Board of Directors | 4 The Heroes

John Bacon

Chairman

John has been an IT Consultant for e-LAN Resources, Ltd. since 1996 serving the greater State of Texas. Served as President of The Federation of Catholic Parent-Teacher Clubs of the Archdiocese of San Antonio for 3 years under Sr. Carla Lusch. John has been married to his beautiful wife Ericka since 1999 and has 4 amazing children who are all very active in sports. His oldest daughter Isabella will be attending Texas State University and just recently competed in the Sweet 16 of the UIL 6A basketball tournament. His second daughter Lourdes recently committed to play softball at the University of Texas - San Antonio and currently is a sophomore at East Central HS. His son Ezra has been accepted to Central Catholic HS where he'll pursue football and the youngest Lilyanna currently attends St. Anthony's Catholic Elementary School and loves playing all sports.

Noe Saucedo

President

Since November of 1999, Noe has been licensed to practice law by the State Bar of Texas. A big believer in helping children and giving back to the community, in addition to the 4 the Heroes Foundation, Noe sits on the board of directors for the Boerne Extracurricular & Sports Trust, as well as has sat on the board of directors for the Guide Dogs of South Texas, Boerne Youth Athletic Association, and various cancer and children’s health charities. Noe has been married to his beautiful wife Greta since 1997, and they have been blessed with one amazing daughter, Andrea. Noe and his family are active in the Boerne community, Andrea’s high school and club softball teams, and attend Cibolo Creek Community Church.

Shaun Larue

Vice President, Chair of Woods and Waters

Shaun played Professional baseball for 7 years with Cincinnati Reds Organization and currently is the owner and CEO of Lonestar Construction. Shaun has been married to his wife Shelly for 19 years and has 2 beautiful children Ashlee and Emilee. Ashlee recently committed to play softball at University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and both are very active in many sports.

Bruce Richards

Vice President, Chair of Outreach

Bruce originally from Indianapolis, Indiana lives in San Antonio, Texas with his lovely wife Andrea and three wonderful kids Holden, Emma and Jack. Bruce is a successful businessman and Owner/President of Family Leisure of San Antonio. His daughter Emma recently committed to Ball State University and currently attends Antonian College Preparatory High School in San Antonio, Texas.

Scott Smith

Vice President, Chair of Jersey Awareness

Scott is the National Program Director and Head Coach for the Texas Bombers Club Program. Scott has coached with the Bombers for 17 years and most recently his Texas Bombers team under his guidance won the USA Softball 16U National Championship in 2016. That same year Smith’s coaching staff was selected as the NFCA National Travel Ball Coaching Staff of the Year. As well in 2016 Scott surpassed the 1000 win mark and was honored at the Easton Victory club awards ceremony for reaching that milestone. The Bombers are one of the largest and most successful Travel Programs in the Country ranking in the Top 10 in the country year after year.

Prior to joining professional softball, he served in the United States Army for 28 years retiring as a 1SG in November of 2016. His love for his country and those who honor it are a top priority for him, he started the 4 The Heroes Foundation in 2014. The foundation honors fallen military heroes by utilizing uniform jerseys to place the name of a fallen warrior on the back of the jersey. The jersey is worn all year long and then given to the family once the season is completed. As well the 4 The Heroes foundation has its Woods & Water Program that takes military Veterans on hunts and fishing trips.

Scott has attended American Military University, US Army 1SG Course and many other leadership schools during his tenure in the military.

He and his wife, Irma, reside in New Braunfels TX. Scott has two children, Jade and Gunnar.

Kevin Mills

Treasurer

Kevin Mills is a Certified Public Accountant owning his own firm since 2002. In this role, he has interactions with and advises many different types of entities including non-profits. Kevin was active in creating the 4 The Heroes Foundation. Prior to owning his own accounting firm he worked as a software analyst and Whole Foods Market and several semi-conductor companies in Austin working on Oracle, PeopleSoft and SAP accounting and manufacturing software.

Kevin is an active owner in several businesses in the Restaurant, Sports and Broadcasting fields. A big believer in youth sports and giving back Kevin supports youth outreach programs and has donated time to create multiple non-profit entities.

