New Military Veterans Forum Coming Soon

BLUF: INFORMS designs new forum to serve its military veteran and active duty members.*

Military veterans have a strong presence at INFORMS. We’re everywhere from being active members of the operations research (O.R.) and analytics community to serving in leadership roles. Each INFORMS conference has a handful of people walking around in uniform. We tend to connect on our shared experiences when we happen to meet through various INFORMS opportunities. But there is nothing formally in place at INFORMS to specifically help veterans network with each other. We’re changing that. 

I have been an INFORMS member for seven years and currently serve as the VP, Chapters and Fora. I’m also a Coast Guard veteran who worked in human resources analytics and coordinated search and rescue cases. When I left the military as a Lieutenant (O-3) officer to pursue a long-term career in operations research, I didn’t have a good place to go for advice beyond asking the handful of people I already knew who had made a similar career move. Most of the O.R. people I knew were either still in the military or had transitioned into a role working for the military. I was involved with INFORMS through its Washington, D.C., chapter and by earning the Certified Analytics Professional certification, so I met a handful of O.R. people outside of the armed forces. That said, the advice I was looking for was hard to come by because our backgrounds were so different. The transition programs I participated in had good content that was understandably not specific to what I wanted to do. Veterans’ organizations were similarly not geared toward my professional interests.

After I landed my first civilian job (thanks in part to a networking event during the INFORMS Business Analytics Conference), I quickly found myself being a resource for my fellow O.R. Coasties who were considering pursuing their own O.R. civilian careers. As I continued to expand my network, I started meeting many people with similar experiences. I found that I enjoyed meeting other veterans and talking to them about anything – what they do now, what they did in the military, their specific interests within analytics, etc. I often find myself in the same conversation – wouldn’t it be great if we could easily connect with other veterans at INFORMS?

Now we can! INFORMS has four types of communities: societies and sections, which connect people based on applications and techniques; chapters, which connect people based on geographic region or school; and forums/fora, which connect people based on interests not covered by the societies, sections or chapters. A group for military veterans fits well as a new forum. To get started, we’ll need at least 25 INFORMS members who want to join with a few who are willing to help plan activities and lead the forum. Nick Ulmer has already volunteered as the inaugural chair of the forum.

For those attending the 2022 INFORMS Annual Meeting, join us at our first kickoff event for the Military Veterans Forum on Monday, October 17, 4:30-5:00 p.m., jointly sponsored by the INFORMS Analytics Society and Military and Security Society (MAS). Check the INFORMS mobile app for room location.

Whether you’ll be able to join us in Indiana or can’t make it this year, please complete our short interest form.

As the name implies, this new forum is for veterans’ interests, and the only prerequisite is a (self-identified) interest in supporting or championing issues related to veterans. You can reach Nick or me directly on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-ulmer or https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynwalter) with questions or ideas. 

*For those unfamiliar, BLUF is a military communications acronym (bottom line up front) designed to enforce speed and clarity in reports and emails.