In our mission to empower everybody to achieve more, we at NERD strive to create an environment that brings the power of diversity to life. Our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are one way we build this community.
Dennis Scott, customer success account manager, is a founding member of the New England Military at Microsoft ERG (NEMM), which promotes military service, diversity and inclusion while demonstrating how the values of military service align with Microsoft’s mission of empowerment.
In honor of Veteran’s Day, we asked him how he #StillServes while working here at NERD. Here’s what he had to say:
I feel that my service did not stop when I left the military. It is more of a support role in terms of assisting the veteran and active-duty communities. “Once a Soldier always a Soldier” is a phrase that still resonates with me. My service now is to support the current active-duty members and other veterans that have transitioned to public and private life.
I am a graduate of West Point and part of the mission of the Academy is to prepare for a career of professional excellence and continued service to my community. I feel that I am #StillServing in several ways both internally and externally at Microsoft.
At Microsoft, I am given a great chance to continue to serve by being a part of the New England Military at Microsoft chapter ERG (NEMM). As a founding member of this organization, I am given the ability to help shape the direction and influence of this chapter at Microsoft that promotes military service, diversity and inclusion while demonstrating how the values of military service align with Microsoft’s mission of empowerment.
We are aligning with several organizations outside of Microsoft that allows us to get involved in veteran initiatives. I feel this is a wonderful way to bring to life the experiences of the military community that can provide impact to Microsoft as well as assist the veteran community.
In addition, I participate in the Service Academy Career Conference – where academy graduates at Microsoft take part in speaking with Academy graduates who are interested and want a career at Microsoft. This allows me the opportunity to give back to help and assist fellow graduates who are currently searching for employment.
I recently joined the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) organization. As a service-disabled veteran, the plan is to continue to volunteer my time to give back to the veteran community to help empower veterans from all walks of life to lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity.
My goal is to bring affiliation with the DAV to the NEMM ERG that will allow us to assist with the DAV mission. This is another arm of the veteran community that is underserved. I believe this will provide additional support to the DAV mission as well as increased awareness to the service-disabled veteran community. Overall, I believe that giving back whether volunteering my time or donating funds to different veteran or military initiatives are very important aspects of #stillserving.
Learn more about Microsoft Military Affairs here: https://military.microsoft.com/.