Meeting Attendee Biographies

Julie Bronstein is an experienced nonprofit leader and philanthropist. A graduate of Scripps College with a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California, she has spent the majority of her career working in nonprofit organizations focused on health, education, and community improvement. As managing executive director of development at UC San Diego, Bronstein oversees the Health Board of Advisors and fundraises for health sciences. Bronstein serves on the boards of the La Jolla Community Foundation and Hillel of the Claremont Colleges and previously served as an elected trustee of the San Dieguito Union High School District. In addition, Bronstein is a volunteer adviser for the Autism Tree Project Foundation.

Dan Epstein is the founder of The ConAm Group, headquartered in San Diego. The ConAm Group is among the top privately owned apartment management/ownership/development firms in the country and presently operates approximately 50,000 apartments throughout the United States. In addition to its management activities, ConAm is developing apartments and mixed-use projects in the Pacific Northwest and Los Angeles. Epstein serves on the board of trustees for the University of Southern California (USC), the board of councilors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and he serves as chairman of the advisory committee of USC Viterbi’s Epstein Department of Industrial and System’s Engineering. Epstein is also on the board of trustees for Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Research Institute, the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Foundation, and the California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) Foundation Board. CSUSM recently awarded Epstein with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. He has received USC Viterbi’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the USC Alumni Association’s Alumni Service Award, and the USC Asa V. Call Alumni Achievement Award. Ernst & Young named him San Diego’s Entrepreneur of the Year for the real estate industry. He is a member of UCSD Rady School Dean’s Advisory Council and a member of the Chief Executives Organization and the Young Presidents Organization. He graduated from the Viterbi School at USC in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

Sara Kintzle is a research professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, specializing in the life experiences of current and former U.S. Armed Forces members. Her research focuses on key issues affecting service members and veterans, including military transition, mental and physical health challenges, suicide risk, sexual harassment and assault, the experiences of National Guard and Reserve members, the unique challenges faced by women in the military, and post-service employment. Her work bridges research and policy, delivering insights to improve the well-being of military-affiliated populations.

Kintzle has served as principal investigator on multiple grants, advancing the understanding of military and veteran life. In 2023, she published The State of the American Veteran: The Southern California Veterans Study, the largest and most comprehensive study of veterans across Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties. Her findings have led to significant engagement with policymakers, including consultations in 2024 with Congressional and Department of Defense staff and a 2021 presentation to President Biden’s Department of Defense Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military. In 2025, Kintzle was appointed to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on the Assessment of Department of Veterans Affairs Physical and Mental Health Examinations, where she contributed to reviewing VA protocols for military sexual trauma claims. With over 70 published articles and reports and more than 75 conference presentations, Kintzle continues to shape evidence-based initiatives for military and veteran populations.

Mark Todd serves as the vice provost for academic operations at the University of Southern California (USC), where he oversees a shared service unit responsible for finance and business functions, capital projects, space management, organizational reviews, and strategic planning for the Office of the Provost. He also leads USC’s Military and Veterans Initiatives, coordinating programs for student veterans, ROTC units, and military-affiliated members of the Trojan Family. Todd heads the University Clinical Services unit, which governs clinical services in schools such as dentistry, pharmacy, social work, physical therapy, and occupational therapy. He is also a member of the USC University Hospital, Norris Cancer Hospital, and USC Care Boards. Previously, Todd served as associate vice provost for academic affairs, where he launched the USC Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, managed reviews of graduate programs, and oversaw the USC Summer High School Program.

