VIP Management

Chief Executive Officer

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Russell (Rusty) Rice is President and Chief Executive Officer of Veteran Infrastructure Products, LLC, and its DBA Knighthawk Protection.  He holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Ecology Criminal Justice from the University of California, Irvine.

Rusty retired in 2010 with 26 years of military service. His combat tours include Vietnam, as a scout helicopter pilot, and Iraq, as a brigade tactical safety officer. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism in Aerial Flight. He served an extended period of active duty at the Pentagon with assignment as the Senior Policy Advisor to the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee which reported directly to the Secretary of the Army. His last military assignment was with the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve as the Director of Global Operations for the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative. This program was established to assist Army Reserve Soldiers in preparing for and locating employment across the US. He was instrumental in the development of this initiative and an enhanced job search site for Army Reserve Soldiers and led the addition of the National Guard Bureau. He recruited many leaders of corporate America as employer partners to hire Soldiers. He briefed major corporations across America in this quest involving extensive travel. The program was then transferred to the Department of Defense as the Hero 2 Hired program (H2H).

Upon his military retirement in 2010 Rusty served four years as an Independent Consultant and a Subject Matter Expert under sub-contracts to the Army Reserve and National Guard and then to the Department of Defense. He was the National Contract Program Manager for the Hero 2 Hired program which he operationally implemented with employees in all states and territories providing professional services connecting Service members, Veterans, and their families with civilian employers across the nation. Rusty remains the definitive source of knowledge, technique, and expertise in the hiring of military and Veteran job seekers by employers. That contract ended November 2014 with over 225,000 hires.

Rusty Rice has provided education, development, training, and job services on behalf of Government agencies and organizations, including the DoD, and he fully understands the importance of professionalism and leadership skills. Rusty completed the FBI Instructor Development and FBI PIO courses, and was also a guest speaker for undergraduate courses at the University of California Irvine, and graduate courses of the University of Southern California. Rusty is a recognized national expert whose team can provide effective training, team building, and development for professional employees.

Rusty is a member of the following organizations:

  • Reserve Officers Association (ROA)
  • United States Army Warrant Officers Association (USAWOA)
  • Association of the United States Army (AUSA)
  • American Corrections Association (ACA)
  • National Career Development Association (NCDA)
  • Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA)
  • Military Officers Association of America (MOAA)
  • ASIS International