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Meet Our Founder
Jon Monett, former CIA Senior Executive, and US Air Force Veteran, established the Quality of Life Plus (QL+) program in 2008 along with his son Scott. Inspired after viewing the feature film Fighting for Life, The Monetts found the documentary by Academy Award-winning director Terry Sanders and produced by Tammy Alvarez, a compelling call to action.
Fighting for Life is a powerful, sobering, and emotional documentary about American military medicine. Chronicling individual stories of service members as they rehabilitate from injuries sustained in combat, the film follows 21-year-old Army Specialist Crystal Davis from Iraq to Germany to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, as she overcomes the loss of her right leg in combat.
For Mr. Monett, Fighting for Life highlights that in today’s wars, fewer soldiers are killed, but many more sustain serious injuries, including loss of limbs. These wounded heroes need dedicated help in overcoming the daily challenges of their life-altering disabilities. Mr. Monett, using his expertise and resources, set out to develop engineering solutions to help these brave men and women.
Mr. Monett combined two of his lifelong passions in creating QL+: his deep expertise and professional experience creating unique engineering solutions for USG military and intelligence objectives; and his commitment to supporting his alma mater, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), widely recognized as one of the nation’s premier engineering universities.
The first dedicated QL+ Laboratory was dedicated in March of 2009 on the campus of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, CA. In this unique “Maker Space,” students from multiple engineering disciplines, working under the supervision and guidance of experienced faculty, design, develop and deliver innovative technology solutions that improve the quality of life for those who have given so much for our country.
Today, Mr. Monett routinely visits QL+ laboratories and programs at major universities across the country and resides in McLean, Virginia, a short distance from QL+ headquarters.
Our Team
Charlie Kolb
Executive Director
Charlie Kolb is a distinguished civic leader and public servant with experience in nonprofit leadership, public policy, crisis management, stakeholder engagement, team building, fundraising, and media relations. He served as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in the George H.W. Bush White House, was General Counsel for the United Way, was president of the Committee for Economic Development, and served as president of the French-American Foundation. He then helped launch two startups in higher education and government reform. He is a lifelong Francophile and recovering lawyer and is excited to take the helm of QL+.
Barbara Springer
PT, PhD, OCS, SCS
Chief Operating Officer
Barb is our in-house physical therapy expert and never misses an opportunity to try and get us in the gym or on a bike. She served over 24 years in the U.S. Army and retired out of the Office of The Surgeon General where she was the Director of Rehabilitation and Reintegration for the Army. She recommended policy and instituted Army-wide standards of care for rehabilitation and transition of wounded, ill and injured Soldiers.
Before assuming this position, Dr. Springer was Chief, Integrated Physical Therapy (PT) Service where she served as a leader to both Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in the Washington, DC Metro area. In this role, she ensured world-class rehabilitative care to thousands of wounded service members returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Janet Papazis
PT, DPT
Assistant Director of Operations
Janet is an Army Veteran and former paratrooper, the daughter of a retired Army Soldier and the spouse of a retired Army Soldier. She is also a physical therapist, enjoys outside activities, and spending time with family. She is inspired daily by the professors and students working with QL Plus and the Veterans and first responders we serve.
Catherine Harkins
Director of Finance and Administration
Gulf War Veteran, Catherine comes to QL+ with over 12 years of Finance / Treasury Management experience. She is constantly seeking ways to improve processes and loves to get rid of red tape. Catherine enjoys practicing Bikram yoga to keep herself mentally and physically fit.
Vanessa Salas
Cal Poly Project Manager
Vanessa is originally from Venezuela. She earned her bachelors in Business Information Systems at SDSU. Her hobbies include programming and medical device development with her husband while chasing two active toddlers. Vanessa enjoys overseeing the wide variety of QL+ projects, which tie education with service to veterans.
Amber Humphrey
Chief Communications Officer
Amber is fully aware that the freedom she enjoys is the result of a lot of sacrifices from brave people. Working for QL+ is a way to say, “thank you” to those that have given so much. She likes to cycle, run, and practice yoga and enjoys social media so much that both of her dogs have their own Instagram accounts. Amber is a licensed attorney and loves bad lawyer jokes.
Scott Huyvaert
Program Manager
Rocky Mountain Region
Scott served as a healthcare specialist in the United States Army where he found a true passion for working with the wounded veteran community. While on active duty, Scott helped create and develop outreach programs focused on the rehabilitation of our nations wounded service members and their families. His background in combat medicine, project management and healthcare administration compliment his love of all things outdoors, all while being able to support others in need. When he’s not developing future projects, you will find him spending time with his wife, daughters and beloved hunting dogs or watching the Chicago Blackhawks.
Annemarie Orr, OTD, OTR/L
Program Manager SDSU
Annemarie is as an occupational therapist and has worked for the military specializing in combat casualty care for the last ten years. She has experienced first-hand the positive impact that QL + has had on her patients’ quality of life through the development of creative rehabilitative solutions. Annemarie enjoys being able to work with the QL + team to cultivate a meaningful educational experience and lasting relationship between our servicemembers and engineering students.
