ALEXANDRIA, Va. –­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve proudly announces the 2024 Volunteers of the Year (VOTY). Volunteers who serve in the following functional and operational areas were nominated by their respective State Committee for the prestigious honor of being named Volunteer of the Year: Military Outreach, Employer Outreach, Public Affairs, Training, Ombudsman, and Operations.

The Functional and Operational Area VOTY Award is a national level ESGR award established to recognize those volunteers who have made significant contributions in ESGR’s primary functional and operational areas during the previous fiscal year.

The 2024 recipients are:

Employer Outreach – Mr. Cecil Macklin, Texas

Military Outreach – Mr. Gregory Malkasian, Oregon

Public Affairs – Ms. Jennifer Liddy, Arizona

Ombudsman – Mr. Arden Dickey, Florida

Training – Mr. Richard Thibodo, Oregon

Operations – Mr. Mathew Meyer, Minnesota

Volunteers of the Year Citations

EMPLOYER OUTREACH VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Mr. Cecil Macklin, Texas

Cecil Macklin is currently the greater Houston Area Chair, which encompasses America's fourth largest city and also hosts the Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. He has been credited with hosting/participating in Equal Opportunity events as well as coordinating events for his area members.  In Fiscal Year 2024, Cecil planned, hosted and executed a large Regional Annual Planning and Awards Meeting (APAM) for all of eastern Texas--which was a great success recognizing employers with higher level ESGR awards.  He's also a member of the ESGR three-person state awards team that reviews all the Patriot Awards for companies that are deserving of the Above and Beyond (A&B) Award.  In addition, he is a member of the state's six-person Freedom Award nomination review team.  In FY24, he helped review and investigate 135 Freedom Award nominations which resulted in Texas receiving two Freedom Award Finalists.  Cecil also works as an ombudsman who worked several Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) cases and answered detailed employer questions in throughout the fiscal year.

MILITARY OUTREACH VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Mr. Gregory Malkasian, Oregon

Gregory Malkasian’s Military Outreach (MO) contributions were extensive in FY24 as he coordinated all Unit, Soldier Readiness Check (SRC), and Yellow Ribbon events throughout Oregon ESGR--which resulted in 109% MO engagement. He directly contributed as the lead coordinator in Oregon--engaging 8,827 Service Members when the Selected Reserve is 8,116. He has established monthly communication and a point of contact for the Oregon National Guard as the Oregon ESGR representative at family events and has established committee volunteers as points of contact to the Reserve Components. Through his efforts, all 2,700 plus Army National Guard deploying soldiers were briefed on USERRA rights as well as over 1,500 family members impacted. He also provides Equal Opportunity briefings annually to several large private and civic organizations.  As the Oregon Volunteer Coordinator, Gregory ensured the volunteers were at all 50 plus MO events and at multiple military Change of Command ceremonies.

OMBUDSMAN VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Mr. Arden Dickey, Florida

Arden Dickey was an integral part of our Employer Outreach (EO) program to increase our collaborative efforts with 26 Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Chapters in Florida and the HR Florida Leadership team. Arden reviewed USERRA presentations made by Florida ESGR to four SHRM Conferences and one podcast reaching over 400 Employers and HR Professionals. He includes hypothetical scenarios to better educate HR professionals on the law. He instructed the Ombudsman portion of two FY24 Regional Training Events, providing advice to over 50 volunteers. He uses an interactive teaching method not only with Volunteers, but with Employers and Service Members. Employers and Military units request him for ESGR briefings. Arden supervises 19 Ombudsman and developed a succession plan to ensure continuity in his absence. He is a great mentor, coach, and recruiter which helped recruit one more Ombudsman in FY24. He worked on 11 cases (13.5% of FLESGR total cases) in FY24 with an average closure rate of fewer than three days.

OPERATIONS VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Mr. Mathew Meyer, Minnesota

Mathew Meyer is an integral part of ESGR--both at the state committee level and nationally. Serving as the Ombudsman Director, Mathew volunteers tremendous amounts of time not only managing the Ombudsman, but also conducting employer and military outreach. He continually showed great availability to employers to provide training and answer questions, along with providing training to committee members. He serves as a national Board of Director (BOD) member and as an instructor for the Ombudsman Basic Course, to include updating the materials in FY24. Mathew logged 616 volunteer hours in FY24 to furthering the ESGR mission.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Ms. Jennifer Liddy, Arizona

As the Arizona ESGR Public Affairs representative, Jennifer Liddy has been dedicated to assisting ESGR volunteers with their activities including presentations of Patriot Awards, Statements of Support, their participation in Yellow Ribbon events, Unit Family Days retreats, and USERRA presentations. Her efforts on social media have reached tens of thousands of people since she assumed this responsibility in Dec 2023. She has created a monthly newsletter that is spotlighted in the Volunteer Engagement report as a best practice. She documents ESGR events, both visually and written- thus greatly amplifying the impact of the Arizona ESGR. Her efforts recognized the volunteers and the employers in Arizona.

TRAINING VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR:

Mr. Richard Thibodo, Oregon

Richard’s dedication to improving and sustaining training for state committee and service members is exceptional. He always considers audience and intent which ensures the focus of the training he prepares, and presents is on target. He developed a hybrid required training program, resulting in the Oregon committee achieving a 95% completion in Fiscal Year 24 (FY24) for all required training.  He conducted 16 virtual training sessions for required courses, two New Volunteer Training Sessions and three in-person required trainings at Annual Planning Awards Meeting. He committed a large amount of time learning the ESGR Member Management System and virtual teleconference software procedures. He then developed monthly report tools and trainings offered to individual and groups of volunteers. His efforts raised ESGR’s required training compliance by 49% in FY24 to an overall of 95%.  He is currently developing Volunteer Leadership training for ESGR regional leadership. He volunteered for multiple unit USERRA briefs.  Rich is key to our relationship with the National Guard/Reserve and in coordinating efforts with the Service Member and Family Support of Oregon.

About ESGR

ESGR, a Department of Defense program, seeks to foster a culture in which all employers support and value the employment and military service of members of the National Guard and Reserve in the United States. ESGR develops and promotes supportive work environments for Service members in the Reserve Components through outreach, recognition, and educational opportunities that increase awareness of applicable laws. It also provides assistance in resolving conflicts between Service members and their employers. To learn more about ESGR, part of the Defense Support Services Center, visit www.ESGR.mil.

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