Chris Gillette:  

I was born in Port-Lyautey, (Kenitra), Morocco (a result of having a Naval Officer father) My schools have included Lakeridge HS (of course!) and I later attended: University of Colorado - Boulder (B.S., Civil & Environmental Engineering - with a minor in Skiing ⛷ Webster University, St Louis, MO (M.A., Management); Defense Information School (Public Affairs Officer Course); and University of California, San Diego (UCSD), College Extension, with an additional focus on Surfing 🏄🏻😎 I attended CU on an NROTC Scholarship (no way I could afford their out-of-state tuition🙀 and upon graduation ('78) was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U. S. Marine Corps, serving 13 years on active duty, including an eight month deployment for Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, which also included the world's largest Humanitarian Assistance/Relief effort (until Haiti) in Bangladesh, dubbed Operation Sea Angel 👼🏽 I transferred to the Marine Corps Reserves in 1992, and after a challenging couple of years or so (including a divorce) I relocated from San Diego, to the Washington, DC area. Over the next couple-three years I worked as a Property Manager with a Real Estate Services group, and then as a Project Manager with a Design/Build outfit. In 1996, along with my brother, Rocky (another proud LHS alum, '75 👍 and two other veterans, co-founded Transition Assistance Online (TAOnline.com) an Internet based employment resource for separating military personnel who were seeking civilian careers (something I had picked up experience doing after Desert Storm 🤓 I was a Principal and the company's V.P. of Sales, which also included overseeing Marketing, Business Development, and Customer Service, as well as assisting in the design and development of the TAOnline.com website. A particular hi-lite, when I was tagged to be TAO's Program Manager for the Microsoft's Skills 2000 (MS2K) Project, a Microsoft Military IT Careers evangelization pilot program, which was later lau...Expand for more