Kevin Mills holds a Bachelors Degree in Business, with a major in Accounting, from Texas State University in 1990 and was certified by the Texas State Board of Accountancy in 2001 after passing the Certified Public Accountant exam.

Bo Vinton

Secretary

Bo is the Vice President of Bombers Fastpitch a Nationally Ranked Girls Softball program with 80 teams in 13 states. This Junior Olympic organization has been a huge supporter of many charities throughout their 17 years of business including the American Cancer Society, Special Olympics and 4 the Heroes Foundation. Bo was heavily involved with creating the 4 the Heroes Foundation which was formed from the Bombers initiative to honor military, police and fire department personnel who were killed, missing in action or severely wounded by having their players wear the names of these heroes on the back of a custom jersey throughout their playing season and then present these jerseys to the families of the honored hero at the end of the season.

Bo lives in New Braunfels TX with his wife Jennifer who is also active in the 4 the Heroes Foundation. They have 3 children Katie who played softball for Incarnate Word University, She earned her BSN in Nursing at UT Health and is an ER Nurse in Houston, Jacob is studying Graphic Arts at Angelina College and Shelby who is a Senior at Canyon High School. Bo is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, fishing, kayaking and camping with family and friends. “I am proud to be on the board of the 4 the Heroes Foundation. Working with families of fallen and wounded heroes has impacted my life on a personal level. I never served in the military, but I have profound respect for those who served as my father did in Vietnam and Korea.”

Victor Pisano

Member of Outreach Committee

Victor, a proud graduate of Texas A&M University (’91) has been involved in Senior Leadership for the Pharmaceutical Industry for over 18 years, and currently works with Fresenius Medical Care based out of Boston, MA. Victor has been married for 23 years to his wife, Beth and has two daughters, Isabel who is currently a sophomore at Texas State, and Catherine, who is about to be a senior at Tom C. Clark High School. Both of Victor’s daughters have played softball at both the select and high school level for 10 years, and Catherine is determining her path as either a student-athlete or simply a student pursuing a degree in Science. Victor has been the General Manager of the HITT Fastpitch program for over eight years and was also involved with the Texas Charge from the National Fastpitch Association.

Victor has served on numerous boards over the years including San Antonio District 8 Parks & Recreation Committee, City of San Antonio Economic and Community Development Committee, Palmer Drug Abuse Program, Leadership San Antonio and For the Love of Kids & Harleys. “Giving back to the community is a responsibility that we all have in order to show the gratitude for our own blessings. Having the opportunity to be a part of 4 the Heroes with an incredible group of similarly minded professionals provides me a way to not only impact the lives of our brave soldiers and their families but to honor my father who was a veteran of the Army.

Tom Damiani

Member of Outreach Committee

Tom Damiani, owner of Damiani’s Comfort Design Heating and Air Conditioning since 2004, lives in San Antonio, TX, with his wife Jennifer, a middle school reading teacher, and their two daughters Molly and Allison who both participate in fast pitch softball on both their high school and club teams. His oldest daughter Molly will continue on to play Division I softball at Texas State University beginning in the fall of 2018.

Tom grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, but moved with his family to Dallas, Texas when he was 13, where he attended W.T. White High School. He continued his education at Southwest Texas State University now known as Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in 1991.

Mr. Damiani has a passion for giving back to the community, specifically to the kids of the community. In college, he helped a local elementary school counselor create a Big Brother/Big Sister program, which utilized local fraternity and sorority members as mentors for the kids. This program thrived and both Mr. Damiani and the elementary counselor received national recognition for this venture. Tom and his family have helped the Downtown San Antonio Rotary Club build several playgrounds for areas of San Antonio that had no such play structures for kids. He has volunteered as a coach for both his daughters’ teams for many years, and he and his family are involved yearly with the Special Olympics Spring Games as volunteers. Clearly, community service is an important part of the Damiani family culture.

