Description

SPECIAL SESSION | Veterans in Tech Peer Learning Group  

Join us for a powerful special session featuring Mari Schrecengost, Strategic Initiatives Project Manager with the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), as we explore why employing military spouses is critical to both talent retention and military readiness. When spouses have meaningful careers, service members are more likely to remain in the armed forces.

In this session, tech employers will learn:

• Why military spouses are an often-overlooked, highly skilled talent pool
• How job gaps and frequent relocations impact spouses—and why they’re not a risk
• What military spouses bring to tech organizations (adaptability, resilience, leadership)
• How hiring spouses supports national security and service member retention
• How local companies can partner with the government’s MSEP program

Whether you’re a tech employer, HR leader, Veteran, or advocate for military families, this session will give you actionable insights on how to attract, retain, and support military spouse talent.

Special thank you to our volunteer co-facilitators and fellow veterans Blair Ciccocioppo and Daniel Hayes.

About Blair Ciccocioppo | Senior Specialty Recruiter, Select Medical, Army Reserve 2000–2008 including a deployment to Iraq 2004-2005, Sergeant (E-5) |: Blair Ciccocioppo was a wheeled vehicle mechanic in the reserves. While in college, she had the opportunity to work some extra duty orders as a recruitment assistant for the Kutztown recruitment station and was introduced to recruiting which later led to various recruiter roles on the civilian side. Blair is now a champion recruiter for military, veterans and spouses and including piloting a DoD Skillbridge Military Internship program at Select Medical which she hopes to bring into their IT/IS department in 2023. She also takes pride in being a mentor to military/veterans through American Corporate Partners since 2018.

About Daniel Hayes | Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Project Manager, Cargas, retired Senior Master Sergeant with U.S. Air Force, 5 combat deployments |: Daniel Hayes joined Cargas in 2021 after 21 years in the U.S. Air Force. He retired as a Senior Master Sergeant. He held various positions in the Air Force, including serving as Squadron Superintendent and leading testing, training, and maintenance activities. He brings his leadership experience to his current CRM Project Manager role at Cargas. Daniel holds a BA in Natural Science and Mathematics from Thomas Edison State University and a Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification.