Old Grad Podcast

Rich Ryan is CEO and founder of Six-15 Technologies a technology company that designs, develops, and manufactures head-up displays (HUDs) for users operating in the world’s most demanding environments.  He was a lax player at West Point and commissioned as an aviator. Among many things we reminisce about "Lacrosse Tribe", a crazy spring break firstie year, a 125 hour slug, and having his best friend marry his sister.  Rich bravely talks about his own struggles with depression and his to keep healthy despite the pressures of work and life. We also remember our fallen classmate Tom McTigue. 

Tim Burnham lives in Nashville TN and recently transitioned into his own consultancy business specializing in saving money for small and mid-sized businesses. He bravely tells his personal story dating back to West Point where he began struggling with problems related to alcohol. Today he is 15 years sober with a stable marriage and home life. This is all a function of his grit, determination and humility. 

Laurie Reider Jabbar lives in California with her husband and two sons. We chat about her journey from losing her mother at a young age, to being a corps squad athlete to serving in Germany, to navigating the challenges of being a serial entrepreneur. She has a podcast of her own "She's 10 times 5."

Traci Cisek Fisher was recruited to play soccer at West Point directly from high school. She didn't know much about West Point before showing up the night before R-day to meet her soccer teammates at Holly Fishburne's house. This was the start of the very strong bonds she would form with the other women on the soccer team.  She strongly considered resigning during Beast, but was talked out of it by her D2 company mates. She has very fond memories of her 3 years on corps squad soccer as well as her times as a D2 Dragon. She was commissioned in Aviation and served her first assignment at Ft Stewart. She talks about her transition out of the Army as being one of her toughest challenges. "It totally sucked. I Went from landing in a 2 min window on an LZ to picking up cheetos in a mini-van.  Rough, rough time for me."  One of her outlets for dealing with the stress of transition was to focus on physical fitness and emotional wellness. This experience formed the basis for her life's work.  After creating the Wellbeingness® Model, specifically to take leaders through a scientifically based, concise and clear process to develop both mindset and health, Traci has combined leadership and wellness to give teams a new approach to health, leadership and outstanding personal, professional and organizational performance.

Beach Pace is CEO of Big Brother and Big Sisters Columbia Northwest,  located outside of Portland Oregon. She and her wife Jincy have been together for 18years, they have a daughter (Aidan) and son (Conor). She graduated and was commissioned as an ordinance officer. Her first assignment was in Italy where she led a highly specialized in EOD unit and eventually had a company command pre-advance course. She served a total of 7 years on active duty with her final assignment leading ROTC in Northern Michigan.  She spent several years working as a pharmaceutical sales rep before transitioning into social change-making. In addition to leading Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Beach is also an elected official in the city of Hillsboro Oregon. 

This was a very powerful conversation with Vince Duque talking about his journey through depression and suicide ideation. We talk about growing in pursuit of his American Dream; what it was like to be in A-1 "Be Straight or Be Gone"; accidentally allowing a classmate's car to roll into Lake Popolopen; managing actors and actresses on the set in Hollywood. This episode was filled with great tidbits of advice and insightful reflection. 

Jon talks about his 28-year journey in the Army - he recently retired and is living in Pinehurst NC. We pay special tribute to our recently fallen classmate Anthony DeToto

Aloha - Rich joins us from Hawaii where he still works as a DA civilian following a full career as an Army Officer. We begin by talking about the benefits of meditation for mental well being. We reflect on Rich's journey going back to 1986 when as a freshman at the University of Utah he was accepted to West Point. Highlights include spending 6 months in Ranger school, branch transfer from Infantry to Aviation, company and battalion commands.  He and his wife Staci have been married 22 years and they have two daughters. 

Charles Lipeles just completed a 102 mile ultra running race. He was joined by company mates Paul Begalka and Brian Halloran who were his support team for the race. We begin by talking about the unique demographics of Company C3. There was a disproportionate number of Jewish Cadets in that company. We learn that this may have been the brainchild of a person working in the G1 at USMA. Charles, Paul and Brian have many stories going all the way back to July of 1987.