Marc Penterman left a 20-year career in the Air Force to land a job at Walmart in Phoenix. Now, he’s quickly moving up the ladder in his “encore” profession. 

Initially, he was hired as assistant manager overseeing Home Lines where he quickly adjusted to being in charge. Eight months later, he’s now responsible for a team that restocks the shelves at the store.  

“When I started working at Walmart less than a year ago, they gave me a veteran badge to wear and it made me very proud,” said Penterman, who was a security force officer in the Air Force. “The badge is like a medal of honor. When both customers and employees see it, they treat me with such warmth and thank me for my service.” 

Penterman is one of 265,000 veterans who have been hired by Walmart since it 

introduced its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment in 2013, surpassing its goal to hire  250,000 new veteran associates by 2020. In Arizona, more than 6,400 have been hired

Hiring and promoting those who serve 

The Welcome Home program started as a mission to hire those who served their country and help them move up the career ladder, said Brynt Parmeter, senior director for Walmart Military Programs. 

Of the veterans hired, more than 44,000 have been promoted to roles of greater responsibility within a Walmart or Sam’s Club.

First announced on Memorial Day 2013, the Welcome Home program’s initial goal was to hire 100,000 veterans by the end of 2018. Two years later, the company expanded that goal to 250,000 by the end of 2020.

On Veterans Day 2018, Walmart also broadened the scope of its commitment to provide  employment opportunities for spouses with its Military Spouses Career Connection. To date, the company has hired 19,045 associates and continues offering any military spouse hiring preference when applying for a job.

Stepping up its commitment to veterans  

Parmeter is now looking to step up Walmart’s commitment to veterans and the communities they serve. He said his team is focusing on efforts to help veterans and their family members in employment, entrepreneurship, learning, and health and wellness. 

“We’re proud of our achievements and the opportunities presented to the brave service members who’ve honorably defended our country,” Parmeter said. “Now, it’s our responsibility to continue preparing these men and women for meaningful futures full of economic opportunity and overall well-being.”

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have a long history of supporting veterans, service members and their families. 

Since 2011, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have invested more than $40 million in programs that support job training, education and public/private community-based initiatives.

About Walmart in Arizona 

In Arizona, Walmart has 126 retail units and 33,616 employees. Last fiscal year,  Walmart spent $1.6 billion with Arizona suppliers, supporting 32,767 Arizona supplier jobs. 

During that time, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation contributed more than $24.5 million in cash and in-kind donations to local nonprofits in Arizona. 

For more information about Walmart’s commitment to hire and promote veterans, service members and military families, visit:  .To see all of the programs that Walmart is involved in to help veterans in communities worldwide, go to:

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AcronisSCSVets, a nonprofit created last year to provide free cyber IT training and internationally-recognized certifications for veterans, has set a goal to put 50,000 veterans into the industry over the next five years. 

This month, the Scottsdale-based group graduated its first cohort of 14 top performers. Ten already have secured cybersecurity/IT jobs. 

Before COVID-19 hit, there was an enormous workforce shortage in the industry. Now the need is even more urgent, said John Zanni, the founder of AcronisSCSVets and CEO of Acronis SCS, a leader in edge data security and cyber protection in the U.S. public sector.

“Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen nearly a 70 percent increase in cyberattacks,” Zanni said during the virtual commencement ceremony for the new grads. “The current fear and confusion present an opening for bad actors to capitalize on this and send malicious emails pretending they are the World Health Organization or the CDC to try to get to your systems.

“Once open, however, these attachments and links introduce ransomware and other attacks that can spread throughout the system, presenting particular challenges for public sector organizations trying to keep critical constituent services up and running while practicing social distancing.”

Companies of all sizes also are at risk, as hundreds of thousands of cybersecurity jobs go unfilled, Zanni said. 

Unfilled cybersecurity jobs to reach almost 3.5 million next year 

By 2022, the number of unfilled positions is expected to reach 1.8 million in the U.S., according to a from the Center for Cyber Safety and Education. 

Globally, there are expected to be 3.5 million job vacancies by 2021, to Cyber Security Ventures that has been tracking the jobs data for the past eight years.  

Of those applying for cybersecurity jobs, fewer than one in four are qualified, according to a 2018 in MIT Technology Review.

Placing “underemployed” veterans in salaried jobs

In creating AcronisSCSVets, Zanni also wanted to help underemployed veterans. 

Though veterans overall have higher employment rates than non-veterans, they are underemployed in larger numbers, meaning they are not getting enough paid work or not doing work that makes full use of their skills and abilities. 

In fact, veterans are 37 percent more likely to be underemployed than nonveterans, shows a recent by LinkedIn. 

Veterans like Shaun Johnson. After twenty years in the U.S. Navy, Johnson found himself earning an hourly wage in the produce section of a local grocery store. Then, he heard about the AcronisSCSVets program. He applied and the rest is history. 

Johnson now holds a salaried supervisory IT role in Arizona at a major name brand company.

“With this knowledge and tools that (the program) gave me, I was not only able to apply for a level 1 help desk job, I was able to secure a supervisory position, and a couple of weeks later, I was offered the opportunity to become a tech systems delivery manager.” 

