Speakers

Speaker	Date	Topic
Robert Gilleskie	Sep 27, 2018
Chris Cortez, Vice President, Military Affairs	Oct 04, 2018	Taking Charge As vice president of Military Affairs at Microsoft, Chris Cortez leads the company’s engagement with veterans and military families as part of its focus on inspiring and developing former service members for roles in the IT industry. Chris’ responsibilities touch STEM education, veteran community engagement, high-tech training and employment of veterans. His team’s mission is to lead and challenge the technology industry to fill the IT pipeline with former service members. Chris is an advocate for Microsoft employees who have served in the military and is executive sponsor of the Military Veterans at Microsoft Employee Resource Group. He has worked at Microsoft since 2006. Chris served for more than 33 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. When he retired in 2004 as a major general, Chris had been leading the Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, Va., recruiting more than 75,000 men and women. Before that, he was director of operations for the U.S. Pacific Command — overseeing operations for 300,000 military personnel — and he previously commanded Marines at the platoon, company, battalion and regimental levels, including during Operation Desert Storm. Chris not only advocates for education, he also mentors others. It’s something he did in the Marine Corps and has continued to do at Microsoft. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Marietta College in Ohio and a master’s degree in business management from Azusa Pacific University.
Deacon Mike Daniels	Oct 11, 2018	Cristo Rey San Diego High School
William Kellogg, President LJBTC	Oct 18, 2018
Jim Vargas	Oct 25, 2018	The future vision of Father Joe's Villages Deacon Jim F. Vargas brings to Father Joe’s Village more than 30 years of broad management and human resources experience at companies like The Copley Press, Inc. and Citicorp/Citibank. He strongly believes that it is our obligation to help and care for the homeless, and he is honored to lead Father Joe’s passionate team to provide the services and support our homeless neighbors need to gain self sufficiency. Deacon Vargas oversees all facets of the organization, including St. Vincent de Paul Village, Josue Homes and the portfolio of low-income housing. In the past, Deacon Vargas oversaw human resource operations for 5,000 employees across a chain of newspapers with news bureaus in multiple U.S. locations and Mexico. He also led human resource development for publishing companies at KIII Communications. At Citicorp/Citibank, Deacon Vargas served in various director and vice president positions of human resources within its bankcard, private bank, real estate, information systems, and investment divisions. Deacon Vargas is a past board chairman of the Rady Children’s Hospital of San Diego Foundation, founding chair of Epiphany Prep Charter School of San Diego, current chair of Totus Pro Deo and Casa Cornelia Law Center and serves on the board of The Resource Center for Community Development. He is a deacon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego serving the community of Mary, Star of the Sea in La Jolla, previously having served the community of Our Lady of Angels in downtown San Diego.