Veteran Jobs Mission Members Convene in New York for the Annual Coalition Meeting

The 2018 Veteran Jobs Mission (VJM) Coalition Meeting was held in New York on October 23-24. Participants from 109 leading organizations represented the major U.S. industries—from AT&T and Verizon to Amazon and Microsoft to Johnson & Johnson and Home Depot.

The convening kicked off with a welcome reception at 30 Rockefeller Plaza hosted by Comcast NBCUniversal. Members met the following day for the coalition meeting at JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s headquarters.

In recent years the VJM has expanded its focus beyond hiring to include overall veteran career success and the meeting served as an opportunity for members to highlight this broadened effort. The agenda covered the latest best practices and innovations in employee development programs, affinity groups and supporting veteran owned businesses.

Mark Elliott, Head of the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs, opened the annual national meeting. "Thanks in large part to companies like yours, the veteran unemployment rate has gone down significantly since 2011. But this has not slowed the work of the VJM. Instead, you broadened the mission beyond just hiring veterans to look at what happens in the first six months, first year, first three years after a veteran transitions to the private sector. How can we set veteran employees up for long term success?"

Dr. Jill Biden, a member of the JPMorgan Chase Military and Veterans Affairs External Advisory Council, served as the closing keynote speaker. "The true power of this movement is in this room today—all of you," said Biden. "Rather than compete, you collaborate and share resources. This is a testament to your leadership and commitment to our veterans.

The VJM will hit the ground running in 2019 with regional events to strengthen the coalition's collaboration nationally, including Houston, Austin, Denver, Columbus and Chicago among many others.