Co-Founder, Managing Director | Programs Institute for Veteran & Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF)
James SchmelingCo-Founder, Managing Director | Programs Institute for Veteran & Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF)
James Schmeling, J.D., co-founded the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University, and was appointed as its first managing director. He currently supervises the Programs mission area, which includes transition, employment, education and training programs: the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV); the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans-Families (EBV-F); the Veterans Career Transition Program (VCTP), (over 35 industry-certified career paths); the Transition Assistance Program: Boots to Business Program; Veteran Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (VWISE); and, VetNet. Schmeling’s work on veteran employment includes collaboration with GE for the Get Skills to Work initiative, and for a veteran employment toolkit – Veteran Employment Leading Practices: Tools for Engaging Talent; collaboration with JPMC’s 100,000 Jobs Mission (over 150 major business and industry partners), and he sits on the Veterans Employment Advisory Committee for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative. He is IVMF’s liaison with the U.S. Business Leadership Network.
Mr. Schmeling has published on veteran policy, employment practices, entrepreneurship and disability, study of corporate culture, disability as a component of diversity, and more. He has been widely quoted in news media including the Washington Post, The Guardian, USAA magazine, regional and local news sources, in print, on the radio, and on television, and speaks regularly to national conferences on veteran employment and entrepreneurship, and to elected and appointed officials. Schmeling is a U.S. Air Force veteran, served 6+ years, and was honorably discharged as a sergeant. He earned his law degree, with distinction, from the University of Iowa, and his B.A. in political science with a minor in international studies (Latin America) from Iowa State University.