Read in English” / “Leer en español
By Daniel Armendariz, Publisher, HispanicBusinessTV.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Nov. 11, 2026 — On Veterans Day, the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber and Education Foundation honored four veterans whose service did not end when they took off the uniform. The 3rd Annual Profiles in Valor Awards Dinner brought about 180 guests to Hotel Polaris: veterans, military families, business leaders, and elected officials.
Under a giant screen that read “May God Bless America: Freedom, Courage, Unity, Always,” and bilingual ¡Bienvenido! banners, guests stood as the color guard carried in the flags, then settled in for a night that was as much about service at home as service abroad.
“Tonight we honor four Latino veterans whose lives demonstrate that service to country is only the beginning of a lifelong commitment to community,” wrote Joe Aldaz, Lt. Col. (Ret.), USAF, the chamber’s President and CEO, in his welcome to guests. At the dinner, Aldaz explained why the chamber created the awards three years ago. “Sometimes Latino veterans aren’t recognized the way we feel they deserve,” he said. “We not only recognize their military service, but we want to recognize what they’re doing in our community to make us a better community here in Colorado Springs.”
Sometimes Latino veterans aren’t recognized the way we feel they deserve.
— Joe Aldaz
The evening opened with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Color Guard and the National Anthem, sung by Army veteran Norsia “Sergeant H” Harrison. Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade gave welcome remarks, and Phil Martinez of PM Productions served as emcee and interviewed the honorees.
A keynote from a trailblazer
The keynote speaker was Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Angela Salinas, the first Latina promoted to general officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. She enlisted in 1974, earned her commission in 1977 and retired in 2013 after 39 years of service. She was the first woman to command Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and the Western Recruiting Region. After the Marines, she led Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas for more than a decade.
Speaking with HispanicBusinessTV.com before the dinner, Salinas said she hoped the young people in the room would see the honorees as “remarkable community leaders,” and remember that for those who served in uniform, “just because they take them off, it doesn’t mean that their service doesn’t continue.”
The 2026 honorees
Col. (Ret.) Juan Moreno III, U.S. Air Force. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Moreno completed 30 years of commissioned service as a master navigator, with more than 5,000 flight hours, including about 150 combat hours, from the Cold War and Grenada to Operation Just Cause and Southern Watch. He commanded reconnaissance units in Greece and Saudi Arabia, served on the Joint Staff, and was inside the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. He later served as U.S. Air Attaché to Mexico and commanded the Inter-American Air Forces Academy. In Colorado Springs, he served more than 12 years on the Esperanza Education Foundation board, providing scholarships to underserved students, and today serves as a permanent deacon for the Spanish-speaking community at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of the Divine Redeemer. For Moreno, service became a habit that outlasted the uniform. “After 30 years of doing that and serving in other places, it kind of gets into you, into your blood,” he said. After retiring, “I cleaned my garage for about four months, and then I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Trevor C. Nolan, PhD, U.S. Air Force. Nolan served as an officer supporting special operations and earned two Bronze Star Medals for meritorious achievement against the enemy, on separate occasions. He was named Air Force Space Officer of the Year and received the U.S. Special Operations Command Sijan Award, named for Medal of Honor recipient Capt. Lance P. Sijan. As a department chair and educator, he builds pathways into cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence and entrepreneurship, especially for first-generation college students and transitioning veterans. He mentors veterans starting businesses, and his doctoral research studies veteran entrepreneurship. Nolan credits his Hispanic heritage, and the chamber, for the way he serves. “No one person is bigger than the group, and I think I carry that into my active duty service, and I still continue to carry that into my service today in the community,” he said. He called Aldaz a personal mentor and said the chamber “really took me under its wing” as he left the military; he was part of the first cohort of its Adelante Leadership Institute. His lesson from the service: “If you think when you walk into a room that you are the smartest person, you’re probably not doing the organization a real service.”
Lt. Col. (Ret.) David V. Schulz, U.S. Army. Schulz began as an enlisted soldier, earning community college credits on his way to UCLA, an MBA from the University of Texas and two master’s degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School. As an infantry lieutenant in Afghanistan and Iraq, he led more than 3,500 combat patrols over 30 months, and every soldier under his command came home. He went on to serve as a U.S. diplomat in San Salvador and Mexico City, as a White House Fellow, and as one of the first leaders of Army Futures Command. While in Latin America, he built sponsorship programs for orphanages in El Salvador and Mexico that still operate today. In Colorado Springs, he chairs STEM outreach for the Tribute to Valor board, coaches for Hiring Our Heroes, and works with Pikes Peak State College to bring robotics and STEM to underserved youth. Schulz, the father of two young children, said veterans have a duty to step up at home. “Because we wore the cloth of the nation, we continue to do that in our communities when others don’t,” he said. “The veterans are the soccer coaches. They are community leaders.”
Because we wore the cloth of the nation, we continue to do that in our communities.
— Lt. Col. (Ret.) David V. Schulz
Dr. Luis Velez, U.S. Army, Vietnam veteran. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and raised on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Velez enlisted in the Army in 1968 and served in Vietnam with the 12th Combat Aviation Group from June 1969 to June 1970. Army orders brought him to Fort Carson, and Colorado Springs became home. He joined the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1975, rose from patrol officer to deputy chief, and in 2002 became the department’s first Hispanic Chief of Police, while earning four degrees, including a doctorate in management. He later led the Pueblo Police Department for six and a half years, guiding it to CALEA accreditation, and co-founded Life Skills, a District 11 charter school that helps students return to education. “I went into the military in 1968. Six months later, I was in Vietnam, so I learned really quick,” Velez said. “The discipline, the responsibility, those kinds of things have been with me ever since I started.”
Service that continues
Each honoree received an award donated by the Michael Garman Gallery, presented by Aldaz with Adelmarie Rivera, the chamber’s chairwoman, and representatives of the evening’s sponsors: Bruce LePage of Mortenson, Dr. Enrique Romo of Pikes Peak State College and Brian Diggs of Akima Global Logistics. The evening closed with a salute to all veterans in the room and a group photo of the honorees and guests.
Profiles in Valor was presented by title sponsor Colorado 150/250, speaker sponsor Pikes Peak State College Foundation, and awards sponsors Akima and Mortenson, with support from 13 corporate sponsors.
The Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber promotes Hispanic-owned and multicultural businesses across the Pikes Peak region. Its Education Foundation runs the Adelante Leadership Institute and the bilingual Juntos Somos Más Fuertes workshops.
Publisher’s note: This evening was personal for me. My brother, Robert Armendariz, a retired Army Sergeant First Class who was stationed at Fort Carson, is a past president of the Colorado Springs Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and published Hispania News, a bilingual newspaper based in Colorado Springs, for more than 30 years. Joe Aldaz and Dr. Velez are good friends of his, so covering this night for HispanicBusinessTV.com was a special moment for my brother JD, who took the photos, and me.
Photos: John Armendariz for HispanicBusinessTV.com
