About

Thomas Brennan is the founder and executive director of The War Horse. He served as an infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan before studying investigative reporting at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. His reporting has appeared in Vanity Fair, Center for Investigative Reporting, and on the front page of The New York Times. Brennan has held fellowships at the Center for a New American Security, The Atlantic Council, and the George W. Bush Institute. Brennan’s feature writing has been given awards by the Society for Features Journalism and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. His investigative reporting has earned him both a national and regional Edward R. Murrow, two Fourth Estate Awards, and the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award. He can be reached at thomas.brennan@thewarhorse.org.

Sheila Casey is a results-oriented leader who has had a long and successful career managing dynamic organizations at the intersection of media, government, and veteran affairs. Most recently, she served as a Special Assistant to the President and the Director of Joining Forces, the First Lady’s initiative supporting military and veteran families, caregivers, and survivors. Prior to that appointment, Casey served as the Chief Operating Officer at CPR Media and Pluribus News, a position she had held at The Hill for over 20 years. Casey has served as the Board Chair of Blue Star Families, Treasurer of the Washington Press Club Foundation, an Advisory Board Member of the Military Child Education Coalition, and a Leadership Council Member of the Bob Woodruff Foundation. She is a two-time recipient of the Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal (the highest level of recognition given by the Department of Defense), has received the US Chamber of Commerce Impact Award for Lifetime Achievement, and has been awarded the Order of the White Plume for her contribution to enhancing the quality of life for Army families.

Keith Goggin After a brief career as a financial journalist, Goggin spent over 25 years working in the financial industry, first as an employee of the American Stock Exchange and later as a market maker and specialist on the American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. At various times during the past two decades, Goggin has been the managing member of STR Trading Partners, a founding member and the managing member of STR Specialists, and a founding member of Integral Derivatives, among other industry roles. Over the course of his career, Goggin has served on numerous fiduciary and advisory boards. In addition to the board of The War Horse, he currently serves on the board of visitors at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, the board of advisors of Columbia Global Reports, the board of governors of the Columbia University Club of New York, Columbia University’s Climate Board of Advisors, the Presidents Council for Columbia World Projects, and the board of the Thirty West Forty Fourth Street Foundation. Over the course of his career, Goggin has also been an active direct investor in private companies doing business in multiple economic sectors, including manufacturing, energy, hospitality, real estate, and specialty chemicals, among others. Goggin holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University with a concentration in economics and a Master of Science degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Mary Beth Bruggeman spent eight years as an active-duty Marine combat engineer. Upon leaving active duty, Bruggeman worked for iRobot Corporation for four years, advancing their work on counter-IED robotics, spent time as a stay-at-home mom and Marine wife, and then started a fitness and nutrition coaching business. She joined the Mission Continues- a national veteran-serving nonprofit- in 2015 as the executive director for the Southeast Region. From 2019-2024, Bruggeman served as the President/CEO of The Mission Continues. Mary Beth has degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and Georgetown University and is an alumus of the George W. Bush Institute’s Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program. She lives in Fairfax Station, VA, with her husband Brian, a retired Marine, and their three kids. 

Michèle Flournoy is currently the co-founder and managing partner of WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm. She served as the under secretary of defense for policy from February 2009 to February 2012 where she was the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defense policy. Flournoy began her career as a reporter and has dedicated her life to public service. In 2007, Flournoy co-founded the Center for a New American Security, where she served as president and later CEO. She now serves on the boards of CNAS, CARE, The Mission Continues, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Amida Technology Solutions. Flournoy is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group and has received awards from the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the American Red Cross.

Sue Hoppin is an expert on military spouse and family issues working to bridge the cultural gap between government, private and public groups, and military communities. She is an advocate, published author and consultant with more than 20 years of experience and expertise in military community programs. She has a proven record of developing award-winning programs focusing on military issues, serving as spokesperson for various organizations and committees, and training top-tier military-affiliated groups and organizations. In 2012, Hoppin was appointed to the board of visitors of the United States Air Force Academy and completed her tenure as the board’s vice chairman. In 2010, Hoppin founded the National Military Spouse Network, a professional development and networking membership organization supporting the professional career goals of military spouses. Before founding the NMSN, Hoppin served as the first deputy director for spouse outreach for the Military Officers Association of America. In 2007, Hoppin co-authored “A Family’s Guide to the Military” for the popular Dummies series; the book was selected for First Lady of the Marine Corps’s Recommended Reading List in 2012. Hoppin volunteers on the Veterans Advisory Committee on Education (2020-present), as a member of the Madeira School Board of Trustees (2020-present), as the president of the Madeira School Alumnae Council (2017-present), on the board of directors for Blue Star Families (2010-2013), and as military family liaison to Fairfax County School Superintendent’s Business and Community Advisory Council (2009-2012). Hoppin holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from the University of Denver, a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Oklahoma, and a certificate in nonprofit management from Georgetown University.

