Service Academy Business Mastermind

“There’s so much more that goes into financial planning, especially when you’re talking business planning, than pie charts and spreadsheets. More often than not, it’s just clearing the way for the business owner to be able to work on the business instead of being sucked in to work in the business on a day-to-day basis.” - Donald Pearson (USNA ‘16) Donald Pearson (USNA ‘16) is a Wealth Management Advisor at WestPac Wealth Partners and a Registered Representative (RR) & Investment Advisor Representative (IAR) of Park Avenue Securities. Upon graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 2016, Donald commissioned into the United States Marine Corps. He served as a Financial Manager responsible for all resources allocated in support of Marine Corps activities in Central and South America before joining WestPac. In his work, Donald most enjoys working with energetic, passionate, loving families and business owners that are growing and dedicated to making sound financial decisions to set their families and

“For me, it’s about creating as much value as you can and sharing it amongst as many people as you can. The bigger the community, the bigger the opportunity…I get a lot of joy from being around other people and working with other people. ”– Joshua Awad (USNA ‘02) Navy Veteran, Joshua Awad is the Co-Founder of OnePet, a portfolio of digitally native companies in the veterinary and pet care space. He is also a Partner at eGateway Capital, a late-stage venture capital firm that invests in high-growth technology companies and operates as an M&A advisory practice that enables the future of eCommerce. Josh served as a Surface Warfare Officer from 2002-2008 after graduating from the Naval Academy and also holds master’s degrees from Oklahoma University and Harvard Business School. In this episode, we discuss: How Josh got started in eCommerce after serving in the Navy The stories behind Josh’s different eCommerce business ventures  How eGateway Capital functions as an eCommerce ecosystem and who it’s for The th

“The whole idea is to create something that provides lifelong memories that Veterans can share with their friends and family.”- Toby Prudhomme (USMA ‘96) Toby Prudhomme (USMA ‘96) is President of Extreme Adventures, a 501(c)(19) non-profit organization that provides outdoor experiences for Veterans and their families. His goal is to enhance the lives of America’s Veterans through recreational and social opportunities that reengage them with the activities they love and unite them with people who share similar backgrounds and experiences. Toby grew up hunting and fishing in Louisiana. He’s a retired  U.S. Army officer and completed over five combat deployments. In this episode, we discuss: Why Toby founded a non-profit outdoor adventure company for Veterans  How outdoor adventures build camaraderie and help military Veterans process difficult experiences What a typical adventure with Toby and the team looks like How Extreme Adventures fund their outdoor experiences, making them free for Veterans to join Toby

“The big vision is how can we bring order to the mess that is the ocean transportation industry on the bulk side? $1.3 trillion is being spent to transport commodities annually…this is an international business and every ship is filled to the brim. The smallest shipment we’ve done is 50,000 metric tons. What that looks like is two and a half football fields long and seven stories high….you’re talking about a very big business for the building blocks of the world and we’re trying to bring order to that.” - John Hahn (USMMA '04) John Hahn is a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy grad and the CEO and Co-Founder of Ocean Freight Exchange, a company he started in 2015 to optimize the global supply chain and make shipping simple by connecting ship owners and charters via their data-centric AI platform, like Uber for the freight industry. The company’s platform enables brokers to become super-brokers, save over 3 hours of time every day, and generate over 4X revenue plus a 5X bonus. They ship everything from grain, fertili

“Ingram Capital builds community through real estate…we buy dilapidated, abandoned homes, fix them up, and turn them into safe, single-family homes as long-term rentals.” - Wil Ingram (USNA ‘11) Wil Ingram is a U.S. Navy veteran on a mission to build community through real estate. His interest in real estate began while serving as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. After spending three out of his six years in uniform at sea, he decided it was time for a career change so he could spend more time with his growing family and founded Ingram Capital, LLC with his brother. Ingram Capital, LLC operates out of Dayton, Ohio and specializes in single-family long-term rental properties. Wil and his brother are passionate about buying semi-distressed or abandoned homes, fixing them up and making them useful for the community again. In this episode, we discuss: What Ingram Capital does and why Wil recently acquired a cabinet and flooring company What made it possible for Wil to transition into real estate full t

