About Mighty Oaks Foundation

Jeremy Stalnecker is the Executive Director of the Mighty Oaks Foundation. The Mighty Oaks Foundation is dedicated to helping America’s military warriors and their families suffering from the “unseen wounds” of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While growing up in San Jacinto, CA, Jeremy’s only goal in life was to leave home and join the Marine Corps. Even though his father was the pastor of a local church, Jeremy did not have a desire to enter ministry and hoped that he could instead live out his life serving his country. The dream of being a United States Marine was finally realized with an active duty commission in 1999. Following Infantry Officer Course in Quantico, VA, Jeremy was assigned to First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division as an infantry platoon commander. Serving first as a rifle platoon commander in a helicopter company and then as the platoon commander of the counter-mechanized platoon, Jeremy learned valuable leadership and communication skills that he continues to use today. In January 2003, Fifth Marines, as a part of the First Marine Division, deployed to Kuwait in support of what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the war began, First Battalion, Fifth Marines would be the infantry battalion used to breech the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq and would secure the first major objective of the war. This led to a road march that would see the battalion occupying Baghdad and seizing the presidential palace in northern Baghdad on the Tigris River. Throughout this movement, Jeremy and the counter-mechanized platoon would provide navigation and lead security for the battalion. While in the Marine Corps, God was working in Jeremy’s life to turn his heart toward full-time ministry. Just one month after returning from Iraq, Jeremy became a staff member of his home church at Coastline Baptist in Oceanside, CA. Here he gained ministry experience that would equip him for the further leading of God. In his role as an Assistant Pastor, he counseled and mentored many couples and individuals while also maintaining other church responsibilities. It was a great privilege for him to be able to serve in this capacity so close to Camp Pendleton since most of those that he worked with were either Marines or the family members of Marines. In 2008, Jeremy and his family took on a new responsibility when he became the Senior Pastor, just east of San Francisco Bay at Bay Area Baptist Church in Fremont, CA. In this capacity, he continued to minister to families and individuals in a wide range of areas. After serving in the role of senior pastor for nearly seven years, the door was opened to accept a full-time position with the Mighty Oaks Foundation. This move brought together both his ministry experience and military background in a way that allows him to serve and minister to many hurting veterans, service members and their families. Along with his wife Susanne and their four children, Jeremy is thankful for the opportunity to reach the hurting and providing the healing found in Christ.

In addition to directing our Women's program, Susanne oversees the daily organization of the Mighty Oaks office as well as manages the merchandise and programs inventory.  She also brings fifteen years of ministry experience to the Mighty Oaks team which she uses to minister in both our women's and couples programs.  Having supported her husband as he served as a Marine and then working alongside him in full-time pastoral ministry, she brings a unique perspective that allows her to use both her testimony and faith in God to help others become who they were uniquely created to be.

William Taylor serves as the Chief of Staff at the Mighty Oaks Foundation, which is dedicated to helping America’s military warriors and their families suffering from the “unseen wounds” of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). William’s service as an Infantry Squad Leader in the United States Marine Corps honed not only his leadership abilities but more importantly taught him valuable lessons about team building and using synergy to accomplish difficult tasks.  At the age of 18, William left home to pursue public service as the newest recruit in the United States Marines Corps. William’s first post was Norfolk, Virginia, where he served as a Fleet Anti-terrorism Security Team member for Charlie Company, 2nd Platoon. William conducted two deployments with this unit, one to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and one to the Kingdom of Bahrain. Upon return, William was transferred to 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines in beautiful Twentynine Palms, California, where he served as an Infantry Squad Leader for Fox Company, 3rd Platoon. While there, William deployed to Kuwait to serve as the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft & Personnel and Quick Reaction Force in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. William’s dependability as a leader earned him many professional accolades, to include meritorious unit and personal commendations.  William’s passion for service continued to grow while serving as an Economic Development & Public Policy Assistant with New American Strategies, Inc., where he headed the Narrative Writing Department. As the Department Head, William conducted financial and policy analyses on small business applicants to write comprehensive narratives for a $100M Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program. William’s unique ability to empathize with the human toll and explain the plight of the affected entrepreneur with a well-penned portrait of their situation enabled grant opportunities for disadvantaged groups to access the capital they so desperately needed. William also served as a Congressional Intern for Texas’ 20th Congressional District, where he courteously represented the Congressman’s office to constituents and conducted veteran constituent casework. William holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics & Law from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where he graduated with institutional honors, Magna Cum Laude. Currently, William is pursuing his master’s degree in the Executive Public Service & Administration program with a concentration in Public Management from Texas A&M University. William is happily married to his wife, Bethany, and they have a beautiful daughter named Ellis.

