are spot on. 

I mean, I think that is where we take it. And Dr. Wenstrup kind 

of compared it to preventative medicine. You know, taking the necessary steps ahead of time. 

And I also understand Mr. Cohen that in your opening testimony 

you referenced a Hiring Our Heroes event that you are going to 

have on February 4th at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. So I just 

want to thank you for the Chamber’s efforts in that regard and 

pose my first question to you. We had an event put on by the El 

Paso Workforce Board in the Fall of last year for, a hiring veterans 

event at the County Coliseum. We had somewhere close to 1,400 

veterans come to search for a job and as far as we can tell we had 

only four placements out of that. Now I know that you cannot 

speak to the specifics of that, but given the success of the Hiring 

Our Heroes Program what are some best practices or some best 

outcomes that we should be looking towards? And perhaps apart 

from your efforts when we at the local level take these initiatives 

on we can begin to follow those so we can get better results. 

Mr. COHEN. Well thank you, Congressman. And I would just like 

to point out that your staff has been very helpful in getting the 

word out for the Fort Bliss Veterans Job Summit next week so—— 

Mr. O’ROURKE. Great. 

Mr. COHEN [continuing]. It has been another great example of 

public private partnerships working together. 

One of the things we have learned, and obviously I cannot speak 

to the event that you are discussing, that we learned early on is 

the importance of devoting a lot of resources, which we are part of 

the Chamber of Commerce’s Foundation which makes us a 

501(c)(3) non-profit, it is challenging to devote a lot of resources to 

metrics and tracking. So we have instituted a very comprehensive 

180-day after any action process with phone calls, surveys, survey 

monkeys, you know, phone banking, etcetera. And I think it is 

challenging, I think that would be the first thing someone would 

have to do is, to really find out what those numbers are. It is, to 

me it sounds unlikely that only four people of those 1,400 received 

jobs but it is very difficult to know unless you really are able to 

dedicate the resources to a comprehensive tracking after the fact. 

Mr. O’ROURKE. And to the other members of the panel I know 

that your businesses, and I think the General made an excellent 

point, you know, are hiring based on the best fit for that position 

and are seeking out veterans because it is the right thing to do and 

you are not doing it in response to a tax break or a benefit to the 


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company, and I think that is really important for us all to understand. But Mr. Amos in response to a question posed earlier you 

were asked, you know, what more could we do on the government 

side to encourage more hiring? And you mentioned tax incentives 

and regulatory incentives. And I wonder if you and the other members of the panel could speak to some specifics? Perhaps a state 

that has successfully implemented something where your businesses operate and have found a very competitive environment that 

has made it easier to hire veterans? Or something that has yet to 

be proposed that could, again, everyone wants to do this for the 

right reason but could make it easier for people to do the right 

thing. So maybe, Mr. Amos, to start with you, you specifically said 

regulatory burdens. Are there specific burdens that would be lifted 

that would make this easier? 

Mr. AMOS. You know, I think the simple answer is any relief at 

the line level particular for small business on the tax or regulatory 

side is enormously beneficial. Every dollar that a small businessman or woman puts back in their pocket can be used to open new 

businesses, particularly as it relates to the franchising world and 

small business, and for hiring. The reality is my friend Fred Smith 

at FedEx as an example likes to say that big business is the engine 

on the train and small business is the caboose. And he and I from 

conversations from time to time, I have said to him, look, you 

know, all business is just not created equal. The reality is every net 

job in America since the mid-eighties has come from small business. That is where the seeds are planted. So in answer to your 

question, I could fairly easily at the macro level I think go through 

some strong suggestions. Restructuring Sarbanes-Oxley, a lot of 

things that would offer relief at the line level, including issues that 

relate to energy policies and a lot of other things that do offer relief—— 

Mr. O’ROURKE. That affect hiring in general. 

Mr. AMOS. Absolutely. 

Mr. O’ROURKE. And I know my time is up so very quickly for the 

other panelists, anything specific to hiring for veterans that we 

could incentivize through federal policy? 

Ms. CASEY. I think from our perspective and the theme has been 

talked about here earlier which is how do we do a better job of allowing the private sector to partner with our military bases and 

the federal agencies sooner in the process? There are some joint 

ethics regulations issues and things like that that make it somewhat challenging depending upon the perspective. So I think that 

anything that can be done to allow for that partnership to happen 

sooner would be very helpful. 

Mr. KELLEY. And I have one very specific recommendation. If we 

look at the application of a veteran database that has all of the information, we look at the great work that the non-profits that are 

hosting job fairs can do, the experience of someone walking in that 

door, it is daunting. So many companies. And the simple application of a dance card that says we have looked at your data, we 

know what companies are there, these are your six best people to 

talk to, would just reduce anxiety. The psychology of walking in 

that room, and I have been to hundreds of job fairs. And every time 

someone walks up and says, hey, I noticed Microsoft wanted to talk 


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to me, I do not know why. And I am like you have to believe that 

this is your future and let me walk you through why I called you. 

And so if we could build a system that just said this is your dance 

card. This is who you talk to first. They are waiting for you. And 

on the other side there is a small list of people. That I think we 

close the gap in sort of what I call the serendipity of recruiting, 

which always feels great, I love it too, but it is not the most efficient way for us to get the most people to work. And you know, 

businesses, especially the small ones, cannot afford the investment 

that a larger company can make. And so to go stand at a job fair 

and get one resume, it is just, but if you can say I am going to give 

you six. If you come talk to those six you are going to hire three, 

and you can go back to work, it is a win. 

Mr. O’ROURKE. Thank you. General, did you want to add anything to this? 

General PROFIT. No, I think they captured it. I could not agree 

more. The earlier we can have a conversation with these young 

people about their aspirations and their personal brand and where 

the gaps exist and how to fill them and that we care about them 

and we would like them to offer their value to us, I think, as I have 

told my colleagues in the DoD and in the services, back to an original point I made, I think this conversation needs to start at enlistment and commissioning. Because it is about the backside of the 

life cycle. And I think a lot of benefit would accrue to DoD and the 

services if we would take a more aggressive stance in that regard. 

Mr. O’ROURKE. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Mr. ROE. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. And I now recognize Ms. Brown for any closing comments she may have. 

Ms. BROWN. Thank you. Let me just say that for 22 years, I have 

held one of the largest job fairs in Jacksonville and Orlando. And 

some of the key things that I have learned, first of all, that to have 

more success you have to do a lot of preparation prior to the job 

fair. We have training, working with young people, working with 

veterans, first doing their resumes, and getting them ready for the 

interview. And another thing, a lot of the employers want you to 

go online. So we do some research on the companies and go online 

prior to the job fair. So it is a lot of work that you have to do prior 

to the workshop. But I make sure I do not invite anybody that does 

not have any jobs. And that is the key. Because a lot of companies 

want to come to be there, but if you do not have any jobs, we do 

not need you. So it is a lot of work, it is a lot of work that goes 

to the job fair before the job fair happens. And so I want to thank 

all of you all for what you all are doing. And if there is anything 

that we can do to make things better or to see us move forward, 

I certainly want to be involved in it. Thank you. 

Mr. ROE. I thank the gentle lady for yielding. And in completion 

I think Ms. Brown put a very human face on what we see out there 

in our districts, where we see a homeless mother as she described, 

or a homeless veteran. I think one of the saddest things I have 

heard since I have been in this Congress is any veteran is homeless. And there is a very successful program out there, the HUD 

VASH voucher program, which allows you to have a voucher to live 

but you have to find the housing. And the problem we found is we 

have enough vouchers, the problem is we do not have enough housVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00034 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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ing stock to fill. And she and I have talked about some things that 

we may be able to do to help increase the housing stock. 

