Who Are We? · VetsinTech

About VetsInTech

VetsinTech supports our current and returning veterans with re-integration services, and by connecting them to the national technology ecosystem. VIT is committed to bringing together a tech-specific network, resources, and programs for our veterans interested in Education, Entrepreneurship, and Employment – the 3E’s!

Our Board Members

Katherine Webster

Founder
VetsinTech

Katherine Webster is the Founder of VetsInTech and TechCentralSF. VetsInTech supports our current and returning veterans with re-integration services, and by...

connecting them to the national technology ecosystem. Under Katherine's leadership VetsInTech has grown to 12 veteran led chapters across the U.S. in just 3 years, gained support from approximately 20 of top tech companies to hire veterans and developed training programs with tech ecosystems that hire thousands of veterans. As a result of founding VetsInTech, there is now a community of thousands of veterans both interested and working in technology careers - many helping future returning veterans into tech jobs around the country. VetsInTech has been recognized by the White House and Department of Labor for our innovation and leadership in creating new programs for veterans in entrepreneurship, employment, and education. VetsInTech has also received a Certificate of Special Recognition from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and a Certificate of recognition from Assemblyman David Chiu as well as two Certificates of Honor from the Mayor and Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco. In 2010, Katherine founded TechCentralSF – TechCentralSF is San Francisco’s exclusive online directory resource and collaborative community for High Tech, Biotech, and Cleantech with over 1,000 start-up companies listed. Katherine garnered support throughout the tech ecosystem, created many media partnerships and ran community events to support the startup community in SF. Katherine also received a Certificate of Honor from Mayor Gavin Newsom for leadership in creating this tech ecosystem in San Francisco. Prior to VetsInTech and TechCentralSF, Katherine was in leadership positions at Sun Microsystems for 16 years where she was responsible for Global Strategy and Market Development. She launched Sun into new E-Commerce and Education markets which created $1B+ additional revenue to Sun. Katherine also developed a worldwide network of SunSITE's - Sun Information Technology Exchange network at Universities in 25 countries worldwide.

Craig Newmark

Founder
Craigslist

Craig Newmark is the founder of Craigslist and Craigconnects, the web-based platform that has fundamentally changed classified advertising. Since its founding in 1995,...

Craigslist has become one of the world’s 10 most-visited English language web platforms. Today there are craigslist websites virtually everywhere and serving every continent on earth (except Antarctica).

Chris Galy

Chief People Officer
Ten-X LLC

Chris' global human resources leadership experience spans more than twenty years in the military, software, e-commerce, networking, and semiconductor industries. Prior to Auction.com...

he served in Human Resources and/or Talent. Acquisition roles at Intuit, Xilinx, Harmonic, and Integrated Device Technology. Before his Human Resources career, Chris served as an active duty Army Aviation Officer. Chris also is proud and thankful for ten great years as an Army Reserves Human Resources Officer from 1995 to 2004. Chris' assignments were with the Army Research Institute for Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Unites States Military Academy at West Point, and as an Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer in Northern California. Outside of work and when not coaching one of his kids' sports teams, Chris gives back by serving as a Board Member to Vets in Tech and his local workforce board, www.novaworks.org. He is also passionate about making a difference in his career field, serving in an advisory or board capacity for several human capital startups. Chris is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and received a Masters in Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco in 2002. Other accomplishments of career significance to Chris include Army Flight School, Army Adjutant General Advanced Officers Course, and World at Work Certified Compensation Professional. Chris, his wife Audrey, and three wonderful children reside in San Jose, CA.

Kevin Heneghan

Senior Counsel
Policy at Airbnb

Kevin specializes in advising business entities, candidates, elected officials, trade associations, and independent expenditure committees on a wide range of campaign finance,...

lobbying, election, and governmental ethics law issues. He has served as campaign counsel for candidates for statewide office, several State Legislators, and numerous elected officials in San Francisco and San Diego.

Our Advisory Board Members

Thomas Anderson

Counsel
VLP Law Group LLP

Thomas R. Anderson, Colonel(Ret) US Army, is counsel with VLP Law Group LLP. Tom's practice specializes in corporate law, with an emphasis on technology and life...

science start-ups, venture capital investments in such companies, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to attending law school in 2007, Tom served for 22 years as a logistics officer in the U.S. Army. During his tenure in the U.S. Army, he attained the rank of Colonel, commanded a battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, and earned two Bronze Star Medals.