Michael Hanson is the Chief Operations Officer for Mighty Oaks Foundation.  He is a Christian businessman/analyst with over 30 years experience in the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors as Chief Operations Officer, Director of Finance, Executive Pastor, Executive Director, and Vice-Chairman of the Board.  He earned his Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Science in Business Management and has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to gain business and ministry experience while working in both corporate and ministry environments. Michael grew up in Portland, Oregon, and lives in Huntington Beach, California.  He is married 30 year to his wife, Angel.  They have a daughter, Haley, and their son, Joshua. Michael is a long-distance runner and enjoys recreational tennis.

Michael Cameron serves as the Chief Marketing & Communications Officer for Mighty Oaks Foundation, working to expand the profile of this incredible organization nationally. With an extensive background in digital marketing and strategy, he has worked with many of the largest movie studios, including Warner Brothers, Summit Entertainment and Lionsgate. Some of his most high profile projects include having managed and created strategy for digital campaigns including Hangover 3, The Hunger Games, We’re The Millers and many more. His work was nominated for a Shorty Award, the highest honor in social media, for his contributions to the Hangover 3 digital campaign. During his time at Stone Brewing Company as their Digital Media & Technology Strategist, he achieved the rare distinction of setting a record for the most funded Indiegogo campaign of all time, to launch their Stone Groundbreaking Collaborations project, raising over $2,500,000 in less than 30 days. His skill set encompasses a wide range of disciplines within marketing, from managing multi-million dollar PPC campaigns to building out departmental infrastructure to optimize resources and maximize returns. Michael is passionate about spreading the Lord’s message through his work with Mighty Oaks Foundation, and promoting ideas that are the foundational to our Country, patriotism and a moral faith-based life. It is through faith that all things are possible, and Michael believes that God’s plan is what brought him to Mighty Oaks Foundation, to do his work and honor the Most High. Mark 9:23 "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

Branden Kunath serves as the National Programs Director for Mighty Oaks Foundations, Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs. Mighty Oaks Foundation is dedicated to helping America’s military warriors and their families suffering from the “unseen wounds” of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Branden is responsible for the majority of the operational and logistical requirements pertaining to Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs. Branden is a medically retired United States Marine Staff Sergeant who served as an Infantry Machine Gunner and as an Infantry Unit Leader during his 15 years of active duty service. He served with Marine Corps Security Forces Europe (Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team) stationed in Rota Spain 1st Battalion 1st Marine Regiment Company C, 2nd Battalion 1st Marine Regiment Company E, and Weapons Company based out of Camp Pendleton. He also served as a Marine Combat Instructor at the School of Infantry West, instructing basic trained Marines to achieve a Military Occupation Specialty of 0331 Infantry Machine Gunner. During this time, he also instructed at Advanced Infantry Battalion West - Infantry Machine Gun Leaders Course. Branden has had the opportunity to gain a large amount of experience conducting missions all over the world while being stationed in Rota, Spain. Soon after transitioning to Camp Pendleton, he quickly found himself deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan multiple times. Branden conducted combat missions in Iraq at Umm Qasr, Fallujah, Sahl Sinjar, Haditha and many others. He also conducted combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan as a Heavy Weapons Platoon Sergeant and as Operations Chief Embedded Training Advisory Team to the 25th Kandak (Battalion) Afghanistan Army. Branden was combat meritoriously promoted to the rank for Staff Sergeant for actions while being deployed to Iraq. After being assigned to the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Branden found himself arriving to a Fight Club session in December 2013. After graduating and dedicating his life to Christ, he had noticed he was not alone in his fight, he quickly realized where his newfound purpose was. He now lives to share his passion of what Christ has done not only in him but also in his wife Jeanette and children’s lives in order to reach others battling the effects of combat trauma, so that they might find hope and a new purpose in life.

Hunter Robichaux is a 3rd generation US Marine while serving in the Marine Corps Reserves Hunter was assigned to 3D ANGLICO as a Forward Observer. In 2019 Hunter deployed to Parwan Province, Afghanistan in support of Operation Freedom Sentinel and Operation Resolute Support. Hunter has been actively involved in Ukraine since February 2022, providing resiliency training to the Ukrainian Chaplains and military to find hope ad healing through Christ. Hunter is married to his wife Alexandria and has 2 daughters named Charlie Rose, and Addison James.

(Former) United States Marine Kevin Knutson is the National Director of Development at Mighty Oaks Foundation. He served as a HAWK Missile Systems Operator in 4^th LAAMBN, 4^th Marine Air Wing. Kevin is the recipient of both personal and unit awards where he served honorably.

Kevin grew up in a family bakery manufacturing business which they sold in 2006 where he learned the business from the ground up. He became a top-performing sales professional with the entrepreneurial vision and leadership skills to drive expansion. Meeting goals through strategic business planning and innovative sales initiatives. He continued growth and success after the sale of the company becoming Vice President of Sales.

After leaving the marketplace in 2014 Kevin’s heart was changing but he needed direction on where to focus his energy. After attending a Halftime Summit his story started to become clear as his mission statement was beginning to come together as follows:  “To use my organizational leadership, decision making strengths and compassion to serve military veterans and young people to put more bodies in heaven and provide a foundation for them to live healthy and productive lives.” Mighty Oaks Foundation fit this description and mentality as a warrior for the Kingdom.

Kevin is happily married to his wife Krissy and they have 3 kids Carter, Kylee and Katelyn. Kevin enjoys traveling the world and is also an accomplished endurance triathlete as a 8 x Ironman finisher along with more than 20  ½ Ironman finishes, multiple Olympic distance, marathon and ½ marathon finishes.

Kevin Schroeder is a United States Marine that served on active duty from 1990-1994 with one deployment to Desert Storm. After active duty Kevin became a police officer in a suburb of Houston, Texas. Throughout Kevin’s police career Kevin served as a patrolman, detective, undercover investigator targeting the drug trade and other violent crimes, spanish interpreter, police sergeant, and SWAT sniper. Kevin retired as a Patrol Lieutenant in 2018 after 21 years of police service. Kevin has a passion for missions and has served on several missions teams in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Kevin also served as a spanish church planting pastor in Texas. After retiring from law enforcement Kevin became the Training Manager for Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs where he also serves as a Program Manager for the Men’s Legacy Sessions. Kevin has been married to his high school sweetheart Rachel for 29 years. They have 3 kids, a daughter-in-law, a grandson, and a granddaughter. 

John Davis is the Application Coordinator for Mighty Oaks and handles every application that comes into our system. John's passion for our mission make him the right man for the job as he personally makes first contact with each Warrior or family member, assesses their situation and places applicants into upcoming scheduled programs nationwide. John also serves as a Team Leader at many of our programs. As a former Sergeant in the US Army 82nd Airborne he was a forward observer in the 319th Artillery Battalion. John was attached 3/504th Infantry Battalion for Operation Just Cause in Panama 1989 and 1/17th Calvary Division Scouts in Iraq as a Ground Laser Team Leader for Desert Shield / Desert Storm in 1991. After honorably discharging from the US Army in 1993 he joined the Orange County CA Sheriff's Department where he worked in the county jail. In 1994 he transferred to Whittier Police Department where he worked as a Patrol Officer and as a member of the Special Occurrence Response Team and Entry Team. After being in 3 justified officer involved shootings John was medically retired in 2004. After retiring from law enforcement John became a high school football, track and strength coach. John and his wife Quennie have 7 children and outside of Mighty Oaks John enjoys training athletes strength and conditioning coach and training as a competitive Jiu-Jitsu athlete.

Luke Dodd is a retired United States Marine Corps Master Sergeant with 22 years of active service and numerous OEF/OIF combat deployments. The first ten years of his service were spent as an Infantry “TOW” Gunner and the remainder of his career was spent as a Marine Corps Imagery Intelligence Analyst. During his years of active duty service, he served with various units to include 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance, Combat Instructor at The School of Infantry West, and 1st Battalion, 5th Marines Weapons Company. With His transition to Marine Corps Intelligence, his duty assignments ranged from Intel Battalion Platoon Chief, to Company Operations Chief, to the Senior Enlisted Advisor on a deployment with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Squadron. His final duty assignment was with 1st Intelligence Battalion as Bn Imagery Chief aboard Camp Pendleton, California. For a brief time after retirement, he was employed as a Full Spectral Geospatial Analyst with BAE Systems until accepting his current position with Mighty Oaks Foundation. Luke attended the Mighty Oaks Warrior Program in June of 2016 and is now the organization’s Mobile Training Team Manager. His duties range from staffing and managing booths at various resiliency events across the country to developing a plan to train other churches/organizations that would like to host their own version of the Legacy Program. Luke and his wife Ann have been married for 22 years, together they have three children. As a veteran who has also struggled with the affects of combat trauma, Luke is thankful for the opportunity to minister to others who are hurting and point them to the hope and healing that is only found through Jesus Christ.

