Back in Love Again Dave Keller

meet our staff

Josh McCain, Founder + Chief Executive Officer

"Nosotros're here because they are. The SOF community gives way more than they take & it's time every bit civilians nosotros follow that lead. It's time to practise our part & support a group of individuals who never ask for annihilation and deserve all we have to offer."

It's not hard to understand why Josh has such a deep want to honor the military. From an early on age, Josh's begetter (former USMC) taught him what it means to love our country, respect our freedom, and cede for the benefit of others. Josh's brother-in-law, Jeremy, spent 17 years and xviii combat deployments with the Special Operations (SOF) customs. The sacrifices given by family members & endless others in back up of this great nation is not something that was taken for granted or left the forefront of his thoughts.

In 2015, Josh was living in NYC with his married woman, meeting success at an early on age in the business world. Although a great feel, he couldn't ignore a growing desire within him to fulfill a greater purpose. With family ties in the SOF community, Josh saw a growing, unmet need & decided to do something about it. He quit his job in NYC and moved back to his home state of Montana - a place that offers endless adventures & healing aspects unlike whatever other.

He knew Montana was the perfect place for weary, adrenaline-fueled warriors to find refuge, decompression, & peace - once again. He knew it had to be done & this was the place to do it.

In September 2015, Large Heaven Bravery was officially a nonprofit.

Josh knows total well that those BSB serves will never stop fighting; they will continue to head out into all corners of the world protecting our great nation. The demand on these individuals is greater than we can comprehend & their suffering & sacrifice are one we can't ignore.

Jeremy Keller, President

"My mission is to walk beside those we serve, reminding them they're non alone and offering whatever hope I can for all that is yet to come."

Jeremy heard the phone call to serve early on & grew upwards knowing what he wanted to exercise - fight for his land. Loftier school couldn't end fast enough. To the surprise of his parents, he insisted in the U.S. Army during his inferior year of high schoolhouse through the Delayed Entry Program.

Five days later graduation, his recruiter pulled into the driveway of the New York country domicile he'd lived in for the first xviii years of his life. Jeremy hugged his parents goodbye & began the start solar day of what would turn into a 20-year career.

Basic Training began in July of 2001. It was just 3 short months later on when tragedy struck New York City: nine/11. Jeremy's 1st deployment was to known gainsay in northwestern Afghanistan. Over the grade of his 17-year career in Special Operations - assigned to 1st & 3rd Ranger Battalions, 75th Ranger Regiment - Jeremy deployed 18 times spending a total of vi.v years in combat. He has served in every position within a Ranger Burglarize Company, from Individual to First Sergeant. During this time, he also served as a multi-purpose K9 Handler & Kennel Main.

Upon recognizing the need to rebuild his connection with his family, Jeremy sought a different line of work for the remaining 3 years of his career. He & his family said goodbye to Georgia afterward 17 memorable years to Washington State Academy in Pullman, WA. Jeremy served as the Senior Military Science Instructor at Washington Land University for the remaining 3 years of his military career. During this time, he enjoyed helping railroad train & develop future Ground forces officers into a profession he dedicated almost two decades of his life to.

Jeremy retired from the Ground forces with twenty years of service on June 30th, 2021. He now serves as Big Heaven Bravery'southward President, a long-awaited role since BSB's beginning. Big Sky Bravery was founded in inspiration of the struggles endured by Jeremy & his fellow comrades & he is forever grateful for for the hope this life beyond the armed services provided him.

When he'due south not fulfilling his dream of working aslope others who care then much for the SOF community, you can detect Jeremy pursuing his passion for fly fishing in Montana rivers, kayaking, snowmobiling, & enjoying the cracking outdoors of a place he longed dreamed of.

Sytease GEib, Vice President of Evolution

"Taking care of our warriors is 1 of the most important things nosotros must exercise every bit a social club. We owe a debt of gratitude for their sacrifices, every single day."

Sytease was built-in and raised in Dayton, Ohio, where she grew up with a good for you respect for hard work and those that risk it all to provide usa the freedom to practice then. Throughout her childhood, she spent summers on her grandparents' dairy farm, where she'd spend countless hours listening to her gramps's incredible war stories from his fourth dimension equally a Marine in WWII.

She went on to attend The Ohio State Academy and graduated with a BS in Psychology and Family Studies. During this time, Sytease met the love of her life and married her college sweetheart in 2011.

