MEET OUR TEAM: ADAM
ADAM GRATZER
Vice President of the Board of Directors
Meet Adam Gratzer. Adam is the Vice President of the Board of Trustees and a U.S. Army Veteran. Adam was born in Louisville, KY but grew up in Bradenton, FL. He has a Business Administration degree from the University of South Florida.
Adam with his family.
During his time in the Army, Adam served as an Infantry team leader (Sergeant, E-5). Initially enlisting for 4 years after graduating high school in 1998, Adam found himself in the Army during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. After completing his four-year enlistment he left the Army in 2002, joined a Florida National Guard Infantry unit, and started using the GI Bill to attend college. After completing his first semester, Adam’s unit was activated the day after Christmas in 2002. He and his unit deployed to Qatar, Kuwait, and eventually Iraq after President Bush declared war. The majority of Adam’s deployment was spent securing a former Iraqi Air Force Base known as Camp Anaconda at the time and which later earned the nickname “Mortaritaville” as it was attacked by mortars almost daily.
After coming back home, Adam felt isolated in his community. He wanted nothing to do with the government, including the VA. It took Adam 10 years to come around and get enrolled at the VA and start receiving benefits he rightfully earned, something he never would have done if it wasn’t for the peer support from Craig Taylor (a fellow Veteran) and Solutions for Veterans (SFV). Adam’s life has greatly improved since enrolling at the VA. SFV, and the Veteran residents who will live at an SFV apartment community, will provide much needed peer support to guide other Veterans to the great benefits they have earned at the VA. Our country owes this to our Veteran heroes.
Adam cutting the ribbon at the opening of the Solutions for Veterans development in Hines, IL.
For two and a half years, Adam worked for Communities for Veterans where he traveled across the country to help in the development of Communities for Veterans projects. While working as a Developer for Communities for Veterans, Adam also represented SFV as he met with service providers across the country to establish programs for veterans living in the projects developed by CFV.
In 2015, Adam settled down at Raymond James Tax Credit Funds where he doesn’t have to travel so he can spend more time with his family. In his current role, Adam monitors the construction portfolio of over 150 affordable housing projects.
Adam is convinced that one of our nation’s most important responsibilities is to take care of its citizen heroes who have answered the call to serve and potentially make the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and security of the rest of the nation. While many great organizations exist to serve our Veterans who have fallen on hard times, there is more work to be done to care for them properly.
The Community for Veterans development team.
Adam’s dream for SFV is to become a well-known, reliable, organization known and trusted by Veterans as an organization to which they can turn for support when needed. SFV can become such an organization through providing the peer support of fellow Veterans who have also fallen on hard times but are taking (or have taken) steps to better their lives through the supportive housing offered by SFV.
