Who We Are - Special Operators Transition Foundation

Dave Pearson

Client Acquisition Leader, Deloitte Human Capital/HR Transformation

For almost 20 years, Dave’s pedigree has been working with or for some of the most innovative technology companies and their partners to transform and modernize Finance, Supply Chain, HR and Sales & Marketing operations. Dave holds a BBA in International Business from the University of Georgia.

Mark McKenna

Managing Director, Salesforce SME

Mark McKenna is a Managing Director at ClearEdge Partners and works with enterprises in the United States consulting in the Information Technology space. His 30 year business career includes executive roles at Salesforce, Siemens and as a civilian employee for the US Army.

Todd Koetje

Managing Director, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Todd Koetje is a Managing Director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, the investment banking division of SunTrust Banks, Inc (NYSE: STI), one of the nation’s largest banking organizations. He has served as one of the leaders within SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s Leveraged Finance division for the past 20 years, currently acting as Head of the firm’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Leveraged Finance practice.

Mark Whaling

Vice Chairman, Head of Global Securities at Canaccord Genuity

Mark was named Global Head of Sales and Trading in October 2018 and is responsible for managing the firm’s institutional sales and trading teams, across equities, fixed income, arbitrage, and derivatives. He is a member of Canaccord Genuity’s Global and US Operating Committees and his role includes overseeing business development in new and expanding areas such as Macro and Data Solutions as well as pursuing new distribution channels across Latin America, Family Offices, and Retail Investors. In addition to his roles at Canaccord Genuity, Mark is actively involved in his community and sits on the boards of local, city and national organizations which are focused on helping at-risk Children, Special Forces veterans and Scholar-Athletes. Mark also founded the Student Athlete Success Team, to help give back to deserving student athletes from all backgrounds. Holding a Bachelor of Arts in History from Princeton University, he remains engaged with his alma mater through his participation in alumni groups including the Princeton Varsity Club, Princeton Football Association and the Friends of Princeton Lacrosse, where he is an active member of the Student-Athlete mentoring group which helps students transition from academia to the business world.

Craig Powell

Chairman Emeritus, CEO, Motus

Craig is the visionary President and CEO of Motus, the definitive leader in reimbursement solutions for businesses with mobile-enabled workforces. With experience leading companies to achieving market leadership within their industries, he is responsible for the vision, strategic direction, cultivation of key relationships and tone of the winning culture at Motus. Previously, Craig was the CEO of ConnectEDU, which experienced 200% (CAGR) revenue growth and served over 5,000 K-12 districts, colleges and universities and 130,000 employers. He currently volunteers for several organizations including Special Operators Transition Foundation and Beat the Streets.

Sean Corbett

Director, Corporate Strategy, MOTUS, LLC

Sean Corbett served over ten years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry and Special Forces Officer. During four combat deployments, Sean led diverse groups of over 500 personnel (U.S. and host-nation forces) in complex environments as an operational and tactical ground force commander. Following his military service with the help of YGN, Sean chose to take his leadership experience and love for technology and apply them at a SaaS company; Motus, LLC. He now works as the Director of Corporate Strategy helping the executive team grow the company to meet its short and long-term goals, while attending the Executive MBA program at MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

Tommy Stoner

Chief Executive Officer

Tommy Stoner served for over 29 years in the U.S. Army as both an enlisted soldier and as a commissioned officer with the majority of the that time in the Special Operations community including the Ranger Regiment and the Special Forces. Tommy retired in 2016 and joined SunTrust Bank as the Enterprise Data Office Portfolio Director overseeing strategic planning, investment planning and execution for related technology efforts. Tommy also was the Head of Technology for the HR, Risk, Audit, Corporate Communications and Legal functions of the Bank before the merger of SunTrust and BB&T to form Truist Bank. Tommy led the team that build the technology integration plan for Truist Bank before assuming the CEO role at the Special Operators Transition Foundation. Tommy is an alumni of the YGN/SOTF transition program and was on the Board of Directors of YGN from 2017-2019.

Melba Holliday

Managing Partner, Atlantic Leadership Group

Melba Holliday has served as Executive Transitions Coach for SOTF since the early days in 2014. She led the design of the Phase I process and has helped more than 260 Fellows through the program. Known for delivering an Exclusive Experience, Melba helps to advance the priority life and career goals of Operators. Melba joined Atlantic Leadership Group as Partner in 1995 and is certified in several coaching specialties.

Jeff Jacobs

CIO of Insurance Solutions Group, Apollo Global Management

Jeff Jacob is a Senior Partner at Apollo, and Chief Investment Officer of the Insurance Solutions Group (ISG). Mr. Jacobs manages investment activities across affiliated insurance balance sheets, overseeing tactical and strategic asset allocation, due diligence, and redeployment of target portfolios, hedging strategies, and sub-advisory oversight. Prior to Apollo, Mr. Jacobs spent over 22 years at BlackRock, where he served in a variety of roles. Most recently, he was the Global CIO of the Financial Institutions Group, and Head of FIG Portfolio Management. In this role, Jeff was responsible for portfolio performance, strategic positioning, and customized solution creation across the full FIG platform at BlackRock. Jeff was a member of FIG since its inception in 1998. Mr. Jacobs is a member of the boards of Your Grateful Nation and The Covenant House – Mother and Children’s Shelter, and previously served as a Trustee and board member of The Nature Conservancy of Eastern New York. Mr. Jacobs graduated from Princeton University with a BA degree in History and a Certificate in Environmental Studies.

