About

LtCol Michael Dunford, USMC, (Retired)

President Lt Colonel Mike Dunford is a retired Marine Corps Reserve Officer, a combat veteran of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Beirut, Lebanon, and a veteran of both Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Mike is currently a Leadership and Human Resources Consultant and principal of the Dunford Consulting Group. He had previously served as the Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Covidien, an $11B global medical device company. In addition to his consultancy, Mike works as a veteran advocate with a focus on employment and homelessness. In 2017 Mike joined FourBlock (www.fourblock.org), a semester-based veteran career readiness program that provides the professional development, career exploration, and network access that today’s generation of veterans needs to be competitive for great careers. Mike serves as an advisor and member of several boards to include Bon Secours Mercy Health in Cincinnati, Edge4Vets (www.edge4vets.com) , the Greater Boston Veterans Collaborative (www.collaborate.vet) leading the employment work group; as the Co-Chair of the FourBlock National Leadership Council; as the Co-Chair of the Executive Committee for the Boston College Veterans Alumni Network; as a member of the Red White & Blue Alliance at Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Program for veterans (www.homebase.org); and as an event organizer for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. Mike received his Bachelor of Science from Boston College, and his Masters of Science, in Human Resources Management from Lesley University and currently serves as the President of the Board for the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center.

Steve Carter

Honorary Board Member

Steve Carter is a senior leader with demonstrated success and breadth of experience at several Fortune 100 companies, a large private equity-backed firm, a minority-owned small business, and the U.S. Army. He has successfully led major strategic transformations and driven detailed operational results across a broad range of organizations. Steve currently serves as a Senior Business Strategist for Generational Consulting Group, helping small to medium-size businesses grow revenue and profits.

Steve’s leadership experience includes senior supply chain leadership roles at Wal-Mart, Target, Reebok, Honeywell International, Case New Holland, and a private equity-backed pet retail chain named Pet Retail Brands. His most recent role prior to his current consulting position was Chief Operating Officer at a $20M minority-owned student transportation services company based in Minneapolis.

Steve retired from the Army as a Colonel after a combined 23 years of active duty and reserve component service, and currently serves as an Army Reserve Ambassador. Steve is a graduate of the Wharton School (MBA), University of Pennsylvania (Master of Systems Engineering), and the United States Military Academy at West Point (BS in Engineering). He has served in leadership roles on multiple non-profit boards of directors and professional industry associations. In his free time, Steve enjoys golf, travel, exercise, serving his church and spending time with family and friends. He lives in Dennis, MA with his wife, and they have two grown children.

Ed Smith

Honorary Board Member

Ed is a retired CPA and audit partner with KPMG (formerly Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co). After retiring, he functioned as an adjunct professor teaching Auditing Problems and Professional Ethics at St. John’s University (NY) and Boston College.  He is a retired Major in US Marine Corps and a Vietnam War Veteran having served as a communication officer with both active and reserve duty. He is a graduate of St John’s University (NY), holds an MBA from Pace University (NY), and he brings his nearly 40 years of experience in financial services and corporate governance as an audit partner to his role with the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center.

Ed also served as a Board member for the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation; the Scholarship Fund for Inner City Children in Newark, NJ; St John’s Bread & Life in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, NY; The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick in New York City and the Cardinal’s Committee for Charity of the Archdiocese of New York.

He and his wife, Mary, reside in Falmouth, having moved to the Cape full-time in May of 2022. They have three married children and two granddaughters living in the Boston, MA area.

John Dillon

Honorary Board Member

John Dillon has been involved in the construction industry since he was a young teenager. Today, he owns and operates Dillon Public Adjusters, Inc. A local firm that represents home and business owners that have suffered some type of catastrophic property loss. Throughout his career Dillon has worked throughout the continental United States for a number of Fortune 500 companies in various capacities.

Mr. Dillon is a veteran of the US Navy Seabees where he served as an EO1(SCW) – Equipment Operator First Class – Seabee Combat Warfare qualified. Dillon served both on active duty for five years and as a reservist for twelve years.

William Blaisdell, US Army Veteran

Treasurer

Mr. Blaisdell is a semi-retired telecommunications executive with domestic and international business experience. A resident of Mashpee, he was a long-standing member of the New Seabury Board of Managers, retiring from that role in 2020 after 12 years of service. He is currently a member of the Mashpee Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) and serves as the board’s Vice Chair.