This also comes with a coordinator, a care coordinator that goes 

along with that to help you find these programs out there. So the 

VA is doing a lot of things. I think Dr. Wenstrup may have brought 

it up. We need to back this up a little bit to DoD, and start this 

process as it is happening. But I think that is very important. 

Another comment I think is, I do not know whether you have 

looked at a military paycheck, but when I was in the military the 

capital, I live in Tennessee, was Nashville. I did not have any capital left at the end of my paycheck. There was not any money I 

could put back to do anything but take care of my family. So I 

think having access to capital, military paychecks are still pretty 

thin. And these Soldiers live, and Sailors, Airmen, and Marines live 

pretty close. And they do not have the money. So finding capital 

to get into the franchising business. 

And Captain Amos, I was sitting here listening to your comments, I think I have actually solved the problem of where the veterans are. We just call the NSA and ask them, they probably can 

tell us. So I do not think that should be a problem anymore. 

I think one of the other comments I think, and Mr. O’Rourke you 

brought it up, I think the Chamber does a fantastic job. I want to 

brag on you all about the job you are doing and the job fairs. And 

Ms. Brown obviously is experienced with these. But there are jobs 

out there and the problem, there are many jobs out there that are 

empty because we do not have trained people to be in those jobs. 

And I think that is what Microsoft and others bring to the table. 

And I think one of the best things I read in this testimony today, 

General, was where if you are a veteran, you have honorably 

served this country, we have a place for you in our business. I 

know many people that work at Wal-mart and they started maybe 

stocking shelves or whatever and they are now in a management 

position. So you, my hats off to each and every one of you. I cannot 

thank you enough for what you are doing. 

And I think what we need to do is spread this word around the 

country and get the message out and coordinate a little better. 

That is what I have heard. And that is the difficult part. Because 

so many people want to help. We just heard Ms. Titus talk about 

two separate programs in Las Vegas. And I would be remiss not 

to mention a company in my district, Eastman Chemical Corporation, who is headed by a Navy pilot. He claims landing at night in 

a jet on an aircraft carrier was hard, I do not know how hard, he 

seemed to be pretty good at it. And he also ran a tremendous company. And he has just since retired, Jim Rogers, one of the finest 

men I ever met in my life and had a real commitment to putting 

veterans because he knew the value they brought. 

And I think the other comment that was made was it is not tax 

credits. You can get all the tax credits and things you want. That 

is helpful, no question about that. But even better is a good, a very 

good employee. Having hired people myself for 30 years, that is the 

most valuable thing you have is a good employee, well-trained. And 

the saddest day of my life usually was when my nurse, who had 

worked with me for ten years, told me she was leaving to go someVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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where else. I got depressed with that. Because finding great people 

in your business, that is what makes you successful. 

And I thank you all. I want to finish by just thanking each and 

every one of you for being here. And in closing we want to be sure 

that you know that we have five legislative days in which to revise 

and extend remarks, the members do, and include any extraneous 

material in the record on today’s hearing topic. Hearing no objection, so ordered. Thanks to everyone for being here and this meeting is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 11:43 a.m., the committee was adjourned.] 


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f 

APPENDIX 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DAVID ROE, ACTING CHAIRMAN

Opening Statement of the Hon. David P. Roe, Acting Chairman 

‘‘What can the Federal Government Learn From the Private Sector’s Successful Approach to Hiring Veterans?’’ 

Good Morning, the Committee will come to order. 

As we begin the Committee’s work for the second session of the 

113th Congress, I believe it is appropriate to examine one of my 

top priorities of this Committee since 2011; improving employment 

opportunities for veterans. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for all veterans in December 2013 was 5.5 percent. This 

is in sharp contrast to December 2010, when the unemployment 

rate for all veterans was 8.3 percent. This equates to a difference 

of over 369,000 more veterans finding work. 

While I believe that programs like the new G.I. Bill and VRAP 

have helped position veterans to obtain the skills needed to get a 

job in today’s tough economy, the most significant factor in the 

drop in the unemployment rate has been that American corporations, and most importantly small businesses, have truly stepped 

up to the plate and have made it a priority to recruit, hire, and retain veterans. 

These companies and trade associations have made hiring veterans a priority not out of charity, but because it is simply a good 

business decision. They have learned that the soft and hard skills 

as well as the incredible work ethic that veterans bring to the table 

are unmatched and make them excellent employees. 

Today’s panel of witnesses represents companies and associations 

that are among the best of the best when it comes to hiring and 

promoting the hiring of veterans. These companies have not only 

launched initiatives to train and hire veterans, but they work within their own industries and across the private sector to bring innovative approaches to increasing employment in the veteran population. I hope that listening to their testimony and having the opportunity to ask them questions, will give Members a better understanding of the commitment these companies have to veterans, and 

countless others, who share this commitment in each of our districts. 

I am also very interested to hear the panel’s opinions on the federally funded training and hiring programs for veterans that Congress funds every year. Many of you know that improving the performance of these programs has been, and will continue to be, a 

focus of this Committee, and I look forward to learning what programs, if any, the private sector finds to be the most successful. In 

short, what works and what doesn’t work. 

While great strides have been made in reducing veterans’ unemployment rates, I think we all agree that much more is needed to 

create the best environment for job creation and growth as our men 

and women continue to transition from active duty service into civilian life. 


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I remain concerned that over taxation, crushing business regulations, which increase costs and reduce competitiveness, and the 

well documented concerns and uncertainty surrounding the implementation of the affordable care act, threaten the hard work of our 

panelists and many others in making it a priority to hire our veterans. I look forward to hearing from each of our panelists today 

on how Congress can promote pro-growth policies that will help 

create new jobs for veterans and all Americans alike. 

At this time I yield to the distinguished Ranking Member Mr. 

Michaud to provide his opening remarks. 

Thank you Mr. Michaud and I look forward to working with you 

in the coming year. 

At this time I would like to introduce our first and only panel 

today, and I want to thank each of you for being here with us this 

morning. First we have General Gary Profit, Senior Director of 

Military Programs at Wal-mart ; Mr. Sean Kelley, Senior Staffing 

Director for the Cloud and Enterprise Group as well as Military 

Recruiting at Microsoft; Ms. Maureen Casey, the Managing Director for Military and Veterans Affairs at JPMorgan Chase; Mr. Jim 

Amos, the Chairman of Tasti-D–Lite and Planet Smoothie, here on 

behalf of the International Franchise Association; and lastly we 

have Mr. Ross Cohen, the Senior Director of Hiring our Heroes at 

the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Your complete written 

statements will be made part of the hearing record and each of you 

will be recognized for 5 minutes for your written statement. Let’s 

begin with General Profit, sir you are now recognized for 5 minutes. 

Thank you, General Profit. Mr. Kelley. 

Thank you, Mr. Kelley. Ms. Casey. 

Thank you, Ms. Casey. Mr. Amos. 

Thank you, Mr. Amos. Mr. Cohen. 

Thank you. I will now yield myself five minutes for questions. 

I now recognize the Ranking Member for his questions. 

I want to thank our witnesses for their informative testimony 

and for being here today. 

In closing, I want to acknowledge the good work that has been 

done by this Committee and our VSO partners in improving employment opportunities for veterans. From the Committee’s improved oversight over Federally funded veteran training and employment programs, the enactment of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act 

of 2011, which created the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program, and the Committee’s Veteran Employment Summit, we have 

and will continue to focus on this important matter together. 

