Bernard Mendez is a seasoned leader and entrepreneur with experience spanning U.S. Army Special Operations, Amazon, and technology startups. As a Captain in the 1st and 3rd Special Forces Groups, he led mission-critical support operations and tactical planning across the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and West Africa, managing over $50M in assets, contracts, and logistics for deployments involving thousands of personnel.
After his military service, Bernard joined Amazon as a Program Manager on the Analytics, Innovation, and Research team, where he led development of HIRE 2.0, Amazon’s next-generation recruiting software, and drove initiatives to optimize KPIs and streamline global operations.
An alumnus of the Illinois Institute of Technology and Executive MBA candidate at UCLA Anderson, Bernard combines operational leadership, technical expertise, and entrepreneurial drive to empower teams and advance mission-focused innovation.
