The Team

FOUNDER

Since May 2002, Michael W. Malott has served as Chief Executive Officer of Forex Direct Trading, DBA Semper Pacific Wealth Strategies, an investment advisory firm built on the conviction that transparency and rigorous ethics are not optional in financial services — they're the business model. He has held a federal license as a futures broker since 1997. Later in his career, he made the decision to register as a Commodity Trading Advisor, and remains in good standing with federal regulatory authorities under both — two distinct credentials that together reflect nearly three decades of sustained, compliant practice in a heavily regulated industry.

That discipline was forged earlier, in the United States Marine Corps, where Michael served through combat-related campaigns and left active duty with an Honorable Discharge and multiple awards, medals, and citations for meritorious service. In 2012, he channeled that experience into founding Veterans Green Projects, an organization built around a single mission: creating "Work Off The Battlefield" for veterans and the families who depend on them. The work has drawn national recognition — a 2015 JPMorgan Chase Mission Main Street Grant, awarded to just 20 of more than 35,000 competing businesses; Congressional recognition; formal acknowledgment from the Mayor's Office and district senators; and, in 2019, The Rosie Network's Military Veteran Entrepreneur of the Year award. Across two careers — one in regulated finance, one in veteran-led enterprise — Michael has built a reputation defined less by title than by a consistent standard: do the work honestly, and make sure it serves the people it's meant to.

CEO / CO-FOUNDER 

Sergio M. Santoro, Dr.B.A., CEO of Veterans Green Coffee, brings 25 years of combined military and civilian leadership to bear on operations, human resources, project management, and organizational strategy. His military service instilled a discipline and strategic rigor that continue to define his approach — a capacity for clear-eyed decision-making under pressure, and for building teams that perform when it matters. Based in San Marcos, California, he leads Veterans Green Coffee at the intersection of two demanding worlds: supporting veterans through meaningful employment, and competing in a coffee industry that rewards precision and adaptability in equal measure. His fluency in English and Spanish extends his reach across stakeholders and communities, lending authenticity to a mission built on inclusion.

Under his leadership, Veterans Green Coffee has grown from concept to a veteran-owned enterprise with real market traction — securing capital, forging distribution partnerships, and building the operational infrastructure to scale responsibly. Sergio's command of go-to-market strategy and venture financing has translated directly into funded growth, while his emphasis on process discipline and service innovation has kept the organization lean as it expands. He works closely with C-suite leaders and business development partners to build alliances that compound over time, and he treats mentorship not as a program but as a management philosophy — one that has reshaped how his teams operate and collaborate. The result is an organization built to do two things at once: deliver a serious product, and deliver on a promise to the veterans it exists to serve.

CKO / CO-FOUNDER 

Starting in 2009, Laura Vu spent five and a half years with the U.S. Army Active Reserve — a period she describes simply: "I found the place I feel I belonged." It was there, for the first time, that she felt fully accepted as an Asian American. Her service was cut short by an honorable medical discharge, but the sense of purpose it gave her never left.

She carried that forward into a wide-ranging academic path: a Bachelor of Science in International Business and Marketing from Strayer University in Philadelphia, a second bachelor's degree in Nursing from Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus, and ultimately a Master of Public Health from National University in San Diego, specializing in Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention. During her graduate studies, she became instrumental in bringing Live Well San Diego into at-risk communities across the county, working directly with families facing social and economic hardship — work driven by a singular goal: improving quality of life for people the system often overlooks.

Since 2017, Laura has directed that same energy toward Veterans Green Coffee — "Good Coffee for A Good Cause" — alongside broader work within the Veterans Green Projects Initiative Foundation, whose mission is meaningful employment for veterans and their families in need. She sums up her approach to the work with characteristic humility: "When something is meaningful to you, regardless of the fact you are only 5 apples tall like me, it is worth fighting for." That conviction — that scale has nothing to do with impact — defines how she shows up for veterans and underserved communities alike, with a steady focus on helping people reach their full potential.

National Sales Director

Mark McArdle's professional education began early — as a teenager in his father's food brokerage company, where the fundamentals of the trade and the value of a strong work ethic were inseparable lessons. After high school, he served in the Army, and the discipline and commitment that service demands stayed with him long after his return. He resumed work in the family business while earning a marketing degree from California State University, Northridge, building his first real expertise representing candy manufacturers and, over time, a reputation that outlasted any single account.

When he eventually took over the brokerage from his father and uncle, Mark broadened its focus into gourmet foods — olive oil, specialty biscuits — a shift that turned out to be well timed as consolidation reshaped the candy industry and larger retailers absorbed the smaller chains his business had depended on. Rather than chase a shrinking model, he redefined it: stepping away from routine retail checks and the treadmill of standing meetings in favor of work he actually believed in. By 2010 he had deliberately scaled the company down; by 2020 he was operating solo. What looks like contraction from the outside reads, up close, as intention — Mark now chooses his projects and his collaborators on the basis of what resonates, having built a professional life defined less by size than by fit.

Southwest Regional Sales Director

Bill Kraus is a retired Naval Aviator who spent 20 years flying the E-2C Hawkeye and operating in amphibious warfare — a foundation of high-stakes coordination and mission discipline that has carried through every chapter of his career since. That range shows in the breadth of industries he's led in: defense contracting, Salesforce.com partner programs, data center ownership and management, electronic recycling, and golf community development, each demanding a different kind of expertise and each mastered in turn.

His professional path reflects that versatility directly. He served as Commander in the United States Navy, then moved into Program and Group Management and the Directorship of Small Business Partnerships at Computer Sciences Corporation. He went on to serve as Vice President of the Western Region at Astadia, President of Government Services at Technodyne, and Founder and COO of Scale Matrix — building an organization from the ground up rather than simply running one. He later served as President of Executive Business Development at Abnology, President of the CSC Golf League, and Managing Partner at Veterans Green Projects, where his operational and business-development experience continues to serve the mission directly. Bill holds a Bachelor's degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a Master's in Computer Science from Webster University — a technical foundation that has underpinned his leadership across every industry he's entered.