Finally, I move that all members have five legislative days in 

which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material in the record on today’s hearing topic. . . . hearing 

no objection so ordered. 

Thanks to everyone for their attendance today, this hearing is 

now adjourned. 


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF MICHAEL MICHAUD, RANKING MINORITY MEMBER

Thank you, Mr. Chairman for holding this important and timely 

hearing this morning. 

Providing veterans with opportunities for employment is a top 

priority for this Committee. In a tough economy, we want to make 

sure we are doing everything we can to help our veterans succeed 

in making the transition from active duty to securing gainful and 

meaningful employment. 

This is especially important as we look to future servicemembers 

leaving the military in greater numbers. 

Any employer should be proud to have an employee with the resiliency, leadership and collaboration skills that are fundamental to 

all our service men and women. Far too often, these experiences 

are not readily translated to match the needs of the private sector. 

It takes imagination, and a bit of work, but in the end the effort 

is worth it: businesses can get access to highly skilled and motivated individuals, and veterans can build careers that can benefit 

their families and their communities. 

This morning I look forward to hearing about the successes and 

challenges our witnesses have faced, and their recommendations 

when it comes to hiring veterans. I look forward to hearing how 

public and private entities can better work together to provide a 

better transition to servicemembers entering the workforce. I look 

forward to hearing from our witnesses regarding best practices and 

how these can be used to inform the private and public sector in 

helping veterans find jobs. 

Most of all, I look forward to hearing from our friends in the private sector about how our country’s veterans are continuing to 

serve this nation by contributing their skills and talents to these 

forward-leaning companies. 

Maintaining our Nation’s economic leadership in the decades 

ahead will require highly skilled and educated employees who will 

lead the technological charge. Veterans have proven their leadership and can-do qualities in service to our country. They represent 

an untapped resource to provide this next generation of employees. 

Our job, on this Committee and in this Congress is to find ways 

to explore new and innovative ways to assist veterans, and the 

businesses that wish to hire them. This includes identifying what 

works and what doesn’t, what must be modified and what must be 

viewed anew. 

Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my 

time. 

f 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF HON. BILL FLORES

I want to thank Chairman Jeff Miller and Ranking Member Michael Michaud for holding this hearing regarding what the public 

sector can learn from private companies about recruiting and employing our nation’s veterans. I believe that we should help our veterans gain the tools for success once they have transitioned from 

service. These men and women made commitments to selflessly 

serve our country and we should provide them an effective transition into the civilian workforce. 


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This hearing today is an expansion of a similar hearing I held 

last year in Waco, TX with my fellow Subcommittee on Economic 

Opportunity colleague Rep. Mark Takano. That hearing entitled 

‘‘Texas’ Innovative Approaches to Jobs and Employment for Veterans’’ highlighted the employment opportunities for veterans in 

Texas, specifically demonstrating the fertile and versatile employer 

environments, hiring programs and educational opportunities that 

exist in my state. We heard from companies, educational institutions, and state agencies on what they have been doing to facilitate 

the hiring of Texas Veterans. 

We are lucky that the unemployment rate for veterans in Texas 

was 3.6 percent for the month of December, which is well below the 

national average of 5.5 percent. 

This difference is due, in part, to our great state’s focus on progrowth policies, low taxes, and efficient and innovative government 

programs that partner with the private and non-profit sector to 

give unemployed veterans the little boost they need to be successful. 

Texas has long standing commitment to the military and those 

who have served which is another major reason for our success. 

This is shown not only in the priority our small and large businesses place on hiring veterans, but on the policies, programs, and 

benefits our institutions of higher learning offer to these heroes. 

It is exceptional that our hearing demonstrated the laudable efforts of the private sector, and has resulted in a hearing looking 

at the national efforts from our five witnesses today. Not only did 

our hearing in Texas result in valuable information and demonstrated how Texas can be a model for other states, but it also 

resulted in outstanding legislation that can help employ veterans. 

During our hearing in Texas, Ms. Mary Thompson, Dwyer Group 

member and local owner of Mr. Rooter’s plumbing services, testified 

that many veterans encounter difficulties when faced with excessive start up fees required with starting a franchise. To address 

these obstacles, Rep. Takano and I introduced the bipartisan H.R. 

3725, the Veterans Entrepreneurs Act. 

This legislation will assist veteran entrepreneurs in transitioning 

to the private sector after their military service by reducing both 

the red tape and the costs of starting a franchise to help them become small business owners. It will make it easier for veterans to 

own small business franchises by establishing a tax credit for veteran franchisees equal to 25 percent of the franchise fee incurred. 

This tax credit will help offset the initial start up costs for a franchise business which is often out of reach for many veterans. 

With self-starting and ‘‘know-how’’ skills all veterans are trained 

with, many are especially well suited for business ownership and 

self employment. Given these qualities, the franchise model with 

its ready-made clientele and proven track record of success provides a great opportunity for our veterans looking to open a small 

business. While upwards of 70 percent of pure startups fail within 

the first 10 years, investing in one’s own franchise with its training, established customers, and model has a much greater probability of success. 

We must continue to promote private sector efforts to hire veterans as well as look for innovative ways to empower veterans to 


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be entrepreneurs and small business owners. The more veterans 

we have acquiring and creating jobs, the more our economy will 

continue to grow benefiting both our veterans and our nation 

Again, I am excited about the hearing and testimony today. As 

a former businessman myself, I know that jobs for veterans start 

and end with continued commitment from American enterprise. 

f 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF GARY M. PROFIT

On behalf of Wal-mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-mart ), thank you Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Michaud and Members of the House 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for the opportunity to join you 

today to talk about veterans hiring. 

Wal-mart has a rich history with veterans, those continuing to 

serve, and military families. Arguably, it begins with Captain, U.S. 

Army, Sam Walton who founded Wal-mart over 50 years ago. 

Through the years, the legacy has been enriched by countless others, including the 100,000 veteran associates and 150,000 veteran 

and military families. 

At Wal-mart , we are thankful for their service and sacrifice, and 

we strive to support their heroism. Right now, we know one of their 

biggest needs is employment and gaining the tools necessary to 

prepare for a career outside of the military. 

Besides being the right thing to do, hiring veterans is also good 

for business. We believe veterans and military families represent 

the largest, diverse, talent-rich pool in the world and are an essential segment of the next generation at Wal-mart . Their value begins with a rock-solid foundation, a proxy for which might be the 

seven Army Values I lived for over 31 years: loyalty, duty, respect, 

selfless-service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. It is complemented by the nation’s huge investment in skills training and 

leader growth and development. Who wouldn’t want to hire them? 

But, there must be a sense of urgency: 2.6 million post-9/11 veterans have left the service and in the next five years, one million 

more will have left. About half of them are between the ages of 18 

and 34. Unemployment for these younger veterans has often been 

more troubling than their non-veteran counterparts. 

So at Wal-mart , we decided to do our part and launched the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment last Memorial Day. Vets who 

meet the job requirements and have been honorably separated from 

active duty within the last 12 months have a job at Wal-mart if 

they want one. Wal-mart has a host of opportunities at our stores 

and clubs across the country, as well as select opportunities in our 

distribution centers and main offices. If you served and sacrificed 

for your country, you shouldn’t have to fight for a job when you get 

home. We believe that in five years, we will hire more than 100,000 

veterans. 

Since full implementation on Memorial Day, we have hired nearly 30,000 veteran associates. These jobs range from part-time hourly to salaried management; from Wal-mart Stores and Sam’s Clubs; 

to Distribution Centers and Transportation Offices; and to the Corporate Headquarters. 


