The Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program did not begin with companies like HX5 in mind, but the veteran-owned aerospace and defense firm has become one of its steady participants since 2021. Understanding why the program exists helps explain why CEO Margarita Howard has kept HX5 involved every year since joining.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation launched Hiring Our Heroes in March 2011, a period when unemployment tied to the financial crisis overlapped with waves of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The effort aimed to connect veterans, transitioning troops and military spouses with employers through a network of chambers of commerce, businesses and nonprofit groups.
From Job Fairs to Fellowships
What started largely as job fairs has grown into more structured workforce programs, including the Corporate Fellowship Program launched in 2015. Operating under the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge authority, it lets active-duty members spend their final 180 days of service working with a civilian host company, four days a week on the job and one day in professional development, while still collecting military pay and benefits.
More than 500 fellows have completed the program since 2015, with about 80 percent receiving job offers and average starting pay near $70,000. Participating companies range from Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton to Microsoft, Amazon and smaller firms across many industries.
That mix of large and small participants matters, since it shows the fellowship was never designed exclusively around companies with dedicated military recruiting departments. Smaller government contractors have room to take part too, provided they can commit to the twelve-week structure the program requires.
HX5 fits into that smaller category, and Margarita Howard has used the program to bring two fellows into the company each year since 2021, totaling eight so far. As a service-disabled veteran herself, Howard has said her own military service shapes how she approaches these placements, treating the fellowship not as a one-time hiring tool but as a recurring commitment tied to HX5’s identity as a veteran-owned government contractor. Read this article for additional information.
More about Margarita Howard on https://www.itsecurityguru.org/2025/11/12/what-will-defense-contracting-look-like-in-10-years/