By Debbie Gregory.

On May 17^th, the Department of Veterans Affairs inked a 10-year, $10 billion contract with Kansas City, Missouri-based Cerner Corp. to adopt the same commercial electronic health records system as the Pentagon.

“President Trump has made very clear to me that he wants this contract to do right by both Veterans and taxpayers, and I can say now without a doubt that it does,” said Veterans Affairs Acting Secretary Robert Wilkie. He continued, “Signing this contract today is an enormous win for our nation’s veterans. It puts in place a modern IT system that will support the best possible health care for decades to come. That’s exactly what our nation’s heroes deserve.”

The department received nearly $800 million in funding from Congress for fiscal 2018 to begin the contract.

“For too long, service members transitioning from the Department of Defense to VA healthcare have been unable to take their medical records with them,” said Rep. Tim Walz, ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

Cerner President Zane Burke said in a statement that the company is honored to have the opportunity to improve the health care experience for our nation’s veterans.

“The VA has a long history of pioneering health care technology innovation, and we look forward to helping deliver high-quality outcomes across the continuum of care,” said Burke. “We expect this program to be a positive catalyst for interoperability across the public and private health care sectors, and we look forward to moving quickly with organizations across the industry to deliver on the promise of this mission.”

By Debbie Gregory.

Lids.com abandoned a recently-unveiled online ad campaign after receiving a dressing-down from the Marine Corps.

The advertising campaign mentioned the Marine Corps in selling jerseys to be worn over the Memorial Day weekend by Major League Baseball teams including the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Detroit Tigers.

One ad read, “Honor the U.S. Marine Corps brave men and women with this authentic New York Yankees Giancarlo Stanton Majestic MLB Men’s USMC Cool Base Jersey.”

The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard all have a trademark licensing office in order to control their logos and slogans. Revenues generated from licensing products support morale, welfare and recreation programs worldwide.

The Marine Corps does not currently have a licensing agreement in place with Lids or Major League Baseball.

Nick Francona, son of Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, is a former Marine who doesn’t mince words regarding profiting from those who served and made the ultimate sacrifice.

On the Friday before Memorial Day, Francona tweeted, “How about a Friday scavenger hunt? Who can find the 501c(3) filings showing specific details on MLB’s donations related to the proceeds from the sale of Memorial Day apparel the past few years? It’s a charity after all, right?”

In another tweet, Francona wrote “You have to hand it to @NewEraCap, @lids, and @MLB. It’s not often that you can combine callous exploitation and ignorance of the fundamental tenets of democracy in such an efficient manner.”

Besides these call-outs, Francona’s Twitter page is filled with tributes to the fallen. In his quest to make sure that they are not forgotten, Francona made personalized wristbands with the names of specific U.S. military veterans who died while serving overseas and distributed them to players and coaches with connections to the hometowns or schools where the deceased veteran was from.

By Debbie Gregory.

The controversy around Google’s cooperation with the military, which has already cost them a dozen employees, may intensify in the coming months as Project Maven expands into new areas.  This is the first known mass resignations at Google in protest against one of the company’s business decisions.

Google’s decision to provide artificial intelligence to the controversial military pilot program will expand to include developing tools to more efficiently search captured hard drives.

Project Maven is formally known as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team. The technology fielded under Maven can automatically annotate objects such as boats, trucks, and buildings on digital maps.

The use of artificial intelligence in drone warfare has some Google employees protesting the only way they feel would be effective- by resigning. About 4,000 other Google employees have sign a petition in protest, asking Google to immediately cancel the contract and refuse future military work.

Google claims it is only providing open-source software to Project Maven, which means the military would be able to still use the technology, even if Google didn’t accept payment or offer technical assistance.

Google has long been known as one of the coolest companies to work for, with an open culture that encourages employees to challenge and debate product decisions.

Word of the controversial project began to spread internally three months ago. Employees felt that the ethical concerns regarding the project should have been addressed before the contract was signed.

Last month, the Tech Workers Coalition launched a petition of their own, demanding that Google abandon its work on Maven and that other major tech companies, including IBM and Amazon, refuse to work with the U.S. Defense Department.

By Debbie Gregory.

The entrepreneurial spirit is a mindset. It’s an attitude and approach to thinking that actively seeks out change, rather than waiting to adapt to change. It’s a mindset that embraces critical questioning, innovation, service and continuous improvement.

Many millennials get their idea of entrepreneurship from watching Shark Tank, giving little thought to the fact that most of the goods and services they enjoy probably sprang from the imagination of an entrepreneur.

Fred Smith is the founder, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx. In 1962, Smith entered Yale University. While attending Yale, he wrote a paper for an economics class, outlining overnight delivery service in a computer information age. It is said that his professor told him that, in order for him to get a C, the idea had to be feasible.

Following his graduation, Smith served two tours in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, one as an infantry officer and one as a forward air controller. There he witnessed the military’s logistics operations, using flight to move personnel and equipment on a massive scale.

After leaving the military with a few distinguishing medals, including a Silver Star, a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Smith bought an aviation company that would grow to be FedEx. He named the company Federal Express because he believed the patriotic meaning associated with the word “federal” suggested an interest in nationwide economic activity.

Federal Express officially began operations on April 17, 1973. That night, 14 small aircraft took off from Memphis and delivered 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities.

Today, FedEx is consistently recognized as one of the most admired brands in the world and one of the best places to work. But like many innovative companies, it started out as an idea championed by a determined person.

By Debbie Gregory.

The Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense office, has selected 30 employers and government organizations from 2,350 nominations for 2018 Secretary of Defense Freedom Award, commonly referred to as the “Freedom Award.”

Almost half of the U.S. military is made up of National Guard and Reserve members, many of whom also hold jobs with civilian employers. The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award is the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their support of their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve.

ESGR organizes the annual award program. The award was instituted in 1996 by then Secretary of Defense William Perry, and has since presented the honor to hundreds of recipients.

ESGR received nominations for employers in all 50 states, Guam-CNMI, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

Fifteen awards are presented in three categories – large (500 or more employees), small (fewer than 500 employees), and public sector.

Here are this year’s Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award finalists:

Amazon

AME Swiss Machining LLC

ArgenTech Solutions, Inc.

Barclays

Big Sky Advisors

Central Washington University

Crystal Group Inc.

CUNA Mutual Group

Duke Energy

Dunlap Police Department

Ecolab, Inc.

Ellsworth Correctional Facility.

FMI Corporation

Greencastle Associates Consulting Company

LG&E and KU Energy

Michigan Department of Corrections

Minnesota Department of Transportation

National Grid

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections

Prudential Financial Inc.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania

South Charleston Police Department

State of Nevada

Stokes County Schools

Texas Department of Insurance

Werner Enterprises, Inc.

West Valley City

Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office

Worcester Police Department

In 2008, ESGR launched a web site for the Freedom Award. Using videos, news articles, profiles of recipients, and tips about employer best practices, the site provides information about the support that employers across the nation provide to their Guard and Reserve employees and their families. The site also houses the nomination form for the award.