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One of the other aspects of this commitment that we are excited 

about is the Veteran Champion Program. This program is a six 

week on-boarding process to support the transition and integration 

of the new veteran associates into their new work environments. It 

is guided by an associate who is drawn, preferably, from a similar 

experience. 

In addition to employment, we also strive to understand and address some of the specific and special unmet and under-met needs 

faced by veterans and military families. Through the Wal-mart 

Foundation, we are committed to a $20 million campaign through 

2015 and are focused on access to education, job training, and reintegration resources. Additionally, as part of our Holiday Giving, 

we announced on Veterans Day, a $1.5 million grant to the Operation Homefront ‘‘Home for the Holidays’’ Program and a $500,000 

grant to the Fisher House Foundation ‘‘Sponsor a Family’’ Program. The grants provided toys, meals, and lodging to military 

families in greatest need of support and helped hundreds of active 

duty service members come home for the holidays. 

We salute America’s heroes. We are honored to have the opportunity to employ them, to learn from them, and to support them 

and their families in every way we can. 

Through career training and job opportunities, we’re helping prepare our troops for successful professional lives both during and 

after their service in the military. 

Thank you Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Michaud and 

Members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs for your 

leadership and for holding this hearing. I appreciate the opportunity to testify and am prepared to answer any questions. 

f 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SEAN KELLEY

Thank you Chairman Miller, Vice Chairman Bilirakis, Ranking 

Member Michaud, and Members of the Committee. It is an honor 

to testify before you today to discuss how companies like Microsoft 

partner to maximize civilian career opportunities for our returning 

veterans. My name is Sean Kelley and I am the Senior Staffing Director for the Cloud and Enterprise engineering group at Microsoft 

and the leader of our company-wide military recruiting organization. 

This hearing is timely given the large number of veterans currently returning to the U.S. seeking civilian employment and the 

simultaneous challenges companies such as Microsoft face finding 

enough skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) 

workers for their businesses to grow. As a recruiter, I see it every 

day at Microsoft, other IT businesses, and companies representing 

an array of other industries. My industry now competes for highskilled talent with the likes GE, Ford, Boeing, Proctor & Gamble, 

Deloitte, Blue Cross and many other U.S. employers. I know many 

of these companies share our mission to support the career paths 

of our veterans. And we are in lock step with this Committee’s ongoing commitment to serve the veteran community and their families. 


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Given the importance and enormity of the task at hand, at 

Microsoft we are constantly thinking of ways to better transition 

these men and women into IT careers. 

Based on our experience helping veterans transition to civilian 

jobs, I would like to focus my testimony on three themes: 

1. Expanding initiatives private sector companies such as Microsoft are undertaking to help our returning veterans acquire the 

education and skills necessary to help them secure rewarding IT 

careers; 

2. Eliminating barriers companies face trying to help our returning veterans acquire the skills they need to transition from their 

military service; and 

3. Sharing lessons we have learned over the last several years 

through Microsoft’s veterans initiatives. 

My Story 

After graduating from the Naval Academy and starting my career as a submarine logistics officer, I was fortunate after six years 

in the Navy to land my first civilian job as a supply chain leader 

at Starbucks Coffee Company. Then, ten years ago this March, I 

moved from Microsoft Operations to our Global Diversity and Inclusion organization, searching for an opportunity to have a broader, 

more meaningful impact on the company and the world. 

I learned about all aspects of our HR programs and processes 

from colleagues, who for years had advocated to open the doors to 

technology careers for women, minorities, people with disabilities, 

veterans, and other underserved or disadvantaged communities. As 

a military veteran, and third generation Navy family member, I 

wondered what opportunities there might be to further explore the 

experiences and challenges veterans faced. I decided to address this 

topic with our Chief Diversity Officer and Outreach Manager. During our meeting I learned that both had close family ties to the 

Vietnam War. That day, a shared bond, often unspoken in Corporate America at that time, awakened a desire to serve. 

Following the tragic events of 9/11, another group of Microsoft 

veterans and veteran advocates began to form. This effort was comprised of veteran advocates with family ties to the military, including currently serving Reservists and National Guard members. All 

were seeking community and alignment of support for reservists 

and guard members, and most of all, looking for ways to give back. 

This was the beginning of a story that is now many chapters long. 

It is a story of shared commitment to one another, a passion to give 

back to the military community and a dream to make a difference. 

Our Call to Action 

The national unemployment rate for veterans is unacceptably 

high. Most disturbing is that the unemployment rate of the youngest generation of U.S. military veterans, ages 18–24, who have 

served our country so bravely, developed valuable leadership, management, diplomatic and other skills on top of their superb military 

training, is often higher than their non-veteran counterparts. Our 

veterans, who face unique challenges in transitioning to the civilian employment system or dealing with serious health issues, deserve the highest level of support to ensure a successful career. Unfortunately, our support systems are not fully equipped to help 


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troops and their families deal effectively with these transitions. In 

fact, the Department of Defense is spending $1 billion annually on 

unemployment benefits for veterans yet it is often difficult at the 

base and command level to get support for training and certification programs while still on active duty which provide immediate 

employment possibilities. As the drawdown of our troops continues, 

now is the time to raise our consciousness as part of a national dialogue that includes the public and private sectors, to focus on eliminating friction in the re-training and transition process, and to ensure we are doing everything in our power to address these career 

transition issues for our vets and their spouses. 

Microsoft’s Veterans Initiatives 

Economic projections point to a need for approximately one million more STEM professionals than the United States will produce 

at the current rate over the next decade. The United States graduates about 300,000 bachelor and associate degrees in STEM fields 

annually. Fewer than 40 percent who enter college intending a 

major in a STEM field complete a STEM degree. It is clear that 

many people, including veterans, lack the technology skills and industry certifications employers look for to fill the tens of thousands 

of available IT jobs across a broad range of industries. Eight years 

ago when we started exploring how Microsoft could be helpful to 

our transitioning veterans, we were surprised to learn there were 

very few opportunities for veterans to acquire these in-demand 

skills. 

Elevate America Veterans Grant Program 

As Microsoft tried to determine how to make an initial impact on 

the challenges faced by veterans, we determined that the ecosystem 

of service organizations was fractured and difficult to navigate. 

Through our Elevate America initiative, Microsoft partnered with 

six non-profit organizations to provide skills training, job placement and support services to veterans and their spouses over a 

two-year period. Microsoft’s commitment to this effort totaled $12 

million in cash, product and other services. The non-profits that 

were part of our initiative were carefully selected through a competitive RFP process. Several national Veteran Services Organizations joined our advisory committee to provide valuable input and 

guidance in selecting the grantees, including Paralyzed Veterans of 

America, American Legion, USO, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of 

America, and the Wounded Warrior Project. 

Each of the non-profit organizations we worked with had demonstrated good placement rates. We selected them not only for their 

ability to provide technology skills training to veterans, but their 

ability to provide career counseling, housing, transportation, 

childcare and other services that strengthen the ability for an individual to find employment. In many ways, this was an early trial 

in the ongoing community efforts across the nation known as the 

Sea of Goodwill and Community Blueprint. 


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Elevate America Veterans Voucher Program 

Microsoft has also partnered with the U.S. Department of Labor 

to distribute 10,000 free technology skills training and certification 

packages to veterans around the country. These industry recognized certifications provide portable job credentials. The resources 

were provided over a two-year period to five local One-Stop Career 

Centers designed to provide a full range of assistance to job seekers 

under one roof. 

