On this episode of Behind the Mission, we feature a conversation with Carl Cricco, Chief Executive Officer of K9s For Warriors, the nation’s largest provider of service dogs for veterans. 

 

Prior to joining K9s, Carl worked at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum as a senior vice president of marketing, ensuring the stories from that day were never forgotten. Living just blocks from the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, that day left an indelible mark, as it did for many. He has spent much of his career ensuring Americans never forget 9/11, and at K9s For Warriors, he is committed to ensuring those who fought in conflicts resulting from that day and others, are also not forgotten.

Before taking on the role of chief executive officer, Carl was the chief marketing and development officer at K9s for two years, effectively sharing the incredible impact of the K9s mission on both veterans and dogs — also increasing revenues by 70% in a one-year period. Carl has spent the last ten years in executive leadership, primarily in marketing with previous work featured by the Wall Street Journal and Advertising Week.

Early in his career, Carl worked at leading media companies, including ABC News. Cricco holds a B.A. from New York University and an M.B.A. from New York University Stern School of Business, where he specialized in marketing. He was born and raised in Hoboken, NJ, and although he misses his local Italian deli and not needing a car to get around, he wouldn’t trade the Florida sun to get those things back. He is a family man, spending much of his free time with his two-year-old son and amazing wife Emily.

This week’s PsychArmor resource of the week is the PsychArmor course, How to Interact with Assistance Animals. This course is designed for the general population to learn about the different types of assistance animals (specifically focusing on dogs) and how to effectively interact with them. 

 

You can see find this course here: https://learn.psycharmor.org/courses/how-to-interact-with-assistance-animals

 

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.

 

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.