How Team Rubicon Empowers Veterans to Serve and Rebuild Communities

Jake, tell us how you came to start Team Rubicon after your career as a Marine sniper.

After leaving the Marines, I was only sixty days into civilian life when the 2010 earthquake hit Haiti. I felt compelled to help, but found that many traditional aid organizations weren’t equipped to handle the danger and instability there. So, I gathered a small team and went down on our own terms. Despite the high-stakes environment, we made an impact by leveraging our skills to tackle problems quickly, with a calmness that comes from military training. That mission became the seed for Team Rubicon.

From that mission, you've created a tremendous movement. How would you articulate Team Rubicon's Purpose, and can you share some key statistics that capture your impact?

Team Rubicon’s mission is twofold: we support vulnerable communities impacted by disasters while empowering veterans with renewed purpose and community. We've deployed for natural disasters like hurricanes, fires, and tornadoes.

At its core, Team Rubicon strives to give veterans something they may lose after leaving the military: purpose, a sense of community, and identity. Through disaster relief, we’re offering veterans the chance to make a meaningful impact once again.

Looking back, what moments in Team Rubicon’s journey make you the proudest?

I’m most proud of the times we bet on ourselves in moments of doubt. Hurricane Sandy, Hurricane Harvey—those were pivotal moments where we faced enormous stakes. Each time, we placed a bet that we could rise to the challenge, and those bets paid off, bringing us more resources, credibility, and volunteer support. But it wasn’t just luck. We bet on ourselves because we’d put in the work: building systems, processes, and a culture that could withstand the demands of crisis response. Seeing that foundation hold strong has been incredibly rewarding.