Cameron-brooks

Welcome back! We have a special treat for the podcast. On this episode, I interview Cameron-Brooks team member, Hope Drury. Hope wears multiple hats in the organization including advising JMOs on how to prepare to transition, helping spearhead our marketing and social media programs, and also plays a key role in the JMO resume writing process. Hope is a native of Fredericksburg, Texas and graduated from Texas A&M University. In the five years since starting at Cameron-Brooks, she has worked about half of that time at our corporate office and the other half remotely. Hope brings a fresh perspective to the podcast as she shares her thoughts on common JMO misconceptions, what sets JMOs apart one from another and then, finally, key success characteristics that every young business professional should emulate. Some common JMO misconceptions she sees when working with officers include: A JMO needs to have a submitted resignation prior to engaging Cameron-Brooks. Truth: when we meet with JMOs, we help them explor

There are many former military officers who are now at the C-Suite level.  Some Cameron-Brooks Alumni who have made the C-Suite level include Debra Crew, the former CEO of Reynolds American, Inc. and now President of Diageo North America; Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi; Roland Smith, former Chairman and CEO of Office Depot; Howard Friedman, President and CEO of Post Consumer Brands; Andy Callahan, CEO for Hostess Brands; Chris Hsu, former COO and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and current founder and CEO of Zibo; John McGrath, CEO of Pactiv Evergreen; Bill Horton, CFO of Weber Stephen Products, LLC.; Michael High, Business Unit CFO of Shell Deepwater Gulf of Mexico, and many others.  We are proud to have been a part of their success. I am sure all of these C-level executives would say a big part of their success and career growth coincided with what they learned during their time as a military officer. In this podcast, I caught up with Michael High to learn how he used his military experience to become the CFO

What is a self-evolved leader? We tackle this exact question and cover the  importance of elevating your leadership in this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast. Our guest speaker and subject matter expert is Dave McKeown. Dave has spent his career working with leaders and leadership teams to help them elevate their focus, develop their people and get more done. He helps individuals, teams, and organizations achieve excellence by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well. Dave is the CEO of Outfield Leadership and in this podcast we discuss his new book, The Self-Evolved Leader - Elevate Your Focus and Develop Your People in a World That Refuses to Slow Down. Our conversation is rooted in the idea of minimizing "heroic leadership" and facilitating team flow. Dave points out that in a world where everything is urgent and everything needs to get done now, heroic leaders feel like it is more effective or efficient to step in a tell the team what to do or just save the day.  We have been consistently rewar

For 21 years I have partnered with Junior Military Officers (JMOs) making a transition to business.  One of the top reasons JMOs want to make a transition? They want a promotion and responsibility based on performance.  Some think that means they will transition right out of the military and take a big step up in responsibility.  In my experience, I have found that to be far from reality.  Instead it takes two virtues, humility and patience. First, you need to build a foundation of success and then great responsibility will come. In this episode I speak with Erik Rabichaud who transitioned from the Army in 2017 to a General Management career with Love's Travel Stops.  He started out working long hours and some weekends learning all facets of the business. Within a couple of months, Love's promoted him to manage his own store with $40M in revenues.  Earlier this year Erik earned another promotion to the District Manager role for Truck Care Operations.  Each promotion has come with increased compensation and e

Welcome back! Today you'll meet Aaron Carter. Aaron is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned in June 2014 and launched his career in a Professional Sales role at Cordis. Cordis is a company that develops and manufactures medical devices for diagnostics and interventional procedures to treat patients suffering from coronary and peripheral vascular diseases. When Aaron started at Cordis in July 2014, Cordis was an operating company with the global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson. Within 9 months of employment, Cordis was acquired by Cardinal Health, a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The acquisition was quite a change and we spend a few minutes exploring how he navigated those waters and his path to regional sales director. Aaron has been extremely successful at Cordis. During our conversation he spends a f

