Veteran On the Move

74: Army Veteran Casey Adams is the founder of the Kansas City Drone Company and has over 7 years of Department of Defense related UAS experience. He has built, programmed, and flown UAS in direct support and ISR operations (Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance). Aerial data acquisition, exploitation, and dissemination are among his skill sets. He studied UAS, aviation, and robotics at K-State in Salina. He enjoys autonomous robots, artificial intelligence, and other gadgetry. He is a huge proponent of airspace safety and general ‘drone’ education. He enjoys a fine whiskey and is trying to beat his personal record of 3 minutes to solve a rubix cube.

The Kansas City Drone Company is a UAS related data company. KC Drone Company offers low altitude aerial solutions. We currently offer photos videos and mapping services to a wide range of clients. We are the only company in Kansas City that has a FAA 333 Exemption and Blanket COA. So far, we have been featured on every major news outlet in KC and have been contacted by CNN and KDOT Aviation to speak as a subject matter expert. Our customers range from small companies to fortune 100 companies.

73: Tony Cross is Chief Executive Officer for the Career Learning and Employment Center for Veterans, Inc., also known as Operation: Job Ready Veterans. From 1979 to 1998, Mr. Cross proudly served on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, earning the rank of Gunnery Sergeant and serving as a Marine Drill Instructor. After retiring from military service, Mr. Cross transitioned into the workforce development profession in order to serve and support the veteran community. An Indiana native, Mr. Cross earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Indiana Wesleyan University in Business Management and Human Resources. He is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans and the Society of Forty Men and Eight Horses.

72: Entertainer. Educator. Entrepreneur. These are the three words that sum up the life of Clay Clark, the former United States Small Business Administration Entrepreneur of the Year, the Metro Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneur of the Year, a partner / owner of nine different businesses, a contributing author for Entrepreneur Magazine and the founder / partner of Thrive15.com with David Robinson, an NBA Hall of Fame Basketball player, NBA MVP, NBA Champion, and two-time Gold Medal Winner. Throughout his career, Clay has been the award-winning entertainer, educator, and speaker of choice for America's largest companies including: Hewlett Packard, Southwest Airlines, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Bama Companies, Boeing, Farmers Insurance, New York Life Insurance, Maytag University, Oral Roberts University, Oxi Fresh, QuikTrip, Valspar Paint, and countless other companies and organizations looking to entertain and educate their people.

www.thrive15.com/veteran

71: Lila Holley is a Veteran, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend, and Entrepreneur in a nutshell. She's a retired Chief Warrant Officer Four who served 22 years in the US Army and loved it. Lila credits her military experiences for shaping who she is today. She's lived across the country in such places as Fort Stewart, GA; Fort Carson, CO; Fort Leavenworth, KS; Fort Hood, TX; Fort Knox, KY and the Washington, DC area. Lila is thankful for the travel opportunities she's been able to experience while serving, having lived or traveled overseas to such amazing places as South Korea, England, Hawaii, Bosnia, Iraq, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore. Today, Lila give back as a Certified Life Coach, helping Transitioning Military Members and their Families maneuver the Emotional Battlefield they encounter when separating from the military. She's been in your boots and wants to assure you that what you are feeling is normal. The good news is you don’t have to maneuver transition alone. Help is available - you now have a Battle Buddy in Coach Lila.

Like many of you, I deployed several times to foreign lands, leaving behind my spouse, children, and extended family. Thanks to the military I received some incredible training that prepared me for the increased responsibilities that come with leading troops, promotions, and of course, combat. I was blessed to meet some wonderful people and traveled to some marvelous lands I had only seen on a map. Again, all experiences that helped shape who I am and yet I would not change any of these experiences for anything.

I believe in life we experience things for our own personal growth as we head towards our greatness and to help others along the way. I learned a lot about myself while in the military but I learned even more upon my retirement. I am still learning and am making myself and my lessons learned available to the many other Service Members currently going through, preparing for, or still trying to make sense of their emotions as they navigate through the battlefield called Transition. As a Life Coach, specializing in helping Transitioning Military Members and their Families, I have been in your “boots” and I can relate to the concerns you have about the unknowns ahead of you. What you are feeling is normal and expected. The good news is you don’t have to maneuver alone… YOU now have a Battle Buddy.

70: Byron "Jay" Johnson is a retired U.S. Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant (MGySgt) E9. He is a small business owner, Johnson Consulting and Logistic Services LLC. He is married to the beautiful Shalonda Espy Johnson and they have two daughters Kim 26 and Jayleah 16 and they live in Olathe Kansas.

69: Lee Cockerell is the former Executive Vice President of Operations for the Walt Disney World® Resort. As the Senior Operating Executive for 10 years, Lee led a team of 40,000 Cast Members (Disney Employees) and was responsible for the operations of 20 resort hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, a shopping and entertainment village, and the ESPN sports and recreation complex in addition to the ancillary operations which supported the number one vacation destination in the world. His newest venture is sharing his business knowledge with entrepreneurs on Thrive15.com. 