Bailey Donahue brings a background in communications, public health, and nonprofit storytelling. She works in communications at Blue Zones Health, where she helps shape strategic narratives and resources that support healthier, longer lives. A 2023 War Horse Writing Fellow, Donahue is deeply committed to honoring stories that matter to the military and veteran community. She holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and studied public health. Donahue is the daughter of Army Maj. Michael Donahue, who was killed in action in 2014. She is passionate about serving alongside the Gold Star children community and is actively involved in efforts that preserve remembrance—honoring lives lost, participating in memorial races, and carrying a personal mission to keep the names and legacies of those who served alive.

Sherman Gillums Jr.  is the chief strategy and operations officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Earlier in his career, Gillums served in the U.S. Marines for 12 years and received an honorable discharge at the rank of chief warrant officer 2 after a career-ending injury while preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. Shortly after, he joined Paralyzed Veterans of America as associate executive director of veterans benefits. He later went on to serve as the organization’s first post-9/11-era executive director. After a successful period of improving health care and quality of life for catastrophically injured veterans, Gillums joined American Veterans, where he served as the organization’s chief strategy and advocacy officer.

Gillums has testified before Congress as an expert witness and presently serves on several high-profile committees, such as the Federal  Veterans’ Family, Caregiver and Survivor Advisory Committee as vice chairman alongside chairperson Elizabeth Dole. He was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to serve on the Fair Housing Board for the Commonwealth of Virginia for a second term. He also sits on advisory boards for Operation Gratitude’s BRIDGE Council and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. His record of success includes the conceptualization and launch of two highly regarded programs. AMVETS’s HEAL Program received the award for leadership in veteran mental health from the Academy of United States Veterans in 2020. Gillums is a graduate of the University of San Diego School of Business Administration and completed his executive education at Harvard Business School.

Anne Lebleu has nearly 20 years experience working at financial services firms and social impact consultancies, crafting solutions focused on the intersection of philanthropy and capital markets. She has worked as a trusted advisor to individuals and family offices with a wide -range of mandates, leveraging both policy and market-based solutions.

Retired Navy Rear Adm. John F. Kirby is the director of the nonpartisan Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago, which offers extracurricular programs designed to foster students’  passion for public service and active engagement in our democracy. Kirby most recently served as White House National Security Communications Advisor, coordinating and aligning interagency national security messaging for the Biden administration and frequently speaking on foreign and defense policy issues. Prior to his work at the White House, Kirby served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, as an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, as a military and diplomatic analyst at CNN, as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs at the Department of State, and as the Pentagon Press Secretary. His 28-year naval career featured duty at sea and ashore, including deployments to the Middle East and Mediterranean.

Dr. Harold Kudler is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a medical associate professor at Duke University and an adjunct professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He plays a leadership role in a number of mental health organizations, including the International Center for Multigenerational Legacies of Trauma, the Service Members and Veterans Initiative of the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry’s Military and Veterans Committee. Previously, Dr. Kudler co-chaired the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Special Committee on PTSD (which reported directly to Congress), served on the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Board of Directors, co-led the development of joint VA/Department of Defense Guidelines for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress, and advised Sesame Street’s Talk, Listen, Connect series for military families. He has served as the Associate Director of VA’s Mid-Atlantic Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) on Deployment Mental Health, VA Central Office Chief Consultant for Mental Health Services, and Acting Assistant Deputy Undersecretary for Patient Care Services. Dr. Kudler received his M.D. from Downstate Medical Center and trained in Psychiatry at Yale.

Robert J. Rosenthal is a former member and the former executive director of The Center for Investigative Reporting and an award-winning journalist who has worked with The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Francisco Chronicle. Rosenthal worked for 22 years at the Inquirer, starting as a reporter and eventually becoming its executive editor in 1998. He worked as an editorial assistant on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pentagon Papers Project and has also won the Overseas Press Club Award for magazine writing and the Sigma Delta Chi Award for distinguished foreign correspondence, and he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in international reporting. Rosenthal was a Pulitzer Prize judge four times and has been an adjunct professor at Columbia University and the University of California at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.