Derek Coy is a senior program officer at the New York Health Foundation. In this role, he focuses on expanding veterans’ access to community-based services; leveraging federal and private funds to increase the dollars available to returning veterans in New York State; and serving as a thought leader, convener, and advocate to improve the health of returning veterans and their families. Prior to joining NYHealth, Coy served as the development manager at The Doe Fund, an organization dedicated to breaking the cycles of recidivism and homelessness, where he revamped and modernized its fundraising efforts. Before that role, Coy was the annual fund officer at the American Civil Liberties Union, helping produce STAND, the organization’s bi-annual magazine, and its annual appeals. Coy has considerable experience working on veterans' issues and used his role as senior development associate at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to advocate for changes. Coy received a bachelor of arts degree, Phi Alpha Theta, from the University of Houston Clear Lake, and a master of arts degree in Middle Eastern history from the City College of New York, where he focused on 20th century Iranian history. He is a former U.S. Marine Corps. sergeant who served a year in Iraq's Anbar Province in 2005.

Ross Dickman currently serves as the chief executive officer of Hire Heroes USA, the nation’s leading veteran and military spouse employment organization. Dickman joined Hire Heroes USA in December 2015 after 12 years of service in the United States Army. He led employment intervention research programs at Hire Heroes USA before serving as Interim CEO during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dickman was the chief operating officer from October 2020 until assuming his current role in March 2024, and served in multiple leadership and staff positions as an AH-64D Apache Helicopter pilot with the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas. He deployed twice to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. His awards include the Air Medal, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, and Combat Action Badge. He later served as an aide-de-camp at the U.S. Army Combat Readiness and Safety Center and as a tactical officer at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Dickman’s final Army assignment was as the executive officer of the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethics. He has a bachelor of science degree in comparative politics from the United States Military Academy, a master of arts degree in organizational psychology and leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University, and a master of business administration from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia.

Greg Frey serves as the vice president of strategic engagement and partnerships at the Avalon Action Alliance. He is responsible for developing national-level partnerships, establishing collaborative relationships, corporate engagement, raising brand awareness, and driving client acquisition across Avalon’s life-changing training and treatment programs for veterans and first responders battling traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress, and substance abuse. Prior to his current role, Frey was responsible for integrating the alliance’s efforts, developing national-level partnerships, data collection and reporting, and driving TBI patient accrual. He crafted the inaugural partnership strategy at Semper Fi & America’s Fund to increase non-profit and government collaboration, share program resources, and raise brand awareness. He led USAA’s philanthropic investments to support military caregivers; families of the fallen; wounded, ill, and injured service members; and currently serving personnel. In this role, Frey developed and managed a $28M integrated investment portfolio of more than 24 non-profit alliances designed to impact over 750,000 service members, veterans, and their families.

Frey also worked at Wounded Warrior Project, where he developed and managed a $24M integrated investment portfolio, collaboratively building transformative partnerships and leading WWP’s collective impact initiatives in 14 cities nationwide. Frey is a retired Army officer with 26 years of service to the nation as an enlisted Infantryman, Special Forces Medical Sergeant, and commissioned Infantry officer. He earned his Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Special Forces and Ranger Tabs, two Bronze Star Medals, Tomb Guard Identification Badge and numerous other awards, foreign parachutist wings, campaign medals and decorations. He holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and is a certified project management professional.

Margaret Harrell is the chief program officer at the Bob Woodruff Foundation. She leads convenings, symposia, and research that uncover the causes of challenges to veterans’ health and economic security. With knowledge built from her positions in government policy research, Harrell is committed to solving issues veterans and military families face. Prior to joining the foundation, Harrell developed and implemented policy improvements related to managing the military force, suicide prevention and response, diversity management, equal opportunity, and drug misuse, and published 70+ works on military manpower, military families and quality of life, veteran wellness and employment, and gender and race issues in the military. Her extensive work informs the foundation’s strategy for identifying and investing in programs and services to ensure veterans, service members, and their families have stable and successful futures. She received a B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia, an M.S. in systems analysis and management from The George Washington University, and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Virginia. Harrell—an Army brat and Navy spouse—has dedicated her career to understanding and addressing service member, veteran, and military family well-being.

