By Craig Leener
President, My Eye Media

BURBANK, Calif. — In the spring of 2009, I received my marching orders from My Eye Media founder and CEO Michael Kadenacy.

Michael, a former U.S. Marine, said he wanted to recruit a combat veteran into the company’s ranks. He explained that he was lucky enough to be a peacetime Marine, and so he wanted to create an opportunity for a wounded vet.

“I would watch the news and listen to the body count, and they would talk about how many wounded soldiers there were,” says Michael, who served his country as a small-missile repair technician working on TOW and Dragon missile systems. “I felt fortunate because that could very well have been me.”

We searched for an organization that would help us recruit a combat vet, and we were lucky to find Hire Heroes USA. I wrote to Sara Trask, the organization’s Director of Corporate Relations, and soon received this reply: “So I have hunted, and hunted, and hunted and … I believe I may have found someone!!”

Enter Charles Horgan.

Charlie was a Sergeant in a U.S. Army scout platoon. He served during the Kosovo peacekeeping mission and was wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The VA hosted a picnic to help veterans get back onto their feet, and that’s how Charlie found Hire Heroes USA.

“They were lifesavers,” he says. “I was able to find a steady, well-paying job at My Eye Media, and it was actually in a field I enjoyed. The people I interacted with at Hire Heroes were very friendly and contacted me over email and phone and worked with me through the entire process of preparing for my interview.”

When Charlie’s résumé arrived, it contained two lines that immediately caught our attention. First, it said he was “responsible for the safety and well-being of a three-man squad in a hostile combat environment.”

Our first thought: “Wow, this guy is perfect for the post-production industry.”

Second, it indicated he had earned a Bachelor’s Degree in TV and Film Production from Brooks Institute. We knew he had the kind of technical aptitude we were looking for.

My Eye Media is a technical and post-production services company providing solutions and consultancy to major Hollywood motion picture studios and independent content producers. We’re known as nimble, forward-thinking and service-minded problem-solvers who can quickly customize solutions for our clients. And every hire we make is critical to maintaining an edge over our competitors.

Charlie was neatly dressed and all business when he walked into our Burbank, Calif., headquarters for his interview. It was tough to get a read on him, as his responses to our questions were brief and to the point.

“I didn’t know exactly what you guys were looking for,” Charlie says. “I was just trying to present myself as professional. In the Army, you don’t ever interview for stuff — you either volunteer or you’re volunteered.”

Michael has woven into the fabric of the company some of the core values he learned as a Marine. Just like every Marine is a rifleman, everyone at My Eye Media is a Quality Control Operator tasked with remaining vigilant and paying close attention to detail.

Throughout the interview session, Charlie projected an air of confidence and exhibited the qualities we look for in our employees. It was clear he would be a great fit.

We hired Charlie as an Optical Media Quality Control Operator in November 2009, and he’s been a mainstay on the swing shift ever since.

Charlie’s supervisor, Director of Quality Assurance Dan Koontz, says the war veteran brings quite a bit to the table: “Charlie does a good job for us — that’s a given. But beyond that, he’s smart and he makes us laugh a lot, and it’s nice to be around people like that.”

Charlie says he enjoys the team aspect of the company’s work environment.

“I like my department a lot, and I’ve got a lot of loyalty to the people within it,” he says. “Everybody’s pretty humble and also mission-focused when we get projects in.”

Charlie has a parallel interest in movies — especially cinematography, his main area of study at Brooks Institute. His position at My Eye Media offers him an ideal backdrop to explore his enthusiasm for the silver screen.

“This is the best environment for me, actually,” Charlie says. “It’s fun to be able to have actual in-depth conversations and swap educated opinions about movies with my coworkers. That’s one of the best things about this place. We can really dork out on it.”



Hire Heroes USA helped U.S. Army combat veteran Charles Horgan (left) connect with post-production services company My Eye Media and its CEO, former U.S. Marine Michael Kadenacy.

Photo by Rachel Park/My Eye Media