New England Veteran Small Business Owner of the Year

For John Shepard and Veterans Assembled electronics, ensuring veterans succeed is their full time job Founder and CEO, John Shepard (Center) flanked on his left by COO, Matt Vargas, and on his right by CFO, Michael Videira. John Shepard’s journey and eventual creation of Veterans Assembled electronics began as a prime contractor for a Naval Undersea Warfare Center where he worked on the modernization legacy weapons systems. During this contract Shepard found difficulty in identifying technicians with the skills necessary to fill the demanding role. At the same time Shepard began hearing the concerns of other
prime contractors about the skills-gap in the employment pool – the consistent theme being that traditional academics were failing to fill the industry specific skillset.

Shepard, a veteran himself, asked, “Why don’t we train service-disabled veterans to do this work?” Being an industry professional he knew what skills were needed and was in a unique position to build a curriculum geared towards the direct demands of the hiring companies. John began building the VAe curriculum from the perspective of building value into the veteran, that value being a skillset and practical education that is desperately sought out by employers. Shepard investigated the manufacturing aspect of electronics as well as the electronics technician perspective, integrating the two fields to create a unique and practical academic experience.

VAe began seeking accreditation, and with the support of the Veterans Affairs office, were soon
approved by both the international standard bodies for electronics manufacturing and electronics
technicians. In 2010, VAe hosted their first crop of service-disabled veteran students in a five month
program. Students were immersed in classes for 40 hours per week for 20 weeks, totaling 800 hours of
in-depth, highly personalized education. Students graduate the program with 12 industry recognized
certificates.

Since VAe’s inception they have grown from offering classes in Rhode Island and Florida, to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and North Carolina. By using an SBA line of credit they are able to opening these locations and ensure the proper equipment and services are available to all their students. While VAe continues to grow they are adamant that growth must not come at the expense of the veteran’s experience. “Each location is a small, tactical location,” said Shepard. “There are two advocates and two instructors, and the second part of our success really is through the advocacy role,” he affirmed.

Before onboarding begins each veteran is matched with an advocate to aid them in the educational process. In many instances the obstacle these service-disabled veterans face are more than just educational. “Chances are if a veteran is having a major transportation issue than the there’s something else,” said Matt Vargas, COO. “A lot of times veterans are dealing with three or four issues so we can treat symptoms or we can solve problems. We really try to get to the bottom of what the issues are and try to resolve them so once they get to that career, they see the light and they just take off,” he added.

VAe’s unique pairing of education, advocacy, and placement has produced unarguable results; 90% of veterans who enter their program graduate; of those graduates 80% find employment, of that 80%, 90% stay in that career for a sustained basis. For his demonstrated success, potential for future growth, and dedication to the veteran community, the U.S. Small Business Administration is pleased to honor John L. Shepard, CEO of Veterans Assembled electronics, as the 2018 New England Veteran Small Business Owner of the Year.

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