Wings for Warriors

Anthony Ameen served as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman from 2002-2010. In 2008, Ameen was severely wounded in a Taliban ambush while operating in Afghanistan with 2nd Battalion/7th Marines - 1st Marine Division. Ameen lost the lower half of his left leg and has since undergone more than 30 surgeries to save his right leg and to reconstruct his left hand.

For his service and sacrifices, Ameen was awarded a Purple Heart, the Navy-Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat Valor Distinction, and two Good Conduct Medals.

In 2010, Mr. Ameen founded Wings for Warriors, a volunteer driven, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that helps combat wounded Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans as they return home and transition into the realm of living with their disabilities. Wings for Warriors works to ensure that veterans receive the adequate healthcare and financial benefits that they are due, as well as building support and assistance from their local communities.

As the Founder and CEO of Wings for Warriors, Ameen has made numerous keynote public speaking engagements across the United States, and has made several national televised appearances, including CNN, NBC's 'Last Call With Carson Daly', National Geographic Channel, and many more.

After 8 years of service, Ameen now lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his spouse Stephanie, and 2 girls Madelyn and Laycie. Stephanie works in commercial real estate with American Realty Brokers as a business broker specializing in business investments. Mr. Ameen continues his personal recovery as he works to build Wings for Warriors to provide a helping hand to the many combat wounded veterans nation wide, dealing with struggles along the road to recovery similar to his own.

Mike Dowling served on active duty in the Marine Corps from 2001-2005. He was the honor graduate of his military police class and went on to become a military working dog handler. He and his dog, Rex, served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004 and were part of the first group of Marine Corps K9 units to operate on the front lines of combat since Vietnam. For their actions, they were awarded a Navy Achievement Medal.

Mike was mobilized back into the Marine Corps in 2008 to serve with the Wounded Warrior Battalion West-Naval Medical Center in San Diego. In this role, he created, coordinated, and facilitated all events and resources available to recovering Marines and their families, working closely with numerous non-profits and private entities. He completed his orders and honorably demobilized from the Marines in 2010 and was awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal for his efforts.

Mike is a published author of "Sergeant Rex: An Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog," a memoir of his experiences serving as a Marine Corps dog handler. He has also been cast as a professional actor in national commercials and has appeared in numerous television shows and public service announcements supporting veteran causes.

In addition to Wings for Warriors, Mike is a member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the American Legion, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He spends much of his time campaigning on behalf of veteran organizations and promoting veteran events and programs, and has raised thousands of dollars in sponsorships benefiting wounded warrior organizations.

Darren Grubb has more than 12 years of strategic communications and public relations experience, including high-profile roles in national and statewide political campaigns, the federal government and at a Fortune 10 financial services company during the height of the global financial crisis.Currently, Mr. Grubb is Chief of Staff to the Global Head of Communications and Public Affairs at Bloomberg LP, based in Manhattan.

From 2006-2009, Mr. Grubb worked at Citigroup, most recently as Director of Executive Communications and Planning. In this role, he led a team that developed messaging and positioning strategies for senior executives with media,employees, shareholders and government regulators. He also oversaw the speech writing process and developed a thought leadership program that used an integrated, “campaign-style” approach to strategically deploy executives to key markets and amplify company messages with various audiences.

Concurrently, Mr. Grubb served as Chief of Staff for the Senior Vice President of Global Communications and was responsible for coordinating internal communications, projects and events for a team of 250 spread across five global regions. In his first role at Citigroup, Mr. Grubb was the lead speech writer for Chairman and CEO, Charles Prince.

Before moving to New York in 2006, Mr. Grubb spent nearly six years in Washington, D.C., serving in several Bush Administration roles, including at The White House in the Office of Global Communications. He also served as Deputy Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he supervised the team responsible for the development and execution of the Secretary’s daily schedule, events and travel.

Following four years in the Bush Administration, Mr. Grubb worked for the bipartisan government relations firm Bryan Cave Strategies supporting a roster of Fortune 500 clients and notable trade associations. In addition to providing government affairs insight, Mr. Grubb developed media strategies, handled crisis communications and served as anon-the-record spokesman for clients of the firm.

Mr. Grubb began his career in Texas politics,starting as an intern for Governor George W. Bush in 1995 and subsequently working for Governor Bush’s reelection campaign in 1998. From 1999-2001, he served as Special Assistant to Donald Evans, the National Chairman of the Bush for President campaign.

Mr. Grubb grew up in Midland, Texas and currently resides in Manhattan with his wife, Lindsay, a television producer at NBC’s TODAY Show. Darren and Lindsay are the proud parents of a young son,Cole.

Joshua White is a software consultant for Bloomberg LP focused on business solutions. As founder of Jibwa LLC he has consulted and contracted for media, retail, financial, and health care organizations since 2007. On a national level, White's contributions have included product development, technical architecture, pricing, cost control, resourcing, and software engineering.

Joshua White holds a bachelors at the University of Arizona with a focus on Business, Computer Science, and Mathematics where he also operated as senior systems analyst for a biological research and genomics consortium.

Mr. White has lead teams of developers, resourced and managed contractors, and developed relationships with executive leadership and clients. Prior to team lead, he provided solutions as a software engineer, webmaster, and server management for the University of Arizona, start-ups, and personal projects. Joshua holds stake in multiple start-ups and has facilitated venture and grant funding efforts. Since 2012 Joshua has acted as technical product adviser for venture capital, angel investment firms, funded start-ups, and business students in Arizona.

White currently resides in Arlington, VA. with his supportive wife Christine, and their baby boy Benjamin.