Waco Hoover is an investor and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in media, tech, defense, health care, and venture capital. He is the CEO & founder of IMPCT Group, a brand strategy and data analysis agency that works with organizations to deliver outcome-driven impact strategies focused on the military community. He is a co-founder and partner of MCON, the largest event celebrating military culture; serves as chair for the American Legion’s Be the One platform focused on brain health and preventing veteran suicide; and is an advisor to Founders Factory, a London-based venture capital firm. Hoover is an advisory council member of the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Venture Studio and has executive produced over 50 films, television shows, and documentaries telling stories focused on the military community. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1997-2001 as an infantry Marine, combat water survival instructor, and infantry scout. He served several deployments across Southeast Asia. After separation from the military, Hoover graduated from New York University, cum laude, received his MBA from Florida State University, and completed Harvard Business School executive education programs.

Kyleanne Hunter is CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and a dedicated and lifelong servant leader. In this role, she is responsible for strategic direction of IAVA, ensuring that the post-9/11 generation of veterans continues to have a voice in the most pressing issues of our day. A Marine Corps veteran of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, she has been dedicated to inspiring all veterans to ascend to their potential and ensuring that the policies and practices are there to allow them to do so. Prior to coming to IAVA, Hunter was the lead of the Women, Peace, and Security Initiative, part of the RAND National Security Research Division, and a senior political scientist at RAND. She also holds faculty affiliations as a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy and an affiliated professor of political science at Oregon State University. She is a non-resident fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Prior to RAND, Hunter was at the United States Air Force Academy where she was director of the Strategy and Warfare Center, associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict, and a professor of military and strategic studies. She was the cochair of the Culture and Climate Line of Effort for the Independent Review Commission on Military Sexual Assault, and chair of the Employment and Integration Subcommittee for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services. She holds a bachelor of science in foreign service from the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, a master in international security studies from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at University of Denver.

Joshua Jacobs served as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ eighth under secretary for benefits (2022–2025), where he led the Veterans Benefits Administration’s 35,000-person workforce and directed the delivery of $189 billion in annual benefits to millions of veterans, their families, and survivors. Under his leadership, VBA expanded access, modernized operations, and deployed technology to drive measurable improvements in service delivery and customer experience. Jacobs played a central role in implementing the historic PACT Act, where he oversaw one of the largest expansions of veteran benefits in VA history. Prior to his Senate-confirmed role, Jacobs served as senior advisor for policy to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, where he served as a key strategic counselor on veterans’ policy, organizational transformation, and interagency coordination. Jacobs has been recognized with the VA Secretary’s Meritorious Service Award and Exceptional Service Award, and was named the 2025 Federal Executive of the Year by Disabled American Veterans. A University of Washington graduate, Jacobs also served nearly a decade in the U.S. Senate, including as deputy staff director of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Sean Kelley is a co-director of the Veteran Transitions Research Lab at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Kelley is nationally recognized as a leading expert in corporate military affairs, recruiting, and transition programs. He architected military affairs strategies for both Microsoft and Amazon—firsts for each company—establishing both as leaders in the industry, globally. He is also the owner of Sage&Sea Ventures, a service-disabled veteran-owned business that advises large companies on veteran strategies and also invests in early-stage startups, prioritizes work with veteran and diverse founders, and provides advisory expertise in talent systems design, leadership coaching, and business strategy.

Dr. Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH, DCM, is an internationally recognized physician executive who is widely known for his expertise in health system transformation, patient safety and quality improvement, public health, and veterans and military health issues. He has some 50 years of professional experience that includes being a practicing emergency medicine physician and senior leadership positions in state and federal government, the private sector, academia, and philanthropy. He currently is a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of California Davis School of Medicine and a senior scholar at Stanford University’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, as well as a senior advisor to several private sector entities. Dr. Kizer is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Public Administration and served as VA’s Under Secretary for Health from 1994 to 1999, during which time he re-engineered the Veterans Health Care System in what has been described as the largest and most successful healthcare turnaround in U.S. history. He served as California’s top health official from 1984 to 1991 and was the founding president and CEO of the National Quality Forum in 1999.

