Banner Health, the largest non-profit employer based in Arizona, is helping military veterans land meaningful jobs through their Hiring Our Heroes program. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsored program was launched in March 2011 as a nationwide initiative to help veterans and service members transitioning to civilian life, as well as military spouses find meaningful job opportunities.
“This is a terrific opportunity for companies like Banner to recruit employees who have already demonstrated high character and have gone through rigorous training,” said Naomi Cramer, senior vice president, chief human resources officer at Banner Health. “We feel fortunate to have two such high-quality leaders coming to our organization and we look forward to making more excellent hires through this program.”
Over 200,000 U.S. service members leave active duty each year. Hiring Our Heroes works with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s huge network of state and local chambers and strategic partners from the public, private, and non-profit sectors, with an aim to create a movement across the USA in numerous communities where veterans and families of the military return every day.
Master Sgt. Alen Schulze, a telecommunication operations chief from Arizona is one of two corporate fellowship program graduates recently hired by Banner Health in Arizona through Hiring Our Heroes. After serving the U.S. Army for 20 years, he is now set to start his new civilian career as a systems consultant at Banner – University Medical Group in Tucson.
Through the Hiring Our Heroes program, Schulze and a former Army Ranger and Staff Sgt. (ret.) Joseph Girvan, were matched with Banner Health. They worked on special projects while meeting people throughout the organization and taking courses for certification for three months.
About Banner Health
Banner Health is the largest healthcare employer in Arizona with 39,000 employees in Arizona alone. It operates 23 hospitals as well as specialized facilities.
Among Its services are hospital care, emergency care, long-term/home care, hospice, outpatient surgery care, rehab services, labs, pharmacies, and more recently has begun operating primary care physician clinics, including Banner Arizona Medical Clinic and Banner Medical Group. In 2010, it was reported to have assets of $6.4 billion and revenues of $4.9 billion.
The organization was founded in 1999 through a merger between North Dakota-based Lutheran Health Systems and Phoenix-based Samaritan Health System.