Mr. Blaisdell is a veteran of the United States Army and served as a Combat Medic and Operating Room Specialist in Vietnam where he was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. He has been a member of the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center (CIVOC) since 2015, and currently serves on the Executive Board as its Treasurer. In that role, he is committed to preserving the financial integrity of the organization so that we can accomplish our mission of providing the necessary services to our veterans and their families, today and in the years to come.

Col Don Lynde, USA, (Retired)

Don is a retired Colonel of the Judge Adjutant General Corp and the US Army. His military and reserve career spans 39 years, and has included both enlisted and officer status. His legal career includes admittance to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1974, admittance to practice law in US District Court in 1975, admittance to practice law in the US Tax Court in 1987, admittance to practice law in the US Court of Military Appeals in 1991, and finally admittance to practice law in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Court in 2011.

Don also serves on multiple community committees, and was elected as one of our Board of Directors in April, 2016.

LTC William Burke, USA, (Retired)

LTC Burke was commissioned a 2nd LT, Corps of Engineers, in June 1969 after graduating from Boston College. During a 21 year career he had numerous assignments culminating as the Engineer for the Berlin Command, Berlin, West Germany. Awards included Legion of Merit. He completed an MBA from Babson College and a Master in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute during his career. Following retirement from the Army in 1990, he was selected as the Public Works Director for the Town of Marshfield MA, where he managed the organization from 1990 to 1995. In 1995 he was selected by the quasi-public agency, Mass Development, to be part of the 200 million dollar project to redevelop the former Fort Devens, where he was promoted to Executive VP for the redevelopment project. As Executive VP for Devens Operations he was responsible for all municipal functions, engineering design and planning for all infrastructure construction and local public relations for the redevelopment. While managing the operation the redevelopment successfully brought 80 new businesses and over 4000 jobs to Devens, culminating with Bristol Myers Squibb Constructing a new drug manufacturing plant after defeating a bid by North Carolina for the plant. Retired in 2008, he now pursues photography, golf and volunteering for many non-profit organizations. He is an active and dedicated Board Member, assisting the staff in a wide variety of ways.

Matthew Young, US Air Force Veteran

Matthew Young is a Construction Project Manager with over 30 years of building experience. As a young man, he started out helping his father on job sites of their family-owned construction company in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where it was instilled in him from a young age that the highest standards of quality must be upheld. That attention to detail and strong work ethic is part of what makes him an excellent Construction Executive. Matt was both active duty and a reservist in the United States Air Force, in support of Operation Desert Storm.

Robert Kilmartin

Vice President

Bob Kilmartin enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve at age 17 in 1976, and served in active duty or reserve billets for the next 34 years. Bob graduated from the University of Mass (Lowell) in 1980, and Villanova University Law School in 1983. He served in numerous active duty billets including trial counsel; chief defense counsel; military judge; and Director of Legal Assistance at MCB Camp Pendleton. He deployed to Iraq with the 15th MEU from 2004 – 2005 as liaison officer. Bob’s last active duty assignment was as Prosecution team chief at the Office of Military Commissions, responsible for prosecuting the terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He retired from the USMCR as a Colonel in 2010.

Bob’s civilian career included service as an Assistant Attorney General (MA) from 1987-1991; Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2002-2011; DOD department counsel and Administrative Judge at the DOD, Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals from 2011 – 2019. Bob recently retired and relocated to Cape Cod with his wife. They have two grown children.

Timothy Williams, US Army Veteran

The Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center would like to welcome its newest honorary member of our Board of Directors, Mr. Tim Williams.

Tim’s background is construction. Growing up in a construction family and having participated in the building of tower apartments, shopping centers, retail and commercial buildings, as well as historic preservation, Tim has an exceptional amount of experience and construction community contacts to resource and execute complex building projects.

Tim attended St. Lawrence University with an Army ROTC scholarship and was graduated in 1989 with honors. He then served 4 years active duty overseas as a Regular Army officer. After completing active service, he attended law school and graduated in 1996. Tim was admitted into the New Hampshire Bar in the fall of 1996.

Mr. Williams is currently the owner of the Village Marketplace in Hyannis, the new location of CIVOC offices, and was instrumental in CIVOC’s relocation here with the intent of being closer the VA’s Community-Based Outpatient Clinic so that the veteran community would have easier access to both organizations’ services. We are honored to have this distinguished veteran on our team.

LCDR Christina Schultz, USCG, (Retired)

Tina grew up in Port St. Lucie, FL and enlisted in the U. S. Coast Guard in 1988. In 1998, she applied and was accepted to attend Officer Candidate School. She had numerous operational and administrative assignments and promoted to Lieutenant Commander before retiring in 2010 after 21 years of honorable service.

