Board Of Directors

Laura Dempsey, Esq.

BSF Board Chairman
Arlington, VA

Laura Dempsey is the wife of Lieutenant Colonel Jason Dempsey, USA. Lieutenant Colonel Dempsey recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan with the 10th Mountain Division (his second deployment). They are currently stationed in the Washington, D.C. area. They have two children, ages two and five. In their eleven years of marriage, the Dempseys have moved over seven times and lived in five different states.
 Laura is a civil rights attorney who is licensed in four states. She has worked as a child and family advocate for over ten years, and has helped to draft federal legislation. Laura began writing about military family issues in 2005 and has served as a consultant to legislators and thought leaders on military family issues. Her work has been published in the Washington Post, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Huffington Post, and reprinted in dozens of military and civilian publications. Laura has been interviewed by NPR, and the Military Times and most recently spoke on a panel at the Military Officers Association of America national spouse's convention.

Laura is a co-founder of Blue Star Families and serves as Chairman of the board. Laura co-founded Blue Star Families because she saw a gap in the public's knowledge about military families, their successes and challenges, and wanted to help connect military families with the civilians who care about them, so we can all share in our nation's service. 

Kathy Roth-Douquet
BSF Board Member
Marine Corps Spouse 

Connie Milstein, Esq.
BSF Director
Washington, D.C.

Connie Milstein’s concern for military families prompted her involvement with Blue Star Families and recently, she became a member of the Board.  She has a long-standing interest in veterans and empowerment as a means to bettering people’s lives.   Additionally, she empathizes with the significance of the human dimension of international affairs and wars.  Connie Milstein is able to bring a unique perspective to the Blue Star Families’ team because of her accomplishments as a philanthropist and businesswoman.  She is Chairman and Co-Founder of The Humpty Dumpty Institute, a non-profit organization focused on building public/private partnerships, specifically strengthening ties between the United Nations and the United States government.  Medical Missions for Children, which provides health care to children in developing countries, was also founded by Connie Milstein.  Furthermore, Connie is a member of the board of UN Watch, a Board Member Emeritus of Refugees International, and a Board Member/Trustee of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Staff Sgt. Charles Eggleston

BSF Director
U.S. Army, Retired 

Bowie, MD

SSgt. (ret.) Charles J. Eggleston is a medically retired Purple Heart OIF Veteran from the U.S. Army. He was an active Army soldier and a Warrior in Transition (WIT) at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC), where he received treatment for three and a half years. He is a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient. SSgt. Eggleston served under the 11^th Special Forces Unit and the 818^th Combat Support Brigade out of Fort Meade, Maryland, and while in combat in Iraq, he served under the 107^th Army Calvary Regiment, the 3^rd Special Forces Unit, the 25^th Infantry Division, and the 17^th Airborne Division.  

Charles is President and CEO of Three Seven Consulting, Inc., a CVE certified service disabled, veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) and Maryland State Commander for the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He serves as an advisor to Tee It Up For the Troops, a delegate for the Maryland Joint Veterans Committee, and also as a board member of In Honor of Our Troops and the Salute Military Golf Association.

Sherri Goodman, Esq.
BSF Director
Washington, D.C.

Sherri Goodman is Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of CNA, a non-profit research organization that provides analyses and solutions for national security leaders and public sector organizations. Known as an innovative and multidisciplinary leader, Ms. Goodman has been recognized for her work creating and overseeing a landmark project in her role as Executive Director of the Military Advisory Board for projects on National Security and the Threat of Climate Change and Powering America’s Defense:  Energy & the Risks to National Security. She has played a key role in CNA’s corporate governance and client development. Additionally, she has managed all CNA’s legal matters and legislative affairs.

From 1993 to 2001, Ms. Goodman served as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security).   As the chief environmental, safety, and occupational health officer for the Department of Defense (DoD), she was responsible for over $5 billion in annual defense spending. She  established the first environmental, safety and health performance metrics for the department and, as the nation’s largest energy user, directed its climate change efforts. Overseeing the President’s plan for revitalizing base closure communities, she ensured that 80% of base closure property became available for transfer and reuse. Ms. Goodman twice received the DoD medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Gold Medal from the National Defense Industrial Association, and the EPA’s Climate Change Award.

Sherri has practiced law with Goodwin Procter, serving as a member of the Litigation and Environmental Departments.   She served on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, working for Committee Chairman Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA).

Ms. Goodman serves on the boards of the Atlantic Council of the U.S., including its Executive Committee, the Energy & Environmental Systems Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Marshall Legacy Institute, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.  She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the Board of its Center for Preventive Action. 

She has testified before numerous committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives on climate change, energy security, national security and environmental security.  She has appeared with the major news media, including NPR, CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC, Discovery’s Planet Green Channel, and This Week in Defense News. 

Ms. Goodman received a J.D. from the Harvard Law School and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College.

