SIMIS INC. FOUNDER GRATEFUL FOR HIS CHANCE INTRODUCTION TO M&S

Johnny Garcia says it was pure chance - a "mistake" - that brought him into the modeling and simulation field and into Old Dominion's Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC).

After 17 years, the affable Texan is happy to say it's the best mistake he's ever made.

"It's been sometimes magical making this happen," says Garcia, who in 2007 founded SimIS Inc., a Veteran Owned Small Business (VSOB), 8(a) information technology services corporation headquartered in Portsmouth, and just 10 minutes away from his alma mater.

The Navy brought Garcia to Hampton Roads. Selected to the prestigious Seaman-to-Admiral program in 1994, around the time the Navy was downsizing, Garcia heard that Joint Warfare Simulation and Training (part of what would become Joint Forces Command) was hiring.

After an interview, he was offered a job as a computer operator by the company now known as General Dynamics, operating Navy simulations, and he was discharged from active duty. "I had never been exposed to simulations. That started my simulation career," Garcia says.

Showing real aptitude for his new vocation, Garcia was promoted from computer operator to computer engineer, developing the models himself. In those five years, Garcia became passionate about the science behind modeling and simulation.

In 2003, that interest and his job brought Garcia in contact with Andreas Tolk, professor of engineering management and systems engineering at ODU's Batten College of Engineering and Technology. While he continued to work professionally, Garcia began his doctorate through ODU's VMASC while also working closely with VMASC Executive Director John Sokolowski.

The fit was perfect between Garcia, a roll up-your-sleeves problem-solver his whole career, and Old Dominion University.

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