J.R. Martinez

Iraq War veteran and Actor, ABC's All My Children

Recipient of the 2009 IAVA Veterans Leadership Award

J.R. Martinez was born in Shreveport, LA on June 14, 1983 to Maria Zavala. He has two sisters, Consuelo and Anabel. Both sisters were raised in El Salvador with his mother’s family. Anabel died as a toddler before J.R. was ever able to meet her.

At nine years old, J.R. moved with his mother to Hope, AR where he lived until he was 17. At 17, he moved to Dalton, GA, a place he proudly calls his hometown. After graduating high school, J.R. enlisted in the United States Army in September 2002 and underwent Basic and Advanced Training at Fort Benning, GA where he gained skills as an 11-B Infantryman. After reporting to Fort Campbell in January of 2003 he was assigned to his unit 2/502 Delta Company. He was deployed to Iraq in March 2003 and in April was serving as a driver of a Humvee when his left front tire hit a landmine. He suffered smoke inhalation and severe burns to more than forty percent of his body. J.R. claims that while he was fighting for his life and awaiting medical help in Iraq, his sister Anabel appeared to him, giving him the strength to stay alive. He was immediately evacuated to Landstuhl, Germany for immediate care and eventually sent to Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, TX where he spent 34 months in recovery. Since his injury, J.R. has undergone 32 different surgeries, including skin grafts and cosmetic surgery.

J.R. has been featured in The Washington Post, PEOPLE magazine, CNN, 60 Minutes, US Weekly, the Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, Inside Edition and other major national news outlets. He has traveled the country since 2004 sharing his message of resilience and optimism and has even shared the stage with global self-help guru Tony Robbins and evangelist Dave Roever. Today J.R. is a sought-after motivational speaker called on by large corporations such as REMAX, BB&T, veterans groups, universities, schools, and other organizations.

While J.R.’s experience is certainly life-changing, amazingly he claims this is actually a change for the better. He’s discovered that it is what’s inside a person that matters most and devotes himself to showing others the true value in making the most of every situation.

J.R. began his acting career in October 2008 when he was cast in ABC’s Emmy® Award-winning daytime drama, “All My Children”, to play the role of Brot Monroe. Martinez’s first airdate on the program was on Friday, November 7, 2008.

Van Toffler

President of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group

Recipient of the 2009 IAVA Civilian Service Award

Van Toffler is President, MTV Networks Music and Logo Group, responsible for: MTV Networks music services, including MTV, MTV2, VH1 and CMT; their affiliated screens and digital services; and Logo, MTV Networks’ channel for the gay, lesbian, bi and transgender audience.

In this role, Toffler oversees strategy and long-term planning for each network and has spearheaded the music and logo group’s strategic efforts in extending each brand into multiple platforms and new media, including wireless, broadband, VOD, digital and high-definition TV. Van and his team have especially forged the MTV brand into new realms, including extending into video gaming. After acquiring the music video game developer, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. in 2006, MTV Games launched the wildly successful “Rock Band” the next year and completed a development deal with Jerry Bruckheimer to create new video games and intellectual property. The fall of 2008 marked the release of “Rock Band 2,” and on 9-9-09, MTV Games launched the highly anticipated “The Beatles Rock Band.”

In his previous position as President of MTV & MTV2, Toffler’s strong business acumen, creative thinking and passion for music has helped propel and sustain MTV into a top rated cable television destination for 12 to 24 year-olds. Over the years, Toffler has assembled a talented team of creative executives who developed and produced some of television’s best entertainment and biggest moments from the animated hit “Beavis and Butthead;” to the maverick reality series “The Osbournes,” to two of the biggest annual television entertainment events – “The MTV Video Music Awards” and the “MTV Movie Awards.”

Toffler also worked hard to ensure that pro-social programming is an integral part of each brands’ identity as it relates to their respective audience. Under his leadership, veterans’ issues have been highlighted on both MTV and CMT over the past few years. MTV has produced ground breaking programming that shows the true face of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and celebrates the service of our nation’s current generation of veterans. From the personal story of Iraq veteran and cast member Ryan Conklin on The Real World: Brooklyn and the profiles of young veterans struggling with readjustment on the Emmy Award winning True Life, to the music community’s support for veterans during A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE, MTV’s groundbreaking shows raise critical awareness of the sacrifices made by service members and their families. mtvU has continued this effort by focusing on student veterans and mental health in the Half of Us campaign, which addressed PTSD on the fifth anniversary of the war, and will be rolling out a series of new PSAs on the issue in the coming weeks. Additionally, CMT’s One Country campaign promotes volunteerism, including supporting veterans and military families in partnership with the U.S.O. And the CMT series "American Soldier" followed the real life story of a small town National Guard battalion based out of Dublin, Georgia as they deployed to Iraq.

Another of Toffler’s earliest goals has been to build the MTV brand to touch the teen and young adult audiences on new and different platforms. He took the “MTV Unplugged” franchise platinum with a line of “Unplugged” releases, brought MTV to the worldwide web where today, MTV.com is a leading entertainment music site and spearheaded the creation of MTV Films where he has executive produced a diverse slate of feature films; including “Save the Last Dance," “jackass: the movie,” “The Original Kings of Comedy," "Varsity Blues," "Beavis & Butt-head Do America," the critically-acclaimed “Better Luck Tomorrow,” the Academy Award® nominated "Election” and “Hustle and Flow,” and box office hits “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Blades of Glory,” among others.

Toffler has held a succession of positions at MTV, culminating in his appointment as MTVN Group President in 2004. Prior to that, he had served as President of MTV & MTV2 since 2000. In 1999, Toffler oversaw the re-launch of MTV2 and helped guide the acquisition of CTN: College Television Network in 2002, re-launching the service as mtvU, the ultimate network for college students.

He holds a JD from The University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from George Washington University. He is based at the MTV Networks Headquarters in New York City.