Chip Vandenberg

Partner – Senior Advisor at Trivest Partners, Private Equity Group

Chip spent ten years as a CPA with KPMG in New York and Miami. His clients were primarily in financial services and real estate industries along with numerous middle market companies. He subsequently spent 30+ years with the oldest private equity firm in the Southeast- Trivest Partners. During his first 13 years with Trivest he managed over 20 companies and executed acquisitions for them. Thereafter he sourced numerous successful acquisitions and eventual dispositions of middle market companies. Chip graduated with an B.A. degree from William Patterson University. Over the past 40 years philanthropic work includes being the President of the South Florida Association for Corporate Growth, Treasurer of Camillus House, Ocean Reef Audit Committee, Orange Bowl Committee and Strategic Forum and Business Network – South Florida and Vice Chairman of Florida American Cancer Society.

Blair Thompson

President/Founder of Sparta Wealth Partners

Strategic Adviser with SOFWERX and Private Capital Adviser with NavalX.

Laurent Roux

Treasurer, Founder/CEO Gallatin Wealth Management

Laurent is the founder of Gallatin Wealth Management, a wealth management advisory and consultancy serving families, family offices and mfo’s worldwide, and a partner at the Willow Street Group and WS Trust Company, all in Jackson, WY. Previously, he was a Director and Managing Director at Bank Pictet & Cie, Geneva, Switzerland and a number of its international affiliates during his 25 years at the firm. Laurent holds a JD degree from California Western School of Law in San Diego (1980), received a BA from the Univ of Colorado. He serves on the Board of the East West Institute, and holds other Board, Adv Board, and Investment Committee positions. He has spoken at numerous forums in Asia, Australia, Europe and the US, lectures and writes on family wealth advising, family offices, private banking, investment management and trusts.

Dennis Hayashi

Corporate Engagements

Former Chief Creative Officer and Founder of aHa Communications Inc. and Media Options, Inc. Dennis leads officer-level searches in the areas of Communications, Global HR, Training and Development, Government Relations, Engineering, Healthcare and Building Industry. His central expertise is vetting, mentoring and coaching performance-driven leadership. He brings decades of C-Level relationship experience to helping YGN candidates transition into the corporate and not-for-profit sector. He is a nationally recognized thought leader of public policy awareness programs covering a broad range of issues including domestic violence; homebuilding; international adoption; older worker and disabled employment; and auto, property, casualty and life insurance. He served as Captain, Infantry USAR and is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. He was a founding board member of the Catherine Cook Elementary School in Chicago, and a former board member of the Ronald McDonald House of Chicago, Access Living — a leading advocacy group for an independent disabled living — and the Northeastern Illinois University Foundation.

Don Crosby

Chairman

Before retiring Don Crosby served as Senior Vice President of International and Corporate Human Relations at McDonald’s Corporation. Don started as a manager trainee in 1975 after serving in the Marine Corps. He oversaw McDonald’s home office HR division and the development of international HR strategies and plans in support of the achievement of the company’s overall corporate strategies. He served for four years in the United States Marine Corps and took business administration classes at Broome Community College. Mr. Crosby also served as a Director of Society for Human Resource Management Foundation and Chairman of the Board of the six Chicago Ronald McDonald Houses.

Tommy O'Connor

Secretary, Vice President of Sales and Operations, Mohawk

Responsible for driving the expansion and innovation of Mohawks distribution channels, including existing and new models. Also responsible for increasing profitability across multiple revenue streams optimizing Mohawk customer, product, and service performance. Prior to this role Tom over saw sales operations which included the customer service, logistics, and warehousing functions of the organization. Mohawk has grown through careful management and wise investment under the guidance of four generations of the O’Connor family. Today Mohawk is a thriving business with a global presence and a reputation for thought leadership and a commitment to core values.

Robert J. O'Neill

AT LARGE / CO-FOUNDER, (SEAL), Leadership Speaker, Former Team Leader at DEVGRU

Rob O’Neill is one of the most highly-decorated combat veterans of our time with 52 honors, including two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit Citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor. He was a team leader with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group and held combat leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions in four different theaters of war. A highly-trained Navy SEAL, he’s led the military’s most elite and was involved in our nation’s most important campaigns. With most of his career shrouded in a classified cloak, O’Neill was the man on the ground we have never heard of but know exists.

Board of Directors and Founders

Don Crosby

Mark Whaling

Laurent Roux

Tommy O'Connor

Robert J. O'Neill

Todd Koetje

Jeff Jacobs

Chip Vandenberg

Dave Pearson

Craig Powell

Joe Lurz

Foundation Staff

Tommy Stoner

Lauren Manley

Dennis Hayashi

David Gilkeson

Simon Macioch

Kyle Isaacs

Brian Greata

Meg Tobias

Melba Holliday

Advisors

Bill Medina

Matt Stohr

Mark McKenna

Travis Ursprung

JD Clockadale

Financials