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Speakers

Major General Tatu graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles where she attended on an Army Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and was commissioned in the Signal Corps.

Throughout her more than 30 years active and reserve service, she has commanded at every echelon, from platoon to Division-level with duty in Germany, Iraq and the United States. She began her active military service as the signal platoon leader, 2/57 Air Defense Artillery Battalion, Ansbach, Germany and became the Executive Officer, Delta Company, 11^th Air Defense Signal Battalion, Kaiserslautern, Germany. She later served as the Battalion Motor Officer, 5^th Signal Battalion, Ft. Polk, Louisiana, followed by her assignment as the Chief, Testing Management, Military Entrance and Processing Station, Los Angeles, California.

Major General Tatu's principal staff assignments have been as the Detailed Inspector General, 311^th Corps Support Command in Los Angeles, California; Division Chief, Reserve Personnel, 63D Regional Support Command, Los Alamitos, California; Chief, Individual Training and Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Training, 63D Regional Support Command; and Deputy Chief of Staff, G3, 63D Regional Readiness Command. In June 2006, she mobilized and deployed as the Commander, 164^th Corps Support Group in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 06-08. Upon return from theater, she served as the Deputy Commanding General, 311^th Signal Command (Theater), Ft. Shafter, Hawaii. She also served as the Commander, Pacific Training Division, 75^th Training Command (Mission Command) at Camp Parks, California, responsible for Mission Command Staff Training of military units for deployments and other missions. Prior to her assignment as the US Army Reserve Command Chief of Staff, she served as the Commanding General of the 79^th Sustainment Support Command. Major General Tatu served on the Secretary of the Army's Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee from 2010-2013.

Her military education includes the Signal Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Command and General Staff College, the Inspector General Course, the Army War College and CAPSTONE. Major General Tatu's awards and decorations include an Army Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merit Medals, the Bronze Star Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal, and the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, among others.

Major General Tatu and her husband of over 30 years, Mike, have three grown sons; Glendon, Colin and Shane. Their middle son, Colin, is a Specialist in the Army, currently serving with the 4^th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25^th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.

Lisa Rosser (Founder, The Value of a Veteran and Lieutenant Colonel, USAR RET) is on a mission to help organizations improve their veteran recruiting and retention programs.

Lisa's military career spans 22 years (both active and reserve), 3 continents, and 4 major deployments, including the Gulf War, Somalia, Bosnia and a 2-1/2 year mobilization immediately following the events of 9/11. Her military career includes detailed work as a telecommunications officer and as an operations officer, and general work in the human side of the military - performance management, recruiting, staffing, training and skills development. She retired from the Army Reserve in 2011 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Her civilian career included 8 years with Accenture, a Global Fortune 500 consulting firm.

In 2007 Lisa founded her own company, The Value of a Veteran. In that capacity Lisa is a consultant, author, speaker, and workshop leader on military hiring and retention strategy development. Lisa delivers training workshops and seminars nationwide and consults with corporate, government and higher education employers.

Lane Dyer is the State Director for the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), US Department of Labor, for North Carolina. Prior to joining USDOL, Lane worked for the Employment Security Commission, now the Division of Workforce Solutions. After a long career serving in many different roles, he retired in October of 2014 as Employment Service Director, where he provided oversight to 90 workforce offices and over 1,100 state workforce staff members, ensuring the efficient and effective provision of employment and reemployment services to veterans and other job seekers throughout North Carolina. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1981-1985 as an Aircraft Armaments System Specialist.

Dr. Audwin Lindsay currently works in a Civilian Advisory Personnel Center located at Fort Bragg, NC as a Human Resources Consultant (Generalist) with the federal government. He is also the President of Fayetteville Area Society for Human Resource Management (FASHRM), an organization consisting of human resource professionals. Dr. Lindsay is a practicing human resource professional with over 30 years of diverse human resource experience, military, government, and private sector. Dr. Lindsay possesses a doctoral degree in Business Administration and master degree in Human Resource Management. He is Professional Human Resources (PHR) certified.

Angela Noble Amidon is President and CEO of Amidon, Inc., a defense contracting company that specializes in designing and constructing realistic live-fire training facilities, manufacturing ballistic products, and providing professional training and security services.

Angela received the North Carolina Minority Small Business Person of the Year award for 2012 and her company is a 2012 recipient of Business Leader's Top 300 Small Businesses of the South award and a 2012 recipient of CED's North Carolina Companies to Watch award, which honors growth oriented, second-stage companies headquartered in North Carolina that demonstrate high performance in their market, exhibit innovative products, and display other unique qualities that make them "worth watching."

Prior to starting Amidon, Inc., Angela worked as a Human Resources Director at USfalcon, Inc., another defense contracting company with a focus on hiring military veterans.

Angela served honorably as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1998-2006. She specialized in Counterintelligence, Personnel Security, Special Security, Classified Couriering, Foreign Disclosure, Information Systems Security, Physical Security, Base Defense, and Security Guarding, Patrolling and Escorting. Her military service included deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom to Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Iraq with the 18th Airborne Corps out of Fort Bragg, NC. She achieved the rank of Captain before leaving the military to start her entrepreneurial journey.

Angela attended Marion Military Institute from 1996-1998 where she graduated as Valedictorian. She was the first female to ever reach the rank of Cadet Lieutenant Colonel in the history of the academy.

She also attended North Carolina State University where she earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees.

