Tom Sauer, founder and CEO of MacArthur Group, came by to speak with Paul Corvino on this week's Southern California CEOs You Should Know!
More about Tom Sauer:
A graduate of the US Naval Academy and an 18-year Navy and Marine Corps Veteran, mental health became a deep passion of Tom's from the loss of his father to a drug overdose after decades of struggle with mental illness and addiction, just like so many millions of Americans suffering from our country’s disastrous mental health and addiction crisis. This is especially true for America's Veterans.
Three weeks after his father’s death, Tom enlisted in the Marines as a Rifleman. A few years later, he found himself in Annapolis where he graduated from the Naval Academy in 2006.
As a Surface Warfare Officer, Tom deployed to Latin America, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and South Asia. In 2009, he transferred into Navy Special Operations as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Officer, completing his training in early 2011
During his time as a Navy EOD Officer in Guam at EOD Mobile Unit FIVE, Tom trained and readied his team of EOD Special Operators to locate and deal with terrorist nuclear weapons. He and his team deployed as the US Pacific Command's "Crisis Response Force," in concert with US Army Special Forces, Naval Special Warfare Development Group (aka "SEAL Team SIX"), Joint Special Operations Command, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. His team worked directly with the highest levels of the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, The White House, and several “other” government organizations.
Additionally, while leading Humanitarian Mine Actions operations on behalf of the US Department of State in Kathmandu, Nepal, Tom directed planning and execution of a robust US program to deactivate remnant landmines and improvised explosive devices left behind after the Nepalese Civil War, in partnership with US civilian agencies and US, Indian, and Nepalese military forces.
As a staff planning officer for Commander, EOD Group ONE and Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center, Mr. Sauer collaborated with America’s Pacific partners in writing US Navy and Marine Corps war plans guiding US and allied operations in the event of war with China or North Korea, driving consensus between America and her closest friends and allies in the Pacific.
As a former Navy Lieutenant Commander from one of the most selective, demanding, and dangerous career fields on earth, Tom’s passion shifted to an even more deadly threat to America’s Veterans: Our mental health, addiction, and suicide crisis, which takes the lives of far more of his friends and colleagues than al Qaeda or the Taliban ever did.
Today, MacArthur Group has nearly a dozen locations, with Miramar Health in Southern California, and Valor Lakes Health in Central Florida. MacArthur Group's incredible team of nearly 100 physicians, nurses, psychologists, therapists, medical and behavioral health technicians, case managers, and support staff, many of whom are Veterans themselves, save lives and relieve human suffering on a daily basis, and there’s no better group of Americans needing it more than our own Veterans.
Tom holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the US Naval Academy, and graduate degrees from both UCLA and the National University of Singapore. He is married to the former Ms. Natalie Kratts, a data scientist and former research economist for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Tom and Natalie live in Newport Beach California, along with their two golden retrievers, Bosco and Birdie.
Mission Statement: ”To free Veterans from America’s mental health and addiction crisis and empower them to create a better future for themselves and their families.”