Ms. Goodman is married to John Goodman.  They have 3 children.

 

Linda P. Hudson
BSF Director
Washington, D.C.

Steve Hilton, Esq.
BSF Director
Oak Brook, IL

As Vice President of Government Relations for McDonald’s corporation, Steve leads the corporate government relations team which manages McDonald’s state, federal and international government activities. He is responsible for building and protecting the brand through shaping public policy.

Prior to joining McDonald’s in 2009, Steve was a successful lobbyist and attorney representing clients like the National Football League, American Legion and Bombardier Aerospace.

Steve has worked closely with senior government leadership including holding a position on President Obama’s transition team in 2008 and serving as deputy assistant to the President/Chief of staff under President Clinton. He also served as a senior legislative assistant and later Judiciary Committee Chief Counsel for Senator Arlen Spector.

Steve is a proud 25-year veteran, having achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. President Clinton also appointed Steve as a commissioner of the American Battle Monument Commission which was responsible for the construction of the World War II, and the Korean War Memorials on the National Mall.

Steve is a graduate of Princeton University as well as the Army’s Command & General Staff College and he received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law School. Steve and his wife Tanya have two children.

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Scott Allen
BSF Director & Treasurer 
Bethesda, MD

Scott Allen has 28 years of experience as an investment banker in international capital markets. He successfully built and managed client-focused teams selling cash bonds and structured financial products to hedge funds, asset managers, private banks and sovereign wealth funds across Europe, Russia, Middle East and Asia. Scott has had extensive involvement in emerging markets, including: macro-economic analysis, risk management / hedging strategies and investment products.  

He lived and worked for 35 years in Asia and Europe, and he spent the last 12 years of his banking career working in London. Scott has an extensive network of investor clients throughout Europe, Middle East and Asia. He completed four years of high school education and earned his undergraduate degree in Japan where he returned to as a banker from 1986-1992 in Tokyo. Scott also served on U.S. merchant navy ships in Viet Nam in 1971 & 1973.

Sheila Casey
BSF Director 
Washington, D.C. 

One of seven children born and raised in New York, Sheila has been a military spouse for over 39 years. She has lived throughout the United States, Europe and Egypt and has been an active member of military spouse organizations throughout her husband’s military career.

Currently, Sheila is the Chief Operating Officer of The Hill Newspaper, a paper that reports on the US Congress.  Prior to joining The Hill in 1997, she was the Director of Finance at the Texas Council on Family Violence in Austin, Texas.  Additionally, Sheila spent seven years at Grant Thornton, a national CPA firm, where she was an audit manager.  Sheila graduated with honors in accounting from the University of Colorado.

Sheila is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Military Families Association, a nonprofit organization that is the voice for military families, and on the advisory boards of The Discovery Channel's Military Channel, ThanksUSA and The Bob Woodruff Foundation.

She and her husband have two sons, Sean and Ryan, and five grandchildren.

Les Browniee
BSF Director
Arlington, VA 

Les Brownlee served as the Acting Secretary of the Army from 10 May 2003 until his resignation effective 2 December 2004. He became the 27th Under Secretary of the Army on 14 November 2001, following his nomination by President George W. Bush and confirmation by the United States Senate. From 10 May 2003 until 19 November 2004, he served as the Acting Secretary of the Army. As Under Secretary, Brownlee assisted the Secretary in fulfilling statutory responsibilities for recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, training and mobilizing the United States Army and managing its $98.5 billion annual budget and more than 1.3 million active duty, National Guard, Army Reserve and civilian personnel.

Brownlee served on the Republican staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee beginning in January 1987, under both Senator Strom Thurmond and Senator John Warner. In March 1996, Brownlee was designated Staff Director of the Senate Committee on Armed Services by then Chairman, Sen. Thurmond. In January 1999, he was designated Staff Director for then Chairman, Sen. Warner, serving until November 2001 when he was confirmed as the Under Secretary of the Army.

From 1987 to 1996, he was a Professional Staff member responsible for Army and Marine Corps programs, special operations forces and drug interdiction policy and support. In addition, as Deputy Staff Director, he was deeply involved in policies and programs relating to ballistic missile defense, strategic deterrence and naval strategy, shipbuilding and weapons programs.

Brownlee is a retired Army colonel. He was commissioned in 1962 as a lieutenant in the infantry through the ROTC program at the University of Wyoming. He is a distinguished honor graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger Course, an honor graduate of both the Infantry Officer Advanced Course and the Command and General Staff College, and a graduate of the Army’s airborne course as well as the U.S. Army War College. Brownlee served two tours in Vietnam. During the last two and a half years of a four and a half year tour in the Pentagon, before retiring in 1984, he was Military Executive to Under Secretary of the Army James Ambrose.

His military decorations include the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star with two Oak Leaf Clusters, and the Purple Heart. He holds a masters degree in business administration from the University of Alabama