An issue that is sometimes overlooked is the employment opportunities available to military spouses. The spouses of active duty personnel experience frequent moves that are not always conducive to working remotely – meaning they must quit their jobs, if employed, and start anew in a new location.

WorkingNation convened a group of business and education leaders to discuss workforce challenges for military personnel and their families, and some solutions. The result is The Table: Veterans and Work, a roundtable moderated by Ron Insana, respected business journalist and CNBC contributor, and taped before a live audience at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in November 2019.

The issue of military spouse unemployment continues to be relevant today with the pandemic raising additional concerns related to virtual learning and childcare.

What Can Be Done to Help Military Spouses in Their Search for Work

Stuart Ruffin, director of operations, North Carolina for Military Employment (NC4ME), said it’s important to tighten the process that would allow a spouse’s previous credentials to be recognized in different states. He said, “This shouldn’t be an in issue, but an opportunity for talent.” He added that, typically, the unemployment rate among military spouses is higher than that of the general population.

Brandon Busteed, president, University Partners & Global Head, Learn-Work Innovation at Kaplan, expanded and said, “It’s inexcusable that there’s not reciprocity between states recognizing licensure.”

Patrick McKenna, founder, HighRidge Ventures and an Army veteran, said he is able provide job opportunities for military spouses. He said, “When you can move the work out through technology, you have access to a new workforce.” McKenna said military spouses can work remotely as long as they have a computer and strong Internet capability.

Carol Eggert is SVP of Military and Veteran Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal, and an Army Brigadier General (Ret.) She said it’s a challenge for the private sector employer to understand the military experience—which can lead to challenges for military spouses seeking jobs. She said, “The number one reason people leave the all-volunteer force is because their spouses are not dually employed.” She said if the employment issue is not addressed, the country could go back to the draft system.

Also participating on the panel were James Banks, General Counsel, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), as well as an Army veteran, and Fernando Snowden-Lorence, VP of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase and a Marine veteran.

You can watch all four episodes of the The Table, and see all our Veterans and Work stories here on WorkingNation.com.

The Table: Veterans and Work was made possible by the generous financial support of JPMorgan Chase, Comcast NBCUniversal, and the Clint Eastwood Family Foundation.

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Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.