Colonel Prendergast served 31 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, beginning as an enlisted Military Police soldier and U.S. paratrooper at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and subsequently earning a commission from Officer Candidate School as a distinguished graduate. His 23 global assignments included duty stations across the United States, Asia, Africa, Europe, and multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Colonel Prendergast commanded Military Police units at the company, battalion and brigade levels, and he served four tours of duty as a Provost Marshal. Following company command, he was selected to serve as a U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer with Sub-Saharan Africa as his area of expertise. Subsequently, he served in consecutive Foreign Area Officer assignments in the United States Embassies in Zaire and Cameroon. He retired as a Colonel in 2009. His awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, and the Military Police Corps’ Order of the Marechaussee in Silver. He also earned the Combat Action Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the Air Assault Badge and the Canadian Parachutist Badge. He was inducted into the Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame in 2009. A lifelong learner, he holds a dual-major undergraduate degree from Jacksonville State University, and graduate degrees from the University of Florida, Troy University, and the U.S. Army War College. In addition, he attended the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies as an American Political Science Association Foreign Affairs Congressional Fellow. As part of his fellowship, he served in the United States Senate as a Defense Policy, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence advisor to Senator Bob Graham. Afterwards, he served as a Legislative Liaison Officer for the Office of the Secretary of the Army. In retirement, demonstrating his lifelong commitment to service, he served as Governor Rick Scott’s first Chief of Staff until his appointment as Executive Director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs under Governor Scott and the Florida Cabinet. As Executive Director, he was charged with leading statewide initiatives to support over 1.5 million veterans and their families while improving partnered relationships with federal, state, and local government agencies and simultaneously expanding relationships with 19 state-wide congressionally chartered veterans’ advocacy groups.