Celebrating National Hire a Veteran Day: George “Tony” Brown, SkillBridge Fellow at Cognosante

Since 2017, July 25^th is informally recognized as “National Hire a Veteran Day.” We’re excited about this day because it’s an opportunity to recognize the progress of all companies who prioritize the Veteran community as well as share our commitment to hiring Veterans all year long. 

Transitioning from military service to civilian life is a challenge that many of our employees have experienced themselves—but it doesn’t have to be an insurmountable challenge. Cognosante offers a welcoming path to a new career, as well as support and mentorship through our military focused employee resource group called ConVERGE.   

In this spirit, we’re happy to introduce George “Tony” Brown, a retiring U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant and a current SkillBridge Fellow on our Data Science team. Cognosante is a proud partner of Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, through which service members in the last 180 days of their military careers are connected to industry partners for training, internships, and other civilian work experiences.

Tony, tell us about your military background.  

I’m retiring after completing 30 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. During that time, I operated at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of operations as an Intelligence Analyst. In my final assignment at the Pentagon, I served as the Senior Enlisted Leader to the Joint Chiefs of Staff Director of Intelligence. In this capacity I oversaw the team of analysts who were responsible for equipping the President, Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Staff with critical national level analysis.   

Tell us about your role at Cognosante. How are you applying the skills you gained during your military career?  

The Data Science team has allowed me to apply my vast intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance experience, while I learn new skills in preparation for transition to civilian life. Using analytics tools, I’m developing data visualizations that explore the relationships among many factors that affect the health and wellbeing of Americans. The insights we gain from this analysis will help us identify opportunities to have a real impact on people’s lives. I have been humbled by the opportunity and exposure.  

Do you have any advice you’d like to give transitioning service members, or Veterans seeking civilian work?   

Members can never be too prepared. Networking is critical to a smooth transition. Take advantage of all the transition assistance programs available. Be bold and ask the questions that you think everybody knows except you; I promise you are not the only one who does not know the answer. Finally, always pay it forward, share the lessons you learn with those following you; and you can make a difference.  

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Learn more about Cognosante’s commitment to Veterans and explore career opportunities today.