Mike Haynie, executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and Barnes Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis to serve on the Department of Labor’s 15-member Advisory Committee on Veterans’ Employment, Training and Employer Outreach (ACVETEO).
The ACVETEO is a congressionally mandated committee responsible to assess the employment and training needs of the nation’s veterans, and to determine the extent to which the programs and activities of the Department of Labor are meeting those needs. Members of the advisory committee come from diverse leadership backgrounds, including business, academia, human resources, unions, consulting, military and nonprofit organizations. In addition to Haynie, appointees to the committee include David Gergen and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University, Kevin Schmiegel from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha.
During the committee’s inaugural meeting in Washington, D.C., last week, Solis applauded members of the ACVETEO for their voluntary service, and said that she looks forward to reviewing their recommendations to improve departmental programs for transitioning service members and veterans. During their two-year appointment, the group will provide Solis with an assessment of the employment and training needs of veterans and their integration into the workforce, as well as outreach efforts necessary to help employers hire veterans.
“It is an honor to have been selected to serve on this important committee, but now the hard work begins. Our nation’s veterans deserve the opportunity to benefit fully from the freedoms that they defended while in uniform, and meaningful employment is central to a successful transition from military to civilian life,” says Haynie. “It is my hope that the ACVETEO can provide Secretary Solis with actionable and enduring recommendations that if implemented will positively impact the unemployment challenges currently facing veterans in America.”
“It’s a tremendous honor for SU and the Whitman School that Mike Haynie has earned appointment to this key national advisory committee,” says SU Chancellor and President Nancy Cantor. “Mike’s extraordinary expertise in preparing veterans to transition to civilian employment truly is nationally prominent—expertise that he leverages every day at SU not only through his research and teaching in the Whitman School’s entrepreneurship program, but in his leadership of the IVMF and Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.”
