UCLA Anderson Team Joins Mayor’s Office on 10,000 Strong Initiative for Veterans

Left to right: Kristopher Rawls, Courtney Gosnell, Natalie Chladek, Brandon Hale, Guilherme Kratka Lins Rocha

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Explore UCLA Anderson's portal to our military veterans' stories

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By Natalie Chladek (’16)

We are thrilled to be working with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs for our Applied Management Research project. Our concept was inspired by Mayor Eric Garcetti’s 10,000 Strong initiative, whose goal is to secure employment for 10,000 veterans in Los Angeles County by 2017. With the expectation that thousands of military personnel will leave the service and settle in Los Angles in the next five years, our project will develop sustainable processes to assist veterans in finding work in Los Angeles in the long term.

Our project is divided into three main components. First, we will develop a comprehensive analysis of the Los Angeles business landscape to identify high-growth industries in the area. Second, we will conduct extensive primary research with veterans and employers to determine the core competencies and skill sets of veterans who enter the civilian workforce after their time in the military. Finally, we will use our findings to identify assessment tools that produce useful data and form recommendations for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs and its partners that they can use to provide better support to connect veterans and prospective employers.

As AMR represents our capstone project at Anderson, our group is both excited about and proud of the fact that we have the opportunity to positively affect a population that we feel strongly about supporting. Many of us have personal connections to the military community. As an undergraduate I studied American military conflict, an interest that stemmed in large part from my grandfathers’ wartime service (as well as my dad’s penchant for The History Channel), so the veteran population has been important to me for many years.

Brandon Hale (’16) is a captain in the United States Army Reserve with expertise in management consulting. Prior to Anderson, he served on active duty for six years, which included a deployment to Afghanistan and a stint in Washington, D.C. “As a veteran who recently transitioned from the military to the civilian world, I understand the challenges that face many veterans as they undergo this complex and difficult change,” he said. “I am excited to be working with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs, as it spearheads initiatives to tackle this important issue.”

Courtney Gosnell’s (’16) fiancé is a five-year member of the Coast Guard and has served in Charleston, San Francisco and Seattle. “I have seen first hand how navigating the transition from the military can be challenging, so this initiative is something I believe in and am proud to contribute to,” said Courtney, who contributes her marketing specialization to the project.

Our team is rounded out by Guilherme Kratka Lins Rocha (’16) in finance and Kristopher Rawls (’16), my fellow strategist on the project. We believe that veterans bring qualified, valuable and often unique perspectives to the civilian workforce, and we are excited to be part of an initiative that is committed to bringing their skill sets to Los Angeles and providing support to veterans after their military service.