An honors graduate of Stanford University and the UCLA Schools of Medicine and Public Health, he is board certified in six medical specialties and/or subspecialties and a fellow or distinguished fellow of 12 professional societies. He has authored over 500 original articles, book chapters, and other professional reports and is a Fellow National of the international Explorers Club, the architect and founding member of the international Wilderness Medical Society, and a former U.S. Navy diving medical officer and certified Navy deep sea diver.

Rashi Romanoff is the CEO of the National Association of Veterans’ Research and Education Foundation (NAVREF), an organization dedicated to fostering research and education partnerships between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and stakeholders advancing health research and innovation. NAVREF represents VA’s network of more than 75 VA-affiliated nonprofits Congressionally charged with executing extramural research and expanding veterans’ access to groundbreaking new treatments. Romanoff is an experienced health care leader with a strong track record of working across the public and private sectors. From 2010 to 2017, she worked at the VA, starting as a Presidential Management Fellow and ultimately serving as the director of operations for the VA Center for Strategic Partnerships in the Office of the Secretary.

Before joining NAVREF, Romanoff served as executive vice president of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, where she led groundbreaking research initiatives and expanded programs and services for the nation's military and veteran caregiving families. She graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a bachelor’s degree in biology and public policy and a master’s degree in health care policy and management. Romanoff is also a former Fulbright Scholar (2008) and Presidential Management Fellow (2010).

Bob Wolff was the executive director of the Quality of Life Plus Program from 2017 to 2021, and since 2022 he has served on the board of directors, currently as its chair. The organization recently was rebranded as Project S.E.R.V.E. The organization now sponsors senior design projects at 23 universities, partnering injured veterans and first responders with engineering students to improve their mobility and quality of life.

Wolff spent nine years on active duty as a combat and construction engineer in Germany, Fort Lewis, Washington, Vietnam, and Cambodia (1965–1974) as a combat and construction engineer. He completed a 26-year military career in the reserves where he worked with the Baltimore District, Corp of Engineers and the Office of the Chief of Engineers, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1992. In his career with the government, Wolff spent 20 years (1974–1994) in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, including various staff positions at the headquarters followed by senior leadership positions including the chief of facilities engineering and chief of engineering at the Baltimore District. In 1994 he was promoted to a Senior Executive Service as the Air Force deputy civil engineer (1994&ndash1997) and then promoted to the chief of integration for the deputy chief of staff installations and logistics (1997&ndash1998). He retired from the Air Force in 1999.

Wolff received a B.S. in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (1965), M.S. in water resources planning and Ph.D. in civil engineering from Stanford University (1972) and graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (1988). He is a fellow of SAME and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Jim Zenner is the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, a position he has held since 2022. Zenner currently serves as the national policy director for the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers and vice chair for the ad hoc Military and Veteran Subcommittee for the National Association of Counties. Previously, Zenner worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) as a mental health program manager III, where he oversaw the implementation of the Veteran Peer Access Network and collaborated with federal, state, and local agencies, including the Veterans Health Administration, Veteran Benefits Administration, and CalVet, on veteran programming initiatives.

Zenner’s prior experience includes roles with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Vets Advocacy, Volunteers of America Los Angeles, and the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at the University of Southern California. Zenner’s leadership has spanned program management, clinical services, consulting, and advocacy for veterans and their families. Zenner served in the U.S. Army from 2004 to 2008 as an All-Source Intelligence Analyst with 1-14 Cavalry, 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom (2006–2007). He continued his service in the Army Reserve from 2008 to 2011. Zenner holds a master of social work from the University of Southern California and a bachelor of arts in psychology from St. Martin’s University.

Terri Tanielian is a nationally recognized leader in veteran and military health policy, behavioral health, and suicide prevention. She served as special assistant to the President for Veterans Affairs and Behavioral Health in the Biden–Harris Administration (2021–2025), where she led key White House initiatives on mental health, substance use, and veteran services.

A RAND behavioral health scientist and former congressional fellow, Tanielian has testified before Congress, authored more than 100 publications, and shaped landmark policies impacting millions of Americans.