Nine of the other graduates in the first cohort also have secured jobs in the field. Three others are seeking higher education or certifications. One is seeking employment. 

Goal to provide free training to 3,000 veterans in Arizona, 50,000 in U.S. 

Acronis SCSVets plans to train 50,000 veterans, service members, and military spouses nationwide over the next five years. 

In Arizona, it plans to train 3,000 during that time. Currently, there are nearly 13,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the state, according to .  

Ultimately, the organization would like to train more if it can secure appropriate funding from donations or grants, Zanni said.

Zero cost to veterans seeking cyber careers

At zero cost to qualified veterans, the program arms participants with credentials, skills, and resources necessary to secure entry level jobs in IT and cybersecurity. There’s also social services support and career services built in to ensure success. 

“Our students are prepared to excel in public and private sector organizations of all sizes, though our program is particularly beneficial for small- and medium-sized businesses, which are in critical need of qualified cyber talent, account for the majority of open U.S. jobs, and often lack veteran-specific hiring programs,” Zanni said.   

What AcronisSCSVets offers

• Cyber Certifications The curriculum prepares participants to obtain stacked cyber certificates, including internationally-recognized CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, CompTIA Security+, Windows 10, and Acronis SCS credentials.

• Career skills workshops and social services support Participants have access to quarterly, in-person, civilian-led career skills workshops, covering everything from social media

engagement to resumé building and mock interviews, and ongoing life skills resources and social services support.

• Career pipelines After obtaining the right certificates, participants are connected with cyber and tech employers from a diverse and growing pool of industry partners.

For more information, to apply for the program or to give a donation, visit: .

About Acronis SCS

Acronis SCS is an American cyber protection and edge data security company dedicated to serving the unique backup, anti-ransomware, disaster recovery, and enterprise file sync and share needs of the US public sector. Acronis SCS products are built and supported in the United States by US citizens.

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More than 200,000 United States military veterans return to civilian life every year, 10 percent of whom have a desire to own a business, creating a pipeline of new entrepreneurs.

Veterans are disciplined, well-trained leaders, and, with access to capital and business training, their success rate as small-business owners is high.

It’s no surprise, then, that there are more than 2.5 million businesses in the U.S. — about 10 percent of all small businesses — that are veteran-owned, generating more than $1 trillion in annual sales.

Here in Arizona, over 48,000 veteran-owned small businesses generate approximately $21 billion in sales, .ĚýThese significant impacts underscore how important veteran-owned businesses are to the region.

However, veterans can struggle to find capital and connections they need to get their businesses going. In fact, more than 75 percent of veterans reported encountering challenges as they started to grow their businesses, citing access to capital as a top challenge, according to by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

I am proud that Bank of America has long provided access to capital for the men and women who served our great nation make the transition into entrepreneurism.

As the country’s No. 1 small business lender, Bank of America last year committed to help even more U.S. military veterans kickstart and expand their own businesses by creating a $20 million “” (VELP) to connect military-veteran business owners with affordable capital.ĚýSo far, within one year of introducing the VELP program, more than half of that capital — about $14 million — has already been deployed to more than 170 veteran small-business owners.

Having served the U.S. military branches for more than 100 years, Bank of America provides active-duty service members, veterans and their families with specialized products, reduced rates and flexible services that their lives demand — through deployment to transitioning from military service and beyond.

Beginning this month, U.S. veterans are eligible for our Small Business Veterans Discount Initiative, featuring an exclusive 25 percent fee discount for their or line of credit.

Helping our veterans translate and utilize their tremendous military skills to become successful entrepreneurs driving local economies is an important way Bank of America can give back and show our gratitude to the brave men and women who have served in the military.

Vince Thelander is the senior vice president for business banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and a member of Bank of America’s military employee network.

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Boots to Business has reached a new milestone in its mission to help veterans, active-duty service members and military spouses become business owners.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), more than 100,000 current and aspiring veteran business owners have participated in the agency’s Boots to Business training course as of Sept. 30.Ěý

“We are very proud of this monumental milestone and thank all of the resource partners who have worked so hard over the years to conduct this training for our military community,” Larry Stubblefield, associate administrator at the SBA Office of Veterans Business Development, said in a.

Every year the SBA helps more than 200,000 veterans, service-disabled veterans, members of the National Guard and Reserve and military spouses start, grow and expand their own businesses, according to the organization.

Founded in 2013, the Boots to Business program helps veterans by providing entrepreneurial education and training to transitioning service members, veterans and military spouses through the U.S. Department of Defense Transition Assistance Program.

“The SBA is all about powering the American dream,” Stubblefield said. “This is no different for the veteran business community.”

o learn more about the Boots to Business program.

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Cyber protection and edge data security company Acronis SCS opened its new headquarters recently, where it announced the launch of its Acronis SCSVets initiative.

The Scottsdale-based celebrated the opening of itsĚý by hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month, awarding the company’s Tribute to Service Art Contest winners. The Acronis SCSVets initiative aims to widen veteran access to cyber career opportunities with tailored, in-person training.

“We are committed to advancing Arizona’s position as a thriving tech hub and excited to accelerate our support for the U.S. public sector from our new headquarters,” Acronis SCS CEO John Zanni said in a . “In launching the Acronis SCSVets initiative, we are doing our part to narrow the cyber workforce shortage and provide America’s veterans, active military and military spouses with the skills they need to succeed in a demanding field.”

According to Acronis SCS, Arizona has a larger-than-average veteran population and more than 13,000 IT jobs open across the state. The SCSVets program will benefit the state by providing the veteran and military community training at zero cost.

The program is also unique in two key ways, according to the company.

First, the initiative prioritizes online learning and provides in-person training to members of Arizona’s veteran community that is tailored to their needs and experiences. Second, it is focused on connecting participants with Arizona’s small- and medium-sized businesses that are in immediate need of cybersecurity talent, because those businesses are less likely to be able to develop robust veteran-hiring programs.

“As a 26-year Air Force veteran, I am grateful for Acronis SCS’s commitment to help veterans and military spouses pursue tech careers. Military spouses in particular are an untapped group of resilient innovators who are significantly unemployed and underemployed even in this booming economy,” United States Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) said at the opening. “It is great to see Acronis SCS invest in Arizona and our vets and military families.”

Acronis SCS’s new facility is home to more than 30 employees focused on , around 20 percent of whom are U.S. military veterans. According to the company, it aims to expand its employee footprint across diverse fields including marketing, sales and network administration.

“Arizona continues to be a top destination for tech innovators like Acronis SCS,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said about the opening. “We are proud the company has chosen to call Arizona home, and we thank Acronis SCS for its continued investment in our state.”

The facility will house a community room that will be available for veteran-focused nonprofits in need of a meeting space. It will also serve as home to the Acronis SCSVets in-person career training workshops every quarter.Ěý

SCSVets pledges to provide at least 300 veterans, active duty military and military spouses with the credentials, skills and resources needed to pursue a career in cybersecurity within its first five years. It has a “robust network” of partners including New Horizons of Phoenix, the Arizona Coalition for Military Families and Veteran Transition Mission.

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A new federal program to transition veterans into business owners was announced this month in honor of National Veterans and Military Families Month.

The announcement coincides with a new study that shows veteran entrepreneurship is facing a “generational decline” with younger veterans owning businesses at lower rates compared to past generations and non-veterans.

A new pilot program takes a step in tackling the discrepancy. It involves a collaboration between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to scale intensive management and leadership training for veteran small business entrepreneurs.

Seed money for the program comes from President Donald Trump who donated his second quarter salary, $100,000, for the pilot. Ěý

“Veteran business owners are critically important to our nation’s economy. In fact, one in 10 business owners is a veteran, collectively employing nearly five million American workers,” SBA Administrator Linda McMahon said after signing a memorandum of understanding with VA Secretary Robert Wilkie forging their commitment to the program.

Alarming new data indicates that veteran small business owners face more challenges when applying for financing. That may be why their numbers are declining, concludes a report, .

Released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the SBA, the study Ěýreveals that veteran business owners have a more difficult time obtaining capital compared to fellow veterans and non veterans. Veteran business owners reported more financing shortfalls and lower approval rates.

The data provides a starting place, said Claire Kramer Mills, assistant vice president of the New York Fed. Now, policy makers and service providers can focus on improving financing for veteran-owned small businesses.

In Arizona, an estimated 81,000 small businesses are owned or co-owned by veterans, said Robert Blaney, Arizona’s District Director for the SBA. Almost 10 percent of the total number of businesses in Arizona are majority-owned by veterans, which is slightly higher than the national state average. Ěý

Veteran entrepreneurs have been shown to be key to developing local economies, said Jordan Ripley, of the SBA. Many of these businesses hire other vets and give back to veterans organizations.

Veterans like Ed Willis, a Vietnam Conflict veteran who was awarded four air medals while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Willis enlisted when he was 18 and flew 120 combat missions. He was an AWACS radio control operator, monitoring enemy jamming signals.

He deals with hearing loss and stress from his service but is grateful for the strength of character he developed.

After serving four years, he spent several decades working in government administration positions. Then he started his own company, WW Associates Management & Consulting of Scottsdale. He credits his quick rise to success to business assistance from both the SBA and VA.

With assistance from the SBA’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the company was awarded its first contract for $173,000 in 2015. The following year, the company was awarded additional projects totaling over $1.5 milion with Fort Huachuca.

In recognition of his achievements, Willis and his company have received a number of honors including the SBDC 2017 Success Award. It honors not only personal success, but also the positive impact on communities and to the Arizona economy.

Willis said more needs to be done to get the message out to veteran entrepreneurs about assistance programs. That’s one reason he dedicates time to mentor veterans and team up with veteran business owners.

“Maybe it was the era I was raised in but I’ve always given back to the extent I can,” Willis said. “This sounds kind of corny, but when we served in the military, we always backed each other up. Once you’re out, that continues for life because you’re a veteran for life.”

For more information on the resources available for veteran entrepreneurs, visit www.sba.gov/veterans.

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