Nationwide recognizes Doug Huber as the 2021 Mark A. Pizzi Military Inclusion Award recipient
Doug Huber’s military career started with a request from his father: try ROTC for a quarter.
“He told me that there was no pressure. If I didn’t like it, then I didn’t have stick with it,” said Huber.
His father, a military veteran, thought that his son possessed qualities that would make him a successful officer. So, Huber joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) while a student at The Ohio State University, and he fell in love with the camaraderie and structure of the program.
After graduating, he served in the Army for eight years as a commissioned officer in stops all over the world, including during the Kosovo Conflict and in Iraq shortly after 9/11 as a planning officer for a tank battalion.
When his time with the Army finished, Doug and his wife made the decision to move back to Ohio, where they both grew up. In 2013, Huber joined Nationwide, first in a sales support role for the property and casualty business, and then for the last five years as a leader in operations for the retirement plans business.
Huber has made it his mission while working at the Fortune 100 company to promote the value that veterans bring to an organization.
“I’m most proud of helping hiring managers understand that military veterans have experience working in a dynamic environment, can handle a rapid pace of change, make decisions quickly and lead people,” said Huber. “They’re taught that at an early stage in their lives, and those qualities transfer over to helping a company achieve their mission.”
Additionally, Huber has taken an active role leading Nationwide’s Military Associate Resource Group (MARG) as president and helped organize events such as the Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies, and most recently initiating the 9/11 commemoration ceremony.
For his work going above and beyond in the areas of hiring, training, developing and retaining National Guard, Reserve and veteran associates, Huber was named this year’s Mark A. Pizzi Military Inclusion Award winner. The award is the Nationwide MARG’s annual recognition named after Mark Pizzi, who retired as Nationwide’s president and chief operating officer in 2018. Pizzi was a staunch supporter of Nationwide’s commitment to hiring and retaining military talent.
“It’s an honor, and humbling, to be recognized with this award,” Huber says. “I feel like my contributions have been just a small part of the hard work done by so many associates to make this a great place to work for veterans.”
Adam Lacks, MARG vice president, said that Huber was nominated for always advocating for fellow veterans and active Guard and Reserve associates. He noted that Huber finds ways to recognize their service and builds on our culture of inclusion by finding more ways to be supportive of their needs.
“Doug has served selflessly as a Military ARG board member for over six years, and we’re proud to recognize him for his lasting impacts to the organization and Nationwide,” said Lacks.
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