Recently, Cohesity launched our Veterans Enablement and Transition Support (VETS), which is our employee resource group (ERG) dedicated to providing support, camaraderie, and advocacy for military service veterans around the world. As we enter the month of November, we have a special opportunity to recognize the significance of Veterans Day and take a moment to honor veterans around the world.
In celebration of Veterans Day this year, we’re highlighting four veterans (and members of our VETS ERG) to learn more about who they are, their experiences in the military, and what skills they bring from their service into their career and life at Cohesity.
Steven de la Vega, US Army Veteran, Account Executive at CohesityI am an Enterprise Account Executive for the New York/New Jersey territory.
I had just graduated from college and was looking for a major challenge in my life. My grandfather and father were military veterans, and I respected the admiration and integrity they had for America.
I learned that you can be provided with the best tools, equipment, and weapons to fight your opponent, but you cannot do this alone. Working as a team is the only way to survive war, work, and life!
How has serving in the military affected how you approach your career today?The military provided me with the social, mental, and physical skills I would need to have a successful career in sales.
The Veterans ERG is a huge benefit at Cohesity. I can share with other Veterans, challenges, and stories, and learn how they deal with daily situations from a veteran’s point-of-view.
Working as a team and continuously learning. Not a day goes by that I do not learn something new.
Jed Wallace, US Army Veteran, Staff Technologist at CohesityThe best way to describe my current role at Cohesity is that I talk about and tinker with technology.
After graduating high school, I didn’t have any real plan on what to pursue next, so I decided to join the Army.
Can you share a meaningful memory/story about your time serving? What did you learn?During my deployment to Iraq in 2004, I remember making it to Kuwait to gear up for the journey to Baghdad, Iraq. While in Kuwait, we learned that those who had to drive to Baghdad did not have armored vehicles for the trip. So what does a soldier do when they do not have the right equipment? They make it! Nothing teaches you perseverance and ingenuity when your back is against the wall.
We worked almost 36 hours straight putting sandbags in the floorboards of our vehicles and welded sheet metal to the outside to protect against improvised explosive devices (IED) and weapons fire.
Serving in the military has taught me to deal with difficult situations and to thrive under pressure, which translates well to working in tech.
Having a space to talk and connect with other veterans is fantastic. It allows for a sense of community and camaraderie that I miss from my days in the military.
Connecting with current and future customers–whether it’s during a speaking session, live webinar, or demo.
Robert Horne, US Navy Veteran, Manager, Service Repair and Planning at CohesityI manage the Repair and Planning of our service parts. My team ensures we have parts stocked around the world to meet our contracted Service Level Agreements (SLAs). Returned parts are repaired to the highest standards and redeployed to support same and next-day service contracts.
I didn’t have a clear direction in High School, and I was feeling overwhelmed with what I would do after graduation. I found the opportunity for technical training and a chance to see the world as a great option for me.
I was stationed aboard a Fast Attack Nuclear Submarine for 4 years. During that time we had several casualties where our well-trained crew responded quickly and prevented the loss of life or the ship. In one incident we had a major hydraulic rupture in the engine room. We lost all control of the steering and depth, limiting the ship’s maneuverability. The engine room was filling full of a hydraulic fluid cloud. This cloud of atomized oil made it difficult for crew members to find the source of the leak and more importantly, it was highly combustible. It could have created an explosion that would have sunk the submarine.
No one panicked, they just worked the problem. I was on a fire hose team that was the first to arrive on the scene in case there was a fire and I watched the other crew members isolate the leak, engage the auxiliary hydraulic system, and restore the ship’s ability to maneuver. Every single member of the crew participated in saving the ship. It was something we spent thousands of hours preparing for through training and endless drills. The lessons from this experience are still fresh in my mind 30 years later. One Lesson is that training and Preparedness are keys to handling adverse situations. Another Lesson was there might be difficult situations like customer escalations or challenging deadlines, but they can be dealt with by taking a direct approach and working out the issue.
How has serving in the military affected how you approach your career today?Yes. One of the most important themes in the military is understanding and focusing on the mission. I have taken that approach into the civilian world. As a leader, I work to ensure my team knows the mission and their part in achieving it.
I think it’s a great way to connect with other vets. Across the various services and other countries, we all share a connection of service.
The most meaningful work I do at Cohesity is ensuring we have high-quality parts available when a customer goes down. We have to ensure we can support our customers through the lifespan of our products in every corner of the world.
James Blake, British Army Veteran, Field CISO, EMEA at CohesityAs a Field CISO, I provide customers with credible narratives about how we support their cyber resiliency strategy and share insights into how they can align with best practices in this area. I also provide subject matter expertise internally to marketing and product management.
I was an Army Cadet from the age of 12, which taught me a lot about leadership, self-reliance, and confidence. Joining the army was a natural progression of this journey and allowed me to serve my Queen and country.
The British Army promotes the mantra “improvise, adapt, overcome”. Operations and exercises never go as planned; humans are involved, and there are just too many variables. We were taught to focus on the present and the future, instead of dwelling on the past you can’t change. Take stock of your situation, without regard to how you got there. Plan to get to where you need to be and execute.
How has serving in the military affected how you approach your career today?Leadership, resilience, pragmatism, and problem-solving are all skills I developed in the military which I call on daily.
Knowing there is a community that has shared my experiences, values, and beliefs here at Cohesity makes me feel a sense of belonging.
When I was in the military, I protected innocent people from attack. Now today at Cohesity, I do the same — only now we use cyber best practices and technology as our defensive weapons.
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