Her dearest and pride for the military and all who serve runs deep. Her husband was active duty SOF for nearly 10 years, and spent his time stationed at Joint Base of operations Lewis-McCord (JBLM) in Washington land. It was during this time Sytease realized how crucial it is to support our military community throughout the lifecycle of their service to our country and beyond. She followed this passion to serve the armed services community as the VP of a large chamber of commerce.

Throughout her time in this position, she had the opportunity to build strategic partnerships with community leaders, securing funding and creating innovative programs designed to help industry connect with top talent in Washington. During this time, JBLM was drawing downwards its forces and a loftier number of service members were separating from active duty, many earlier than they intended to. These loftier transition numbers paired with the immense talent and technical skills the war machine community possess, inspired her to detect ways to assist connect businesses to those leaving their active duty positions.

Sytease was one of the original architects of a large, federally-funded transition assistance plan that aimed to reshape how transition services were led and supported at JBLM, and ultimately, how businesses connected to the war machine community. She apace realized how much weight and sense of identity is tied into employment for these individuals. When that security is gone, it often creates challenges around self-worth and impacts mental health in a large way. She witnessed the fiercest and brightest warriors struggle every bit they prepared to transition from active duty to the unknowns of the civilian workforce.

These early lessons formed her passion and drive to become a change-maker in the arena of military machine transition advocacy, ensuring service members and their families accept equitable access to resource and innovative programming, breaking downward barriers to success that create economic sustainability. She spent the concluding 10 years working to create and lead workforce solutions; from working with modest businesses trying to figure out how to hire their get-go employee, to developing large talent pipelines for Fortune 100 companies.

In 2019, presently subsequently her husband transitioned from active duty, he landed his dream chore as a federal employee for the Air Force, continuing to serve our country as a civilian. This next chapter in their journey brought them dorsum home to Ohio and although leaving behind her work in Washington was hard, she was tremendously grateful for the ability to keep working remotely leading one of the programs she helped build and back up, WorkEx.

WorkEX is designed to aid service members in leveraging their last 6 months on agile duty to begin interning with a civilian arrangement, while still maintaining their military pay and benefits. These internships build a bridge between active duty skills and desired noncombatant careers. Service members have a take a chance to see what civilian employment is similar while nonetheless nether the umbrella of active duty military. It was through this piece of work Sytease met some of our nation's all-time and brightest, and reaffirmed the importance of advocating for service members in all aspects of military transition. It's non an easy procedure by whatever ways, and she speedily realized how important the quality of self care, community connectivity, and mentorship was for service members at every phase of their war machine careers, not merely at the end.

Sytease became continued to Big Sky Bravery and Josh McCain (Founder & CEO) through her work with WorkEx, subsequently placing an intern with our nonprofit, allowing him to relocate back to his home state and begin his post-military dream job before than hoped for. Information technology was throughout this process she learned more than about Big Sky Bravery'due south mission and realized the crucial demand for the work nosotros do. She knew so that if the right role for her ever opened up, she'd accept to employ and here she is!

Sytease believes the piece of work BSB does with our agile duty SOF community is admittedly crucial. She has seen firsthand the impact deployments take on service members and their families. Time spent away from loved ones is brutal, and she knows full well the toll information technology takes on their current careers, future careers, and their entire family. She believes the SOF customs does what must be done in gild for the remainder of us to enjoy the freedoms of everyday life and that it is a sacrifice the majority of the public volition never sympathise.

She chose to join BSB considering of our mission and true dedication to our nation'due south warriors. As the VP of Evolution, her goal is to build strategic relationships to expand our donor base of operations, ensuring BSB not only continues this dandy work far into the future, but can also expand, grow, and serve every bit many of our nation'south warriors and their families as possible.

When she's not advocating for those on the front lines, you can find Sytease playing Legos while creating new plot lines for action figures with her 2 sons, kayaking, and paddle boarding whenever she gets the chance.

Dave Cohen, vice president of programs

"I live my life in gratitude of all the great men and women that serve this country and exercise much for us all."

Later on spending his youth wrestling and playing competitive soccer in Georgia, Illinois, and Massachusetts, Dave headed to Tennessee for a quick visit to higher. While at that place, he enjoyed hiking the Appalachian Trail and rock climbing. Later college, Dave began working with at-take a chance youth wilderness programs in Illinois.

Dave headed due west to Vail, Colorado, to continue his work with at-risk youth. During his time in Vail, Dave met the love of his life while working for Vail Resorts. He spent the following four years on ski patrol at Beaver Creek.