Recruiting and Retaining Military Veterans 

A decade into our journey, the Microsoft Military Community is 

now a thriving employee network, with seven chapters around the 

United States, an active Board of Directors, and three retired General Officers as the Executive Advisory Committee. This network 

sponsors two events each year, on Memorial Day and Veterans’ 

Day, to commemorate these special celebrations and create connections across the company. The board serves many purposes, including advising Microsoft’s Human Resources Department on benefits 

and pay policies for Reservists and National Guard members, welcoming all new veteran hires to the company, mentoring one another on career transitions, and championing involvement within 

the external military community. All of these actions create connections which ease transition from the military and aid in growth 

and development within Microsoft for our veteran population. 

Building upon this spirit of service and community involvement, 

the recruiting program was branded under the banner ‘‘We Still 

Serve’’ in September 2010. This coincided with the investment in 

a full-time team of former military members whose sole purpose is 

to aid the transition of military veterans into Microsoft and the 

tech industry. MGEN Chris Cortez, USMC (Ret.) sponsored this 

program since its inception and added a strong voice to We Still 

Serve launch. The team has partnered with external organizations 

including Service Academy Career Conference, Marine for Life, 

Student Veterans of America, MBA Veterans, The National Center 

for Women & IT, Military MOJO, Recruit Military, Academy 

Women, Worksource, 100,000 Jobs Mission, base transition offices, 

and many local jobs fairs and outreach events. Microsoft was a 

founding sponsor and remains an active board member for Hire 

America’s Heroes, a consortium which now has nearly 40 corporate 

sponsors, and chapters in Washington and California. The consortium provided an early proving ground for public-private dialogue 

and exploration of new pathways to employment for veterans. 

The military recruiting program is anchored on our military portal, WeStillServe.com, a site that connects transitioning military 

members to our employee-initiated group of veterans, and helps 

match candidates to job opportunities within the company. The site 

includes a unique Military Job Decoder to map military occupations 

to available Microsoft positions, helping service members navigate 

large volumes of job postings. Over the last three years our Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) decoder has received tens of 

thousands of unique page views and the We Still Serve site has received hundreds of thousands of page views. 


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Microsoft’s Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) 

Any career transition is difficult, but as service members approach the end of their military careers they face a particular challenge. It’s not always clear to them how their skills apply to jobs 

in the private sector. This causes stress to both service members 

and their families. But today, thanks the VOW to Hire Heroes Act 

sponsored by Chairman Miller and Senator Murray, and signed 

into law in 2011, service members may begin the employment process before their separation from the military. That’s what inspired 

our program, which is especially important as our military draws 

down after two major military operations overseas. 

Over the next three years, Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) 

alone, in my home state of Washington, will release an average of 

8,000 servicemembers a year. And we know many other bases 

around the country will also release large numbers of highly employable IT workers. Our research shows that there are currently 

30,000 active military members in technical disciplines which 

might qualify them for jobs at companies such as Microsoft. Currently, 474 MOS codes directly map to Microsoft job groups on 

WeStillServe.com. The new MSSA program transitions military members into high 

paying jobs in the technology sector. It provides industry certification testing and college credit for those in service while they are 

still in the early phase of transition from military to their civilian 

career. The goal of MSSA is to create a seamless and successful 

military-to-employment transition, at no cost to the service member. 

Microsoft has partnered with a local university to create a rigorous 16-week technical training course that military members are 

enrolled in while still on active duty. Soft skills, interview practice 

and resume preparation are part of the curriculum. Each student 

receives a mentor from a corporate sponsor and exercises to practice their new skills. The MSSA program is based on leveraging 

public and private partnership to provide a new pathway for military members to transition quickly into well paying, upwardly mobile careers. Additional Microsoft technical courses will teach skills 

required for specific roles. Candidates are prescreened to ensure 

they have a base level of technical competency, with a strong emphasis on programing and problem solving skills, as well as a passion for the program. 

MSSA operates on bases in conjunction with DoD education and 

transition program partners. With command authorization, service 

members attend the course as their place of duty during their transition phase. As partners, the US Army and JBLM commanders, 

notably Colonel Charles Hodges, have been amazing to work with 

for the first cohort, including releasing one Special Forces solider 

from active service in Afghanistan to participate in the program. 

The VOW Act, the new GI Bill, and a loosening of Department of 

Defense (DoD) regulations enable Microsoft and other private organizations to partner with the DoD to assist American heroes with 

programs such as this one. And the DoD authorizes these types of 

training programs in an effort to mitigate the large unemployment 

burden on taxpayers as well as provide reasonable assurance or potential for employment of transitioning service members. 


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In addition to receiving a Microsoft IT Academy-powered curriculum from Saint Martin’s University, service members who completed the MSSA pilot program were offered entry-level roles at either Microsoft or Launch Consulting (the technology consulting 

firm administering the program). Alternately, some graduates used 

their new skills to find technology jobs on their own or to pursue 

a four-year degree in computer science. 

As the program reaches additional bases around the country, we 

will offer job interviews to those who successfully complete it—a 

critical step between acquiring any certification and gaining meaningful employment. We’re confident that program graduates will be 

well prepared to compete for jobs in a vibrant, growing sector of the 

economy. Active-duty service members transitioning from all 

branches of the military, as well as members of the National Guard 

and Reserve returning to their civilian jobs, are eligible. The Microsoft Software & Systems Academy bridges one great career-serving 

in the U.S. military-with another, creating technologies that improve lives. We’re pleased by the responses we’ve received from 

service members who participated in the program, such as in Bernard Bergan’s recent blog post. 

Bernard Bergan’s Story 

Bernard Bergan was in the first cohort of veterans to complete 

the Microsoft Software & Systems Academy this last December. 

Over the past five years, he had been serving all over the world 

in the Army as a communications sergeant in the First Special 

Forces Group Airborne, 3rd Battalion. Through my recruiting efforts, I was fortunate enough to meet Bernard and talk to him 

about his transition from the Army to his new career at Microsoft. 

Bernard told me that serving in the Army taught him the value 

of teamwork, selfless service and a commitment to excellence. It 

also allowed him to see, up close, how technology connects us all. 

While in Afghanistan, he used Skype as his primary tool to stay 

connected with friends and family. 

I have heard the frustration from many service members that, 

prior to Microsoft’s MSSA program, there were no seamless training programs available for soon-to-be veterans who wanted to work 

in tech. Any career transition is difficult but, for those in the military, there are unique challenges. In Bernard’s blog post, he expressed his gratitude that the MSSA program provided him training that helped him ensure his financial stability. The guarantee 

of a job placement within Microsoft or through one of its partners 

was an incredible opportunity with a major impact on his family. 

Recommendations 

Every time I look into the eyes of a transitioning service member 

during mentor discussions, in interviews, on base visits or at a job 

fair, I am simultaneously disheartened and motivated. The system 

has so much more room to improve and this room for growth motivates me to find new ways to open doors to the technology industry 

for my fellow veterans. We can do better. The VOW Act laid a foundation for much needed improvement. Building on that momentum, 

here are a few recommendations to enhance the private sector’s 

ability to employ more of our veterans: 


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• Enhance GI Bill language and funding for STEM and computer science related degrees. The statistics don’t lie. We know that’s where the jobs are. It’s 

also where our vitality as a nation rests, and our veterans deserve more opportunities to work in these rewarding careers. By actively encouraging pursuit of 

these degrees with appropriate incentives, we tip the playing field in favor of 

the veteran. 

• Provide access to contact information of veterans attending college on the new 

GI Bill, through a confidential, affirmative, opt-in technology solution to encourage stronger employment opportunities and alignment to STEM degrees. 

