Shades Valley Rotary Club featured speaker: Jonathan McConnell, President of Meridian U.S.

Jonathan McConnell, president of Meridian U.S., will be speaking at the weekly Shades Valley Rotary lunch on Monday, Oct. 30. This event is open to those who are interested.

Jonathan served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. On his first deployment to Iraq, he commanded 3D Platoon (reinforced) Lima Company, 3D Battalion 2D Marines. Jonathan was charged with quelling the insurgency on the outskirts of Fallujah, Iraq and received personal combat decorations. On his second deployment to Iraq, Jonathan was the Executive Officer of Weapons Company 3D Battalion 2D Marines as well as 1ST Mobile Assault Platoon Commander. During this deployment, he maintained Battle Position Da’Nang in the Al Anbar Province near the Syrian border. His company was co-located with an Iraqi Army infantry company in which he was charged with training and conducting joint operations.

Upon completing his second tour in Iraq, Jonathan earned his law degree from the University of Alabama Law School and passed the Alabama Bar. In response to the attack on the Maersk Alabama in 2009, Jonathan, with his fellow Marines, sought a cost-effective solution to combating piracy. In 2009, Jonathan formed Meridian.US and began positioning embarked security teams on U.S. flagged vessels.