On this unique episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we interview an alumni about his journey with multiple sclerosis and his positive mindset in handling adversity. Kevin Byrne, a former Army Apache Helicopter Pilot, who transitioned through the Cameron-Brooks program in 2000, recently volunteered to be a guest on our podcast.  Kevin has a heroic story to tell.  This podcast is unlike any other we have done in 100+ episodes. At first, I thought we were going to discuss Kevin's career and transition and maybe he did as well.  However, as I studied his LinkedIn profile, I noticed something particular about his career.  He has not been working for the last 3 years.  As Kevin says, he is twice retired.  First in 2000, he medically retired from the Army due to Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis and again in 2017 due to the effects of the debilitating disease. In this podcast, Kevin tells his story on continually adapting to his life situation and handling adversity.  He says, "This disease will never stop and never

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, I interview Jim Marek. Jim spent over 7 years as a USMC Infantry officer before transitioning to Corporate America. When Jim came to his Career Conference in January 2016, he received multiple employment offers in roles focused in Consulting and Professional Sales. He ultimately chose to start his business career at H-P Enterprises. Since making his transition, Jim has worked at three different companies so the thrust of this conversation is focused on career management. Our conversation begins discussing Professional Sales and why JMOs have a misconception about this career field. Jim likens it to being to an Infantry Platoon Commander or the owner of a battle space. As a Sales Professional he made sure to understand how his customers go to market, so whatever he sold would help them cut costs or drive revenue. Jim worked to understand the financial, contracting, legal, marketing, delivery, product development and operations - basically every aspe

What are the best tips on how to impress a corporate recruiter for a JMO? We cover this topic (and more!) in our latest podcast with special guest, Frances Cole Jones. Junior Military Officers (JMOs) are taught to be calm under pressure, to stay even keeled and be short and to the point when speaking with superiors.  While this style is important as a JMO leader, it does not translate well to interviewing. During an interview, recruiters really want to get to know a candidate. A big part of what a corporate recruiter thinks of a candidate is how the candidate made them "feel".  That feeling is an emotional connection. I spend a lot of time interview coaching candidates on bringing out personality with body language and tone of voice.  In 2016, I looked for books and other tools to help candidates and I came across Frances Cole Jones the author of How to Wow:  Proven Strategies for Selling Your (Brilliant) Self in Any Situation  She is often a guest on the podcast, "The Art of Manliness", sharing her experti

Welcome back! On this episode we meet Bryce Saddoris, former Marine and Olympic qualifier. Bryce launched his career as a Sales Representative at Altec after serving as a USMC Ground Supply officer. For the first part of Bryce's military career he was on the USMC Wrestling Team and the U.S. National Olympic team. Bryce had a long and distinguished wrestling career, culminating in being #1 in his weight class for the 2015-2016 Olympic team. Through the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, Bryce earned 5 different offers for employment and decided to launch his career at Altec. He spends some time on this podcast explaining why he chose Altec and why, after 2 1/2 years at the company, he is continuing to grow and thrive. Bryce and his wife are from Nevada, but he discusses why they chose to start their next chapter in Oregon versus their home state. Ultimately, they felt like the opportunity would be most advantageous to his career. Bryce is now being promoted to a higher-level, strategic business development po

We are celebrating our 100th podcast with special guests Roger Cameron and René Brooks, founders of Cameron-Brooks and the Junior Military Officer (JMO) recruiting industry. Roger launched the JMO recruiting industry during the Vietnam War as veterans looking for work transitioned back into civilian life.  Consequently, because of the Vietnam draft, Corporate America needed to find an alternative source of talent from the college graduate.  Roger discovered the valuable leadership experience JMOs could bring to corporations and later partnered with René Brooks. Together they became the founders of Cameron-Brooks. While other companies and organizations joined the industry in the years to come, Roger and René were the pioneers for 50 years in educating Corporate America on the value JMOs brought to business. They helped thousands of JMOs prepare and make a successful transition. We cover a lot of ground in this podcast, from the history of the industry and Cameron-Brooks to what they found most meaningful i