• Quickly broaden the impact of programs like MSSA around the country by 

encouraging top-down letters of support by all Service branches supplemented 

Operation Orders by local base commanders to support, engage and cooperate 

in these pre-separation, on-base, training initiatives as supported and approved 

in the VOW Act. 

• Encourage uniformity in tuition assistance across military branches to reduce 

complexity and road blocks for service members participating in training programs such as MSSA. 

• Encourage stronger partnership between the Department of Labor and Department of Defense under its VOW Act directive to ‘‘take a hard look at how 

to translate military skills and training to civilian sector jobs.’’ This directive 

will ‘‘make it easier to get the licenses and certification our veterans need.’’ 

• With the expansion of the cyber-economy, consider legislation to expedite or 

grant extensions of security clearances for those entering technology fields. 

Conclusion 

As you know better than most, our military veterans are a national treasure. We’ve invested immeasurable dollars, time and sacrifice to create the most powerful human asset on the planet–military veterans. They are smart, motivated, rapid learners who are 

technical, loyal team players, yet they are virtually untapped by 

private industry. They are the most valuable human asset on earth 

and we, as a nation, all too often allow them to walk out the door 

of the military and end up under-or unemployed. The untapped potential of this asset is in plain view on their DD214s, waiting to 

be organized, interpreted and leveraged to provide data-informed 

career paths. Doing so will accelerate the American economy and 

our veterans’ success. But the human element is even more important. These individuals and their families have made incredible, 

selfless sacrifices for our country. We owe it to them to recognize 

not just their past contributions, but what they have to offer in the 

future. We’ll all benefit from that recognition. And the families of 

these heroes will benefit, too. 

Now is the time for our government, non-profit and corporate 

leaders to truly live up to the promise to which we should all feel 

obligated: ensuring that those who sacrifice the most for our cherished way of life can flourish and share in the American Dream. 

Microsoft is fully committed, as am I, to continuing to innovate, 

invest and participate in the circle of solutions that bring our military veterans to the family wage careers of the future. We believe 

this future is unleashed through education in STEM fields and via 

industry-sponsored training programs with commitments to hire 

graduates. The Microsoft Services & Software Academy proves that 

the VOW Act is making a difference, that public-private partnerships work, that veterans have what it takes to land STEM jobs, 

that industry leaders such as Microsoft want to hire veteran workers. Now is the time to act, to accelerate progress by aligning our 

resources behind proven concepts that lead to high paying jobs in 

the new economy. The need is great but so are the opportunities. 


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Thank you for your commitment to veterans. And thank you for 

allowing me to share my story and Microsoft’s commitment to our 

nation’s veterans. We Still Serve. 


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PREPARED STATEMENT OF JIM AMOS

Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Michaud, and members of 

the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on successful private sector programs for hiring veterans. My name is 

Jim Amos, and I am the Chairman of Tasti D–Lite and Planet 

Smoothie, world-renown franchise brands of frozen treats and beverages. I am a veteran of the franchise industry, with past experience as the CEO of Mail Boxes Etc. (now The UPS Store) and as 

past Chairman of the International Franchise Association. I am 

also a military veteran, a former Marine Corps captain and veteran 

of two combat tours in Vietnam. I appear before you today on behalf of Tasti D-Lite and the International Franchise Association. 

With nearly 1 million veterans transitioning out of military service over the next 5 years, it is more important than ever that we 

help veterans re-integrate into the civilian economy. Our service 

men and women are looking forward to rejoining their families, 

going back to school or starting their own businesses. It is both an 

economic necessity and a moral obligation for our country to facilitate this transition. 

Franchising is a large community of diverse business concepts 

that all grow and operate using the franchise business model. In 

this model, entrepreneurs open their own businesses and purchase 

the rights to operate their business using the trademarks, products, and business strategies of a proven franchise system. Franchise businesses are very common in the restaurant and hospitality 

space, but franchising is also popular in business services, personal 

services, retail, and automotive. 

Veterans in Franchising—A Good Fit 

In the franchise industry, we like to say that franchise owners 

are in business for themselves, but not by themselves. Franchise 

owners are typically highly motivated individuals who are natural 

problem-solvers. Successful franchise owners normally exhibit excellence in execution of precise and proven business plans. Franchise systems have complex, yet effective, operations guidelines, 

and the franchise owners that can best execute that system are the 

owners who realize the most success in their business. Many of the 

qualities that make successful franchise business owners are found 

in our Nation’s service men and women, while the training techniques used in the military provide a significant skill set that is especially valuable in franchise business owners. Above all else, veterans possess the leadership skills necessary to run a successful 

business, and to persevere through tough times to keep that business running. Franchise companies actively recruit veterans as 

franchise owners, knowing that veteran-owned franchises tend to 

out-perform other locations. 

For nearly forty years, I have been privileged to both create and 

support programs for hiring veterans as part of my career in franchising. What I have learned is that these young men and women 

are clear examples of American Exceptionalism. They are true 

American heroes who bring back security clearances, training, 

character, passion, dedication and a get-it-done mentality that any 

company or organization would pay to have as a human asset within their corporations. Spreadsheets and net-present values tell you 


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the history of a company, but it is the people who tell you its future. When my brothers and sisters returned from Vietnam, we 

were met by a nation so anxious to leave an unpopular war behind 

that, by proxy, we left the veterans behind as well. We should ensure that this never happens again. 

VetFran 

Recognizing that franchising is a great fit for entrepreneurial 

veterans, the International Franchise Association launched the 

Veterans Franchising Initiative, or VetFran, in 1991 in an effort 

led by Don Dwyer, a United States Air Force veteran and founder 

of The Dwyer Group, a family of franchise brands. The initiative 

was launched to support veterans returning from the gulf war in 

their transition to the civilian economy. VetFran is an industrywide initiative to encourage franchise companies to both hire veterans as team members and recruit them as franchise owners. As 

part of VetFran, franchisors offer special incentives to qualified veterans who purchase franchise agreements. Incentives range from 

thousands of dollars in initial inventory, special financing on equipment, or a discount on the initial franchise fee. Some franchise systems even offer one free franchise to a qualified veteran franchisee 

each year. VetFran members are also able to share best practices 

concerning the veterans hiring initiatives within their own companies. VetFran currently has a membership of 618 franchise systems. 

When I first took the help at Mail Boxes, Etc., now The UPS 

Store, following the guidance put in place by the International 

Franchise Association and the VetFran program, we instituted a focused hiring program for veterans, offering benefits and incentives 

to become part of our family. As a result, hundreds of store owners 

and employees ultimately took advantage of these programs. When 

we purchased Tasti D-Lite, and later Planet Smoothie, the first 

thing we did was join the IFA and offer all veterans a 25 percent 

discount on the initial franchise fee as part of the VetFran program. We not only sold franchises to returning veterans, but also 

offered hiring programs that encouraged a full career path in addition to the route of franchise ownership. 

As a starting point, I would like to point out that there are 23 

million veterans in our country today, and 1.5 million of them are 

on active duty. An additional 1.2 million are in the National Guard 

or reserves. 3.7 million veterans are under age 39, and there are 

2 million children in these veterans’ households, 95 percent of 

whom are under age 12. What results has VetFran been able to deliver to meet the needs of these veterans and their families? 

Results 

A survey of VetFran members reveals that the program has 

achieved impressive results. In 2011, IFA launched Operation Enduring Opportunity, a campaign to hire, and recruit as franchise 

business owners, 80,000 veterans, wounded warriors and their 

spouses, through 2014. In a report on Veterans Day in 2013, a survey revealed that the franchise industry has nearly doubled its hiring target. Since 2011, over 151,000 veterans have started careers 

in franchising, including 5,192 veterans that have been recruited as 

franchise owners. The survey also revealed that veterans hire other 


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veterans, as veteran franchise owners were 30 percent more likely 

to hire other military veterans than non-veteran franchise owners. 

