Bob Thompson

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

Delaware and Pennsylvania: Dover AFB, DE and Willow Grove NRGB, PA

Brief Bio:

Bob Thompson has been a Career Transition Workshop Facilitator with Inverness since December 2006 and is originally from New York City. After a colorful pre-military career that included driving trucks, designing lighting for concerts, and selling vegetables on the streets of New York, he entered the Air Force. During his 23 years of service, in addition to three Middle East deployments and two overseas assignments, Bob was selected by the Air Force as one of the first family readiness coordinators, helping to design and deploy programs that encouraged and empowered military families to thrive during times of extended military separations. Additionally, Bob provided operational and protocol support to over 100 Military Airlift Operations returning our Nation’s Heroes to Dover Air Force Base. Bob retired from the Air Force in 2006 as a master sergeant and entered private industry. He has since primarily worked as a transition workshop facilitator while continuing a passion for volunteer work in his community. Bob is dad to two beautiful daughters and one brand-new son-in-law.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Before Bob started his career in the Air Force, he took an acting class and among his classmates was Aida Turturro, who went on the great success in The Sopranos and on Broadway.

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Chris Vaia

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

All Army and Air Force sites, Republic of Korea.

Brief Bio:

Chris Vaia is the Lead TAP Facilitator in South Korea. He has been with the TAP program since March 2004 and facilitates TAP workshops at both Army and Air Force sites throughout Korea. Chris served three years in Vietnam as an Infantry Platoon Sergeant, one year in transportation and 23 years as a US Army Career Counselor Sergeant Major. He helped develop the TAP workbook and was the first military TAP Facilitator in US Army Japan. Chris received numerous valor awards during three separate tours leading and training Infantry soldiers in Vietnam, as program manager for the first containerized cargo moving unit at Ft Eustis, Va. and as an outstanding Army Career Counselor numerous times during a 23 year period of increasing levels of responsibilities. He also has extensive experience in public relations and team building projects. The Vaia family retired in 1997 and is blessed with granddaughter’s Jeni and Ashley and daughter-in-law Siley and son Jason in Smyrna, GA. Chris continues to serve with the Yongsan Korea Retiree Council and Korean Association of Retired Persons. His strengths include technical knowledge, dynamic communication skills, total integrity, approachability and enthusiasm. Chris is also working on a Masters Degree in Hospital Management.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Chris has an interesting and rewarding hobby: balloon twisting to create little animals and other fun balloon creations. Chris, along with several other volunteers, volunteer their time in both Far and South East Asia, where they help to entertain orphans, patients and senior citizens with an international friendship mission named Bridgebuilders46. This friendship fellowship is dedicated to their 13 year old daughter – Jeni Vaia – who passed on from an asthma attack in February 1991 at Camp Zama, Japan and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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Gale Kennedy

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

Washington State, Naval Station Everett, "The Sailor's Choice"

Brief Bio:

Gale has been a TAP instructor since January 2009. Gale hails from Wilmington, Massachusetts where she joined the Navy in March 1973. She spent 22 years on active duty. She started her career as a Personnelman and retired as a Navy Counselor Chief Petty Officer (E-7). During her career she helped develop a one-week Pre-Retirement and Pre-Separation workshop at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Hawaii. This became the precursor to today's TAP classes. That experience impacted her greatly and when it came her time to retire she started early and identified her "dream job" six months before retiring. She initially worked as an Employment Specialist for the YWCA Family Village, a transitional housing facility for homeless families. After 15 months with them she finally landed that "dream job" and ran the TAP Program for Naval Station Everett from August 1996 – December 2005. During her time running TAP she also developed her freelance writing skills, writing articles for many military transition websites, magazines and newspapers. She was the "host" of the Monster.com "Transition from Military to Civilian Workplace" message forum for four years. She developed the first electronic newsletter offered by Transition Assistance Online (www.taonline.com). Since leaving the FFSC family she has done private career counseling with University of Washington staff, and proctors tests for Columbia College.

Gale holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Columbia College. She has been married to her husband, Steve, for 35 years, has a grown daughter and son and has been raising her 12-year old grandson since birth.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Gale took her grandson white water rafting for his birthday last year and they are hooked! Now it is planned to be a yearly excursion down some of the Pacific Northwest's most scenic rivers!

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Jerry Sutton

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

Georgia: Fort McPherson, GA.

