BTM07- Blue Star Families Racial Equity Initiative
Show Summary
Kathy Roth-Duquet, CEO of Blue Star Families, and retired Navy Rear Admiral Sinclair Harris join the show to talk about diversity, equity, inclusion, and Blue Star Families' Racial Equity Initiative
About Today’s Guests
Kathy Roth-Douquet is an advocate for the role of the military in civil society; she is an author, nonprofit leader, attorney, and former government official. Kathy is the CEO of Blue Star Families, the largest Chapter-based nonprofit organization serving active duty of all branches, Guard and Reserve, wounded, and transitioning veterans and their families. Blue Star Families mission is to strengthen military families and our nation by connecting communities and fostering leadership to millions of people.
Kathy Roth-Douquet received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, her MPA in International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University where she held a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and a JD from the University of San Diego School of Law, Magna Cum Laude and the Order of the Coif. While serving at the Pentagon as Principal Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Acting) she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service for her work on defense reform. She is also a recipient of President George H. W. Bush’s Daily Point of Light Award, and most recently received the Chief of Staff of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Award.
Kathy is a commentator on patriotism, civil-military affairs, the value of service, and the experience of military families. She has appeared on the Today Show, Fox and Friends, CNN, NPR, has been a frequent contributor to USA Today, and is a frequent public speaker. She is an author, most notably of “AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America’s Upper Classes from Military Service and How it Hurts Our Country” (Collins, 2006). She is a practicing attorney, a member of the Small Business Association Advisory Board, and is Co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center Defense Reform Task Force. She is a military spouse of 18 years, four deployments, and 9 moves. She lives with her husband and two children in Northern Virginia.
Sinclair Harris serves as LMI’s director of business development for the Department of the Navy. He retired as a rear admiral after a 34-year career in the U.S. Navy. His service culminated as the vice director for operations to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. During his distinguished career, he led joint, combined, multinational, and interagency organizations both at sea and ashore across all aspects of defense, including full-spectrum operations, program management, strategic planning, and execution. He was also commander of the U.S. Fourth Fleet, leading U.S. Naval forces assigned to U.S. Southern Command.
Mr. Harris has been published in numerous journals on the topics of surface warfare, combat logistics, irregular warfare, and leadership. He earned a BS in economics from James Madison University, an MS in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an MS in defense and strategic studies from the University of Madras, India.
Mr. Harris voluntarily serves as president of the National Naval Officers Association, national vice president of the Navy League of the United States, past chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association Expeditionary Warfare Division, member of the board of directors for the Surface Navy Association, and member of the Northern Virginia Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
PsychArmor Resource of the Week
The PsychArmor resource for this week are the PsychArmor courses on military culture and awareness. Military service members, Veterans and their families live and work in communities across our nation. However, because fewer than 7% of Americans have served in uniform, most who have never served are unfamiliar with military culture and don’t know how to effectively engage with the Veteran community.
Sponsored by the Wounded Warrior Project, military culture courses are available for anyone who works with, lives with, and cares about the Veteran community. By following the link above, you can see the cornerstone course “15 Things Veterans Want You to Know,” as well as modules that address the basics for civilians such as “Veteran 101: Officer vs. Enlisted,” and “Veteran 201: Military Families,”
Theme Music
Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.
This Episode Sponsored By:
This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.
Producer and Host Duane France is a retired Army Noncommissioned Officer, combat veteran, and clinical mental health counselor for service members, veterans, and their families. You can find more about the work that he is doing at www.veteranmentalhealth.com