About Danny Stroud

I have been a resident of Colorado for almost 17 years and a resident of the 1st Colorado District since 2004. I am running for office for the opportunity to represent the citizens of this district during these very important times for our community, our state, and our country. I view this as a call to duty much as I felt the call to duty when I enrolled in West Point in 1971 or when I was appointed to the Board of Directors for the non-profit California Mental Health Association of Contra Costa County (California).

I was born in Oregon as the first of 4 children. My grandfather on my father's side was a carpenter and was building army camps throughout the west when WWII ended. My grandfather and my grandmother settled in eastern Oregon at that time. My grandfather on my mother's side was in the service at the end of WWII and moved to San Diego when the war ended.

My parents met in high school and married shortly thereafter. My father had a job at the local lumber mill but soon joined the Oregon National Guard in a full-time capacity as a Private. He worked his way up to Command Sergeant Major, the highest possible enlisted rank, before being promoted to an officer. He was still working for the National Guard as a Chief Warrant Officer when he died in 1986 from cancer. I miss him and find myself continually measuring myself against the high standards of work ethic and integrity that he set. My mother stayed home full time with the children and was the recurring den mother for our cub scouts and room mother for our school. She is now retired and living in Arizona.

My brothers and sister currently live in Oregon and are all doing well.

I was the first in my family to go to college when in 1971 I was appointed simultaneously to attend West Point by Senator Packwood and Secretary of State Myers from Oregon. I was interested in West Point from an early age and felt it was a call to duty at the height of the Vietnam war. I graduated in 1975 with an academic concentration in Middle Eastern studies. I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry and spent 6 years serving my country. I spent some time in Korea working with the ROK army and various other UN forces in planning for nuclear, biological and chemical defense preparedness. I was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for my work with the Koreans. I was also the commander of the 9th Infantry Division Chemical company, one of the first combat support chemical defense units.

I spent an additional 7 years in the US Army Reserves and the California National Guard after leaving active duty. I was proud to serve with the California National Guard in performing the mission of response to natural disasters. In 1988, after 13 years, I left the military to focus on my career and family. I continue to hold the rank of Regular Army Major.

I have two wonderful daughters, Cassandra and Natalie. Cassandra is a sophomore in college and Natalie is a senior in high school.

Currently I am President of Veraz Ventures, Inc., a company formed in 1999 exclusively to pursue developing industry opportunities and economic development in small to medium sized businesses and in under-served communities. I have served as the Chief Executive Officer of a publicly traded company, the Chief Financial Officer of a company that provided post-9/11 integrated security services to government agencies for high-risk terrorist targets, and as the President of a software and services company that provides services to many government agencies, and aerospace and technology companies. Today I am also working with several fast-growing defense contractors and commercial companies to find growth financing and tailor operations within the companies to manage growth. Prior to forming my own small business, I was Vice President of Verio, a Denver-based company that I helped start where I was responsible for deploying telecommunications networks throughout the USA and VP of Network Deployment and Operations at Nextel. My responsibilities were to oversee the deployment and operations of the nationwide digital mobile wireless network.

My priorities include my daughters, riding motorcycles, snow skiing, hiking and snowshoeing. I volunteer extensively for the school and enjoy speaking at industry conferences. I am an avid sports fan (not so unique for a man living in Colorado) and I attend sporting events whenever I can find the time. I earned my Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1975. I earned my MBA from St. Mary's College of California in 1986.