Craig Cummings

General Partner
Moonshots Capital

Craig actively invests in and advises technology start-ups, many of which are founded by military veteran entrepreneurs, through his company, Moonshots Capital, which...

he co-founded with Kelly Perdew. Craig is the Co-Founder (along with Joseph Kopser) and former Chief Operating Officer of RideScout, a mobile app that shows users how to get from point A to point B by providing real-time ground transportation information. RideScout was acquired by Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) in September 2014 and recently merged with GlobeSherpa to form moovel N. America. Craig is also a Co-Founder, with Jason Dempsey and Ken Robbins, of MILLIE, providing military families with information and on the ground support to ease the stress of frequent relocations, and Co-Founder of APX Labs, developing augmented reality software for smart glasses to enable the hands-free industrial and commerce workforce. Before he became an entrepreneur, Craig spent 17 years in the Army, most of that time as an Intelligence Officer serving in support of the National Security Agency (NSA). Craig deployed to Afghanistan with the Joint Special Operations Command where he earned the Bronze Star. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, NY. Craig received a B.S. in Political Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was their first Truman Scholar, and he received a Ph.D. in Political Science (minor: Econometrics) from Columbia University. In 2015, Craig was selected by HillVets as one of the 100 most influential and impactful veterans in the United States. Craig was recently selected as a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute. Craig is married to Lawton Cummings, a former Law Professor and television legal analyst. They have two children, Addison (13) and Cooper (11), and reside in Austin, TX.

Bernie Cowens

VP and CSO
PG&E

Bernie Cowens is a Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). PG&E is a Fortune 200 company, and one of the largest combined...

gas and electric utility companies in the United States. In this position, Bernie is responsible for leading company-wide efforts to identify and manage physical and cyber security risks to protect PG&E's people, critical infrastructure, information assets and business operations. Prior to joining PG&E, Bernie was Chief Information Security Officer for First American, where he oversaw all aspects of information security for the company and its global business units. He has held senior security executive positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers, Experian and the Automobile Club of Southern California. He previously served as the vice president and Chief Information Officer for SafeNet, a global encryption technology manufacturing company. A former military officer and Special Agent, Bernie has extensive international counterintelligence, counter-terrorism and physical security experience. He completed his military service as the Chief Technology Officer and Chief Security Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Los Angeles. He has more than 30 years of security and technology leadership experience, and he holds the CISSP and CISA designations. Bernie has a bachelor's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in management information systems from Bowie State University.

Zoe Dunning

Portfolio Lead
Future State Inc.

Consultant with expertise in Operational Transformation, Program Management, Adoption Strategies, Workshop Facilitation, Stakeholder Engagement Strategies,...

Business Process Excellence, Communications, and Executive Coaching. USNA, BS Physical Science MBA, Stanford University.

Dave Gowel

CEO
RallyPoint

Dave is an Army vet who leads tech company RallyPoint, helping other vets lead successful lives. A West Point & Ranger School graduate, Dave served in Iraq and is a husband and father of 3...

Dave’s started his career as a platoon leader in Iraq and completed his service by teaching leadership as an Assistant Professor of Military Leadership at MIT (ROTC). He authored “The Power in a Link: Open Doors, Close Deals and Change the Way you do Business Using LinkedIn” (Wiley, 2011), is an inventor (via a tech patent) and loves to ski.

Craig Hanson

GP and Co-Founder
NWC

Craig is the General Partner and Co-Founder of Next World Capital (NWC), an international technology venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco, Paris, Brussels and London.

NWC specializes in helping U.S. companies expand internationally, and Craig works closely with management teams on strategy and growth in the U.S. and Europe, resulting in accelerated growth, international expansion, job creation and technology innovation. Craig is also a Truman Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project, analyzing U.S. policy programs to foster economic growth, trade and investment. He has been an official delegate with the U.S. State Department in North Africa, and has published and spoken internationally on economic engagement as an integral part of U.S. foreign policy.

