Operation Military Family’s mission is to enrich and strengthen Service members, Veterans, and their Families. Our team works directly with Veterans, Veteran groups, State and Federal VA agencies as well as community-based organizations in order to develop and deploy culturally relevant mediums for connecting Veterans and their families to approved resources, services, benefits, and specialists in the most efficient manner.
CEO & Founder: Mike Schindler. After his service in the Navy, Mike spent a number of years working as a project manager for Service Master. He then moved into the software industry, working his way up to executive leadership. Mike’s passion to enrich and strengthen military marriages, veterans, and their families led to he and his wife founding Operation Military Family in order to find a way, through both high-tech and high-touch methods, to better serve military families.
As CEO, Mike is the visionary, bringing over 15 years of team leadership, industry knowledge, fielding negotiations, and navigating government channels, to the OMF team. A published author, endorsed by Generals Tommy Franks, Pete Chiarelli and others, Mike also writes for several national publications.
He is a graduate of Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. He is the father of two beautiful daughters and the husband of one incredibly resilient wife. Mike has no free time for napping or movies.
President & Principal: Jim Canfield. After 8 years as a Naval Aviator flying A-6 Intruders, Jim Canfield spent 16 years with TALX Corporation, now an Equifax Business Unit. In 1996, Jim was the System Engineer designing the first Internet-based benefits open enrollment system. He eventually became Vice President of Product Management responsible for all business aspects of the Employee Services division of TALX.
As President of Operation Military Family, Jim provides business oversight for OMF while he combines his heart for Veterans with his background in technology services to better the mission.
He is a graduate of Vanderbilt with an MBA from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. Among his various other roles, Jim is father of 4, grandfather of 8 and husband of one. His favorite movie is Top Gun (of course) and in his free time, Jim naps (he does this during meetings too).
Chief Financial Officer, EVP & Principal: Nick Bottom. A Marine, no longer on active duty, Nick positioned his ability to manage the bottom line in the health care industry, helping several hospitals develop systems and analyze results, particularly in the area of capabilities, costs, and service levels. He is an accomplished senior executive with over 16 years of leadership experience in the technology, healthcare, and government arenas.
As the Chief Financial Officer/EVP of OMF, Nick is responsible for providing strategic leadership for the organization by working with other senior management to establish long-range goals, systems, strategies, plans, and policies as well as supervise various projects.
Nick received his MBA from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He is the father of two extremely athletic children and is married to a Marine. Nick plays solitaire in his spare time.
Chief Operations Officer: Lori Grant. In addition to more than 17 years experience in the healthcare industry, Lori is well-versed and experienced in managing and marketing entrepreneurial Internet businesses. As a co-founder in Erosion Media LLC with Sarah Warn, they took a product from concept to market and in May 2006, they sold their entertainment properties to MTV Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B).
As the Chief Operations Officer, Lori is responsible for product management, data integrity, channel management, and sales operations. She is OMF’s secret weapon (well, not much of a secret anymore, is it?).
Lori earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from University of Alaska. She also holds a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Washington’s School of Public Health and Community Medicine. You may find Lori moonlighting as “Scooby” in her spare time.
Chief Technology Officer/Vice-President for Strategic Relations: Russell Ervin. As an IT consulting entrepreneur, Russell’s experience with the Navy, Oracle, and Honeywell provides organizational insight and oversight to OMF’s technology roadmaps. In addition to being smart, he’s good with people so he handles our strategic relationships.
Captain Ervin was assigned as the Washington State Navy Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer in December 2007 and was promoted the role of Navy Region Northwest Lead NEPLO in 2010. He finished his distinguished 30 year career as the NEPLO Program Deputy Commander and Chief Information Officer.
Russell has a BSEE from San Jose State University and is a graduate of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program. One can only imagine what he does in his spare time.
Chief Communications Officer: Carolyn Douglas. Carolyn is a bona-fide Emmy award-winning broadcast news journalist and communications expert with two decades of experience in broadcast news, public speaking, public relations and media consulting.
As Chief Communications Officer, she is typically managing the communications risks and opportunities of OMF or making our CEO look pretty. In addition to her work for Operation Military Family, she is principal of Carolyn Douglas Communications (www.carolyndouglas.com), a founding board member for the Alliance for International Women’s Rights (www.aiwr.org), media advisor and host for UWTV (www.uwtv.org), and public speaker for Edgar Martinez’s Image Source (www.imagesourceteam.com).
Carolyn earned her degree from Washington State University. When she’s not doing all the above, she is managing her husband and two young children.
Vice President of Digital Marketing: Sarah Warn. Before selling her company and conquering the world as an Executive Producer for MTV Networks, Sarah developed and managed Expedia’s search engine marketing program to become one of the biggest and best in the nation. She was also a pretty big online media celebrity – but more about that later.
As VP of Digital Marketing, Sarah is responsible for OMF’s online presence, channel partnerships, and ensuring our services hit our target reach. She is a critical asset to reaching our most deserving military and veteran families.
Sarah is really smart. She is a graduate of Wellesley College (we think Julie Roberts played her in a movie) and she holds a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Harvard University. In her spare time you’ll find her hanging with Scooby.
Chairman of the Board: William W. Canfield. Mr. Bill Canfield is one heck of an entrepreneur and we managed to lure him out of retirement to serve as OMF’s Chairman of the Board. A native St. Louisan, Mr. Canfield holds a BSEE from Purdue and an MBA from Washington University.
Aside from being smart, Bill has an impressive record of helping companies achieve tremendous success in their marketplace. Prior to retirement, Mr. Canfield served as President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of TALX Corporation (NASDAQ:TALX) from 1988 to 2007. In 2007, Equifax purchased TALX and Mr. Canfield remained President and CEO until 2010 when he retired.
Then we got him. Mr. Canfield is a veteran, passionate about serving veterans and their families and brings tremendous business acumen to the team.
Board Member: David Jaffe Prior to his role as Chief Executive of Swedish/Edmonds, Jaffe spent 16 years as executive director and CEO of Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. He is an emeritus board member of the Trauma Center Association of America (TCAA) and a retired clinical associate professor at the University of Washington’s graduate school of public health and community medicine. He is also a current board member of the Snohomish County Economic Alliance and the Edmonds Center for the Arts. 