Big Heaven, Montana, was his adjacent end, as he joined the ski patrol team at The Yellowstone Club, followed by Moonlight Basin. Afterwards retiring as a ski patroller, Dave, his wife, and their newborn son, moved to a private ranch south of Large Sky where they would go on to be the caretakers for the following viii years.

In 2015, Dave reached out to Josh (who was in the offset stages of getting Big Sky Bravery off the ground) to meet well-nigh existence a potential volunteer. That loving cup of coffee turned out to be a lifelong friendship and paved the way for Dave's future with BSB. To date, Dave has been on well over 25 week-long Task Forces, and at present holds the position of Vice President of Programs.

Dave resides in Big Sky with his family and loves all things outdoor recreation: skiing, mountain biking, & trail running (just to name a few). When looking towards the future, Dave is passionate virtually helping expand Big Sky Bravery, which volition let usa to increment the number of recipients and the hope we attempt to provide.

The large smiles on the faces of individuals who come out to Montana, in spite of shortly beingness at war & experiencing extreme hardship, keeps Dave incredibly passionate about his job and nigh the mission of Large Sky Bravery. His favorite part of our weeklong programs (too the great conversations and all the laughs) is to lookout individuals who have never skied before improve over the grade of one brusque week, hazard all over the mountain, and conquer what they thought they could non exercise.

He has spent the final 20 plus years playing in the Rocky Mountains and loves sharing it with proficient people like those who walk through the doors at Large Heaven Bravery.

stewart lewis, development manager

"My goal is to play a office, no matter how small, in giving dorsum to our nation's SOF members and making a difference in the lives of those who have made an undeniable divergence in mine."

Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama (as a triplet!), Stewart vicious in dearest with Montana later visiting often during his childhood. He followed his love for the land to Montana Land University, where he graduated in 2022 majoring in Business Management and earning a minor in Entrepreneurship.

After college, Stewart went on to be the atomic number 82 automation technician for a residential lighting company in Bozeman, but plant his greatest satisfaction was his time spent every bit a line-fishing guide. Stewart thoroughly enjoyed his position equally fly line-fishing guide for the Madison Double R Order in Ennis, Montana. He found neat joy in educational activity customers new skills on the river, while helping them realize their angling goals.

Stewart takes great pride in the relationships he built during his time in Ennis; relationships that volition stand the test of time. With all the experience every bit a guide under his belt, he is now looking forward to all of the peachy memories awaiting him on the water with time to come recipients of Big Sky Bravery.

Stewart joined the BSB staff in 2021, but his first experience with the nonprofit started way back during its first days. In 2017, Stewart was BSB's Executive Intern, where he helped Josh with the administrative logistics, fundraising, marketing, and finances. He is thrilled to witness the full circle Big Sky Bravery has traveled and the progression of all tasks he first volunteered to help create and abound.

Residing in Bozeman with his wife, Kelsey, and son, Fischer, you lot tin observe Stewart enjoying his many hobbies - including fishing, hunting, and skiing.

Looking towards the hereafter, he is most passionate about giving back to those who deserve so much from us. It is his belief that most civilians - for many various reasons - do not give the recognition to these men and women that they deserve. His goal is to play a office, no matter how modest, in giving back to our nation's active duty SOF members and making a difference in the life of those who have fabricated an undeniable difference in his.

louise schelhammer, operations director

"I am honored to be role of an organization whose mission is to requite back to those that have given - and keep to requite - everything."

Louise grew up in Greensboro, Northward Carolina, and spent a adept portion of her adult life in Raleigh (Go Wolfpack!). She grew upwards vacationing in Montana and instantaneously cruel in love with the Big Sky Land. She moved to Montana in 2022 later the majority of her family slowly but surely started to make their way out here. She feels lucky to say that 5 of the 6 Schelhammer family unit members now phone call Bozeman home!

Louise received her Masters in Advertising from Southern Methodist University in 2013 and worked equally a Project Manager in the advertizement manufacture for 6 years. From there, she establish her style to the Customer Experience side of the tech space - spending time equally a Customer Success Director, Implementation Manager, and Sales Engineer at diverse times throughout the 4+ years spent in tech.

After spending some time traveling to other parts of this world accompanied by and then many incredible opportunities, she is grateful to phone call Montana "abode". Her travels brought her to Italy, Switzerland, India, Nepal, Australia, and New Zealand (and she continues to promise this list will abound). Louise plant it incredibly rewarding being able to immerse herself into the local cultures and ways of life in each of these places, as well every bit the relationships she made along the way.

