Episodes

Welcome back! Today you'll meet Aaron Carter. Aaron is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned in June 2014 and launched his career in a Professional Sales role at Cordis. Cordis is a company that develops and manufactures medical device...

On this unique episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we interview an alumni about his journey with multiple sclerosis and his positive mindset in handling adversity. Kevin Byrne, a former Army Apache Helicopter Pilot, who transitioned through the Cameron-Brooks program in 2000, recently volunteered to be a guest on our podcast. Kevin has a heroic story to tell. This podcast is unlike any other we have done in 100+ episodes. At first, I thought we were going to discuss Kevin’s career and transi...

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, I interview Jim Marek. Jim spent over 7 years as a USMC Infantry officer before transitioning to Corporate America. When Jim came to his Career Conference in January 2016, he received multiple employment offers in roles focused in Consulting and Professional Sales. He ultimately chose to start his business career at H-P Enterprises. Since making his transition, Jim has worked at three different companies so the thrust of this conversat...

What are the best tips on how to impress a corporate recruiter for a JMO? We cover this topic (and more!) in our latest podcast with special guest, Frances Cole Jones. Junior Military Officers (JMOs) are taught to be calm under pressure, to stay even keeled and be short and to the point when speaking with superiors. While this style is important as a JMO leader, it does not translate well to interviewing. During an interview, recruiters really want to get to know a candidate. A big part of what...

Welcome back! On this episode we meet Bryce Saddoris, former Marine and Olympic qualifier. Bryce launched his career as a Sales Representative at Altec after serving as a USMC Ground Supply officer. For the first part of Bryce’s military career he was on the USMC Wrestling Team and the U.S. National Olympic team. Bryce had a long and distinguished wrestling career, culminating in being #1 in his weight class for the 2015-2016 Olympic team. Through the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, Bryce ear...

We are celebrating our 100th podcast with special guests Roger Cameron and René Brooks, founders of Cameron-Brooks and the Junior Military Officer (JMO) recruiting industry. Roger launched the JMO recruiting industry during the Vietnam War as veterans looking for work transitioned back into civilian life. Consequently, because of the Vietnam draft, Corporate America needed to find an alternative source of talent from the college graduate. Roger discovered the valuable leadership experience JMOs...

Welcome back to the podcast! On this episode I interview Brent Whiteman. Brent is a former Air Force officer who transitioned to Corporate America as a Derivative Trader in 2015. He holds a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy, and, upon commissioning, Brent was afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard where he earned an MPP in Business and Government Policy. Brent launched his career at Chatham Financial, a consulting firm focused on risk advisory relating to debt and ass...

Welcome back! On this episode of the podcast I interview Greg Payne. Greg is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned in 2019 after attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference. Greg launched his business career at Abbott, a Fortune 500 Global Healthcare Company and specifically started within Abbott’s Point of Care division. Today on the podcast, we cover his transition into a sales role and how our current COVID-19 world has created an impact. Why Sales? We start our conversation disc...

Junior Military Officers (JMOs) face numerous obstacles in making a successful transition to business. They are switching industries (defense to business), companies (Navy, Army, Air Force, etc., to a new company), career fields (unless they are going to a defense contractor or government agency) and locations. They have to identify companies and positions that value their background, ensure they have openings that sync up with their timelines, line up interviews and hopefully get offers they ca...

Welcome back! In this episode, I'd like to introduce Nick Barlow. Nick is an Associate Product Manager at Zimmer Biomet. He is a former Army Finance officer who was branch detailed to the Armor branch for the first four years of his service as a commis...

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast I interview Jim Rhoden. Jim is a former Army Logistician who transitioned in 2015. He had 13 interviews at the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference and through the Conference and Follow Up Interview Process, he engaged in a total of 45 interviews which rendered 4 different offers for employment. Jim launched his career at Foster Farms as a plant manager. Foster Farms is the largest poultry producer in the western Unites States. On the podca...