Welcome back to the podcast! On this episode I interview Brent Whiteman. Brent is a former Air Force officer who transitioned to Corporate America as a Derivative Trader in 2015. He holds a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy, and, upon commissioning, Brent was afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard where he earned an MPP in Business and Government Policy. Brent launched his career at Chatham Financial, a consulting firm focused on risk advisory relating to debt and asset protection. Brent was a Contracting officer during in the Air Force. He'd never really dealt with derivatives trading and risk hedging in the areas of real estate, foreign exchanges and commodities. To get up to speed Brent initially spent a lot of time learning and asking questions of his team members who had the willingness to help him increase his knowledge. He devoted himself to putting in the work. He attributes much of his success to ensuring that he made his boss' job easier. The trick? "[Take] care of some

Welcome back! On this episode of the podcast I interview Greg Payne. Greg is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned in 2019 after attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference. Greg launched his business career at Abbott, a Fortune 500 Global Healthcare Company and specifically started within Abbott's Point of Care division. Today on the podcast, we cover his transition into a sales role and how our current COVID-19 world has created an impact. Why Sales? We start our conversation discussing Greg's decision to start his business career in a sales role. As a matter of fact, Greg asked to have more of his interviews in sales than any other type at the Career Conference. He believes (as do I) that the JMO is "uniquely qualified" to be successful in this type of role. He specifically connected the Army's Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) to sales in so much as both have course of action development, threat assessment, collaboration, cross-functional leadership and, ultimately, a presentation to gain

Junior Military Officers (JMOs) face numerous obstacles in making a successful transition to business.  They are switching industries (defense to business), companies (Navy, Army, Air Force, etc., to a new company), career fields (unless they are going to a defense contractor or government agency) and locations.  They have to identify companies and positions that value their background, ensure they have openings that sync up with their timelines, line up interviews and hopefully get offers they can evaluate simultaneously. Now, imagine two people doing this simultaneously with the goal of landing a leadership development position with a leading company (in the same city)! This is exactly what dual career military couples making the transition to business have to do.  It is not just twice as complex as a JMO, it is 10 times more complex! It is so complex, in fact, most dual military couples use one of the following two strategies to decrease complexity; however, this can inevitably degrade the quality of thei

Welcome back! In this episode, I'd like to introduce Nick Barlow. Nick is an Associate Product Manager at Zimmer Biomet. He is a former Army Finance officer who was branch detailed to the Armor branch for the first four years of his service as a commissioned officer. Nick was in the Cameron-Brooks Development and Preparation Program for 21 months in preparation for his transition to Corporate America. He was actually scheduled to attend an earlier Career Conference, but with the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he felt the call to help and extended his service commitment in order to deploy for that mission. Interestingly enough, he went to work for Johnson & Johnson who, coincidentally, created a vaccine for Ebola. On the podcast, Nick shares his transition story and touches on how a company restructuring resulted in a layoff and, consequently, a new opportunity. A Great Start Nick started his career at DePuy Synthes, the orthopedic medical device company within Johnson & Johnson. He began his career in a marketing

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast I interview Jim Rhoden. Jim is a former Army Logistician who transitioned in 2015. He had 13 interviews at the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference and through the Conference and Follow Up Interview Process, he engaged in a total of 45  interviews which rendered 4 different offers for employment. Jim launched his career at Foster Farms as a plant manager. Foster Farms is the largest poultry producer in the western Unites States. On the podcast, Jim shares his keys to navigating your career and earning success. NAVIGATING YOUR CAREER As an Army officer, Jim had excellent operational experience. This allowed him to not only prove his fit in his interviews with Foster Farms, but also find much success in his first role. He was able to apply many of the leadership tools he gained in the Army, which allowed him to accelerate quickly. After a year and a half, Jim navigated his career from the production environment to the corporate headquarters where he receiv