Use promo code veteran to received 30 days of free business training at www.thrive15.com/veteran

68: Matt Miller spent the first 9 years of his career as an Air Force pilot, before entering the corporate world to work at both Abbott Laboratories and Valassis. While a top performer for both companies, his long term desire was to start a business and be his own boss. A good friend one day mentioned the gum ball machines he and his young daughters owned, and that conversation began a 10 year business quest that has brought Matt's company, School Spirit Vending, to the cutting edge of both the vending and school fundraising industries. Today, School Spirit Vending's Hassle-Free fundraising program is helping schools in 23 states raise money in it's own unique way.

67: Dr. Michael H. Morris holds the James W. Walter Eminent Scholar Chair at the University of Florida, and was formerly the Malone Mitchell Chair at Oklahoma State University. In addition to starting three ventures, he has built top-ranked entrepreneurship programs at three major universities. A pioneer in curricular innovation and experiential learning, his entrepreneurial outreach efforts have facilitated the development of hundreds of ventures. He has also consulted to a large number of corporations around the world. Dr. Morris has published eleven books and over 130 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is co-editor of the Prentice-Hall Entrepreneurship Series and a Past President of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Dr. Morris has been awarded the Edwin & Gloria Appel Prize for contributions to entrepreneurship. A former Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Morris was selected as one of the top twenty entrepreneurship professors in the U.S. by Fortune Small Business, and is the recipient of the Leavey Award from the Freedoms Foundation for impacting private enterprise education and the Dedication to Entrepreneurship Award from the Academy of Management. He received his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

66: Lucas A. Dyer is a US Marine who served thirteen years on active duty in the infantry before joining the Marine Corps Reserves. He has deployed multiple times, including to the Middle East and Helmand, Afghanistan, where he was decorated with combat valor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology, is a certified and licensed sports nutritionist, and writes about nutrition for Jiu-Jitsu Magazine. He is currently married and lives in Southern California.

 As a US Marine, Lucas A. Dyer engaged in combat with the Taliban in Afghanistan?s heroin capital of Helmand. He fought in the Battle of Khanjar while participating in Operation Enduring Freedom from May 2009 to December 2009. He was one of the four thousand Marines who fought under Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson as a member of the Second Marine Expeditionary Brigade, which also included 650 Afghan soldiers.

As a small unit leader and platoon commander leading Marines in battle, he fought terrorists and their allies on their home turf, witnessing unspeakable violence in the process. At a certain point, however, he and his fellow Marines realized that an eye for an eye would not accomplish their objectives; that marked a turning point for them, and a basis of true success began to unfold.

Relying on counterinsurgency operations, they began shaking hands one at a time?and that was how they ultimately drove the Taliban away. Day by day and week by week, they proved that a small fighting force could work together with Afghans to become brothers-in-arms.

In this memoir, Dyer recalls the events of his time in Afghanistan, sharing true stories from the front lines of how his company was able to win their battles through handshakes.

65: Matt Butler is an active duty member of the Air Force and has been serving for approximately 17 years. Matt developed an outdoor game called Rollors which is a cross between bocce ball and horseshoes. The game has been very well received since he put it on the market back in 2010. Rollors has won 11 awards and has been product of the year 4 times to include Men's Journal "Best Gear of 2014". Additionally, Matt was selected from hundreds of applicants to attend Oklahoma State University veteran's entrepreneurship program which he was awarded first prize for this accomplishments for his outdoor game company. To date Rollors has over 36,0000 happy customers. Matt is here to day to share his experiences with Rollors and OSU's veteran's entrepreneurship program.

http://rollors.com/

Minnesota-native Matt Butler is the inventor of Rollors. The concept was first visualized on downtime between deployments overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan supporting combat operations. Upon return Matt developed a prototype in his garage that was well received at BBQs, parties, and other outdoor types of get-togethers. A few months later; around the time of the recession; Matt saw many local veterans out of work that had the resident wood working skills that helped spark the light bulb onto a means to help them. He then decided he wanted to employ local veterans to help construct the wooden disks and wooden, cone-shaped targets used in the game in their home workshops. After countless number of games were handcrafted, packaged and sold through the website, church, craft fairs, and other types of venues it was then distributed in brick and mortar retailers across American and has even started distribution outside of the United States. After helping numerous veterans get themselves back on their feet from the recession he has it developed outside of the United States to be able to get it to a price point so many more people and families can enjoy the fun. Rollors has turned into an award-winning and unique game which is revolutionizing beach and backyard fun. Now, three years later he is taking it a step further by using the platform of his success to consult other veterans needing a second career on how to effectively manage their inventions. He opens the pages of his story of patenting, distributing, and selling his invention in hopes to inspire and guide other retired and active "brothers in arms" with their creations. Let's roll!