Over the past two years ZeroMils has hosted three national Military Thriving® Change Forums at Georgetown University. In joining forces with more than 350 national leaders from more than 30 states, we developed a Military Thriving® community blueprint to improve public-private sector collaboration and empower Veterans and their families thrive after leaving the military.
Through a series of roundtable discussions, stakeholder meetings, and community wide events in 2025 across 15 regions of the country, we selected 6 to host local Change Forums in 2026-27 including San Diego.
Our Regional Change Forums are designed to accomplish two primary objectives:
1. Create private sector solutions that improve outcomes for service members, Veterans and military spouses in transition; empowering them to make better more informed decisions about the opportunities available to them as students, as employees in targeted industries and as entrepreneurs.
2. Model tailored, hyper local Military Thriving Community playbooks that can be scaled and replicated across states and regions of the country suffering from massive skills gaps with Veterans, military spouses and their families as catalysts for growth, change and impact.
Military Thriving® Regional Change Forum San Diego
August 26
8:00 am
- 3:00 pm
PT
National University Scripps Ranch
Take Charge of Your Future.
Seats are limited—reserve yours by registering today!
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Agenda
8:00 am – Registration / Networking Breakfast
9:10 am – Opening Keynote – Why a Military Thriving Community in San Diego
- Mayor Todd Gloria
- Brigadier General David C. Hyman, MCRD San Diego
9:45 am – 12:15 pm – Panels and Fireside Chats on Empowering Service Members, Veterans, and Military Spouses in Transition as Students, Employees, and Entrepreneurs
Panel 1: Education & Career Pathways
Focus: Transition as a student — how regional institutions are serving military-connected learners, what credential and degree pathways are most relevant, and how to reduce friction in the education-to-employment and entrepreneurship pipelines.
- Moderator – Dr. Mark Milliron, National University
- Mark Cafferty, San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (SDREDC)
- RADM Lore Aguayo, US Navy (ret.)
Panel 2: Setting the Conditions – What Needs to Change for Military Spouses and Families
- Moderator – Meg O’Grady, National University
- Ashish Vazirani, Armed Services YMCA
- Shannon Raszadin, Military Family Advisory Network
Panel 3: Meaningful Employment – The Employer Imperative
Focus: What San Diego employers are doing well, where gaps remain, and how to make the business case for veteran hiring at scale. Business engagement strategy should emphasize demonstrated return on investment, not charity.
- Moderator – Joe Patterson, National University
- Jennie Brooks, Booz Allen Hamilton
- Dave Lee, CVSHealth
Panel 4: Entrepreneurship – Avoiding the Cliff
Focus: A silver tsunami is about to hit Main Street. The generation that built these businesses (75% of them) is retiring in the next decade — and 89% have no plan for who takes over. At the same time, Veteran Business Ownership is at an all-time low. 50% of WWII Veterans went on to own a small business, while only 4.3% of post-9/11 Veterans have followed an entrepreneurship pathway. The challenge is also our greatest opportunity.
- Moderator – Kevin Schmiegel, ZeroMils
- Brad Stevenson, Neighborly
- Kim Folsom, Founders First
12:15 pm – 2:00 pm – Working Lunch – Breakout Sessions: Modeling and improving local transition programs and outcomes; Modeling a Military Thriving Community Blueprint for San Diego
Introduced By Meg O’Grady, National Universiy and David Boone, SDMAC
Breakout Session Topics
- Meaningful Employment & Workforce Development
- Education, Credentialing & Career Readiness
- Entrepreneurship & Economic Opportunity
- Community Connection, Belonging & Purpose
- Health, Well-being & Family Stability
2:00 pm – 2:50 pm – Town Hall on Community Blueprint and Way Ahead
2:55 pm – 3:00 pm – Closing Remarks
This event is funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.
Our Speakers
About Us
ZeroMils is a term of both science and art, used in the military to describe a state of perfection that accounts for accuracy and effectiveness. Once attained, ZeroMils allows you to achieve maximum impact on a target.
Our mission as social impact consultants to corporations and nonprofit organizations is to create Military Thriving cultures and communities. Our vision is to use our experiences to make our history every Veteran’s and Military Spouse’s future—with a focus on small business owners like us.
We are intentional in our efforts to serve alongside organizations and leaders who focus on what we know to be true: that although Veterans and their families face unique challenges, the vast majority of us overcome them and thrive as a result of our service and not in spite of it.
Our Founders
Kevin Schmiegel
CEO
Kevin Schmiegel is CEO at ZeroMils. A retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel, Kevin is a mission-focused leader with a proven track record for rapidly scaling nonprofits and a reputation for delivering significant results. Kevin founded Hiring Our Heroes at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and was CEO of two other national nonprofits. Raising $100 million for these causes over a decade, Kevin and his teams have impacted millions of Americans, in and out of uniform. He is a proud husband to Laura and a father of five.
Paul Cucinotta
President & COO
Paul Cucinotta is a retired Marine Corps colonel who after serving on active duty for almost three decades followed his passion for service to the non-profit space to help individuals thrive, while strengthening communities and bridging the civilian service divide. This ultimately led him to founding ZeroMils with fellow Marine Veteran and long-time friend, Kevin Schmiegel where they are creating Military Thriving® cultures and communities with their clients and partners in the places where they live, work and serve. Paul and his wife Beth have four children and three grandchildren, and when not serving their community can be found enjoying the beach on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina.