2024 State of the Military Family Summit Program

What is the price of service?

Service shouldn’t cost more — but too often, it does. Join NMFA to examine the financial challenges military families face today and the implications of financial stress on their well-being and our nation.

The National Military Family Association’s annual State of the Military Family Summit brings together senior leaders, policy makers, partners, and military family members to address the unique challenges of military life.

Summit Agenda

Introduction
Besa Pinchotti

Speaker
Sharene Brown

Panel: The Cost of Service
Examining the financial experience of military families — and what we can do about it

How Might We?
Exploring how Human-Centered Design can help us build better solutions for military families
Scott Weiss

Panel: More Than A Spouse
A conversation highlighting the diversity of talent and experiences in the military spouse community

Keynote
Hilary Fordwich

Conclusion
Besa Pinchotti

Keynote Speaker

Hilary Fordwich

“Hilary is a font of both working & historical knowledge, which never ceases to amaze me. Firmly rooted in the US, British born, bred & now brings a balanced view from across the pond. She is a geopolitical barometer for events & issues that our nations share, having watched them play out or warn of their coming with a calculated and considered expertise. She’s a one-of-a-kind balanced commentator you definitely want on your side.” – Ben Walker, Chair United Kingdom Independence Party

Speakers

Sharene Brown, Spouse of the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Mrs. Brown has accompanied her husband on 20 assignments around the globe, cultivating a deep understanding of the military lifestyle. Hailing from a military family herself, she is an avid supporter of all military families. Recognizing the pivotal role military spouses play in supporting the missions of the Armed Services, Mrs. Brown dedicates her efforts to raising awareness about the unique challenges military families face. As the Champion of Five & Thrive, she focuses on advocating for improved quality of life in critical areas such as Childcare, Education, Healthcare, Housing, and Spouse Employment. Her unwavering commitment reflects a profound dedication to enhancing the well-being of those who serve our nation.

Besa Pinchotti, CEO, National Military Family Association

Besa has held leadership positions at the National Military Family Association since 2013. Her passion for our military began during her time as a reporter and television news anchor. From Jacksonville, North Carolina to Austin, Texas and Eastern Europe, her assignments opened her eyes to the military experience for service members and their families. She covered post-9/11 deployments, war casualties and highly contentious Congressional hearings about the unanticipated impacts of military life, including the lasting effects of toxic exposure on our military bases.

A nationally recognized champion of military families, she has spoken on behalf of military families at events and to the press around the country and internationally. Besa was named a Military Spouse Influencer to Watch by Military Spouse Magazine in 2021. To amplify NMFA’s work for military families, she also met with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, who wanted to publicly thank America’s military families for their sacrifices in ensuring the country’s freedom and independence. While in Eastern Europe, Besa was also honored with the Elena Gjika award for her philanthropic work and the Madeline Albright award for her support of military families in the United States and freedom abroad.

Besa lives on Capitol Hill with her Marine veteran husband and their three children.

Panel: The Cost of Service

Examining the financial experience of military families — and what we can do about it.

Nicole Cervi, Economist at Wells Fargo

Nicole Cervi is an economist with Wells Fargo’s Corporate and Investment Bank. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Nicole covers the U.S. macro economy and assists with quantitative analysis. She regularly contributes to the group’s economic commentary and her perspectives have been shared on Bloomberg News and National Public Radio. Nicole joined the group in 2020. She holds a B.S. in business administration from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Elizabeth O’Brien, Executive Director at Hiring Our Heroes

Elizabeth L. O’Brien currently serves as Executive Director at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes, a workforce development program that strengthens and diversifies the nation’s workforce by connecting employers with top talent.

O’Brien is also a venture partner at TFX Capital and Chairwoman of the Board at Freedom Learning Group – an educational content and services provider powered by a global remote network of Military Spouses and Veterans. FLG is committed to closing the skills gap for military spouses and is the only model within the eLearning industry to offer upskilling and reskilling pathways for a fully remote workforce.

O’Brien, a Military Spouse, sits on The Blue Star Families Advisory Council, The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network Advisory Council, and The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council.

Shannon Razsadin, Executive Director at Military Family Advisory Network

Shannon Razsadin is a nonprofit executive, commentator, and communications strategist. As MFAN’s chief executive officer, she is an advocate and national spokesperson for service members, veterans, and their families.

Shannon is a subject matter expert on the military-civilian divide, family well-being and preparedness, financial readiness, food insecurity, housing, and more. Mrs. Razsadin is a regular contributor to AP, CBS Evening News, CNN, Fox, NBC, NPR and other global-reaching media entities. She has delivered thought-leadership remarks to higher education, Fortune 500, research and policy, and military audiences.

Mrs. Razsadin currently serves as a member of the Department of Defense’s Military Family Readiness Council, a congressionally-mandated advisory committee that reports to the Secretary of Defense in order to review, evaluate, and monitor DoD’s military family readiness policies, programs, plans, and initiatives. She also holds several leadership positions with military- and veteran-service organization coalitions. More >>

Laura Geller, National Investigative Producer at CBS News Innovation Lab

Panel Moderator

Laura Geller is an Emmy, Gracie, Murrow, Associated Press and Telly winning investigative journalist for CBS News and Stations. Laura’s work as a national investigative producer in the CBS Innovation Lab has impacted lives across the country.