She holds a BS in Business Administration. Her final two assignments on active duty were as Chief of the Personnel Division at Integrated Support Command St. Louis, MO and as Chief of the Administration and Personnel Division at Coast Guard Sector New York, NY. During these assignments she was responsible for the management and implementation of the Coast Guard’s administrative polices relating to military justice, separations, medical readiness, housing, personnel evaluations, pay, educational services, and awards for active duty, reserve and civilian personnel within the commands. Following retirement, Tina worked in an administrative position at a military medical clinic. Her military and civilian positions have helped her develop a keen understanding of the issues and challenges facing our veterans today.

She is a Gold Star daughter. Her father, an Army Platoon Sargent with Bravo Company 5th Bn, 7th Cavalry, was killed in action in 1970. Her mother served as an Army nurse and inspired her to join the service. Tina is also a proud military spouse, whose husband is currently serving with the U. S. Coast Guard.

Gwen Errhalt

Gwen Errhalt is the Director of Communications at Willowbend Country Club (Mashpee). For the previous 10 years she was employed as the Membership Manager at The Golf Club of Cape Cod (TGC at Sacconnesset). Gwen sat on the Board of Directors for The Community Leadership Institute of Cape Cod for 3 years. For 7 years Gwen was the chairman for a charity golf tournament (TGC for The Troops). The tournament raises funds for The TGC Fund, a donor advised fund through the Cape Cod Foundation. The TGC Fund considers grants to organizations who provide assistance specifically to Cape Cod Veterans, Military as well as their families. The TGC Fund also provides college scholarships to children of veterans. Over the course of those 7 years the fund raised over $365,000 dollars. It was during those 7 years Gwen became interested and invested in the needs of the local veteran population. Once engaged in the veteran community she was instrumental in the creation of the annual Free Golf Clinic for active military and veterans, the now state wide Operation Backpack, The creation of a special fund at St. Vincent De Paul Society reserved to assist veterans and military and the Easter Egg hunt on Joint Base Cape Cod. Her proudest accomplishment for the local veteran community was working 4 other passionate individuals to create The Cape Cod Military, Veteran and Family Collaborative. Gwen’s husband is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and is the Director of Golf at TGC of Sacconnesset. Gwen and her husband are the proud parents of 2 young men (1 of which just completed 6 years of service in the USN Reserve).

Jim Burke

Honorary Board Member

Jim Burke served in the military with the US Air Force from 1973-1977, assigned as a communications specialist stationed in Plattsburg NY and at Howard Air Force Base in Panama. Following his service in the military, he studied at UMass Amherst and graduated with a BS degree in Resource Planning.

After his postgraduate work was behind him, Jim worked in the Communications/Technology sector at NYNEX, AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and Avaya for 37 years.  During that tenure, his career included working in Sales, Headquarters Support Roles, Management of Implementation and Services Teams and as a National Services Manager for top 10 Corporate Enterprise customers such as GE.

Today Jim lives in Eastham with his wife Diane, and in his spare time he enjoys spending time with his grandsons, playing golf, traveling, taking long walks on the Outer Cape, and reading.

Maj Joseph Taylor, USMC, (Retired)

Joe Taylor took on the role of Executive Director in July of 2020 after serving on the Board of Directors. A former Marketing Executive for a National Mortgage Company, he is a graduate of Saint Anselm College Class of 1982 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the USMC the same year.

After leaving active duty Joe joined the Reserves and was stationed at NAS South Weymouth. As a member of MWSS-473, the Squadron was activated in support of the Desert Storm and Desert Shield Operations.

Upon leaving the Marines as a Major, he was very active in the Corporate Relocation industry and still is today to a far lesser degree.

As a veteran and resident of Wellfleet Joe is laser focused on accomplishing the mission of the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center and achieving our vision of ending chronic veteran homelessness in our community.

Brig Gen Jimmy Dishner, USAF, (Retired)

B/General, USAF, retired in 2003 after serving 41 years in the active, reserve and senior executive service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Installations in the United States Air Force. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Presidential Meritorious Executive Service Award. He is a graduate of the Citadel, and Texas A&M, and holds an Honorary Doctor of Public Administration from Massachusetts Maritime Academy. He serves as a director of the Lower Cape Outreach Council, and the Cape Cod Council of Churches, and has given four years of service to the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center as a member-at-large on its Board of Directors. For decades following his retirement, and continuing to the present, General Dishner has given unselfishly of his time in support of veterans, and is passionately committed to continuing his service to veterans of all generations.