As we all navigate the turbulent waters of this COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to bring you insight from someone who has helped military officers transition through all types of economic ups and downs. Joel Junker began his career at Cameron-Brooks over 20 years ago. In all that time, Cameron-Brooks has never cancelled a Career Conference! Through the Dot-com bubble, 9/11, the financial crisis of 2008/2009, Joel has been there to help officers transition every step of the way. In this episode, he ...

At Cameron-Brooks we believe, amidst this global crisis, that quality leadership is more important than ever. So we will continue to post our regular podcasts to educate potential transitioning military officers. You are the future leaders Corporate America will need. This episode features Porsche Wilson. Porsche transitioned to Corporate America from the Army in 2009 was serving as Army Medical Service Corps officer. She launched her business career at Regions Bank in a banking operations Proj...

Military to business transition doesn't have to be risky — especially if you have the right partner who knows how to make the transition successfully. However, it does require one to step outside of your comfort zone. - Cameron-Brooks Alumnus,

Welcome back! On this episode of Above and Beyond, I interview Hunter Barns. Hunter is a former Navy Submariner who transitioned into a Senior Business Analyst role (one of several possible consulting careers for military officers) at Kearney, a global management consulting firm in 2014. Hunter launched his career as a consultant focused mostly on the analytical piece of consulting before transitioning into more of a client-facing role. We begin our conversation discussing how Hunter transitio...

Late last year, LinkedIn published the Veteran Opportunity Report with some concerning statistics. Around 33% of veterans report being underemployed and 70% describe taking a step backward in responsibility when moving to the business world from the military. The number one reason this occurs is that many companies do not understand the value veterans bring to their organization. The majority of those surveyed were Junior Military Officers, so this risk of being underemployed and taking a step b...

Welcome back! In this episode we feature Jonathan Brewer. He is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned to Corporate America in 2018 and is an Account Manager for Anderson & Vreeland. When Jonathan came to the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, he had 15 separate interviews and just about every company expressed interest in having him out for a follow-up interview. At the Conference, he had more interviews focused on operational team leadership than any other type of career field, ...

In this podcast, Pat Moesta shares the interview advice he would give other JMOs when preparing for their transition. Pat made a successful transition into the business world as a Brand Manager at Stryker back in 2017. He is a USMA 2012 grad and a former Army Infantry officer. When Pat attended the Cameron-Brooks August 2017 Conference, he converted 13 interviews into 9 company pursuits and had 3 offers to choose from. He knows how to interview. “Interview for every opportunity as if it is your...

Welcome back! This episode is a bit different than our normal podcast. For this episode, Joel Junker is on the other side of the microphone. He shares his insight on how to answer the simple, but very important interview question “Tell Me About Yourself”. If you were ever going to rank people who give interview advice, Joel should be at the very top of your list. Not only did he transition as a JMO and have an outstanding Career Conference, but he also has over 21 years of experience helping li...

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast. In this episode, Kilian Wald, Associate Finance Manager at Stryker, joins me for a conversation about his transition from an Army Air Defense Officer to a development candidate career in Finance with Stryker Medical. In less than two years with Stryker, Kilian has already been promoted and earned a special assignment for 6 months in Singapore. He credits his success with JMO leadership lessons he learned during his time in...

Welcome Back! In this podcast episode, I interview Kirby Rolfe (Kastner). She is a former Army Transportation officer who transitioned to Corporate America in August 2016. She launched her business career with Boston Scientific as a Senior Production Planner. We had a great conversation and covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time regarding career management. She started by explaining why she chose Boston Scientific from her Career Conference and the day-to-day responsibilities of her f...

Welcome to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast! Have you heard about Big Data, Data Analytics or Artificial Intelligence? Wonder why it is so important in business today? Curious how JMOs can break into big data career fields? In this episode I interview Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Jason Papale, who is a Senior Operations Business Analyst at USAA. Most are familiar with what USAA does, but you may not realize exactly how they use data science to create a better experience when interacting...

Welcome back! I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Brian Fitzgerald. Brian is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned to an Engineering Project Management role within Boston Scientific in 2016. -

Several listeners have requested to hear about what it's like for a JMO to work in the hi-tech industry. In Episode 81, Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Eric Dvorak, describes his work with the Corning Emerging Innovations Group.