Shelle Michaels (Member, Board of Directors)

Shelle Michaels, Soldiers' Angels National Communication Officer, has been with the organization since the end of 2004. She is involved in many areas- including Community Team Leader, State Director for North Dakota, on several teams and brought the Ladies of Liberty team to life in Soldiers' Angels. (This group focuses on the needs of deployed female service members.)
 
Michaels easily puts in 40 hours a week with Soldiers' Angels, yet still has time to lead her own 'Ladies', as she is a single mom with three daughters, Jen (23), Beka (13) and Emma (11) who are also volunteers with Soldiers' Angels.

She belongs to many state wide committees in North Dakota in regards to our heroes (Inter-Service Family Assistance Committee and Military Affairs to name a few) and is a co-chair for the Grand Forks Chamber of Commerce ATHENA Award which recognizes individuals that empower women leaders, and also developed the team "Voices Carry"- a national advocacy program about Awareness about Violence against Students after three female college students were murdered in ND.
 
While supporting the military, she has personally received the Soaring Eagle Award, the Distinguished Center of Influence and the Outstanding Center of Influence from the North Dakota Army National Guard and the Lifetime Presidential Award being awarded through her work with the United States Air Force.

Michaels taught Public Relations at UND for the past 5 years and finished her graduate work in the focus of Utilizing Social Networking Sites to Advance Public Relations Campaigns. Michaels recently took a position as the Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) Director at the University of North Dakota. VUB is a U.S. Department of Education grant-funded project to help military veterans prepare for and successfully complete a post secondary education.
 
Michaels will bring added strength to Vet Tix utilizing her Public Relations, networking, social media, non-profit and organizational skills.

Jessica Berry (Member, Board of Directors)

 Jessica Berry is known for her love of two things: sports and the military. Growing up in Denver made her a lifelong Denver Broncos and Nuggets fan…the same state where she also joined the United States Air Force and served at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. After serving nearly four years at both Peterson AFB and Andrews AFB, she received a direct commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
 
She moved to DC from Colorado in 2006, and in 2007, made the team as a Washington Redskins Cheerleader Ambassador. That same year, she was voted “One of the 50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill” by The Hill newspaper for her work in military legislative advocacy.

Jessica works full-time in the Pentagon and is a member of the Reserve Officers Association (serves as Jr Naval VP for the DC Executive Committee) and the Fleet Reserve Association. She is working on her Masters Degree at Georgetown University and has taken classes at Duke University and the Naval War College.
 
Jessica and her husband Michael were married on their favorite day of the year, Veterans Day. Follow her journey through life and the military on Twitter @gijessdc and read her blog at www.gijess.com 

Mickey Focareto (Member, Board of Directors)

Mickey Focareto was born into a military family with his father (Tony) serving over 6 years in Africa, while serving his wife (Helen) helped make tanks at Cleveland Tank. She was welder, test driver and made sure the turrets worked. Many people forget the contribution women made during WWII but Mickey reminds people daily. His Uncle (Anthony) was one of the battling bastards of Bastogne, even today how they survived is beyond him.

Mickey joined the Air Force in 1967 and served proudly maintaining aircraft after they came back from missions over Vietnam.  After his Honorable Medical Discharge, Mickey started a family and has 3 beautiful children. While attending college he went into with his father starting a manufacturing plant. Mickey eventually became President and maintained it for 25 years.

Mickey’s injuries from the service forced him to retire and move to Arizona where he became actively involved at the V. A. hospital. Doing rehab volunteer work has proved to be one of the most rewarding contributions he's made in his life. Being a Director for the Veteran Tickets Foundation has his day quite filled. New ideas and plans are being formed everyday and he sees the Foundations future as limitless.

Paul Jarvis (Member, Board of Directors)

Paul Jarvis is a disabled veteran who served in the USAF (1990-1994).  Paul was a member of the elite US Air Force Combat Control Special Operations Team during Desert Storm 1st Gulf War.  Both of Paul’s grandfathers served in the military, one with the US Navy Seabee’s, and the other in the US Army where he participated in the June 6th invasion of Normandy during WWII, and received the Purple Heart.  Paul’s uncle served 3 tours during Vietnam War with the US Army Special Forces 5th Group.

After the military service Paul received his Industrial Engineering Degree from Marshall University and then an MBA from West Virginia University.  Paul spent 7 years working with BP Oil and then Shell Oil, before starting OILKLEEN International, Inc. in 2005, which is the developer of high speed electrostatic filtration technology.  OILKLEEN has currently been working with the US Navy with oil filtration technology and is dedicated to helping Veterans who have served for the United States of America