Organizations Helping Veterans Pivot
On December 2, 2025, Allen Whiteside (Programs Director, NextOp), Ellen Gustafson, (Co-Founder and Executive Director, We the Veterans), Lindsay Cashin (Senior Vice President of Advancement and Strategic Partnerships, The COMMIT Foundation), and Maggie Mello (Senior Director of Public Service Education, Volcker Alliance) discussed their roles helping veterans pivot to new career paths and highlighted a broad range of organizations that are committed to supporting former military servicemen and women, as well as their families. Carla Koppell moderated the event.
This session was the first of a two-part, two-day mini series dedicated to all veterans in our community. Though there are many similarities between veterans and others seeking new career paths, there are critical differences.
Most notably, translating military experiences and jargon can be a challenge for some former servicemembers and companies. Here, Allen Whiteside’s organization, NextOp, steps-in to help veterans translate their experience for private sector audiences and guide firms to tailor their job postings to put veterans in a position to succeed.
He and the other panelists all agreed that veterans’ skills are in high-demand across the private sector workforce. It is simply a question of familiarity and understanding how to contextualize veterans’ experiences into a new sector.
Another important issue that the panelists addressed was how to best get one’s foot in the door. As we all understand, though we may have the requisite experience and knowledge to pursue new career paths, it is still difficult to identify and seize those opportunities.
To address this issue, Ellen Gustafson highlighted the work her organization, We the Veterans, takes on to support military members and their families transition to new career spaces. One key tactic she recommended was volunteer work: whether offering your time to work the polls during elections or providing administrative and logistical support for veteran-focused charities, volunteering is an effective way to grow your network and strengthen your core competencies.
Of course, there are also numerous opportunities for veterans to transition into new careers in public service. Maggie Mello spoke at length about how her organizations, The Volcker Alliance, builds partnerships with senior university leaders, government agencies, and other nonprofit and private sector organizations to promote innovation in public service.
She finds that veterans have particularly success forging new careers at state- and local-level public service. Although there are numerous challenges to American public service provision, there are also opportunities to help reinvent it. Once again, the skillsets veterans possess are in high-demand.
Finally, there is a drive to improve the education and support all veterans receive during their career transformation. Lindsay Cashin of The COMMIT Foundation discussed how her team helps offer career coaching, education support, and other services to veterans looking to pivot to new career paths. Their offerings not only prepare former military members for to identify new careers, but they also place some within their own ranks to help others on their journey.
Again, a culture of service and support is readily apparent, and these instincts drive those who are committed to helping veterans find new job opportunities and enriching or rewarding careers.
Ultimately, there is no one single pathway to find a career after your time with the military is complete. There are numerous options one can pursue, and the sheer number of organizations and individuals who are ready to help is immense.
You are all dedicated, experienced, resilient, skilled, and loyal. You’ve proudly served your country. Now, let us (with these organizations, among others) support you during your career transformations. This time, it’s your turn to be served!
Other Previous Sessions
Please feel free to browse our other previous sessions to access summaries, video content, and more information about our other events!