Brief Bio:

Jerry Sutton has been a facilitator with Inverness since September 2007. He began working with the company in Europe and traveled to several sites throughout Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Jerry is from Macon, GA and entered the Unites States Air Force in December 1984. His career flying with AWACS took him all over the world and he saw several CONUS assignments as well as assignments in Asia and Europe. In May 2007, he retired from active duty service as a Command Chief Master Sergeant. Jerry's real passion is training and teaching and his time as a Director of Education for one of the Air Force’s professional military education colleges prepared him well for service with Inverness. Jerry has also been blessed with the "gift of gab" which he uses as a motivational speaker from time to time. He’s been told his style is a blend of Lewis Grizzard and Jerry Clower as he taps into his Southern roots to entertain and inspire success in others. Jerry is the father of seven children, four girls and three boys, and has three grandchildren with one on the way. When he's not in the kitchen, you can bet you'll find Jerry at the golf course. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Hamilton Mill Golf Club Men's Golf Association and tries to play at least 3-4 times every week.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Jerry enjoys writing poetry and has written both patriotic verse as well as words that reach out to touch the heart. He's currently working on a book of poetry entitled "From the Heart."

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Jill Casey

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

Italy: Vicenza and Aviano Air Base. Other sites in Italy/Europe as needed.

Brief Bio:

Jill Casey holds a Masters degree in Adult Education and Bachelors degrees in Communications and Fitness Management. She is a certified resume writer and is currently pursuing certification as a career coach through the Professional Association of Resume Writers and Career Coaches. She has over five years of experience in military transition, having previously worked as both an ACAP Counselor and TAP Facilitator in Korea and Hawaii. In addition to the work she does in the TAP Program, she also works as an adjunct resume writer and career coach for the Impact Group, a large employee placement firm based in the U.S. Prior to working in military transition, Jill worked as a federal employee as the Community Fitness Director for the Wiesbaden Germany Military Community. Additionally, she owns her own consulting firm, Fitness Consulting Services, providing program development services to the federal government as well as training and certifying fitness instructors world-wide.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Jill is proudest of her role as a military spouse, having been married to LTC John Casey, a U.S. Army Medical Service Corps Officer, for over 18 years. His career has taken the family to Germany, Virginia, Texas, Turkey, Korea, Hawaii and now Italy.

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Robert McMillan

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

United Kingdom and Italy

Brief Bio:

Robert was born and raised in Napa, California and comes from a military family. After 22 years active duty service, Robert retired from the Air Force at RAF Mildenhall (UK) in May 2007. Almost immediately after his retirement, Robert successfully applied, interviewed and accepted a position with the largest British national housing corporation. Robert credits the ease of his own transition largely to his final job in the Air Force as the Superintendent of the Airman and Family Readiness Center. In this position, he trained for (and trained others in) the critical skills needed to successfully transition to post military service. Robert has conducted training workshops on federal employment and the federal resume, deployment readiness, financial fitness, and reintegration training, among others. After his military transition, Robert worked on developing strategies to ensure optimum individual and team performance through recruitment, development, and training of staff. He now looks forward to working with military members to assist them with successful future transitions.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Robert is a Scout Leader and credits his ability to tell stories around a campfire crucial to his facilitation repertoire in his classes – scary stories about resumes and job interviews always keep them on the edge of their seats.

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Sudie Nolan-Cassimatis

State and Principal TAP Training Site(s):

Washington, DC-area (Anacostia, Bethesda, Walter Reed)

Brief Bio:

Sudie has worked with the TAP program since June 2005 when she was hired as a trainer in Germany. In 2006 she became the Assistant Project Manager for Europe, a job she held until moving back to the states in the summer of 2009. She's again working as a trainer in the Washington, DC area. Sudie hails from St. Augustine, Florida, the nation's oldest city. She received her BA at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and then went on to graduate school (in Political Theory) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. After so much studying of theory, she decided to apply it in the nation's capitol…and she moved to Washington DC in 1998. She has had a varied career, working for a boutique lobbying firm, a global communications company and a worldwide foundation. Her roles have always included training and communications/public facing work. She enjoys working with and helping others. Her husband is a physician in the US Army (currently stationed at Walter Reed), and they live in Maryland with their daughter Lilo.

Interesting/Fun Fact:

Sudie worked for WorldCom, the company that still holds the title of the #1 bankruptcy in corporate history. Sudie's job in PR took her up to New York for all of the bankruptcy filings and then back to DC for years of congressional hearings and investigations into the company. What a learning experience….and her #1 advice to job seekers: make sure the company is financially stable!!

