We had a full house this week, with several new faces alongside some familiar ones, and the kind of cross-pollination that makes these Roundtables worth showing up for every Tuesday.

I opened introductions with Joshua Wood (Certified Franchise Consultant with New Leaf Franchise, which he runs alongside his wife Shalisha; joshua@NewLeafFranchise.com; newleaffranchise.com), who explained that he and Shalisha help veterans in transition explore business ownership through franchising, at no cost to the veteran, partnering with close to 800 national brands and connecting people to discounted, veteran-friendly SBA financing.

Next up was Mike "Buzz" Mallon (Founder & Managing Partner of Storyteller Promotions, a full-service promotional products and branding company, and a Marine Corps veteran; buzz@storytellerpromotions.com), who also runs a veteran-owned networking group called Tropic Thunder that meets weekly.

I had to publicly thank Kelvin Ching (Executive Managing Director at Mod Financial, offering tax-free retirement strategies, business financing, and high-yield savings options insured up to $50 million; KChingAndAssociates@gmail.com) for picking me up at the hospital and taking me to lunch while I was on Oahu for my mom's medical procedure—  Nakisha Jolanda Gregory (Navy veteran, founder of Gift Opener LLC, host of Confidence On Command Live; giftopenerllc.com, nakishajgregory.com) had joined us as well. Nakisha's building out our live event series in Oahu — the first is September 17, with a second locked in for October 15 — both feeding into a bigger kickoff event we're planning for April aboard the USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor. The idea behind that whole series is to connect the VA's own "Journeys of Veterans Map" framework to real, in-person access to the VA, VRE, Vet Centers, and other government resources, and Nakisha's already running with it.

Frank DiBartolomeo (retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, professional speaker and presentation coach at DiBartolomeo Consulting International, author of Speak Well and Prosper, and host of the Successful Speaking for Technical Professionals podcast; frank@speakleadandsucceed.com) offered his interview and presentation coaching to any veteran who could use it. I let him know about the podcast page we've built on the VOB website — embedded, free, and another platform for him — and invited him to post there.

Jake "The Flagman" Droge shared his story: he's an Army National Guard veteran who started running half marathons during COVID, carrying an American flag, after a humbling first attempt at getting back in shape. He's up to 22 states and aiming for 26 by year-end, and says the running has been a real help with his PTSD. He heads to Indiana and Ohio next month for back-to-back weekend races, and we're working on getting some travel support behind him — it's good for him, good for VOB visibility, and a story worth sharing further.

Rajiv Jadhav (CEO of Rsquare Media, an online reputation and AI-search-visibility firm based in New York City; linkedin.com/in/rajivjadhav) isn't a veteran but came in with real energy — he's on a mission to fight homelessness and poverty through AI-driven economic opportunity, a talk he gives at the United Nations a few times a year, and he's looking to connect with the VA community and any channel partners interested in referral commissions.

David Mohammed (AI transformation and automation consultant, founder of Mo-Blind Solutions, based in Tampa; david@mo-blind.com, mo-blind.com), attending for the first time, walked us through how he helps small businesses fix their processes first, then layer in AI — voice agents that catch missed calls, custom CRMs, and AI-visibility work (AEO) so businesses show up when people ask ChatGPT or Gemini a direct question instead of Googling keywords. He's also volunteering with several veteran-focused organizations and is looking for a sponsor for a free PMP training cohort for military spouses.

Dr. Gina Di Nola ("Doctor D," Founder of Di Nola Consulting, a PMI Authorized Training Partner; drdinola@dinolaconsulting.com, dinolaconsulting.com) announced she'd just launched Military Spouse University the week prior, helping military spouses build careers around the unique nuances of military life. She's also behind Veterans OneSource, an event calendar and resource map she built herself with AI. Deb asked about pathways for VOB to get credentialed for VR&E educational benefits so Gina's PMP and CAPM training could count toward that — something we're actively pursuing.

Dan Ricks (Founder, President & CEO of Bright Water Consulting, providing COO, CIO, and EOS integrator services for 23 years now; dricks@brightwaterconsulting.com), also new this week, offered his technology and process-improvement expertise to any of our businesses that could use it. Mark Miracle (USMC combat veteran '87-'93, owner of Miracle Sales Advisory in Aurora, Colorado; mmiracle@salesxceleration.com) introduced himself as someone who helps business owners build or fix their sales engine.

Mark Spenelli (Army veteran; building Nature's Edge, a veteran-centered RV park and glampground community; natures.edge.glampground@gmail.com) He and his wife Nicky are also part of the QRFup team as well, and their race event has shifted to the weekend of November 6th through 8th at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Deb Plennert gave the QRF Up update: their focus remains crisis intervention and suicide prevention, working in partnership with 988, with 250 housing units in Florida (soon adding roughly 200 more) offering veterans up to two years of housing, therapy, and training pathways — including a very cool outdoor-guide certification program in Colorado covering backwoods horsemanship, fly fishing, and even avalanche rescue. They're running a silent auction right now, and Deb's been working hard to get a veteran named Christina, who lost use of her arms and legs to an IED and is currently experiencing homelessness with her teenager, closer to family and stabilized.

We also caught up with Bill Haase (founder of Money Mindset Media, author of Our Mindset on Money) on his Missouri event planning — connecting him directly with Scotty at HonorBox, who builds custom memorial dioramas we'd like to bring on stage at the ceremony. Bill's also launching a financial-literacy and career-planning program in Indiana prisons next week, helping parolees build real life and financial plans before release, with eight or nine more states already interested.

Everyone is encouraged to complete their free VOB member profile. I can see that several people have registered but have not yet finished setting up their profiles. If anyone runs into difficulty completing their profile, adding a business listing, posting Community News, or navigating the site, please reach out — I'm happy to help.

Thanks again to everyone who joined, shared, asked, offered, and connected. This is exactly what we want the VOB Roundtable to be: veterans and supporters helping each other find the people, tools, services, and opportunities that move missions forward.

Mahalo,
Kevin 🍍🇺🇸