West Point Grad, Veteran and Business Leader Erik S. VanLaningham To Speak At ESU’s Veterans Day Celebration

Posted by: admin on November 6, 2012, No Comments

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) will hold a Veterans Day celebration on Tuesday, November 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. to recognize local veterans and servicemen in all branches of the armed services and to introduce veterans to available ESU and community resources available. The celebration will be held in the Keystone Room in the Center for Hospitality Management on campus. The event is open to the general public at no cost.

Army ROTC Cadet Nathan Daniels, ESU class of 2014, will preside over the event. Highlights of the ESU Veterans Day celebration will include a wreath-laying ceremony, with a three-volley salute taking place adjacent to the statue of “Julia” at the front campus circle at approximately 2:30 p.m. Julia was originally acquired by East Stroudsburg State Normal School alumni in 1919 to commemorate and honor the school’s servicemen and women who died in World War I.

The keynote speaker for this event will be Erik S. VanLaningham, who serves as the community captain for Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) in Northeast Pennsylvania. Team RWB is a veteran support organization whose mission is to enrich the lives of wounded veterans and their families. Specifically, Team RWB supports their reintegration process by connecting these wounded veterans to a reliable friend in their community. 

VanLaningham is a 2000 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., with a bachelor of science degree in general management and a minor in systems engineering. He holds a master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. As a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, VanLaningham completed U.S. Army airborne training and the field artillery officer course prior to serving with the 1st Infantry Division, 1st of the 33rd Field Artillery Battalion in Bamberg, Germany, between 2000 and 2003 as a field artillery platoon leader, battery executive officer and battalion adjutant.

From 2003-2005, he served as a battalion operations officer in Fort Jackson, S.C., with the 1st Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment to support planning and training operations of soldiers’ basic training development during Operation Iraqi Freedom. After serving five years in the U.S. Army, VanLaningham entered the MBA Leadership Development program with Emerson, a diversified manufacturing and technology company headquartered in St. Louis, as a strategic planner in their corporate development group. Currently, he is the director of Global Healthcare Marketing with a division of Emerson, InterMetro Industries in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Refreshments will be served. ESU resource areas along with local veteran organizations will host an information fair in ESU’s Keystone Room immediately following the program.

Visitors to ESU’s campus may find parking at the university’s Center for Innovation, located at the intersection of Brown Street and Route 447 in East Stroudsburg. Shuttle buses will pick up visitors at the center, take them to the Keystone Room for the celebration, and return them to the center at the event’s conclusion.

The Scranton Vet Center will have a mobile unit on campus from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to answer questions regarding veteran benefits. The mobile unit will be next to the Mattioli Recreation Center. Nearby parking will be provided to the community throughout the day for those wishing to utilize the Scranton Vet Center’s services.

For more information, contact June Pepein the Office of Enrollment Services at 570-422-2830 or at jpepe@esu.edu.