Christopher Michel, CEO

Prior to starting Military.com, Chris worked in strategy consulting, helping companies in the airline, entertainment, and financial services industries develop and implement Internet strategies. Chris also managed the design and development of ProfitPatterns.com, an award-winning business strategy portal. Prior to consulting, Chris served as a Naval Flight Officer in the United States Navy. His assignments included flying P-3 Orions during the Gulf War, leading a counternarcotics team in South America, and serving as Aide to the Chief of Naval Reserve in the Pentagon. After leaving active duty, he helped start Initio Pharmaceuticals, a biotech company focused on rational drug design. Chris currently flies P-3s in the Naval Reserve for Patrol Squadron 65. Chris graduated with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Brad Clark, VP of Business Development

Prior to co-founding Military.com, Brad was a partner at Mercer Management Consulting, a leading international strategic management consulting firm. Promoted four times since joining in 1991, he led large engagements, managed client relationships, and helped develop significant new business (>$2MM relationships). His casework spanned several industries, including financial services, retailing, and telecommunications. His Internet-related work included helping a major U.S. bank develop a distribution strategy using the Internet and physical channels, and developing a Mercer perspective on the Internet in asset intensive industries. Brad has a B.A., Cum Laude, from Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Anne Dwane, VP of Marketing

Prior to co-founding Military.com, Anne was a Business Development Manager at Paul Allen's Interval Research Corporation. She wrote business plans for new Internet, broadband and entertainment start-ups and joint ventures; she presented plans and investment recommendations to Paul Allen; and she conducted due diligence for Vulcan Ventures. Formerly, Anne managed consumer research at Nabisco before transitioning to brand management for Nabisco's Planters Peanuts line. Anne launched Nabisco Direct, the interactive and direct marketing division of Nabisco. Anne graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University and holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Karen Short, VP of Operations

Prior to joining Military.com, Karen was the CEO of PDA Medical, a software development and e-commerce company that focused on handheld productivity applications for the health care industry. Before PDA Medical, Karen was the general manager of a full-service Marriott SLS Community. While at Marriott International, she led the launch and operation of a number of Marriott's new ventures whose inception was technology driven. Her business experience included strategy consulting work with Corporate Decisions, Inc. and McKinsey, where she developed profitable growth strategies for numerous industries including computer hardware and software, chemicals, and printing. Karen graduated with distinction from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where she served as the first woman Regimental Commander and Commander of Cadet Basic Training in West Point history. Karen served on active duty in Berlin, Germany. While in Berlin, she had the opportunity to work in Eastern Germany, interact with numerous Congressional Delegations, and was the Commander, Headquarters Detachment. She left active duty service with numerous awards and citations which included the Meritorious Service Medal, Army Achievement Medal, and Army of Occupation Medal. Karen holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Randall Ramian, VP of Financial Services

Prior to Military.com, Randall was Vice President of Product Marketing at GetSmart.com, a leading online financial services provider. At GetSmart.com, he managed the profitable credit card e-commerce initiative, where it was rated as the #1 credit card Internet site twice. Randall has demonstrated ability in startups and experience in marketing, operations, business development and strategic planning in Silicon Valley based technology companies and financial institutions. He has held key executive positions at Xerox Corporation, and has held Vice President positions at Wells Fargo Bank and Citibank. While at Wells Fargo Bank, he managed a region with relationships of over $1.5 billion in deposits and was ranked the #1 retail manager in the bank in 1991. At Citibank, he directed the commercial business development and relationship management efforts. Randall is a Naval Reserve Officer and holds a B.S., Business Administration and Marketing, from San Jose State University, and an M.P.A. from the University of Southern California.

Rajeev Bang, Director of Portal Applications

Prior to joining Military.com, Rajeev was a Supplier Development Manager at 3COM responsible for identifying, developing and managing business relationships and technology roadmaps with suppliers and key partners in the wireless LAN and networking area. His Internet-related work includes co-founding WebCabinet, a Web based storage site for storing and sharing files. Prior to that, Rajeev was VP of Internet development at Plexus Technologies, an e-commerce and Web solution provider. He led Plexus in establishing strategic partnerships with various technology, application and product companies. Previously, Rajeev had experience in product management, business development and engineering at Sun Microsystems, Intel Corporation, and IDT Corp. Rajeev has a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University and Bachelor of Science in EEE from Birla Institute of Technology. He has also undergone a professional training course in management at the Stanford University Network.

Bradley Peniston, Managing Editor

Brad took over the Military.com newsroom after working as, among other things, a reporter for Navy Times, an editor at a weekly magazine in Russia, and the author (since 1994) of an award-winning newspaper column about the Internet. In 1991, he took a newly minted Yale University degree in Soviet and eastern European studies and moved to Moscow, where he worked as a writer and editor. His first book, Around the World with the US Navy, appeared in November 1999. Brad has reported from dozens of foreign countries and ships at sea, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, Moscow Times, Naval Institute Proceedings and elsewhere.

Duncan Haberly, Director of Business Development

Prior to joining Military.com, Duncan worked as an independent business consultant, helping companies in the entertainment and publishing industries develop business plans and marketing strategies for Internet ventures. Before that, he served as a senior tax law advisor to the Government of the Russian Federation, co-authoring the Draft Tax Administration Law presented jointly by the U.S. Government and International Monetary Fund to the Russian government for submission to the Russian Duma. Duncan studied Russian at the U.S. Military's Defense Language Institute and served as an active duty Russian and German translator in U.S. Army Military Intelligence, stationed in West Germany's Fulda Gap during the final years of the Cold War. Duncan also has a strong computing background, having worked as a consultant to Apple Computer and as a freelance database programmer. Duncan has a B.A. from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School.

Mark Shields, Director of Content

Mark graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served as an officer in the 11th Infantry at Fort Carson, Colorado, and in the 3rd U.S. Infantry (The Old Guard), the Army's Presidential Escort, at Fort Myer, Virginia. He qualified as a paratrooper, and earned the Meritorious Service Medal for directing Army special events in the nation's capital, including "the Spirit of America," North America's largest military tattoo. While earning an M.B.A. at the University of Virginia, he was aide-de-camp to the Adjutant General of the Virginia National Guard. He then spent 15 years in strategy consulting, including service as a Vice President at Mercer Management Consulting. Mark himself fits into our "military buff" segment. His deepest interest is in 19th and 20th century American and British Imperial military uniforms and insignia, having amassed a collection of approximately 15,000 different insignia over the last 35 years. His related interests include reading military history, touring battlefields, hunting for Civil War relics, military modeling, heraldry, and playing the bagpipes. He holds membership in a number of organizations, including the Military Historical Society and the Orders and Medals Research Society, and is an occasional speaker and contributor to publications.

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Board of Advisors