Louise has the deepest level of respect, appreciation, and gratitude for every single person that is continuously putting their lives on the line to protect this land. Her gramps served in the Army for 27 years, and she will never forget the pride he had when telling her stories while looking back on his experiences. His love of country was undeniable, and that beloved was passed down to Louise and to her male parent.

While growing up in North Carolina, the drive from Greensboro to Emerald Island would have her and her family unit through Jacksonville, NC - domicile of Campsite Lejeune. The impact that drive alone had on Louise as an adolescent subsequently 9/xi cannot be understated. Banners sending loved ones off to state of war or welcoming them abode lined the highway for miles and miles. This image sill lives vividly in her mind.

She believes our SOF community deserves information technology all and she considers information technology a privilege to work aslope the squad at Big Sky Bravery, doing everything nosotros possibly can to give them what they deserve.

When Louise isn't completing tasks at Large Heaven Bravery, yous'll find her hanging out with family and friends and keeping her two rambunctious, long-haired Dachshunds entertained. In the wintertime, she enjoys downhill or XC skiing. In the summer, she loves to mountain bike, hike, and being as close to a body of water as possible (including the coast of North Carolina). Regardless of the flavor, she loves to continue on with whatever take a chance is correct around the corner!

Allyson keller, director of marketing

"I find a tremendous corporeality of purpose in shining a spotlight on the needs of those who carry the weight of the globe on their shoulders."

Allyson is a professional photographer and storyteller who loves her work with Big Sky Bravery and also has a personal tie to its mission. Big Sky Bravery's founding is a deep attachment for her. BSB was founded by her brother, Josh McCain, in inspiration of the struggles her husband, Jeremy Keller, and his co-workers faced on the front lines of a never-ending war. Her story is securely intertwined with Big Heaven Bravery - in both its creation and continuity.

Allyson began her work with BSB in Oct 2019, and is independently contracted every bit our Managing director of Marketing.

Built-in in Georgia and raised (mostly) in a small boondocks nestled in the Gallatin Valley of Montana, Allyson is extremely grateful that she now calls Montana home total-fourth dimension. She married Jeremy in 2007, and went on to support him through 18 gainsay deployments in Special Operations, and a career that was hard fought for. She knows all too well the hardships and reality of the lifestyle. It is with her experience that she carries such empathy for those still in the fight, both active-duty members and their families dorsum at home.

Photography has been a part of her life since she was gifted her commencement photographic camera in the 7th form. Over the next six years, she spent her eye and high school years taking photos for the school newspaper and yearbooks, also equally acting as assistant editor for the school newspaper her junior and senior year. Following her dear of photography, she made the terrifying decision to get from a rural Montana community to the eye of Atlanta. She graduated from The Fine art Found of Atlanta with an Associates in Art Degree in 2004 and opened her business organisation in 2005.

The greatest achievement of Allyson's life happened in 2010 when her son, Ethan, was born. After taking some off to be a full time mama and helping support Jeremy's career, she followed her middle and went dorsum to work.

With xx+ years of photography experience, Allyson combined her love of photography with her dearest of writing. In 2019, The Allyson Keller Co. was created afterward a pivot from the long run with Allyson Keller Photography. Allyson has had many opportunities of helping various brands and businesses refine and strengthen their story, greatly ameliorate social media post-obit, brand awareness, and purpose-based marketing. Her clients have ranged from a former NFL role player to jewelry designers, remodeling businesses, real manor agencies, healthcare professionals, photographers, restaurants, lather makers, artists, massage therapists, fitness professionals, retail-based organizations, and at present, the world of nonprofits with Large Sky Bravery.

Moving back to Montana has been Allyson's dream since that first day she headed to the big urban center of Atlanta. Since and then, she had the opportunity to live in Columbus, GA, Savannah, GA, and Moscow, ID, while fully supporting her husband's dream of spending 20 years in the military. In December 2020, after waiting xviii+ years to get dorsum, Allyson and her family unit are finally putting downwards roots in the only identify that'southward always felt like home.

If she's non working in the part with the BSB squad, she's spending time with family, adept friends, laughing, reading, taking photos, writing, binging Netflix, and soaking up the gratitude of being back home. She is determined to continue sharing the stories of those Big Sky Bravery serves, while shining a light on the great heroes of our state who are ofttimes overlooked and unseen.

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Source: http://www.bigskybravery.org/staff