Unsurprisingly, the survey went further to indicate that veteranowned franchises were more successful than other franchise businesses, far our-pacing non-veteran-owned franchises in both sales 

and number of jobs created. 

Of the franchisors surveyed, 97 percent indicated that veterans 

were a good fit as franchisees. Of the 3 percent that indicated that 

veterans were not a good fit for franchising, ‘‘high level of investment being a barrier’’ was given as the underlying reason. With 

this in mind, VetFran and its member companies continue to strive 

to help veterans overcome this financial barrier. 

Veterans Entrepreneurs Act of 2013 

To assist veterans in opening franchise small businesses, Rep. 

Bill Flores (R–TX) introduced H.R. 3725, the Veterans Entrepreneur’s Act of 2013, legislation that would provide a tax credit 

to qualified veteran franchise owners worth up to 25 percent of the 

initial franchise fee, capped at $400,000. In addition to the real estate, equipment and inventory necessary to open a franchise, the 

initial franchise fee is a significant investment, and remains a barrier to opening a franchise business. When coupled with the incentives offered by franchise systems as part of VetFran, this tax credit will go a long way toward helping veterans open new businesses. 

Given that veterans tend to hire other veterans, this legislation 

would also have a multiplying effect on veteran hiring. There is a 

similar piece of legislation in the Senate, called the Help Veterans 

Own Franchises Act, sponsored by Senators. Bob Casey (D–PA) 

and Marco Rubio (R–FL). The franchise community already has a 

demonstrated record of success in implementing veterans hiring 

programs, and we believe that this legislation will serve to expand 

on that success while providing veteran entrepreneurs with a significant financial incentive to realize the American Dream of owning and operating their own small businesses. 

Conclusion 

The franchise community has seen modest successes in hiring 

and recruiting veterans, but there is still so much work to be done 

to serve the veterans that have served us so honorably. Creating 

an industry-wide program for IFA’s member companies to participate in hiring veterans has allowed us to involve as many companies as possible, and share best practices for member companies 

that are building their own veterans hiring programs. Most of all, 

it has allowed us to ‘‘turn up the volume,’’ and stress the importance of these hiring programs across the private sector. As we recruit additional franchise systems to join VetFran, their industry 

peers want to join as well. We are constantly looking to build on 

the rolls of companies involved in VetFran. 

Other significant partnerships have grown out of these efforts to 

hire and recruit veterans. Colleges and universities are building 

entrepreneurship programs for veterans and including franchising 

and franchise management as a course of study. Other proposals 

seek to include franchise training as education that can be covered 

under the G.I. Bill. Opportunities for veterans are rapidly growing, 

but we have not yet achieved our goal. Far too many veterans are 


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unemployed, and others lack the support they need to successfully 

transition into the civilian economy. It is imperative that the private sector continue to build on its recent successes, and work as 

best it can with policymakers in Washington to create additional 

programs and incentives to hire veterans. I thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I look forward to answering any 

questions you may have. f 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ROSS COHEN

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation [USCCF] is a 

501(c)(3) non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

dedicated to strengthening America’s long-term competitiveness by 

addressing developments that affect our Nation, our economy, and 

the global business environment. USCCF presents a broad range of 

programs that promote a greater understanding of economic and 

public affairs issues. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business 

federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local 

chambers and industry associations. The Chamber is dedicated to 

promoting, protecting, and defending America’s free enterprise system. 

More than 96 percent of Chamber member companies have fewer 

than 100 employees, and many of the Nation’s largest companies 

are also active members. We are therefore cognizant not only of the 

challenges facing smaller businesses, but also those facing the business community at large. 

Besides representing a cross-section of the American business 

community with respect to the number of employees, major classifications of American business—e.g., manufacturing, retailing, services, construction, wholesalers, and finance—are represented. The 

Chamber has membership in all 50 States. 

The Chamber’s international reach is substantial as well. We believe that global interdependence provides opportunities, not 

threats. In addition to the American Chambers of Commerce 

abroad, an increasing number of our members engage in the export 

and import of both goods and services and have ongoing investment 

activities. The Chamber favors strengthened international competitiveness and opposes artificial U.S. and foreign barriers to international business. 

Positions on issues are developed by Chamber members serving 

on committees, subcommittees, councils, and task forces. Nearly 

1,900 businesspeople participate in this process. 

Good morning, Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Michaud, and 

distinguished members of the Committee. My name is Ross Cohen 

and I am the Senior Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program. Thank you for providing 

us with an opportunity to share our experience regarding successful approaches to hiring veterans and military spouses. 

Since 2011, Hiring Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber 

of Commerce Foundation, has worked aggressively to assist veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find 

meaningful employment opportunities. We knew from the beginVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00057 Fmt 6621 Sfmt 6602 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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ning that our success hinged on two critical factors. First, local 

communities would be the cornerstone of any national program to 

reduce veterans’ unemployment. Second, we had to bring that local 

community together by working with a wide array of private and 

public sector partners. That community includes, but is not limited 

to, our partners in various federal agencies and local government, 

national and local businesses of all sizes, our vast network of local 

Chambers of Commerce, and other non-profit and private sector 

partners. 

Over the last three years, we have seen significant improvement 

in the unemployment rates among veterans and military spouses. 

We are proud of the work that has been accomplished, but we have 

a long road ahead. With nearly 1.5 million service members set to 

transition in the next five years, as well as hundreds of thousands 

of military spouses, Hiring Our Heroes and our partners must be 

ready to answer that call and provide veterans and military 

spouses with the employment opportunities that they so richly deserve. 

Background on Hiring Our Heroes 

Hiring Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Foundation, launched in March 2011 with a relatively simple mission: to assist veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses in finding meaningful employment opportunities. 

Working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s vast network of 

state and local chambers and other strategic partners from the 

public, private, and non-profit sectors, our goal was to create a 

movement across America in hundreds of communities where veterans and military families return every day. 

Our initial efforts focused on hiring fairs throughout the United 

States. Since 2011, we have hosted more than 660 job fairs in all 

50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Thus far, more 

than 21,000 veterans and military spouses have been hired by employers—ready, able, and willing as a direct result of these hiring 

fairs. 

Our hiring fairs also include employment workshops providing 

veterans and military spouses valuable job search skills like networking, writing their resume, and interviewing. Great companies 

like GE, University of Phoenix, and First Command, as well as 

non-profit partners like Goodwill Industries, have donated countless hours to providing expert training to more than 8,000 veterans 

and military spouses. 

Recently, the Call of Duty Endowment (CODE) recognized Hiring 

Our Heroes for its hiring fairs and awarded it the first ever ‘‘Seal 

of Distinction’’—an award program that highlights non-profit organizations that have proven to be the most effective and efficient at 

placing veterans into high quality careers. 

From our experience, the first step for employers is laying down 

the marker and making a commitment to hire veterans and military spouses. Together with Capital One, we launched the Hiring 

500,000 Heroes campaign in March 2012 with a goal of securing 

half a million commitments to hire by the end of 2014. Once a business commits, we work with them to turn those commitments into 

hires. To date, more than 1,400 businesses of all sizes have comVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6621 Sfmt 6602 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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mitted to hire 361,000 veterans and military spouses and 247,000 

hires have been confirmed. 

