BOARD
Brendan S. McNichol
A native of Morris, Connecticut, Brendan S. McNichol enlisted in 2000 in the United States Army. In 2003, He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 2007 with a commission in the Army Corps of Engineers. He has deployed to Iraq twice and served in several leadership, command, and staff positions throughout his career. Brendan founded Hoplite Resilience Center in 2017 while a Major in the Army Reserve and currently serves as the president of the board and executive director. Brendan and his wife, Kim, are tireless champions of military and civilian efforts to promote mental health and to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health care. Brendan lives in Shamong, NJ, with his wife and two children.
BRENDAN S. MCNICHOL
FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
A Colorado native, Laine currently resides in Oceanside, CA. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a major in Marketing. Throughout the course of her career, Laine has developed a passion for all things digital including website development, digital communication, and graphic design. On any given weekend, you will find Laine outside enjoying sunny California.
LAINE ASBURY
BOARD MEMBER
Michael Virga
Michael Virga is an active police officer with the Township of Hamilton Police Department, in Mays Landing, NJ. He has worked as a patrolman, police detective, and now works as a front-line supervisor in the role of a patrol sergeant. He is also a professor at Rowan University in the Law and Justice Studies Department in Glassboro, NJ. He received his PhD in Criminal Justice from Nova Southeastern University, in Fort Lauderdale, FL. His dissertation focused on the perceptions of stress by law enforcement officers. He is interested in research affecting policing and other current criminal justice issues. He is extensively trained in criminal investigations, such as interview and interrogation, child forensic interviews, fingerprint classification and comparison, among others. He served as a detective for significant portion of his police career, leading and participating in many criminal investigations throughout southern New Jersey. In addition to lecturing at Rowan University, he is a member of the instructional staff for the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police Command and Leadership Academy, where students in police command and supervisory positions learn to hone their skills to affectively lead and manage police personnel using select leadership theories and best practices. He has recently co-authored books on victim assistance programs and police use of force in America.
MICHAEL VIRGA
VICE PRESIDENT
Chris serves on active duty in the United States Army. He currently is attending Purdue University on a Fellowship pursuing a doctorate in Technology with focus on disaster recovery. He is married and has five wonderful children. When not studying, he enjoys spending time with his family, coaching youth sports, remodeling old homes, and flying.
CHRISTOPHER BAKER
BOARD MEMBER
ORGANIZATION ADVISORS
George S. Everly, Jr., PhD, ABPP is considered one of the founding fathers of the field of disaster mental health and helped shape the modern era of stress management and human resilience. Dr. Everly serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has been awarded honorary professorships from Universidad de Flores (Argentina) and Universidad de Weiner (Peru) as well as the Fellow's Medal of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine. Dr. Everly is Chairman Emeritus of the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation. He is the author or co-author of over 15 books on stress, trauma, and human resilience.
GEORGE S. EVERLY, JR. Ph.D. , ABPP
SENIOR ADVISOR
Eric Fisher is an award-winning, multimedia Producer who has built a robust portfolio of successful projects, having worked with major film studios and TV networks, Fortune 500 companies, and global brands. He brings a rare blend of business, creative, and technical knowledge across multiple fields, an intuitive mindset, and innate problem-solving abilities that help drive corporate growth and revenues. He has developed a successful track record of delivering on schedule and within budget multiple media, live, and online projects. His expertise spans creative development, live-action, digital, and post-production, social media, converging traditional and new media, managing multimillion-dollar budgets, administration, and staffing. He currently serves as Executive Producer of Formula 411, a video production agency that works with clients from all around the world and offers a suite of services from ideation through completion including marketing, distribution, and analytics.
ERIC FISHER
SR. FILM & MARKETING ADVISOR
Learn how our team at Hoplite helped launched our innovative App VetTriage. VetTriage is an educational, proactive wellness, resource referral app that strives to help Veterans and Military members overcome adversity and thrive. The App allows Veterans and Military members to triage their moods, stressors, activities, and the severity of their impact.
