A Military Veteran-Turned-Entrepreneur Continues to Focus on Serving

RP Members and Connections great story about Veterans getting out and making a difference! Drive, Leadership, Entrepreneurship!

Marvin Avilez is the founder of the start-up VisualOps, a tenant at the pilot Veteran Future Lab, which is part of NYU Tandon’s extensive entrepreneurial network. The Veteran Future Lab supports early-stage ventures launched specifically by military veterans through access to mentors and industry leaders, community events and other entrepreneurship-specific services, such as legal, technical, and design work.

Avilez recently took home top honors at a hackathon mounted by MD5, a Department of Defense initiative to connect with universities and outside technologists to speed up the development of technologies that address national security. The three-day event, held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, drew more than 100 participants who were charged with developing products to address the challenge of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in cities. Avilez’s “hack” was to use a Raspberry Pi-powered system to supply real-time communication to first-responder teams when communication and power systems are down. The win brought with it a cash prize of $15,000 and a chance to collaborate with the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Group and the New York Fire Department.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Avilez served in the U.S. Marines for 14 years. At the age of 18, he joined as a reservist in the field of metrology. His work consisted of calibrating aviation precision measurement equipment, and he subsequently took on jobs at such iconic tech companies as Apple, Macromedia, and Oracle. Even after returning to civilian life, his impulse to help and protect others remained strong. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, he joined the nonprofit Team Rubicon, which deploys volunteer veterans to areas where their special skills can be used. He began establishing “jump teams” that quickly moved from location to location depending on where the need was greatest — from housing centers with residents requiring medications and food to debris-clogged streets that had to be cleared. With his military experience under his belt, Avilez, who worked in counterintelligence and interrogation, had the skills to do both the front-line work — starting stalled generators and comforting upset evacuees at a senior center — and the organizational chops to form, motivate, and lead teams.

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