Hiring Our Heroes also has developed a suite of online services 

to assist veterans and military spouses as they transition to the civilian sector. From our online Resume Engine built in partnership 

with Toyota, to eMentor and to Fast Track, our online tools are designed to make it easier for veterans to identify career opportunities and to put them in the best position to succeed. Best of all, 

these services are provided at no cost to the veteran, transitioning 

service member, or military spouse. 

Finally, we must not forget the tremendous sacrifices faced by 

military spouses and the unique challenges they face when trying 

to search for and maintain a career. 

The fact is that most military spouses can expect to move an average of eight times over a 20-year military career, often with little 

or no notice. Those with professional licenses (e.g., lawyers, health 

care professionals, and teachers) face significant employment hurdles if their licenses are not portable from one state to another. 

And, since many military families need to be dual-income, these 

challenges can have a significant impact on long-term retention 

and military readiness. 

With that in mind, Hiring Our Heroes established a Military 

Spouse Program at the beginning of 2012. Nearly a dozen of the 

nation’s largest companies quickly answered the call, including 

USAA, La Quinta Inns & Suites, Toyota, and Verizon. We host job 

fairs and networking receptions exclusively for military spouses on 

military installations each year. The fairs include value-added content to help spouses plan a career, such as resume and interview 

workshops, networking, and professionalism presentations. We 

have also begun to maintain LinkedIn groups of all who attend our 

events and promote further career development events, local connections, and job postings. 

Creating Private-Public Partnerships 

Creating private-public partnerships has been and continues to 

be a critical component of our efforts. Over the last three years, 

Hiring Our Heroes has benefitted from its unique position to call 

upon a wide array of partners including those from the private, 

public, and non-profit sectors. These partnerships have helped us 

to create deep roots in local communities and impact hundreds of 

thousands of veterans and military spouses. 

Not surprisingly, given the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s long 

standing work on behalf of American business, we started our efforts by reaching out to some of the nation’s largest businesses to 

sit on our Veterans Employment Advisory Circle (VEAC) and a 

Military Spouse Employment Advisory Circle (MSEAC). Over the 

past three years, more than 35 of these businesses, representing 

nearly every segment of industry in America, have sat on the 

VEAC or MSEAC and provided critical guidance on our mission. 

We have forged key partnerships with the White House’s Joining 

Forces, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and several of the Department of Defense services. In 2013, we formed an agreement with the U.S. 

Army Installation Management Command (IMCOM), which led to 


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a Fragmentary Order (FRAGO) to Transition Service Managers 

around the world. This FRAGO is intended to make soldiers aware 

of Hiring Our Heroes resources as they transition out of the Army. 

More recently, we collaborated with VA to create a national 

‘‘Guide to Hiring Veterans’’—a new resource to point employers to 

the most valuable resources available to assist them in the process 

of hiring and retaining veterans. Information available in the 

Guide includes: online job banks and military skills translators, VA 

benefits, Hiring our Heroes job fairs, American Job Centers, Veterans Gold Card, Official Wounded Warrior Programs, and more. 

We hope all interested employers will use this guide to learn more 

about this important issue and to connect with veterans for careers 

in our communities nationwide. 

We also have created strong partnerships with other non-profits 

throughout the United States. From non-profits, like the George W. 

Bush Institute, Blue Star Families, the Institute for Veterans and 

Military Families (IVMF), Got Your 6, and Points of Light, and 

Student Veterans of America, we are united in our singular focus 

of helping veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment opportunities. 

The value of these partnerships becomes evident at our hiring 

fairs where the entire community comes together. Our network of 

state and local Chambers works hard to bring together the local 

business community and open up thousands of jobs to local veterans and military spouses. Local military officials, including 

Guard and Reserve components, frequently open up their facilities 

to host our events. The VA plays a critical role by making sure that 

veterans are aware of their benefits and enrolled in eBenefits. DOL 

and its representatives from American Job Centers also work to 

provide ongoing assistance in their local communities. The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves (ESGR) provides invaluable resources in every state. Finally, many of our VSO partners 

bring out the established community of veteran leaders to support 

and promote our events. 

Looking Forward 

When Hiring Our Heroes launched in March 2011, the employment situation for veterans and military spouses was bleak. Post9/11 veterans faced an unemployment rate greater than 12 percent, 

which was nearly 50 percent higher than the national unemployment rate. For veterans under 25, the unemployment rate was closer to 30 percent a rate that was two times the unemployment rate 

faced by their civilian counterparts. One in four military spouses 

was unemployed. 

There is no doubt that the situation has started to improve. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veteran unemployment 

continues to fall in every segment of the veteran population. We 

have seen post-9/11 veteran unemployment drop to below 10 percent and unemployment for veterans under 25 is down ten points 

to approximately 20 percent. However, according to a 2012 Department of Defense report, one in four military spouses remain unemployed. 

While these figures show improvement, we have a long way to 

go. The fact is that 800,000 veterans were unemployed at the beVerDate Aug 31 2005 12:56 Feb 26, 2015 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00060 Fmt 6621 Sfmt 6602 C:\PDF\OUT\86726.TXT PAT

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ginning of 2013. We also will see unprecedented departures from 

active duty service in the next five years—up to 300,000 per year 

for the next five years, and that does not include spouses. At the 

same time, many federal jobs may be unavailable to veterans because of constrained budgets. The private sector will need to step 

up to the plate. 

Moving Forward 

Hiring Our Heroes is ready to answer the call and will step up 

its efforts in 2014. Not only will we host more than 200 hiring fairs 

across the country this year, we will focus our efforts by targeting 

communities with the greatest need. We will also host more fairs 

directly on military installations in hopes of reaching service members well before their transition from the military. And, we will 

continue to develop more innovative online resources to make it 

easier for businesses to connect with job-seeking veterans and military spouses. These tools will better prepare both employers and 

service members for the job search process. 

We also will strengthen our public-private partnerships. Hiring 

Our Heroes plans to work more closely with the Department of Defense, VA, and Department of Labor to reach service members and 

spouses earlier in the transition process. By combining our efforts, 

we also can help businesses, veterans, and military spouses navigate through the clutter of all the resources available to them and 

identify the best tools available. 

A good example of these more robust partnerships will occur in 

February 2014, where we will take part in a two-day Veterans Jobs 

Summit at Fort Bliss, Texas. Hosted in partnership with the VA, 

Department of Labor, Joining Forces, and the U.S. Army, the event 

will feature seminars and breakouts on the service member transition process, tools and best practices for employers looking to hire, 

and presentations from key military and governmental agencies. 

The summit will culminate on February 4th with a job fair for 

service members who are within 90 days of their transition date. 

A similar event will occur at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in April 

during a three-week Army Reserve Training Exercise. Approximately 5,000 members of the United States Army Reserve from 

across the country will be participating in this exercise. We are 

working with national companies to attend the fair in order to 

share job opportunities from across the country. Our goal is to ensure each and every service member is equipped with all the tools 

necessary to know what opportunities exist, empowering them to 

make educated choices for their futures. 

Conclusion 

Over the last three years, Hiring Our Heroes has been proud to 

serve our veterans and military spouses in local communities 

throughout the United States and to do so with a wide array of private and public sector partners. While we have much to be proud 

of, there is much more to do. We must stay vigilant and provide 

transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses with 

the meaningful employment opportunities they so richly deserve. 

Hiring Our Heroes will continue to be at the forefront of this 

movement. We will remain the community catalyst bringing together our partners in our common mission. We will work together 


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to achieve fundamental change in veteran and military spouse unemployment. 

Chairman Miller, Ranking Member Michaud, and members of 

the Committee, I thank you again for the opportunity to testify and 

look forward to answering your questions. 

Æ 


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