As we all navigate the turbulent waters of this COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to bring you insight from someone who has helped military officers transition through all types of economic ups and downs. Joel Junker began his career at Cameron-Brooks over 20 years ago. In all that time, Cameron-Brooks has never cancelled a Career Conference! Through the Dot-com bubble, 9/11, the financial crisis of 2008/2009, Joel has been there to help officers transition every step of the way. In this episode, he shares some key insights to weathering the COVID-19 storm. Companies Will Hire in Difficult Economic Times During the Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Joel maintained a journal and kept asking the questions: Will we make it through this? Will companies continue to hire? Companies did, in fact, continue to hire through those tumultuous times, so the question remains - why do companies still continue to partner with and hire through Cameron-Brooks, even in the fiercest of economic headwinds? We know the office

At Cameron-Brooks  we believe, amidst this global crisis, that quality leadership is more important than ever. So we will continue to post our regular podcasts to educate potential transitioning military officers. You are the future leaders Corporate America will need. This episode features Porsche Wilson.  Porsche transitioned to Corporate America from the Army in 2009 was serving as Army Medical Service Corps officer. She launched her business career at Regions Bank in a banking operations Project Management role and within 8 months was promoted to a Manager of Debit Cards/ATM Claims. One of the interesting things about our conversation is Porsche helps unpack the concept of "career management". She does that from the perspective of someone who has been in the business world for 11 years.  Approaching her mid-career point in the business world, Porsche continues to accelerate her professional life in Corporate America. Early Success Porsche starts our conversation by recalling her time in the Army and some

Military to business transition doesn't have to be risky — especially if you have the right partner who knows how to make the transition successfully.  However, it does require one to step outside of your comfort zone. Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Mike Burns, is a former Navy Nuclear Surface Warfare Officer who made the successful transition in 2014.  On this episode of the podcast, he shares how he partnered with Cameron-Brooks to learn more about his marketability, navigated the transition and willingly stepped outside of his comfort zone to land a career at Chatham Financial. Mike initially approached his career search believing he needed to interview for only engineering project management roles that directly related to his functional experience as a Navy Nuclear Trained Surface Warfare Officer.  By partnering with Cameron-Brooks, he conducted a wide career search and was able to interview for a broad range of positions that included Engineering Project Management, Consulting, Finance and more.  In the end,

Welcome back! On this episode of Above and Beyond, I interview Hunter Barns. Hunter is a former Navy Submariner who transitioned into a Senior Business Analyst role (one of several possible consulting careers for military officers) at Kearney, a global management consulting firm in 2014. Hunter launched his career as a consultant focused mostly on the analytical piece of consulting before transitioning into more of a client-facing role. We begin our conversation discussing how Hunter transitioned to Corporate America directly from a shore tour in Bahrain. "The day I started terminal leave was the day I interviewed with my current employer," he said. We discuss how preparing to transition from abroad IS doable and how starting research early can help combat the hesitancy of a direct transition from Asia, Europe, etc. Hunter also explains Kearney in more detail. What is management consulting? What does a Senior Business Analyst do? Who does Kearney work with? Hunter walks us through why he decided to work

Late last year, LinkedIn published the Veteran Opportunity Report with some concerning statistics.  Around 33% of veterans report being underemployed and 70% describe taking a step backward in responsibility when moving to the business world from the military.  The number one reason this occurs is that many companies do not understand the value veterans bring to their organization.   The majority of those surveyed were Junior Military Officers, so this risk of being underemployed and taking a step back is very real for the JMO demographic. A big reason that many veterans, JMOs included, end up with organizations that don't truly understand their value is because the veteran placed too much emphasis on the starting position during their career search.  Meaning, they select the company or opportunity based on location, salary or company name only.  They never conducted a full career search to completely evaluate a number of options.  Hence, they may start in a good initial position but as they progress in th