Over the course of 20 years in journalism, her stories have prompted changes and new legislation on a local, state and national level. In fact, Laura’s investigations have resulted in positive changes in every market in which she’s worked.

Before joining the CBS Innovation Lab, Laura worked on Capitol Hill, reporting and producing stories about the impact of the political process on people’s every day lives.
Laura moved to Washington to join the investigative team at WUSA9. There, her award-winning work changed multiple laws and led to the creation of new ones. Laura’s investigations focused on the military and military families, technology, health and politics.

Prior to joining WUSA9, Laura investigated issues at WVEC-TV in Norfolk, Virginia, and NBC12 in Richmond, Virginia. She began her career in Tallahassee reporting on every branch of Florida state government.

Laura is a military spouse and mom to a spunky little girl. She was born and raised in New York (Go Yanks!) and graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Panel: More Than A Spouse

A conversation highlighting the diversity of talent and experiences in the military spouse community.

Reda Hicks, Houston-based Attorney, Consultant, and Entrepreneur

Reda Hicks is an attorney and organizational development consultant based in Houston, Texas. She specializes in helping impact organizations run more efficiently and serve their missions more effectively. Her work focuses on helping companies and nonprofits address key operational challenges, position for growth, and create new programming. Reda has a JD from the University of California Berkeley School of Law and an MBA in Sustainable Development from Marylhurst University. Reda is also an alumnus of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

Reda actively engages in two communities she loves: her hometown community in Houston, Texas, and the military families community. She serves on the boards of Texas Lyceum and Impact Hub Houston, and as a strategic advisor for Leadership Houston and the League of Women Voters in Houston. The proud spouse of a retired Army Special Forces soldier, Reda is an alum of the Military Family Advisory Network’s Advisory Board, a founding member of the Military Spouse JD Network, and a long-time ambassador of Bunker Labs. She also works on military spouse economic empowerment issues with a number of local, state and national organizations.

Ailsa Emmel, Certified Nurse Midwife/ NP, Content Creator and Influencer

I am a military spouse and a Navy Veteran. I was both an enlisted Sailor and a Naval officer. I am a Certified Nurse Midwife/ Nurse Practitioner. I have participated in Cornerstone as a facilitator to motivate and encourage other spouses to serve. I also volunteer and participate in the spouses’ club here at Camp Lejeune. I use my Instagram platform to share lifestyle content from life as a military wife, women’s health topics every Wednesday, and fashion styling tips.

My passion is to empower and motivate military spouses to maximize their potential.

Chantae McMillan, Olympic Athlete

Heidi Starr, Community Advocate

Natalie Brand, Reporter at CBS

Panel Moderator

Award-winning journalist Natalie Brand covers the White House and Capitol Hill for CBS News and stations as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent.

Most recently, she was on duty at the White House this month as Iran launched its retaliatory attack on Israel. She’s covered the Biden and Trump administrations, as well as major breaking news events including the January 6th, 2021 Capitol Insurrection, where she provided 24 hours of continuous coverage for CBS stations.

Brand covered the 2020 campaign season extensively with a series of enterprise reports from the farms in Iowa to coal country Pennsylvania. She covered trends including the increasing power of the Latino vote as well as concerns over election disinformation.

During the Trump administration, Brand covered the former President’s two impeachment proceedings and trials, changes to immigration policy, and the 2018-2019 record government shutdown. She also provided extensive coverage on the federal response to the Coronavirus pandemic under the Biden and Trump administrations and the social justice movement sparked by the killing of George Floyd.

She also has a special interest in health and veterans’ issues and the deadly impacts of toxic burn pits and efforts to pass the Honoring our PACT Act.

In 2022, Brand married her husband, USCG Commander Kristopher Ensley who serves as the commanding officer of the USCGC Dependable. Her most important job is mom to 16-month old Chance Ensley. More >>

How Might We?

Exploring how Human-Centered Design can help us build better solutions for military families.

Scott Weiss, Catalest

Scott currently co-leads a global design and innovation consultancy called Catalest, where he and his team work closely with Federal agencies and private industry to solve complex systemic challenges related to modernization, innovation, and organizational transformation.

Prior to co-founding Catalest, Scott and his co-founder Christopher Corpuel served as White House Presidential Innovation Fellows, where they collaborated closely with White House leaders to develop and deploy a Federal-wide initiative to strengthen customer experience and service design capabilities.  This movement was built around improving how all American citizens experience Government services and programs.

Scott began his professional design journey at the award-winning agency IDEO, where he worked as an organizational and systems designer.  This work focused on helping organizations of all shapes, sizes, and industries transform themselves into more design-led and innovative organizations.

In his spare time, Scott teaches at NYU, Parsons, and Duke University on topics such as: Design Thinking for Social Impact, Design Research, and Storytelling.

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