Bob Wolff
Program Manager, GMU and UTSA
Dr. Bob Wolff comes to QL+ from a career of public service as an Army engineer, civilian engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers and Air Force, and an Executive Director of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). He worked with QL+ from his position in SAME and looks forward to supporting the QL+ mission as well as continuing to mentor young engineers through SAME.
Board Of Directors
Officers
Lt. Gen. Raymond "Ray" Palumbo, USA (Ret.), Chair
Venturi Solutions
Mr. Jon Monett
QL+ President and Founder
Mr. Michael Southworth, Treasurer
General Manager of Verint Systems
Charlie Kolb, Secretary
QL+ Executive Director
Directors
John Gerber
Chairman and CEO of W-G Capital
Dawn Halfaker
Halfaker and Associates
Richard Holm
Retired CIA
Maj. Gen. Anders "Andy" Aadland, USA (Ret.)
Castlelink LLC
Advisory Council
The QL+ Advisory Council (Council) is established to provide advice and recommendations to the QL+ Board of Directors (Board) and to be ambassadors for the QL+ mission.
Chair, Lt. Gen. Raymond (Ray) Palumbo
USA (Ret.), Venturi Solutions
Vice Adm. Michael (Mike) Loose
USN (Ret.)
Jim McDonnell
Former Sheriff, Los Angeles County, CA
Nina Radcliff
MD, Atlanticare Regional Medical Center
Lt. Gen. Michael (Mike) Shields
USA (Ret.), Consultant
Jon Monett
President, QL+
QL+ Laboratories
Cal Poly
Originally conceived and funded by The Quality of Life Plus Program in 2008, the QL+ Lab at Cal Poly is an integral part of Cal Poly’s engineering program and provides an industrial grade facility where students can collectively focus their creative and intellectual horsepower on solving some of the most difficult challenges facing our nation’s patriots. Since its inception, Cal Poly student teams have completed over 100 engineering challenges, improving the lives of many of our severely injured veterans.
Mines
In 2018, the "Quality of Life Plus Rehabilitation Design Lab" was unveiled at Colorado School of Mines. This lab houses equipment for measurement, prototyping, and fabrication of innovative custom devices. It is used exclusively for QL+ students to develop adaptive equipment to solve mobility challenges posed by veterans and first responders with disabilities, leading to an elevated quality of life and independence. The QL+ Lab furthers Mines’ mission to enhance its leadership as a world-class institution focused on education, services, and solutions, especially in its areas of expertise in engineering.
What We Do
About Challengers
QL+ recruits veterans, active duty military, first responders, law enforcement officers, and intelligence officers with life-altering injuries from across the USA. QL+ works one-on-one with these patriots to understand the lifestyle limitations they endure as a result of their injuries. These men and women become "Challengers" in the QL+ Program. Leveraging our expertise in engineering, physical therapy, and program management, QL+ identifies specific obstacles, in their lives that can be eased or overcome through the development of a custom assistive device or prosthetic modification.
QL+ presents these projects or “Challenges” to our partner universities. Once accepted, QL+ connects the Challenger directly with the student team working his or her Challenge. Throughout the academic year, QL+ mentors, monitors, and supports this unique collaboration between the Challenger and student team. At the conclusion of the academic year, the student team formally presents the completed assistive device or modified hardware to the Challenger for use in their daily life.
About University Partners
Jon Monett founded the QL+ Program in 2008. In March of that year, the QL+ Laboratory was dedicated at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. In 2017, QL+ welcomed five outstanding universities into the QL+ family: Virginia Tech, Colorado School of Mines, the University of Dayton, the University of California, San Diego, and Xavier University. In 2018, a QL+ Laboratory was dedicated at Colorado School of Mines and the following university partners were added: University of Cincinnati, Ohio University, George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Texas, San Antonio, the University of Colorado, Boulder, and San Diego State University. In 2019, Norwich University, Rowan University, The Catholic University of America, the United States Naval Academy, The George Washington University, and the University of South Florida were added.
QL+ students from multiple engineering disciplines work under the guidance of experienced faculty members to design and develop innovations that improve the quality of life of those who have served our country. Currently, over 200 students from our QL+ university partners are actively creating solutions for our QL+ Challenges.
Why Support Us?
QL+ partners and donors share our commitment to improving the lives of active duty military, veterans, first responders, and public servants and providing students with opportunites to engage with and learn from our nation's patriots. Together, we promote and support advances and innovation in engineering, science and technology to benefit those with injuries or disabilities. This unique program benefits our patriots by recognizing a need for a custom assistive device and benefits our students by providing them with hands-on-learning opportunities.
Engineering Quality Of Life For Those Who Served
QL+ is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.