“You have to be very selective about what you do and how you maintain your property as well as how you're going to get income…this is a whole new arena.” - Gary Klaben (USMA ‘79) Gary Klaben is the President of Coyle Financial Counsel, an innovative wealth management firm dedicated to helping families preserve and grow their wealth so they can have complete confidence in their financial legacy. This is Gary’s second guest appearance on the SABM Podcast and we’re delighted to welcome him back. In this episode, Gary dives into some great topics related to the benefits of multigenerational living and building a family estate. Gary is the author of Changing the Conversation, The Wealth Sanctuary and co-author of The Business Battlefield. He’s also a coach at Strategic Coach, the #1 business coaching program in the world for entrepreneurs. In this episode, we discuss: The benefits of creating a family estate and how it can help everyone realize a vision and pursue a purpose Why vision boards are a great starting

“We really believe that we’re going to change the global workforce by taking the best of military chaplaincy and pivoting that toward the corporate world…our commitment is to impact the company bottom line by increasing employee resiliency, engagement, performance and retention through chaplaincy.” - Alan “Blues” Baker (USNA ‘78) Alan “Blues” Baker is the Founder & CEO of ChaplainCare, which serves people and strengthens organizations by providing the benefits of military chaplaincy to civilian workplaces. Alan has over 34 years of experience in college, corporate, and military chaplaincy and now trains supervises, and endorses prospective and current chaplains in a variety of settings. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Baker rose to the rank of rear admiral. He currently teaches at Fuller, Gordon-Conwell, and Wesley seminaries. Alan is passionate about workforce chaplaincy and sees it as the most exciting and fastest-growing segment of soul care. In this episode, we discuss: What ChaplainCa

“Look at the example of continuous performance feedback. We take it for granted that part of being a leader is providing regular, consistent feedback, both critical and complimentary. If you're in the platform, and it says, hey, it's time for you to provide feedback, you start developing that habit early and often.” - Scott Taylor (USMA ‘01) Scott Taylor (USMA ‘01) is the Founder of Startwise, a SaaS platform that is transforming the way employers lead and employees grow within companies while addressing the fact that businesses nationwide face a trillion-dollar annual loss due to employee churn. The mission of Startwise is to reimagine the employee experience and the future of work by building software products using learning sciences and distributed leadership to accelerate human skills development. The company’s JobOS platform helps leaders build, develop and retain top-performing teams.  In this episode, we discuss: What it takes to build a SaaS platform and how Startwise works How Startwise uses custome

“Our theme is having partners who are experts at what they do. One of the founding principles behind Blue Flag is we really want to do things that we’re great at. We’re not interested in faking it until we make it. We’re interested in doing what we’ve had decades to get good at.”- Christian Jensen (USAFA ‘96) Christian Jensen (USAFA ‘96) is a Managing Partner at Blue Flag, an LLP, or partnership between experts with diverse skills, much like a medical practice, that helps businesses reach their full potential through project management and talent solutions. While many technology and consulting companies are created to serve a core industry or have a unique specialization, Blue Flag’s structure allows the company to bring on co-owners and build a practice with depth in new areas very quickly. Chris and his team serve both the private and public sectors. Working with large government and private clients has given Blue Flag a foundation of proven solutions while working with startups infuses their everyday work

“Academy grads have a special kind of independence and willingness to do things that are really difficult and see things through in the long term…I think that hardens your character and makes you push through…We really want to emphasize some of these core values: to present good opportunities to our team members and do operations in a way that’s honest and in a way that’s not only good for our customers but also benefits the greater good. The Academy has provided really strong values for executing those missions.”- Zachary Adams (USAFA ‘13) Zach Adams is a former F-15E Strike Eagle pilot in the U.S. Air Force and Co-Founder of Pitch Aeronautics (Pitch Aero), an unmanned aircraft startup company commercializing cyclorotor propulsion technology to save money and save lives. Zach is applying his doctoral research experience to develop and enable drones to physically interact with surfaces. Their drone prototype, "Astria" can perform up-close, touch, and robotic tasks that can replace expensive rope, crane, and h

