Abbie Patterson

Abbie is the Executive Director for Veterans for Responsible Leadership, and is the daughter and granddaughter of a veteran. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and Public Relations at Jacksonville State University and her Master's of Public Administration degree at the University of Colorado Denver.

Abbie focused on veteran and environmental policy while earning her graduate degree. Before coming to Veterans for Responsible Leadership, she was the Public Affairs Coordinator at the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce where she was a part of the military affairs task force. Abbie currently lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband Bryant and their dogs.

Daniel Barkhuff

Dan is VFRL's Founder and President of the board. He was born in Maine and lived his childhood in New England. Dan attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in May 2001. He served seven years on active duty as a member of Naval Special Warfare and completed multiple combat tours.

Upon leaving active duty he attended Harvard Medical School and then completed an Emergency Medicine Residency training program at the University of New Mexico. He is now a faculty member and Emergency Medicine doctor at the University of Vermont, and the father of three small girls.

Ryan Hill

Ryan is VFRL's Operation Advisor and a member of our Board of Directors. He works in the leadership development space and has held roles in tech, mining, consulting, and non-profit.

Prior to those endeavors, he served in the US Army for 11 years where he led teams of Soldiers from 2 – 200+ in various locations around the world including multiple combat deployments. He finished his time in the military by teaching hand-to-hand combat and leadership at the United States Military Academy, West Point.

Ryan has a Bachelor’s in Sociology from Colorado State University, a Master’s of Education from the University of Virginia, and an Executive Masters in Business Administration from the University of Denver.

He lives in Denver with his wife and two young kids.

Glenn Schatz

Glenn is Vice President of VFRL's board and Vice President of Community Partnerships at Care Access, a company accelerating public access to new therapies and making clinical trials a care option for every patient. At Care Access, he leads the team focused on increasing trial participation by improving the way the industry works with physicians, patients, and organizations in traditionally underserved communities.

He has also held senior-level positions at BlocPower, Link Labs, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Earlier, he co-founded Energy Conversion Research (ECoRE) Ventures and was an adjunct professor at the U.S. Naval Academy.

Glenn started his career as an officer in the Navy, where he worked as an engineer-qualified nuclear submarine officer on a guided missile submarine. Glenn received his master’s degree in national security policy from Georgetown University and his bachelor’s degree from The United States Naval Academy. Glenn resides in Baltimore with his spouse and two young children.

Lindsey Schiro

Lindsey is a member of VFRL's Board of Directors. A native of Massachusetts, Lindsey has 10 years of experience working and advocating for Special Operations and their families in the nonprofit space.

Lindsey has served and supported hundreds of military families, and after working with the Green Beret Foundation as a Program Manager, she stood up the Ft Bragg campus for The Honor Foundation, a transition institute for SOF. She has also spent time in our nation’s Capital, as a HillVets LEAD, advocating, drafting legislation, and speaking nationally on behalf of families of Special Operations. She sits on the board for the American Red Cross of the Sandhills, is a Survivor Advocate on the domestic violence task force for Moore County, North Carolina, and has studied Nonprofit Management, and Psychology at Colby-Sawyer College.

Lindsey is now Executive Director of 51 Vets, a nonprofit organization that assists Special Operations as they transition into the private sector. She resides outside Ft. Liberty and spends her free time golfing, or chasing after her three rambunctious children.

Michael Smith

Mike is on the VFRL board and is the co-founder and CEO of Aclymate, a climate management application for small businesses. He's also the co-founder of RenewWest, a company that uses the power of natural and working lands to tackle climate change and the developer of the largest carbon reforestation project in US history.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Mike was an FA-18 pilot in the US Navy, with three deployments, 354 carrier landings, and postings to Italy, Japan, and the US southeast. He's a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the happily married father of two. In his free time, he enjoys backpacking, skiing, and reading. 

Kenneth Harbaugh

Ken is on the VFRL board, and is a former Navy pilot and past president of Team Rubicon Global, a disaster relief organization that has helped train over 100,000 veterans as disaster responders.

He is a prominent commentator on leadership and civil-military affairs, serving as a guest fellow at Yale University and writing for The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Yale Journal of International Law. In 2021, Ken received the National Conference on Citizenship HOOAH award. He is the host of several award-winning podcasts, including Reclaiming Patriotism and Warriors In Their Own Words. Ken holds a B.S. from Duke University and a J.D. from Yale Law School. 

Darrin L. Harris

Darrin L. Harris VFRL's National Chapter Director. He is the CEO of Darrin L. Harris Professional Coaching Services, LLC. As a veteran of the United States Marine Corps he is well versed and equipped in assisting leaders in becoming great leaders. After a life-changing mission to Africa in 2007 Darrin L. Harris began the Ekhaya Youth Project, Inc. a nonprofit that serves and supports youth and their families.

Darrin L. Harris has served on 2 national advisory boards, Family Run Executive Directors and Leaders Association (FREDLA) and the Support Employment and Education Advisory Board (SEE). Both organizations' primary focus is on Youth and Youth Adults with Mental Health Challenges. In addition, he has served as a board member for Unity of Greater New Orleans an organization that funds community service organization help to house home individuals.

In 2018 Darrin retired as a disabled veteran but still continues to serve and assist other nonprofits start-ups, conducts public speaking seminars/engagements, volunteers as a veteran peer advocate and serves as the national Vice President of Theta Nu Beta Veterans Fraternity Incorporated.