Advisors, Informers, and Influencers

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Matt is one of the nation’s leading experts in career transition for veterans and public service professionals.    The author of Mission Transition, a practical guide for veterans in career transition, Matt commits his spare time to a number of veteran supporting roles including  Chairing the YNS Workforce Development Advisory Committee, being the veteran Transition Assistance officer for his West Point class of 1991, and leading the  Cincinnati MyVA Community Veterans Engagement Board.   

During active commissioned service in the US Army, Matt served in the Southwest Asia combat theater and in the 194th Separate Armored Brigade. During reserve commissioned service, Matt served on the staff of the Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and commanded multiple regions around the country for the US Military Academy’s Admissions Office. 

An Applied Anthropologist, Kiersten recently joined the Fors Marsh Group as a Senior Researcher: a transition from the very veteran- centric work as the Research Director and Program Lead for ScoutComms and its ScoutInsight, and as a health services researcher at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in  Tampa, Florida.,  Kiersten's doctoral dissertation, "Beautifully Awful" was foundational to the evolution of YourNexStage.  

Dr. Downs' current world or work is legions away from her service as a bomb loader for four years in the U.S. Air Force and her four more years as an administrative assistant in a fighter jet squadron in  the New York Air National Guard.  She was deployed overseas three times,  including once to Iraq. 

Dr. Becky Porter is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Military Child Education Coalition, since September 2019, following her retirement from the United States Army. Her 38-year military career culminated in command of Public Health Command Europe. She enlisted in 1981, was commissioned in 1983, and served as a clinical psychologist since 1995. Becky served in numerous command and staff positions, most notably as a Special Assistant to Chief of Staff of the Army General Eric K. Shinseki and as the Director of Psychological Health for the Army.

With more than three decades of military service, Dr. Porter is a board-certified clinical psychologist, a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and a member of the Order of Military Medical Merit. She was a founding member of the Science Advisory Board for the Military Child Education Coalition, former president of the Society for Military Psychology, and holds the Surgeon General’s “A” Proficiency Designator as recognition of her significant contributions to the Army Medical Department.

Tracey, a health systems and policy scientist who specializes in leading complex tasks, program development and capacity building, joined the faculty of Uniformed Services University in 2015.  Previously, as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, Tracey served as the senior program liaison for community health, a senior representative of the Marine Corps on community health policy and research. She made recommendations on complex issues requiring knowledge of administrative laws, policies, regulation, and precedent applicable to the administration of community health programs and gender integration.  

A former Army Air Defense Artillery officer, Tracey is a graduate of the Joint Military Attaché School. She is the widow of Colonel Randall ‘Moose’ Koehlmoos, US Army, and mother of Robert (USMA 2016), Michael and David Koehlmoos.

An active-duty Army officer and entrepreneur,  Nargis Kabiri Mougey graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned as a Field Artillery Officer.  More than a Solider, she is also a first-generation American who immigrated from Afghanistan only to deploy to Afghanistan in 2011-2012 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. As a Field Artillery Officer, Nargis became the 1st female cannon platoon leader to the Army’s (then) only Airborne M777 unit in 2012. She commanded an all-male firing battery unit at 1st Battalion 9th Field Artillery Regiment in the 3rd Infantry Division. 

When Nargis became a mother, she responded to another calling  Launching in 2020, Zanbazan, strives to help working mothers by providing a clothing line that supports lactation while women work in austere environments.  Mougey currently teaches in the Department of Physical Education at the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY. She is a mother of two young boys, Caleb and Gabe.

A native of Ohio, Jennifer served 12 years in the U.S. Navy, including an operational tour with the U.S. Marine Corps—in the Fleet Marine Force—as a Dental Technician and Dental Hygienist. In 2000, she was honorably discharged as a Dental Technician Second Class (DT2).

After her naval career, Jennifer returned to school, completing a master’s degree in psychology and doctor of education degree in counseling psychology. Licensed as a marriage and family therapist , Jen has treated children, adults, couples and families with a variety of mental health and substance use disorders. She is a Clinical Fellow for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Jennifer has had a highly successful career, working with and for some of the nation’s most prestigious agencies, including but not limited to, the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Special Operations Command. 

Becky is a retired Colonel, retired Family Nurse Practitioner, and a never-to-be-retired military wife and mother.  Subsequent to retiring from the Air Force, rather than pursuing the next degree in a series which includes a BSN and a MS, Becky sought a second Bachelors studying anthropology,  sociology and gender studies to understand the transition experiences of  post-9/11 women veterans.  She is also investigating how the women-into-combat roles and non-traditional career fields has created a evolution  in the socio-cultural aspects of women veterans.