Tom also serves as one of the Directors for AQUAS (Assistance for Qualified Underprivileged Athletic Scholars). AQUAS is a foundation that finds qualified high school students that want to go to college but their individual circumstances make it nearly impossible to do so. AQUAS steps in and pays for these students recruiting needs so that they can get recruited and continue on to college to play the sport they love while getting a college education. When Tom learned of AQUAS he knew it was a cause to back. He commented, “When I learned what AQUAS was all about, I wanted to help. I have been involved with the college recruiting process for both my own children as well as hundreds of other kids with the organization I coach for. I have seen many very talented kids over the years fade into the background and eventually disappear simply because they didn’t have the resources to travel and go to all the camps they needed to attend to be recruited. These are some very good and talented kids, and I love that AQUAS gives them a platform and a voice to accomplish their dreams

Jason Larue

Member of Woods and Waters Committee

Jason Laure is a former Major League catcher who played for the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals. A native of Bulverde, Texas, and owner of L5 Ranch in Cotulla, Texas. Jason has been a great support of 4 The Heroes Foundation and serves as a member of our Woods and Water Committee.

Norm Charlton

Member of Woods and Waters Committee

The left-handed Charlton was best known as being part of the infamous "Nasty Boys" relief pitching corps for the 1990 Reds team who won the World Series. Twelve seasons, one All-Star game and a World Series Championship later, Norm started his fishing guide business Big League Adventures back in 2009 and is a great supporter of the 4 The Heroes Foundation as serves as a member of our Woods and Waters Committee.

Jennifer Vinton

Member of Health and Wellness Committee

Jennifer has been a Nurse for 16 years working with Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients as well as Hospice and Home Health. She is the Director of Operations for Bombers Fastpitch and handles all special events. She is instrumental in the programs charity involvements and has been a member of 4 the Heroes Foundation since its creation and stays heavily involved in all activities for the foundation.

Jennifer lives in New Braunfels TX with her husband Bo where she enjoys hunting, fishing, and camping. She is the proud mom of 3 kids, Katie, Jacob, and Shelby.

Nathan Rodriguez

Member of Jersey Awareness Committee

Nathan is a Case Manager Specialist with CIGNA Healthcare. In his role, Nathan coordinates all aspects of health and wellness, including onsite coaching, developing lunch and learn the material and promoting onsite wellness events (flu clinics, blood drives, etc.). Nathan received his Bachelor’s degree in Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007 and is currently pursuing his insurance license. Born and raised in the south side of San Antonio, Nathan values being a positive influence on his community. Nathan coaches for the Texas Bombers Fastpitch organization and is a private catching instructor. He is married to his wife Desiree, whom he met in middle school and has three wonderful kids, Genesis, 17, Jenesa, 14, and Jeter, 8.

Thomas Gardner

Chair of Veteran's Outreach Committee

Thomas is a recently retired Sergeant First Class and served over 22 years in the Army and is the owner of Hyper Graphic located in New Braunfels Texas. In this role, Thomas coordinates with organizations to identify candidates to partake in the 4 the Heroes Woods and Water Program. Thomas is a believer in supporting those who put their life on the line, whether through law enforcement, fighting fires, or serving our country. Thomas is no stranger to helping others, having spent 22 years as a radio operator and recruiter, which taught him the importance of supporting others in need.

Thomas has a Bachelor's Degree in Technical Management with a concentration in Web Graphic Design and Multimedia. Thomas has been married to Melanie Gardner for 20 years and has three children, Michelle who is 23, is working on her Bachelor's degree in Nursing, Maverick, age 20, is working with Hyper Graphics, and Mia age 7, is a student at Jordan Intermediate School. Thomas Currently resides in Cibolo, Texas and is active in his community.

Ismael Vasquez

Member of Veteran's Outreach Committee

Ismael Vasquez served 5 years in the U.S. Army as an Infantry Sargent and was medically retired in 2004 due to wounds received in the battle of Black Sunday that occurred in Sadr City, Iraq on April 4, 2004. He was born and raised on West Side of San Antonio, TX and graduated from Fox Tech High School. He received his Bachelors’ of Business Administration and Master’s of Science in Accounting from the University of the Incarnate Word.

After completing his graduate degree, he took a position in the U.S. House of Representatives Congressional Office of Ciro Rodriguez, 23rd District of Texas as his Veteran’s Liaison, Legislative Specialist, and Caseworker. Following his position with the U.S. of Representatives, he took his educational talents to the National Credit Union Administration to regulate the financial industry and is now at USAA in their Office of Regulatory Affairs. He has been married to Stephanie Vasquez for the last 17yrs, has four children, and spends the majority of his free time coaching on the softball field or watching his son play soccer.