Coleman Nee

Honorary Board Member

Coleman Nee is a Veteran of the United States Marine Corps and the Gulf War. He is life member of DAV of Chapter 3 in the Department of Massachusetts. Nee currently holds the position of National Sr Vice Commander. He has served on the National Line of Officers for 4 years and is a former member of the DAV Board of Directors and Interim Legislative Committee.

Until recently, Nee has led Triangle, Inc. which provides support to the disability community youth and adults with innovative career, leadership, and safety skills they need to live more independent, dignified lives. Prior to this, he served as Massachusetts Secretary of Veterans’ Services from 2011 to 2015.

A Boston native and graduate of American University in Washington D.C., Nee has close to 30 years of veterans advocacy, governmental, not-for-profit and private-sector management experience. Nee is committed to human services and civic engagement for the Veterans community. He lives in Cape Cod, MA with his wife Karyn.

Eric Barber

Honorary Board Member

Eric Barber began his professional journey in financial services, where he cultivated strong, empathetic relationships and focused on achieving success for his clients. After transitioning into solar sales, he spent the last decade supporting his community by offering industry expertise and financial guidance. His career is enriched by diverse experiences that he brings to every conversation.

Enlisting in the Army after high school, Eric served in Field Artillery, with assignments in Oklahoma, Seattle, and South Korea. Due to family emergencies, he received a hardship discharge, but the leadership and resilience learned during his service have had a lasting impact on his sales career. Outside of work, Eric has been a devoted husband for 27 years and is a proud father of two college students.

Dr. Robert Tankard, Ed. D., US Army Veteran

Hailing from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts USA, Dr. Robert Tankard has spent the past fifty plus years of his life as a strong advocate for people, attempting to improve the quality of life for the underprivileged and disadvantaged. As an educator and administrator, Dr. Tankard has developed many programs that have improved the quality of education for both students and educators that have worked under his guidance. Dr. Tankard has directed several television programs pertaining to community issues as well as programs designed to give high school and college students a voice or forum to discuss issues that affect them. In the past two years he has been working as the Martha’s Vineyard Veterans Outreach Advocate providing veterans with their needs and other issues.

Dr, Patrick J. Dillon

Honorary Board Member

Enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1986. Pat completed (3) MEUSOC deployments, the final tour as a Forward Air Controller, TASK FORCE PAPA BEAR, participating in combat operations during DESERT SHIELD/STORM.

In 2007 Pat was commissioned an officer in the US Coast Guard Reserve. He deployed in 2009 with USCG Port Security Unit 301 to the Middle East as Weapons Department Head, CTG 56.5 in support of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM. In 2012 he was reassigned to the National Intelligence University, Defense Intelligence Agency where he earned a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence. In 2018 he deployed for a (1) year tour to Djibouti, Africa with USN Coastal Riverine Squadron 8, as XO/Deputy Mission Commander for CTG 68.6 in support of OPERATION FREEDOM’S SENTINEL. He retired in 2021 with 22 years of service.

Pat’s other degrees include a Master of Science in Administration & Management from St. Michael’s College (1996) and a Master of Science in Criminology from Florida State University (2007). In 2016 he completed his doctoral research, a historiographic analysis of the VA Tech tragedy, earning an Ed. D. in Higher Education Leadership from Northeastern University. In 2019, Pat was Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard University.

Pat recently retired from the State of Massachusetts as an educator, having served in a variety of PK-12 and higher education leadership positions. He has taught Emergency Management, National Security, & Labor Relations courses at the graduate, and undergraduate levels. Prior to his transition to education, Pat had a 12-year career in the telecommunications/broadband industry; his final role as a member of the executive team serving as Senior VP of Human Resources.

He and his wife Lori have three children, a son Quinn and daughters Riely and Raegan. They reside in East Falmouth, MA.

Lt Col Dwayne Turmelle, USAF, (Retired)

Secretary

Lt Colonel Dwayne Turmelle received his commission through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1983. He served on active duty from 1983-2004 in various capacities, most notably as the Military Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, Titan II and Peacekeeper Nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Combat Crew Commander, Chief, ICBM Operational Test and Evaluation, and Commander, Detachment 475, at the University of New Hampshire. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Additionally, in 1996 he earned an MA in Human Resource Management from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, and he is matriculating towards an MPA from Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts.