2023 Citizen Soldier Award Nomination Committee

Bridget Altenburg’s 18-year career includes experience in the non-profit and for-profit sectors as well as military service. She previously served as Executive Director of Chicago Cares where she helped revitalize the organization’s programs, finances and staff. Her experience includes a leadership role at the Academy for Urban School Leadership, Chicago’s only teacher training and school turnaround organization, recognized by President Obama as a national model for education reform. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer for National Able Network.  

Bridget began her career as an engineer officer in the US Army. In her first assignment, she deployed from Hanau, Germany with 34 soldiers to Bosnia to conduct engineering operations pursuant to and consistent with the Dayton Peace Accords of 1995. She returned to Bosnia the following year and was deployed a third time to Albania to support the air war in Kosovo in 1999. She holds a BS in Russian and French from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.

Chad Graham is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Woody Williams Foundation. He works hand-in-hand with fellow founders, the Board of Directors, and Advisors to develop, assess, and oversee implementation of the organization’s strategy and management.

Chad comes from a multifaceted background in the equine and music industries. Chad has worked in various roles within top equine industry operations including farm management, training, and exhibiting. Within the administration sector of the equine industry, Chad served as the Chairman of Young Trainers within United Professional Horsemen’s Association. He is also the Co-Founder of the Louisville Musician Service Coalition, a service organization aimed at utilizing the power of music and the talents of musicians to positively impact the community.

Chad holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Social Science as well as a Masters of Business Communication with a specialization in Non-Profit Administration from Spalding University. His late grandfather, Hershel “Woody” Williams, was the first posthumous recipient of the Citizen Soldier Award in 2022.

Colonel Jacobs entered military service in 1966 as an ROTC second lieutenant assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, deploying to Vietnam as a military advisor. During a mission in the Mekong Delta, his battalion came under withering enemy fire. Wounded in the head and arms, Jacobs took command of the battered unit, organizing a defense and repeatedly ran through heavy fire to rescue wounded soldiers and retrieve weapons, single-handedly dispersing enemy squads, killing at least three enemy soldiers. His gallant actions and extraordinary heroism saved the lives of one U.S. advisor and 13 allied soldiers. For his service in Vietnam, Col Jacobs would add two Silver Stars, three Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts to his list of decorations. He served on the faculties of West Point and the National War College, then returned to civilian life, launching a successful career in investment banking and continuing to serve his country as vice chairman of the Medal of Honor Foundation and on the boards of the National World War II Museum and the Code of Support Foundation.

Major General James H. Mukoyama, Jr. first became involved with the military when he joined the Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC) program Carl Schurz High School. In 1986, he became the youngest general in the army at that time. Soon after he was promoted to major general, commanding the 70th Training Division during Desert Storm. He served over thirty years on active and reserve duty in the Army, including service in Korea and Vietnam, retiring in 1995. General Mukoyama’s accomplishments during his retirement include helping form the Military Outreach of Greater Chicago, serving as Chairman of the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans, and serving as chair for a committee with the National Veterans' Network to select the design for the Congressional Gold Medal award authorized by the Congressional Gold Medal for Japanese American Veterans Act.

MSgt Ginny Narsete enlisted in the U.S. Air Force shortly after high school and served in Public Affairs during the Vietnam War. Later, during Operation Desert Storm, she served as public affairs director for the Commander of CENTCOM, General Charles Horner. Her last duty deployment was during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2002 in Ramstein, Germany where she was assigned to the Crisis Action Team. Ginny is currently the Chairperson of Operation HerStory, focused on honoring “women veterans and their service in the United States Armed Forces by making them visible and highlighting their vital contributions to our military during various eras of service.”

Colonel Jennifer N. Pritzker began her military career with enlistment in the United States Army in 1974 and she retired in March 2001, having served in a number of positions for different regiments during her 27-year active military career. Colonel Pritzker continues with her business activities and in addition, is extensively involved in philanthropic work in Chicago and greater Illinois, as well as nationally. Colonel Pritzker is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Tawani Enterprises, Inc., and President of the Tawani Foundation and Pritzker Military Foundation. Colonel Pritzker is the Founder and Chair of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, which was dedicated on October 23, 2003, and evolved from the Colonel’s personal and family collection of books and artifacts into an accessible collection of materials and appropriate programs focusing on the Citizen Soldier in the preservation of democracy.

​​​​​​Dr. Schneider is a 1968 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy who was commissioned as an ensign in the Coast Guard and served eight years of active duty, including a tour of Vietnam, before entering the Coast Guard Reserve. He retired after 30 years of active and reserve duty as a Coast Guard Reserve Rear Admiral in 2008. After pursuing a more academic path, in July 1992, Dr. Schneider became the 23rd President of Norwich University. He ushered in and fostered a new and successful era for Norwich University that has continued past his 2020 retirement from the position of president. The Pritzker Military Museum and Library honored Dr. Schneider as the 2021 recipient of The Citizen Soldier Award for exemplifying the traditions of the citizen soldier set by George Washington.

Lieutenant General Roger Charles Schultz was commissioned an Infantry Officer from the Iowa Military Academy in 1967. In 1969, he served in two combat assignments as a Rifle Platoon Leader and later as a Scout Platoon Leader in the 2nd Battalion 22nd Infantry during the Vietnam War. His service in infantry units spanned 32 years. In 1998, General Schultz was appointed director of the Army National Guard and served in this position until retiring in 2005. Schultz is the longest serving director in the history of the Army National Guard. Following Army retirement, Schultz served 9 years in a variety of senior corporate positions in the private sector. Lieutenant General Schultz served as president of the Army Historical Foundation, an institution that honors the American Soldier by preserving and presenting the history and heritage of the United States Army at the Army's National Museum at Fort Belvoir, VA. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the U.S. Army War College.

Born in Boston on Jan. 14. 1927, Lt. Col. Woodhouse enlisted in the US Army Air Corps with about 20 of his classmates after graduating from Boston’s English High School in 1944. Woodhouse served as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen for whom he later served as a finance officer from 1946 to 1948. Woodhouse and the Tuskegee Airmen played a pivotal role in the early integration of the US Armed Forces. After the military desegregated in 1948, he continued to serve in reserve for the newly formed Air Force.

When discharged from Air Force active duty in 1949, he joined the Air Force Reserve. While a reservist, Woodhouse earned his undergraduate degree from Yale in 1952 and then went on to Boston University School of Law. He worked as a trial lawyer in private practice in Boston and as an attorney in the US State Department and for the city of Boston for more than 40 years.

His military service has earned him numerous awards, most notably the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the US Congress on individuals or institutions for distinguished achievements and contributions. He and the other Tuskegee Airmen received the medal from President George W. Bush in 2006.