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MARJORIE LOVE, OVERSEAS PROJECT DIRECTOR, VISITS INVERNESS TAP TRAINERS AT NVTI

Front Row left to right: Rebeca Kelly (Germany), Arnita Jones-Gerlitz (Maryland), Laurie Allington (Germany)
Back Row left to right: Marjorie Love, Gerard Catus (D.C.), Kathy Lookabaugh (Germany), Scott Raether (Illinois)

FAREWELL TO KIMBERLY HESSLER

Kimberly Hessler (pictured on the left) is leaving the TAP Program after 18 years as a trainer. The staff at the Air Force Academy's Family Readiness Center presented her with a lovely framed photo and our own Anne McGhee Stinson (pictured on the right) presented Kimberly with a beautiful glass statuette from Inverness.

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Kimberly Hessler's TAP Story

January, 2010 was a month of poignant memories and special goodbyes, as Ms. Kimberly Hessler moved forward her responsibilities from TAP to assisting our transitioning military in a unique and expanded way.

Kimberly has served the military community for 25 years including 18 as a certified TAP facilitator. Over 10,000 military members and spouses have benefited from her enthusiasm, hard work and training skills during her more than 5,000 hours of conducting career transition seminars.

Kimberly has worked for every TAP contractor and has been involved in all of the TAP instructional materials as they have evolved from B&W overheads to PowerPoint. She has facilitated TAP in Colorado at Peterson AFB, Ft. Carson, and the Air Force Academy, where she spent most of her TAP platform time. She also stood up the TAP seminar at Schriever AFB.

Kimberly is leaving the TAP program with mixed emotions. She is moving forward in her Homeland Security Careers (HSC) organization, with her love for our patriots and their families still evident in all she does. HSC supplements the TAP service by giving HSC clients a proven, guided process to discover their unique gifts, strengths, job skills and experiences that will be most valuable to their future career.

Kimberly loved every moment invested with our military members and their spouses, viewing the TAP process similar to one of her favorite stories concerning a little boy walking along the beach, close to the surf. An older gentleman noticed the boy throwing back starfish that had washed onto the beach. The man said, "Why are you wasting your time? There are thousands of starfish on the beach; you won't be able to save them all – what you're doing doesn't matter." The boy smiled as he threw another starfish back in the ocean, and says, "It mattered to that one," and continued his walk down the beach.

Kimberly continues to be about helping our military service members and their spouses find a new role in their life story: Instead of being a starfish on the beach, they can be a star in a new constellation of strength, support and service that will build resilient communities across our great land.

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Harry Forbes' TAP Story

Harry has had such an interesting professional life revolving around the TAP Program that it’s difficult to distill it in just a few lines. He was there at the beginning of TAP at Randolph AFB in Texas. While on active duty with the Air Force, he got the job to write the AF RFP to begin the pilot TAP program in that service – a precursor to the version of TAP we know today. Once off the ground and working for a couple of years, Harry retired from the service and decided it was time to do nothing. Pat (his wife) had a better idea and worked behind the scenes with our own Anne McGhee Stinson to be sure the contractor providing TAP (Conwal back then) was aware that Harry was indeed very available to work!

Harry has served the participants at Del Rio, TX (Laughlin AFB) since 1995. Teaching TAP for the Air Force service members was "like going home" according to Harry and he fell in love with the job. Harry went where TAP duty called including places as far from Texas as Washington State, California, Florida and Michigan. He also delivered TAP workshops for the USCG covering the central Gulf Coast sites such as Mobile, New Orleans, Galveston and Corpus Christi.

Along the way, Harry said he learned a few things and wanted to share some of them with us:

1. If you are ex-military, don't mention your rank in your introduction. Your credibility as an instructor comes from what you know, not from what you were. And in some cases, it may hinder the communications process.
2. There are no stupid questions… only stupid answers.
3. Treat the students like new friends. Get to know them personally as much as you can during your limited time there.
4. Don't ever try to be something you aren't. It won't work.
5. The more you know about what your students do, the better able you are to help them.
6. Keep uppermost in your mind who you are ultimately working for… it's the students.
7. You can't please everybody all the time. Occasionally, you just hit somebody the wrong way and you will read about it. Forget it… it happens.

Harry wanted to add: "I would be remiss if I did not say "thanks" to some special people… Marjorie Love, who was a real pleasure to work with… and Diane Miller and Dave Maurer, who always treated me fairly and with respect. Working together, I'm sure that we made a difference. It was a great ride. God bless you all for what you do for the men and women who protect this country's freedom, and who represent the best this country has to offer."

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