“We are committed to our purpose, our mission to help our members live well and serve better so we like to think ahead as to what it means to craft a new model for housing and building wealth. We want to have a true impact on the main problems we’re attacking…not only on our members’ ability to build wealth, but also the connections our members are having to the local communities in which they live.” - Rich Halverson (USNA ‘05) Rich Halverson (USNA’ 05) is the Co-Founder of Joint Homes, a tech-enabled residential housing platform serving the military community by offering serving families exclusive access to beautiful homes as they move through their careers including integrated services that make it easy for them to be at home and the financial benefits of ownership so they can turn their rent into wealth. Rich created Joint Homes with Army veteran, Mel Levey (USMA ‘07) in order to solve the challenges they experienced at home while serving in the military. After multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan

“For the last 20 years, I’ve either consulted or been a COO in small to medium-sized businesses so I know the specific pain that these ‘tweener’ companies have…my military experience really set the foundation…I want to bring those military values to my COO consultancy. My company values are military values without being militaristic. The deep values are the things that really matter in the long run.”- Kirk Alexander (USAFA ‘89) Kirk Alexander is an Air Force veteran with over 20 years of experience as an operations executive in the information technology, health tech, SaaS, medical practice, and medical device industry. In 2004, Kirk founded Methodize.us where he uses his expertise to provide fractional COO services that help small and medium-sized companies take their businesses to the next level. In this episode, Kirk shares the methods, tools and resources he uses to help companies scale well into the future and why integrity-based values are his driving force. In this episode, we discuss: Why Kirk decide

“Our goal is to help companies achieve their business goals faster…the people side is the hardest part of business and the knowledge piece is one of the core components of that people side. How do you document the knowledge that you have? How do you take that knowledge and impart it to the next generation? How do you ensure you can rapidly pass off information as things change? These are all really critical problems and what we’re trying to do is be part of the effort to meet all of these challenges that we see in the world through a learning and development lens.”-Matthew Gjertsen (USAFA '05) Matthew Gjertsen is the Owner and Chief Learning Officer of Better Every Day Studios, which he founded on the idea that excellence is repeatable and can be achieved by anyone. Matthew and his experienced team work with organizations of all sizes across all industries to deliver exceptional learning and development experiences for their employees in order to achieve maximum performance. Prior to starting up Better Every

Jake Dulle is the Pre-Deployment Program Manager at LocalVest where he helps military veterans raise capital through their innovative online platform and community based events. Despite their impressive numbers, Veterans receive less overall financing from conventional lenders than their civilian-peers, despite filing more applications to more lenders. Without capital, Veteran businesses close and take their jobs, leadership and impact with them.  Jake along with his team at LocalVest are here to change that. In this episode, we discuss: Jake’s career transition from working at an 80,000+ employee company to working at a startup The LocalVest Pre-Deployment Program and how it prepares new founders to raise capital How LocalVest connects founders with the right investors who are mostly likely to invest in their deal Taking risks, betting on yourself and creating a new life for your family Connect with Jake: LinkedIn LocalVest LocalVest Pre-Deployment Program If you found this episode valuable, please share

“Loyalty, trust and transparency no matter what you’re doing in life–whether it’s running a business, having a family, being with your friends–if you keep that mentality and look after each other, you can make that path to success much easier.” - Tyler Laverick (USMMA ‘06) Tyler Laverick is a U.S. Merchant Marine Corps Academy grad and results-driven leader with a passion for tackling the toughest challenges to solve real-world problems. As Co-Founder of Bridge Core, he and his close-knit team integrate leading-edge technology solutions in secure environments, allowing commercial solutions to answer the problems we face now. Bridge Core is leading digital change and creating the workplace of the future by transforming the way clients work across geographically dispersed teams in one common operating environment.  In this episode, we discuss: Bridge Core’s origin story How Bridge Core partners with tech companies to serve the federal government  Why customer service is essential to Bridge Core’s mission How T

