The Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program that HX5 relies on for veteran hiring did not start as a corporate perk. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation launched Hiring Our Heroes in March 2011, a moment when financial crisis unemployment overlapped with the return of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

What began mainly as job fairs grew into a network connecting veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses with employers nationwide. By 2015, that network had produced the Corporate Fellowship Program, a Department of Defense SkillBridge initiative now used by companies including HX5.

Why HX5 Fits the Model

Margarita Howard, HX5’s CEO, saw a natural fit between the fellowship and her company’s defense and aerospace contracts. As a service-disabled veteran herself, she understood the gap the program addresses: service members often leave the military with strong technical skills but thin civilian resumes.

The fellowship’s structure closes that gap directly. Fellows spend four days a week on hands-on project work with a host company and one day on professional development, all during their final 180 days of active duty, while still collecting military pay.

Since 2021, HX5 has hosted eight fellows this way, maintaining two spots per year. That is a modest number next to what defense giants like Lockheed Martin or Microsoft can absorb through dedicated military recruiting teams, but it fits a company of about 1,000 employees.

“My background was influenced by military service,” Howard says, describing how her own history shapes the choice to keep participating year after year. For HX5, the fellowship is not a one-off hiring push. It is a recurring commitment tied directly to Howard’s own path from service member to CEO.

A Small Company’s Approach

Companies far larger than HX5 can bring on dozens of fellows through dedicated military recruiting teams. Margarita Howard has instead chosen to keep the program at a scale her company can absorb, prioritizing careful integration over headline hiring numbers. That choice mirrors the fellowship’s own history: the program grew slowly from job fairs into a structured pipeline, and HX5’s participation has followed a similarly steady, unhurried path rather than an abrupt expansion. Refer to this article for related information.

More about Howard on https://dataconomy.com/2026/02/23/infrastructure-as-competitive-advantage-margarita-howards-early-investment-philosophy-at-hx5/