05/22/2026
On the eve of retirement, Gordon Sheek realized he wanted his transition from the Navy to be about engagement.
While considering his options during the Transition Assistance Program, Sheek quickly determined he wanted to understand the next phase of his career from a hands-on perspective.
“I wasn’t interested in doing anything remote. I didn’t think I would get as much out of that, I wanted to be in the office,” Sheek said.
Sheek signed up with the Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) program, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation initiative that connects veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses with employment opportunities and fellowships.
Starting in September 2025, Sheek began doing some leg work, targeting companies that were Hampton Roads based, offered on-site opportunities and supported the Department of the Navy.
Through a previous relationship with Prevailance’s Deputy Operating Officer, Dave Long, Sheek said he found his perfect match.
“I wanted to be at a headquarters so that I could understand corporate vernacular and understand how contracts were bid on and how government needs and requirements were interpreted,” he said.
Sheek joined Prevailance in February 2026 as a HOH Fellowship participant. During his almost four months at the company, he focused on two projects; helping refine an internal decision-making process and drafting the company’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Playbook.
Sheek is Prevailance’s first HOH Fellowship participant.
“It’s a win-win for both the company and the participant. They get to experience the breadth and depth of the government contract business, and we can tap into some really unique skill sets that help us create greater value for our clients,” said Mike Schroeder, Prevailance Chief Executive Officer.
“With Gordon, we were able to utilize his technical understanding of AI and AI tools to focus on our Data Integration Group and AI Playbook that puts us six months to a year ahead of where we would otherwise have been,” Schroeder added.
Reflecting on his fellowship, Sheek said he “absolutely feels better prepared” to transition from over two decades of military service in a high-stakes, high operational tempo environment to the corporate world.
“This gave me a bridge between that high OPTEMPO, large organization to joining a corporate team that is all about supporting the warfighter and the government,” Sheek said.
“My time at Prevailance gave me the opportunity to see how the C-suite functions.”
Schroeder, himself a retired naval aviator, said business is less certain than the military environment and through programs like these, participants get to experience that firsthand.
“We want to give our fellows an experience that is broad enough for them to appreciate all that goes into the defense contracting world and puts them a year or two ahead of where they’d be if they’d just come in cold,” Schroeder said.
Sheek said the time goes by quickly and having a specific project he could make his own was critical to having a productive experience. Sheek said he knows not everyone is as fortunate and some in his HOH cohort had a more “rigid” assignment. He said he felt lucky he had projects where he could apply his own creativity and really sink his teeth into.
“It was really useful to be able to lay out my project and stick and rudder what my project was going to be.”
After finishing at Prevailance, Sheek will start the next chapter of his post-Navy career as a risk analyst contractor supporting the Chief of Naval Operations Mission Assurance program.
By Yana Ginburg
