What do a former Army recruiter, a retired state manager and an ex-VR&E Officer have in common?
They are all part of your NVTI subcontractor team!

In 2004, President Bush issued an Executive Order to strengthen opportunities in federal contracting for service-disabled, veteran-owned businesses. As part of that directive, NVTI implemented a plan to actively seek, recruit and mentor subcontractors who operate such businesses, as well as those headed by minority or women contractors.

NVTI looks at this as a win-win situation: excellent, well-trained professionals are part of the training team and smaller businesses benefit from working with NVTI. “The subcontractors are a valued, important part of the NVTI team,” NVTI Director Vaune Shelbourn said. “With their dedication, experience and backgrounds, it’s a great fit for us and great for our participants.”

LeeDel Cohenour, senior NVTI instructor and the small business subcontractor team lead, agrees. “The expertise in their fields, energy and enthusiasm really brings a fresh viewpoint to the classroom,” she said. "Their passion and commitment to helping improve services to veterans is evident in their dealings with our participants.”

Let’s meet some of these trainers:

Lorinzo Foxworth is a 20-year retired Army recruiter. His company assesses, designs, facilitates and evaluates organizational development processes for companies. So why partner with NVTI? “Before moving to Denver from Maryland, I researched NVTI on the internet,” Foxworth said. “I wanted to associate with a reputable organization that assisted career and job counselors, and that had a military connection, since I provide those types of sessions to other DoD agencies.”

Being part of something that helps veterans is important to Foxworth. “The mission is about serving veterans—to help them achieve and maintain employment,” he said. “It is important that our veterans get the very best and when you have passion about something, you want it to be the best. NVTI is the best and I’m glad to be a part of what we do.”

Foxworth has a strong leadership and training background and that translates well in the classroom. Of course, that doesn't’t mean there aren’t a few funny glitches along the way. He said, “LeeDel and I have this thing about using projectors. We love to place paper over the lens to hide the text on the wall, and in a few minutes the smell of smoke is coming from the paper. All we really had to do was just use the "hide" button or turn it off, but we like doing things the hard way!”

Tom Ivory is the retired state manager. He’s a Marine Corps veteran who worked for the Colorado Department of Labor & Employment (CDLE) for 27 years in various line and staff jobs. He finished his CDLE career as the Director for Employment and Training programs, which was the recipient responsible for the administrative grants; Wagner-Peyser, WIA, and VETS grant funding.

He was well aware of NVTI, as he was with CDLE when NVTI was just being formed. “I knew from my years of seeing the NVTI operation as an employee of the Colorado Department of Labor, that it was a class act and something with which I would like to be associated,” Ivory said. “NVTI’s contractor facilitator work really fits well with my other consulting business since they are both on the same topic of employment and training activities and one tends to compliment the other.”

Ivory has interesting, unique credentials in dealing with employment offices. He had performed some consulting work helping to establish effective employment offices in Eastern Europe after the Berlin Wall came down. “Under communism, Poland did not officially recognize unemployment,” he notes. “This was a major shift for the operations of the employment offices which existed even under communism, but now had much more demand for services and programs and needed to operate differently. This is where I came in.” Ivory worked with a team of other U.S. experts and Polish local labor office managers, as well as Ministry of Labor officials to put together a model labor office that incorporated U.S. practices in dealing with customers from the time a person walked in the door to the time they found employment. After working in Poland, he did similar work in Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Ukraine and Tanzania.

Bill Bleau is an Air Force veteran with a long history of working for the Department of Veterans Affairs and in fact, retired as an Assistant VR&E Officer. His business is a counseling center, which includes domestic violence, rehabilitation, mental health and addictions recovery counseling, among other areas.

Bleau knew of NVTI first-hand as a participant the original Veterans’ Benefits course. He said, “During my time with VA, NVTI was well known for their education and training in the area of veterans benefits, case management, LVERs and DVOPS, and transition.”

He says the decision to become a subcontractor wasn't a difficult one. “NVTI’s dedication to providing quality education, instruction and information to program participants is invaluable to those who attend,” Bleau said. “The teams and individuals I've met are very enthused about the curriculum, seem to take ownership of their part and bring a very refreshing, positive attitude to the classroom.”

It’s clear that Bleau’s years of experience with veterans, especially those with disabilities, gives him a wealth of knowledge from which to share. In course evaluations, participants have expressed their appreciation for Bleau’s knowledge and expertise, and for his willingness to share.

NVTI’s other subcontractors include four more veterans and two woman-owned businesses. “Having the subcontractors really enables us to keep doing what we do so well, which is to provide excellent training to the service providers who work with veterans,” Cohenour said. “There really isn’t a better reason than that to convince us what a worthwhile addition they are.”