Joseph Weiler - National Event Coordinator

After being medically retired from the United States Marine Corps in 2018, he started volunteering with FishingCommunity.org. He holds a degree in Math and Science from Coastline College in California and is currently finishing a B.S. in Environmental Land Management at the University of Maryland. Joseph has fused his desire to help veterans and stewardship of the environment, while creating opportunities for public use through his work with FCO.

Joseph's passion for environmental sustainability was fueled by backpacking trips with the Boy Scouts of America (where he earned his Eagle Scout). His previous work includes: Teaching conservation and sustainable trail building to youth in the Rocky Mountains; Shop Supervisor for all Marine Aircraft platforms; As an Intern with the for the Bureau of Land Management, he helped build inter-agency relationships for the Fisheries and Aquatics program.

George Patane - Florida Event Coordinator

George retired from the restaurant industry (domestic and international markets). He has a definite passion for the outdoors (especially fishing and hunting), all while applying sound conservation ethics to his activities. A 15 yr member of the West Palm Beach fishing club, he has been involved with: volunteering and administrating kids fishing events; nautical flea markets; and inshore and offshore fishing tournaments. He is also a 10 yr member of the Coastal Conservation Association North Palm Chapter.

As an educator in the Adult Education system in Palm Beach County, he teaches students in freshwater and/or saltwater fishing and conservation. He is a graduate of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute's Marine Resource Education Program (a fishery science program). He joined the FCO to enhance the Southeast Veteran’s community need for fishing activities.

Dallas Kelley - Texas Event Coordinator

Ms. Kelley is an impassioned advocate who has spent 20 years representing clients at the local, state and national levels. She is a skilled strategist and coalition builder who sets the direction for multi-prong, community outreach strategies. She particularly enjoys her work educating and empowering younger generations and Veterans as public land stewards, working to conserve the natural and cultural resources of Texas (and beyond!). Her expertise and leadership in forming strategic partnerships has resulted in earned national and local media placement; increased brand awareness resulting in expanded market share; clients winning $300m in public infrastructure contracts; and favorable public policy decisions.

A graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, Ms. Kelley has a B.A in Government with a minor in Spanish. She enjoys working with community organizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association, The Junior League of Austin, Seton Hospital, Family Eldercare, and the Hill Country Conservancy. Ms. Kelley is a native of Central Texas and enjoys sharing new adventures with her two young children.

Ernie Rojas - Fishing Enthusiast

Ernie is a native of Havana, Cuba, who came to the US at 9 years old when his family fled the Castro communist regime. He is a lifelong fisherman and Navy Air veteran. He retired from Pitney Bowes Inc. in the summer of 2016 after a 37-year career.

Ernie is an avid angler, focused on connecting people to the local communities. As an events organizer, he has run multiple non-FCO related fishing events in the past (and present), which provides perfect synergy with FCO's mission and goals. Today, Ernie helps promote, advise, assist, and lead many FCO events.

O’Neil Williams - Director of Media

O’Neil graduated from Appalachian State University in 1981 with a BS in Business and earned an AAS degree in Photographic Technology/Commercial Photography from Randolph Technical College in 1984. O’Neil has worked as a photographer for one the largest commercial studios in the world in addition to managing numerous photography studios. Most recently, he served as the national Director of Photography for the Army National Guard Advertising and Marketing Division. He has extensive experience in both video and still photography, being nominated for an Emmy with his video team in 2010. O’Neil has served in the Army National Guard for 33 years, with 29 of those years as a qualified AH64A helicopter pilot for the North Carolina Army National Guard, 1/130th Aviation Battalion. He was deployed for Desert Shield/Desert Storm and a has combat tour in OEF-IV in Afghanistan. He retired in 2015 at the rank of CW4.

O’Neil has been an avid fisherman since childhood. In 2010, he was selected to fish as a co-angler for the National Guard Bass fishing team on the Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Tour. While participating in Wounded Warrior fishing tournaments, he realized the magnitude and positive impact these made on the participating veterans. He is extremely passionate about giving back to the veterans and being able to bring smiles to their (and their families) faces, while providing life-changing events that can bring joy and improve their quality of life. O’Neil says that working with FCO events provides a pathway to helping others and creating program awareness to veterans using his multimedia abilities.

Michael Boller - Chief Operating Officer

Mike Boller is a retired senior system engineering lead for the MITRE Corporation. He is a retired military officer and a former Director of Enterprise Planning & Investment for DoD. His accomplishments include: a key contributor for the integration of Information Technology into DoD Acquisition Policy, supporting the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics); the Global Force Management Data Initiative (GFM DI) Program Integration Manager for the Joint Staff (J-8), and the Executive for Programming for the US Army. He has extensive experience in streamlining business operations, business process re engineering, and financials. Mr. Boller holds a Masters of Science in Mathematical and Computer Sciences from the Colorado School of Mines.

Paul Ketrick - Founder

Paul is a retired Senior Executive in DoD, currently an Assistant Director at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and loves to fish! Paul has more than 25 years of experience supporting the Department of Defense as a federal engineer, business manager, congressional support, resource manager, and organizational behavioral expert; a senior executive in private sector information technology firms; and a leader in a Federally Funded Research and Development Center. He has been a leader in standing up three (3) DoD Commands with diverse responsibilities in administration, budgeting, engineering, logistics, public/private ventures and acquisition in the Office of the Secretary of Defense Program Analysis and Evaluation; Department of the Navy Program Information Center; Commander in Chief, U.S. Atlantic Fleet; and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

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