“My goal is to see this become a billion-dollar brand in the home services and construction industry. I want to get there by helping people build a sustainable source of wealth for themselves and their families. I want to get there by helping people build really solid businesses where they can define their participation…I don’t want to get there any other way.” - Zach Peyton (USMA ‘04) After graduating from West Point in 2004 and serving as an Army intelligence officer, Zach Peyton found an exciting future in the home services industry in North Florida where he is now the Co-Founder and President of Superior Fence & Rail, the nation’s only fencing franchise. Superior Fence & Rail locations are expanding rapidly across the United States thanks to Zach’s leadership and the company’s recent acquisition by Lynx Franchising. In this episode, Zach discusses what the exit experience was like from start to finish in addition to the big goals he has for Superior Fence & Rail’s continued growth within a bra

“We hang our hats on every deal and, with that, we’ve been able to make a real impact on the market we’re in.” - Kimberly Gile “A lot of the success that we’ve seen and that we’re having is because we’re ready. We’ve got the investor  money ready, we’ve got the structures ready, we’ve got the tenants ready…that’s the secret sauce, just being ready to rock n’ roll when the time comes.” - Christian Gile (USAFA '98) U.S. Air Force Veteran, Christian Gile and his wife Kimberly are the Founders of Gile Healthcare Real Estate, which provides premium commercial real estate services to physicians, dentists, veterinarians, optometrists, and medical investors looking to grow their businesses or invest for passive income. As a team, they provide premium services to ensure their clients are able to make solid real estate and brokerage decisions. Kimberly and Christian’s negotiation strategies coupled with their combined medical real estate experience and healthy working relationship continues to result in millions of dol

“There’s a lack of transparency in a system where we’re dealing with people’s health…it’s a tricky, frustrating space, but we’re just trying to do our small part to change that.” - Jason Belvill (USAFA ‘08) Jason Belvill is the Co-Founder & Director of Operations for BodySpec where he combines a passion for athletics with singular expertise in engineering to help design and oversee BodySpec's mobile scanning trucks. BodySpec’s mobile DEXA scans help people learn about their bodies so they can improve their overall health. Originally from Seattle, WA, Jason graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2008 where he was captain of the All-Armed Forces Soccer Team. In addition to soccer, CrossFit, and doughnuts, Jason enjoys world travel, having visited over 20 countries. In this episode, we discuss: What BodySpec is and how it works The unique biomarkers that BodySpec analyzes What a DEXA scan is and why BodySpec utilizes them  Why BodySpec wants to make preventative health accessible How BodySpec is reducing f

“I helped several veterans in franchising start businesses that they otherwise would not have found and do things that are good for their communities, but this is a way where I’m helping potentially hundreds, thousands, millions of people through the type of lending and investing that Sansbank is doing so I thought I’d go for it.” - Josh Emison (USNA ‘14) Josh Emison is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sansbank, a tech startup on a mission to democratize commercial real estate investing to allow anyone to receive passive income. Through an innovative cashflow tokenization process, Sansbank grants property owners cash advances against future profits. Property owners receive capital and maintain equity while investors participate in the offering by lending $100 tokens granting them fractionalized monthly preferred return payments. Prior to founding Sansbank, Josh served in the U.S. Marine Corps and owned a successful veteran franchise consulting business. In this episode, we discuss: Why Josh transitioned from bein

“Number one, don’t give up. Number two, think outside of the box. And, number three, build a strong team. If you have those three things working for you and a half-decent idea, you’ve got a good chance of making it.” - Eric Johnson (USNA ‘81) Eric Johnson is CEO and Director at HELM Audio, a company focused on audio innovation. HELM Audio was founded in 2017 by a proven team of product developers, marketing strategists, industry veterans, and musicians who also happened to be great friends. With a passion for audio gear, great music, and the deep know-how needed to build world-class cutting-edge products, Eric and his team set out to fill a vast market gap with an ambitious brand born for music lovers who desire immersive audio with ultramodern freedom and functionality at a tremendous value. Prior to his career in technology, Eric served in the U.S. Navy. In this episode, we discuss: The origin story of HELM Audio HELM Audio’s best-selling products and who their end users are Why HELM Audio has a competitiv