Mike McNerney

Cybersecurity
Strategist

Mike McNerney is a cyber-security strategist and startup advisor. In this capacity, he provides advice to tech companies, financial institutions, and government agencies...

in the cyber security industry. Prior to this, Mike served as a Cyber Policy Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he drafted and negotiated key pieces of federal legislation through the congressional process and worked with defense industry, internet service providers and tech companies to develop cyber-security programs. While there, he also served as an attorney in the Office of the General Counsel focusing on similar issues. Before joining the Pentagon, Mike was appointed as a Presidential Management Fellow in the U.S. State Department. His work there focused on promoting the rule of law, humanitarian rights, and economic development in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Mike is also a veteran officer of the U.S. Air Force, a Senior Consultant at Delta Risk, a Lecturer of Political Science at CSU East Bay, and an Affiliate at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation. He graduated from the University of California, Davis, and earned his J.D. from American University, Washington College of Law.

Craig Mullaney

Social
Entrepreneur

Craig is an experienced tech executive and social entrepreneur, bestselling author on leadership education, and proud veteran. He served with the 10th Mountain...

Division of the U.S. Army in Afghanistan and later as a public servant with the Pentagon and USAID overseeing policy in the region.

Dan Streetman

Sr. Vice President
BMC Software

Dan's lifetime of of service began as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, were he served as the First Regimental Commander and was fortunate to have the...

opportunity to meet and by inspired by two heroes, Ronald Reagan and Colin Powell. After 12 years of active service, Dan transferred to the U.S. Army Reserves and attended Harvard Business School, were he earned his MBA, focused on the intersection of technology and strategy. He is currently the senior vice president of Worldwide Strategic Sales and Operations for BMC Software, responsible for BMC 's global strategic sales, and all operations. Prior to joining BMC, Streetman was senior vice president of alliances for Salesforce, where he developed and led the go-to-market programs for Salesforce 's award-winning alliance and channel programs. Dan also co-founded VetForce, an industry-leading program providing technical education employment opportunities for 30,000 veterans. Dan has a remarkable business track record and he is an expert at leading organizations through transformational change, skills he also honed during his service as an Airborne Ranger-qualified Infantry Officer. Dan also served on active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was awarded the Bronze Star, and he was selected by the Army Chief of Staff to receive the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award. Dan currently serves on the advisory boards of the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans Association, the Wounded Warrior Project, Veterans in Tech, and several technology companies. He is an avid athlete, having completed multiple Ironman triathlons and marathons. He particularly enjoys guiding visually impaired marathon runners each year in the Boston Marathon. Streetman is married to the wonderfully kind - and patient - Terri Streetman. Their children Alicia and Austin are currently science and math majors at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and their golden retriever Floyd keeps Dan and Terri's nest from feeling too empty.

Neal Rickner

Tech
Executive

Neal E. “Rudy” Rickner is a tech executive that specializes in advancing new ventures through early-stage growth. He has led multiple teams at Google including a team on “Helpouts,”...

a live-video learning startup within Google Inc.. Neal is currently the Head of Strategy and Operations at Makani, a next-generation wind-turbine project within Google[x] Before coming to Silicon Valley, Neal served 12 years on active duty with the US Marine Corps as an F/A-18 pilot and forward air controller. He completed three tours in Iraq between 2003 and 2007, earning the Bronze Star with “Valor” device, and (13) Air Medals. He transitioned from active duty in 2009, earning dual masters degrees (business and international affairs) from Columbia University. In addition to his professional endeavors, Rudy is a Tillman Scholar, volunteers as a Big Brother with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, is on the Advisory board for the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), and is a member of the Truman National Security Project’s Defense Council.

Ted Gizewski

Deputy General
Counsel at Workday

Ted Gizewski is Deputy General Counsel at Workday, Inc. He is a recognized strategic business counselor with more than 20 years’ experience representing technology companies...

in complex legal matters. Prior to joining Workday, Ted was General Manager and Assistant General Counsel for Microsoft in Beijing, China and the US. Ted is also a former Marine Corps officer where he served both as a tank platoon commander and intelligence officer. Ted is a graduate of UCLA and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.