Angela is a licensed Commercial General Contractor, Counterintelligence Professional, Classified Courier, Private Investigator, Security Guard & Patrol Professional, and Certified Firearms Instructor.

Dr. Gregory E. Perkins is researcher, author and a Faculty Scholar to the university's Center for Defense and Homeland Security. Through his professional role as a social work educator, his research has focused on military families and secondary trauma, ethics in social work practice, and as an advocate for behavioral health services for veterans. Dr. Perkins has more than 15 years of experience as a mental health practitioner, program services manager and quality assurance and community integration specialist in the field of mental health, intellectual developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services. He is a combat veteran having served more than 22 years in the US Army in a variety of troop, staff and leadership positions from platoon to corps levels of echelons. This includes being a small group faculty member at the Aviation Center NCO Academy, the Human and Fiscal Resources Manager of a separate brigade and forward deployed combat Senior Noncommissioned Officer in Charge.

Dr. Perkins is also a Diplomat of the Board, American College of Certified Forensic Counselors and credentialed as a Clinically Certified Forensic Counselor and Clinically Certified Juvenile Treatment Specialist with a specialty in youthful offender counseling. He is further certified by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services as a Certified Forensic Screener and Evaluator.

Dr. Perkins earned his Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) degree from the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Phoenix, AZ and Master of Social Work (MSW) from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC.

Stan Roberts is a Customer Support Engineer with Cisco Systems. He currently works in the TAC as part of the WW-Cable team, which falls under SP-Video support. He has been working in this position since October of 2012. Before that he worked for the company GFI Software and provided customer support for their line of products.

Stan graduated from ITT Technical institute in Cary in 2011 with an associates degree in Information Systems and a bachelors degree in 2013 with a bachelors in Information Systems and Cyber Security. Prior to that he did nearly 11 years of active duty in the United States Marine Corps, which he joined in Feb of 2000, and worked as a ground communications technician. During that time he did 3 combat tours in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and received many combat related awards including the Purple Heart. He was medically retired from the Marine Corps in Oct 2010.

Stan currently works as the Volunteer Coordinator for his team and works with several organizations related to veterans operations in the area including: United States Military Veterans Foundation, United States Veterans Corps, Military Missions in Action, The Marine Corps League and Wounded Warrior Project. He has 4 children and currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina.

MAJ Sara Lesley Day from Winston-Salem, NC graduated from Wake Forest University in May of 2001. Upon her graduation she briefly ran track and field as a professional athlete. In January of 2002 after the events on September 11, 2001, MAJ Day decided to enlist in the United States Army to be a member of the Army’s World Class Athlete Program. She was a part of this program until injured and reassigned to 61st Army Support Medical Battalion in October of 2004. In September of 2006, MAJ Day commissioned as a Quartermaster Officer. She was then assigned to Headquarters Support Company, Division Special Troops Battalion of the 1st Calvary Division. MAJ Day served as a platoon leader and executive officer for them in Operation Iraqi Freedom 06-08 in Baghdad, Iraq. In September of 2008 MAJ Day entered the North Carolina National Guard and the 113th Sustainment Brigade. During the years leading up to 2011, MAJ Day worked as Company Commander and as a liaison in colleges across North Carolina, working with their ROTC departments. In October of 2011, MAJ Day deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the 113th Sustainment Brigade as the Deputy Director for the Operational Contract Support team. MAJ Day would go on to work as a Battalion S-4 for the 690th Brigade Support Battalion and then back to the 113th Sustainment Brigade as the Branch Chief for the Supply and Services section. MAJ Day currently works full-time as the Director of the North Carolina National Guard Education and Employment Center.

SSG Jeffrey Whitman enlisted in the United States Army in December 2002. Upon Entry in to the United States Army he attended Basic training at Ft. Knox, KY as a Tank Crewman (19K). After his successful completion of basic training he was assigned to Baumholder, Germany. During this time his time in Germany he deployed for the first time for a total of 15 months as a tank gunner in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 03-04. SSG Whitman deployed to Iraq with the same unit for Operation Iraqi Freedom 05-06. After returning from this deployment and completion of his Active Duty Service, he then joined the North Carolina National Guard in December 2008. SSG Whitman immediately became part of the National Guard's full-time staff upon entry. He has worked as a Human Resource Non-Commissioned Officer at both the battalion and brigade levels. SSG Whitman also deployed with the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Brigade in support of Operation New Dawn 09-10 to Iraq. SSG Whitman currently works as the full-time as the Operations Sergeant for the North Carolina National Guard Education and Employment Center.

SGT Jeffrey Wyatt is from Lumberton, NC and graduated from Lumberton High School May of 2009. He enlisted into the North Carolina National Guard in 2007 during his sophomore year in High School. He deployed to Afghanistan from 2012-2013 with the 514th Military Police Company. Where he received numerous awards for his outstanding performance and dedication as a Truck Commander and Electronic Warfare Master Gunner. He has worked for a multitude of civilian companies and across several industries that have awarded him equally. His most current work experiences include the Department of Public Safety and is currently a DoD Private Contractor- Area Coordinator for the North Carolina National Guard. After working in this industry for several months the organization began to see his talents and has promoted him to be the Fayetteville Area Manager along with its 6 surrounding counties. He has developed the area both with companies as well as reinforcing the development of our Nations Heroes in the processes of becoming a civilian employee or potential employer.