Why Listen

My conversation today is with two different Veterans senior in the tech industry. In addition to talking about their long and successful career including operations, program management, product management and more, we talk about the ideal team player (based on their experience hiring hundreds of people), the difference between a good boss and a bad boss, differences in leadership out of the military, and more. This interview brings over 20 years of hard earned experience that is a wealth of knowledge regardless of your desired career path.

About Mike Sedgwick

Mr. Sedgwick is Vice President of Defense and Aerospace Products for SCI Technology, Inc. (SCI), a Sanmina company, in Huntsville, Alabama. Mike is responsible for oversight of SCI’s Aircraft and Tactical product organizations including the FireComm® and TOCNET® product lines. He has extensive expertise in wide-ranging areas including Strategic Planning, Defense & Aerospace Contract Management, P&L Accountability, Business Development, Project Management, Contracts, Budgeting, Scheduling, and Logistics.

Mike previous held the titles of Senior Program Manager and Director of Aircraft Systems with SCI.

Prior to his latest move to SCI, Mr. Sedgwick served as General Manager of AAR Integrated Technologies and Business Director for the Hypersonic Design and System Integration segment at i3. Mike has managed organizations and teams that include Program Management, Engineering, Contracts, Quality, Manufacturing, HR and Supply Chain to ensure the seamless production of sophisticated defense and aerospace hardware.

Beyond his impressive business credentials, he served honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces. He currently serves in the U.S. Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer. Previously, Mike served as Battalion Intelligence Officer (S-2) with 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) and as a Company Executive Officer with the 82nd Airborne Division.

Mr. Sedgwick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.

About Peter Cianfaglione

Peter Cianfaglione is Vice President of Operations at SCI Technology, Inc., a Sanmina Company, in Huntsville, Alabama. Peter is responsible for SCI’s manufacturing operations to include production, manufacturing, quality engineering, and supply chain.

Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Peter completed an Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Ottawa in the Regular Officer Training Program (the Canadian equivalent to ROTC). During and upon completion of his degree, he served in the Canadian Army as a Combat Engineer and Infantry Officer (including service with the Commando in the Canadian Airborne Regiment).

In 1993, Peter joined Motorola while transitioning to reserve service. He moved to the United States in 1997 with Motorola while continuing his service as a Canadian Army Reservist including exchange postings with 82nd Abn, 36th ID (Texas National Guard) and 4th ID. In addition to these roles, he also supported the sharing of information between the Canadian and United States militaries on lessons learned in IED awareness from both the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.

Shortly after becoming a U.S. citizen in 2005, he was mobilized in support of recovery operations following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Following a move to Huntsville, Alabama, in 2006, Peter took on various capacities with Benchmark Electronics in electronics manufacturing while both continuing his role with the Canadian Army Reserves as well as completing a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering.

Peter returned to his home town of Ottawa, Canada from 2009-2011 to work for General Dynamics while commanding a reserve Engineer Battalion. While in Ottawa, he completed his third and final deployment. Upon his return to the United States in 2011, he resumed work with Benchmark Electronics in various capacities, including General Manager and Vice President - Global Accounts.

Peter is a graduate of the Canadian Army Command and Staff Course, New Zealand Grade 2 Staff Course and Canadian Joint Command and Staff Programme. He joined SCI in 2020 and is currently working towards completion of a PHD in Engineering. He and his wife of 25 years have seven children, two of which are presently serving in the U.S. military.

Why Listen:

The top two reasons to listen to this interview are:
1.Straight talk - Josh is very direct about the struggles he has faced in his career and transition. The wisdom he shares is incisive, and I think a lot of Veterans will appreciate both the sincerity and authenticity of his advice.
2.Consulting & project management - we talk about Josh’s experience with both consulting and project management, and why Veterans may love either of these career paths.

Beyond the Uniform has over 350 podcast episodes and 20 videos with America’s top Veterans, including Jocko Willink, the former CEO of Pepsi, NFL players and more. They are all for free at BeyondTheUniform.org. If you benefit from Beyond the Uniform and would like to help get this in front of more members of the military community, please consider donating at BeyondTheUniform.org/donate. You can also text SUPPORTBTU to 33777 and we will send you additional information. Our cost of production is $300 per month, we are an all-volunteer team, and we could use your financial support. That is at BeyondTheUniform.org/donate or by texting SUPPORTBTU to 33777.

