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Veterans and Work

Bridging the civilian-military divide to ensure all veterans find good jobs

Bridging the civilian-military divide to ensure all veterans find good jobs
Each year, more than 200,000 veterans reenter the civilian sector, and finding a good job is a key part of successfully navigating that transition. In this roundtable discussion, experts and thought leaders discuss the numerous hurdles that veterans face while trying to land their first job, as well as the solutions and resources available to them.

Throughout November, WorkingNation has brought you scores of articles, videos, podcasts, and op-eds, all looking at the struggles that many U.S. military veterans face as they enter the civilian workforce after their time serving our country.

More than 200,000 veterans make the transition to civilian life each year. Finding a good job is a key part of successfully making that transition.

There are many hurdles — veterans unable to effectively communicate how their military skills translate into the private sector, employers not understanding the value of those skills in their company, and veterans lacking credentials to land a highly sought-after job, and veterans simply not knowing how to access employment resources available to them.

There are many hurdles, but there are also solutions.

On November 22, WorkingNation brought together a remarkable group of business and education leaders — some veterans, some not — to discuss ways in which we can eliminate these and other barriers to veterans getting in-demand and meaningful jobs.

Wide shot of panelists at The Table: Veteran’s in High Growth Jobs
Panelists at The Table: Veteran and Work (Source: WorkingNation)

The result is The Table: Veterans and Work, a roundtable conversation moderated by Ron Insana, respected business journalist and CNBC contributor, and taped before a live audience at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Taking part in the discussion were:

  • Carol Eggert, SVP of Military and Veteran Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal; Army Brigadier General (Ret.)
  • Fernando Snowden-Lorence, VP of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase; Marine veteran
  • James Banks, General Counsel, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM); Army veteran
  • Patrick McKenna, Founder, HighRidge Ventures; Army veteran
  • Brandon Busteed, President, University Partners & Global Head, Learn-Work Innovation at Kaplan
  • Stuart Ruffin, Director of Operations, North Carolina for Military Employment (NC4ME)

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

The Table is our signature digital series that shines the spotlight on the most innovative initiatives helping to train and re-skill Americans for the most in-demand jobs now and in the future.

The Table

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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.