The initial steps toward the first place in higher education dedicated to improving the lives of military families began in 2007.  A single program for veterans with disabilities interested in starting their own business, the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, was a crash course program for veterans looking to get started in entrepreneurship or take their businesses to the next level.

Born from Whitman School of Management Professor Michael Haynie’s experiences working with traumatically injured veterans, his vision for a program that empowered veterans post-service evolved into something greater.

In 2011, that single program grew into what became the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, with JPMorgan Chase & Co. joining Syracuse University to create an institute that has since supported over 150,000 veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses.

From those humble beginnings, IVMF now has over a dozen programs in career training, entrepreneurship, community services, politics and civic engagement and more. There are dozens of locations throughout the country – from Fort Drum, NY to Hawaii — and even some programs are overseas.

What started with one person in a single room now has over a hundred employees working across the country, but the mission from the very beginning has never changed: “In service to those who have served.”