About Josh:

Josh is a Consultant at Whitney, Bradley & Brown (WBB), as well as a Training Consultant at PM-ProLearn. He started out at the Naval Academy, after which he served in the Marine Corps for over 11 years.

Why Listen:
I LOVED my chat with Jeremy. He is a man who values authenticity in his personal and professional life, and he found a company - GoPro - that prizes that as well. In this interview we do a deep dive on both the Product Management and Product Marketing roles. We talk about Business School, and how to evaluate whether this is the right path for you. We talk about how what you did in undergrad and what you did in the military can inform what you do, but don’t have to dictate your path. And we talk about why Veterans may love working at a company with a physical product, just like GoPro.

About Jeremy:
Jeremy Hendricks is a Product Marketing Manager at GoPro. He started out at the University of Scranton, and served in the US Army for 9 years - as Army Signal Corps officer, and then with the US Army Special Forces as a Detachment Commander, where his team specialized in military free fall ops and Special Reconnaissance. After his military service he got his MBA at the Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he did an internship with GoPro. Since graduation, he has worked at GoPro for nearly four years, starting as a Product Manager.

Why Listen:
All the way back in BTU #92, I interviewed Justine Evirs about her incredible work helping military Veterans in their transition to a civilian career. Well, since that time, Justine started a new company, called The Paradigm Switch, which is committed to unleashing the potential of military spouses by leveraging the power of technology and in-demand skills that resonate in our technology-driven economy. I am a BIG fan of Justine, and after interviewing today’s guest - who is the Chief Operations Officer at The Paradigm Shift - I am even more excited about this new company. Laurent is a Veteran herself, and goes into the reason why The Paradigm Shift is SO crucial - because, of the 45k organizations that help Veterans, less than 35 of those help spouses! We delve into this problem, and also go through an overview of both Program and Project Management.

About Lauren:
Lauren Grimshaw is the COO of The Paradigm Switch: an organization committed to unleashing the potential of military spouses by leveraging the power of technology and in-demand skills that resonate in our technology-driven economy.  There are over 45,000 organizations serving veterans and transitioning service members - and fewer than 35 serving spouses - yet military spouse unemployment is 3 to 5 times higher than veteran unemployment.  Lauren started out at the University of Virginia, and served as a Surface Warfare Officer for over four years with time on the USS Anzio and the USS Momsen. She herself is a Navy Spouse, and also holds an MBA from the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

Amanda puts me to shame in this interview, as she is so incredibly gifted at succinctly and vividly describing a variety of topics in this interview, including: her work as a Data Scientist and Product Manager, how to approach work life balance, remote working, and evaluating a company's culture. I really enjoyed talking with Amanda, and hope you enjoy this great interview.

Alex Stone is the Founder & CEO of Athletes of Valor, who’s mission is to help veterans transition from service to career by leveraging the power of collegiate sports. He started out as a Sergeant in the Marine Corps, after which he worked as a Product Manager at Wellpower Sports Co, and then at Under Armour as both a Development Manager and then Product Line Manager.

Jared Wymer is a Program Manager for Global Talent Management at Amazon. Jared started out by enlisting in the Marine Corps, where he served for eight years in logistics, supply chain management, and intelligence, while also pursuing and receiving an undergraduate degree and MBA. Jared transitioned from the Marines into a PhD program, working concurrently in finance and as a Fellow for the Department of State. Since that time Jared started his own consulting company, Wymer & Associates, and joined Amazon. Jared is currently one year away from obtaining his PhD.

Matt Ufford is an Editor-at-Large and Video Host at SB Nation - a digital sports media brand and network of team sites built by and for the modern sports fan. He started out at Northwestern University, after which he served in the Marine Corps for four years as a Tank Officer. After the Marines he worked as a columnist at AOL Sports, as well as an editor at Uproxx Media, where he founded their sports and TV blogs.