SHARP DECISIONS FUNDS JOB CREATION FOR RETURNING U.S. VETS

(NEW YORK, NY) March 11, 2013 -- A visionary entrepreneur, Karen Ross CEO of Sharp Decisions, is making a difference for veterans who’ve served in the U.S. Armed Forces who are returning to a tough job market. Sharp Decisions is making an initial $250,000 investment—which is projected to run into the millions—to help military veterans get back into the workforce and bring jobs back to U.S. shores.

Ross recently founded   the V.E.T.S. ™ (Vocation, Education, and Training for ServiceMembers) program. It is designed to leverage the skills of military veterans and train them in specific Quality Assurance software testing and data mining capabilities. V.E.T.S. will provide U.S. veterans with explicit industry knowledge and an awareness of emerging developments, including legislative, compliance and regulatory reporting critical to businesses, while providing organizations with engaged, qualified teams to get the job done.

“Veterans of the armed services take their commitments seriously, putting service before self in all they do, yet many returning veterans face a challenge in finding careers suited to their skills,” says Ross.

Currently, a significant percentage of all Quality Assurance Testing is done offshore in places like India, the Philippines, Singapore, China, Russia and Eastern Europe. This program will help bring it back to the U.S., starting in New York City, by hiring and training newly returning veterans and pricing these services competitive to offshore outsourcing. Targeted fields include healthcare, manufacturing, financial and government contractor sectors.

Ben Bullington of Pennsylvania, a veteran of two wars, knows how tough it can be.   “As an Iraq War Vet and Veteran of the Kosovo Campaign, I can vouch for how very tough it is to return and find solid, stimulating employment.”

Ross states: “We want to retrain these veterans into positions that offer them careers with a future. They’ve served us so well.  We should do the same for them. It’s the right thing to do.”

Here’s how the program will work:

• Sharp Decisions bears the entire cost of hiring and training returning veterans—creating a career path for the people who have served and defended our nation.
• Upon completion of the V.E.T.S. training program, Sharp will provide companies with teams of six to 20+ veteran professionals, each managed by a highly experience Testing Professional with both business and technical experience.

Sharp will house the teams in their secure networked facility.

The V.E.T.S. Program ensures competitive rates to traditional offshore pricing, while offering the following benefits:

• Promotion of military veteran employment
• Support of economic growth
• Communication without language and/or cultural differences
• No time difference for project team interaction
• Improved employee and project oversight
• Protection of sensitive data
• Goodwill internally among employees and externally with customers and clients

“The program ensures that quality becomes paramount, costs are contained, resources are local, and excellence is delivered. V.E.T.S. cost-effectively brings offshore jobs back to American shores by promoting employment of returning American Service Members,” concludes Ross.

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ABOUT SHARP DECISIONS

Sharp Decisions is privately held with revenues in excess of $50 million. It is headquartered in New York City with offices located in Charlotte and Raleigh, NC, Phoenix, AZ, Los Angeles, CA, Princeton, NJ, and London, England.

Founded in 1990 as a technology and consulting firm, Sharp Decisions has provided solutions to state and local government agencies and national and international corporations in—but not limited to—Banking, Finance, Healthcare, Media, Telecommunications, Transportation, Manufacturing and other industries. In 2008, it added a Finance Operations division to specifically address the non-technical operational needs of major financial institutions.

With two decades of achievement and superior service, Sharp Decisions has provided the technology backbone for numerous public and private sector clients, including Fortune 500 and other high-profile companies.  For more information, go to www.sharpdecisions.com or 212.481.5533.

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For more information, contact Amy Krakow, PMC, Inc. 212.587.0540, Amy.Krakow@agitproppr.com.