Aziz is an Afghan native who served as a combat interpreter & facilitator for the United States Special Operations community during military operations in Afghanistan. Aziz quickly became a well-rounded, highly sought after interpreter within the special operations community and was selected to serve as part of the premiere Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) for nearly a decade. During his time as a combat interpreter, Aziz served side-by-side with Chad Robichuax during 8 JSOC deployments, ultimately saving his life countless times as well as those around him.   Aziz was born to face adversity and has a strong sense of duty to both family and country. Aziz chose to work alongside the US military because he had prosperous dreams for his beloved Afghanistan and countrymen. He wanted his children to grow up with endless opportunities that freedom offers by fighting alongside an America who had committed to eradicating the Taliban and their oppression and evil acts to humanity. However, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Aziz and his family faced persecution for his efforts in helping America and he and his family’s life was in peril. This withdrawal sparked a multinational coalition by Chad Robichaux to rescue his longtime interpreter turned brother from Afghanistan. After over 15 years of service to the United States, a daring rescue operation to save his family, 8 long months in a UAE Humanitarian Center, and a 17 hour flight, Aziz is now on the very soil that he helped defend for so long. Aziz may be an Afghan by birth, but he is as much an American and patriot as anyone else. As Aziz starts his new life as a Texan, he serves as the cultural advisor for Mighty Oaks International. Aziz also speaks 5 languages, to include: Pashtu, Persian/ Dari, Urdu, Arabic and English which will be extremely beneficial to the Mighty Oaks International mission moving forward.  

Luis Rivera is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL Senior Chief with 24 years of active duty service. Luis enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1990 at 17 years old. The first ten years of service were spent on two Fast Attack Submarines from 1992-2000 with USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689) and USS La Jolla (SSN 701). Then he attended Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) School in 2000. Luis graduated as Class Honorman with Class 234. Then he served as a Special Operator at SEAL Team Three from 2001-2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He then served as Tactical Ground Mobility Chief at Training Detachment One for two years. Luis’ final deployment was with SEAL Team Three in support of Operation Enduring Freedom from 2009 to 2010. Luis completed his Naval career as a SEAL instructor at SEAL Qualification Training Land Warfare and Senior Enlisted Advisor at Naval Special Warfare Orientation.

Luis and his wife Cristina have been married for 17 years and he has three children ages 24, 23, and 20. Luis attended Mighty Oaks Warrior Program in 2016 and is now the organization’s Operations Manager, where he has found a new purpose by serving others through his passion for Jesus Christ as a witness to those who have struggled with similar challenges such as PTSD and life trauma. His passion is connecting with veterans that are losing hope and need a brother to come alongside.

Bill Coate’s career in the military has spanned three decades, and included duty stations all over the world, from Australia to the Middle East, with combat deployments to East Timor and Iraq. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, Bill was the Iraq All Source Team Chief before deploying to Iraq and establishing the National Intelligence Center in Baghdad. Later he returned to Iraq as a Battalion Commander. Bill retired in 2011 as a Colonel, with his final duty station being in Dam Neck, VA, where he was the commanding officer of the Marine Corps Intelligence Schools. Bill has been married to his wife, Julie, for over 30 years, and they have three grown children. Bill’s service to our great nation lives on through his work with the Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs. His mission now is to reach our nation’s Warriors who are struggling with the challenges of post-combat trauma. He continues to lead men, challenging them to rise up and be the leaders they were created to be, to live purposeful lives, and to positively impact America.

Growing up in Southern California in close proximity to several military air stations offered no shortage of military aircraft crisscrossing his childhood skyline. That, coupled with his dad’s service as a Marine helicopter, C-130, and civilian airline pilot, infused in Jamie a passion for aviation and service. After college, Jamie served as a Marine CH-53E helicopter pilot with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 466, “The Wolfpack”, from 1990-1997. After leaving the Marine Corps, Jamie worked as a public school English teacher for the next 16 years. He had been feeling a burden for the veterans returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and was praying over how to serve them when through a series of events too coincidental to be anything but God’s direction and plan, Jamie heard about Mighty Oaks and then met Chad in a “chance” encounter two days later. Chad invited Jamie to attend a Legacy Program graduation to see what the program was all about. That’s all it took. Jamie began volunteering and helping where and how he could over the next couple of years. During this time, Jamie used his skills as an English teacher to help the Mighty Oaks team with editing of the various book projects they were working on. Then, in 2016, with three books in the works, Jamie took a two-year leave of absence from teaching to focus on the book projects and some personal growth. God, and Chad, had something else in mind. The West Coast Regional Facilitator position was created and a one-year contract was offered to Jamie. The trap was set. That one-year contract evolved into a staff position. As the Facilitator, Jamie is responsible for all the administration and logistics for programs conducted at SkyRose Ranch in San Miguel, CA. Jamie also oversees social media related to all programs, continues to help with the editing process on book projects, and speaks for and represents the Mighty Oaks Foundation on the West Coast and is the “local representative” in the Central California region. Jamie and his wife, Kathy, leverage their 27+ years of marriage by serving as instructors for the Marriage Advance Program. They have three grown children and one daughter-in-law.