Economic Development Employee and Chair of County’s Commission on Veterans Affairs Featured in Veterans Affairs Video

Jerry Godwin, current chair of the County’s Commission on Veterans Affairs and manager of the Wheaton and Silver Spring Innovation Centers for the Department of Economic Development (DED), is profiled in a video produced by the Department of Veterans Affairs as part of their “Still Serving” series which focuses on vets who are finding ways to continue serving their “fellow veterans.” The 13-minute video has been playing in more than 300 VA hospitals and facilities nationwide and also looping on the Pentagon Cable Channel.

Godwin relates that his father, who came from “very humble beginnings in rural Utah” then served in WW II and eventually had a career in public service with the State Department, had impacted his own decision to enlist -- first in the Army where he served four years, then later, at age 26, in the Maryland Army National Guard (ANG) as an Aviation Warrant Officer and helicopter pilot.

Like his father, Jerry took advantage of the GI Bill for his university education, studying business and finance in between enlistments. While in the ANG, he served on humanitarian missions in Haiti and for Hurricane Katrina. He also was deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and received a Bronze Star Medal for his service.

Now, bringing together his work of helping grow local businesses through DED’s Business Innovation Network and his desire to help returning vets through the Veterans Commission, Jerry’s goal is simple:  to make Montgomery County, MD the most receptive place in the United States for vets to call home.

See Jerry Godwin’s story on “Still Serving.”