Our Team
Board of Directors
Chief Operating Officer
Joseph Holmes - Chief Operating Officer
Joseph Holmes is a community leader and nonprofit champion. As a seasoned business professional, he has worked with Fortune 500 companies as well as mid-sized businesses. The opportunity to improve the quality of life for our nation’s heroes presented itself to Joe as a founding member of Heal the Hero Foundation in 2015. He discovered that his background in operations, financial management, sales and marketing management, and his work with a variety of nonprofit boards and executive boards, gave him the tools needed to help create Heal the Hero Foundation. Joe earned a degree in business management from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Boise State University. He is currently a member of adjunct faculty at The University of Dubuque, Tempe, AZ as an instructor in their MBA program. Despite the great satisfaction Joe derives from his work with Heal the Hero Foundation, he considers his family to be his greatest accomplishment and source of joy.
Vice President
Wendy Nelder - Vice President
Wendy Nelder has created, advised and participated in numerous non-profits, boards and commissions and served as a Deputy City Attorney in San Francisco, Deputy House Counsel for the Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children; as a member of the San Francisco Community College Foundation; and as a Member of the Sixth Army Advisory Board and the Salvation Army Advisory Board. She has was elected to three terms on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and having received the highest number of votes cast served as the President of that Board. In 1981, she wrote San Francisco’s ’Non-Smokers’ Rights’ Law, the first of its kind, which became the cornerstone of a world movement.
Staff
VP Tactical Programs
LeAnn Boesch - VP Tactical Programs
LeAnn has over 15 years of experience working in the Defense, Healthcare and Professional Sports industries. LeAnn co-founded a fund that supported Special Operations personnel in their pursuit to remain on active duty after injury. She personally coordinated care for more than 2500 service members who achieved a 95% return to duty rate. She has spent much of her career developing unique and customized human performance solutions for active military members, OGA and NATO allies. Being the spouse of a former Special Operations Operator, she has a true understanding of the needs of the community. She is a graduate of the United States Sports Academy with a Master’s Degree in Sports Science.
Consultant
Melissa M. DeLaney
For nearly 20 years, Melissa DeLaney has worked in communications and public affairs in Washington, D.C. and Arizona, working as a spokesperson and to develop messages and media strategy for high profile, international and controversial issues, public officials, organizations and brands.
DeLaney previously worked as communications director for Arizona Governor Doug Ducey’s winning campaign in 2014. She has also worked in Arizona’s business and economic development community at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council, where she spearheaded media campaigns highlighting the region’s business landscape, assets and quality of life and worked to advance public policy initiatives to drive further investments in the state.
Her broad-based experience includes: working as a spokesperson for various public officials, including members of Congress, White House Cabinet members, and statewide officials and candidates; working with local, national and international reporters and media outlets; managing crises; writing speeches and op-eds; media training high-level officials; coalition building; and using the media for strategic management of a legislative agenda or public policy issue.
DeLaney is also an established writer, whose work has been featured in TODAY Parents, All The Moms, The Daily Caller, East Valley Tribune, Blessed Is She, and Smart Girl Nation. She has also developed and placed op-eds in publications like The New York Times, Huffington Post, Washington Times, Washington Post, Roll Call, and Christian Science Monitor, among others.
National Service / Military Advisor
Jerry Holmes, Major General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.) - National Service / Military Advisor
General Holmes’ distinguished career has included commanding the U.S. AWACS Air Control Wing, being Chief of Staff of a European Allied Air Force, induction into the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame, and serving 13 years as Chairman of U.S. Sen. James Inhofe’s Veteran Task Force. Oklahoma University’s The Jerry Holmes Leadership program for Engineers and Scientists was launched in 2015 in his honor.
Director, Veronica’s Initiative
Veronica Winters-Everly - Director of Hope, Lead Spokesperson For Veronica's Initiative
Veronica has enjoyed a successful career in healthcare, creative services and technology. Her own experience of domestic violence and sexual abuse, and the tragic loss of her daughter to suicide and the loss of her son to an opioid overdose has led her on a journey of triumph over adversity. Today, Veronica is dedicating her life to make the revolutionary solution of brain technology that saved her life available to woman survivors everywhere.